By John Stang
More than eight months after she was first nominated, Rita Baranwal was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday to lead the Department of Energy’s nuclear power and waste activities.
There was no discussion ahead of the 86-5 vote on the Senate floor. Opposing Baranwal’s confirmation as assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy were Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
“The Senate has confirmed [the Idaho National Laboratory’s] Dr. Rita Baranwal to Asst. Sec. for Nuclear Energy,” Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) tweeted on Thursday. “She’s a respected leader in the field, driving much of INL’s recent cutting-edge work. I’m confident she’ll excel in her new role & I congratulate her on this achievement.”
The Energy Department had not said by deadline Friday when Baranwal would be sworn in.
The Office of Nuclear Energy is primarily focused on advancing new nuclear reactor systems and related technologies on an annual budget of more than $1 billion. It also manages DOE’s work on nuclear waste. That means it would likely lead the department’s license application for the planned radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., if it is funded again.
The licensing proceeding has been defunded for the better part of a decade, starting under direction of then-President Barack Obama, despite Congress’ direction in 1987 that the nation’s nuclear waste go to the federal property about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
During a November 2018 confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Baranwal told Cortez Masto she would follow the law when it comes to disposal of nuclear waste – which for now means supporting the Yucca Mountain repository. Cortez Masto and Rosen, like most of Nevada’s leaders at the state and federal level, oppose bringing nuclear waste into their state.
“Rita Baranwal—who is willing to ignore the will of the people of NV by reopening licensing on Yucca Mountain—is not the right person to lead the Office of Nuclear Energy,” Cortez Masto tweeted late Thursday. ”Today I voted ‘no’ on her confirmation on behalf of Nevadans.’”
After working more than a decade in the nuclear industry, nuclear engineer Baranwal in August 2016 became director of the Energy Department’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program. The Idaho National Lab-based initiative provides funding and other resources to promote research and development of nuclear power technologies.
In October, 2018, the White House first nominated Baranwal as assistant energy secretary. She largely sailed through the approval process in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, with only Sens. Cortez Masto and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voting in November against forwarding the nomination to the Senate floor.
Baranwal never got a full Senate vote before the 115th Congress ended on Jan. 3 and all pending nominations were returned to the White House. The Trump administration renominated Baranwal on Jan. 16. But her advancement was slowed as Cortez Masto this spring put a temporary hold on several DOE nominees after the department shipped a half-ton tranche of plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site. At the end of April, the senator lifted the holds after Energy Secretary Rick Perry pledged in writing the plutonium would be removed from the state by 2026.
