By Wayne Barber
In a race to beat the clock, the Senate on Thursday invoked closure on the nomination of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Kristine Svinicki to a new five-year term.
Senators approved the cloture measure, effectively ending any debate on the renomination, by a vote of 89-10, according to Congress.gov. An actual vote on a third term for Svinicki could come by Monday evening, industry sources said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to trigger an imminent floor vote on the nomination in order to preserve a quorum on the five-member nuclear oversight panel ahead of the June 30 expiration of Svinicki’s current term. The commission currently has only two other members: Jeff Baran and Steven Burns.
A former nuclear engineer at the Energy Department and GOP staff policy adviser for the Senate Armed Services Committee, Svinicki has served on the commission since 2008.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee sent her nomination to the full chamber on June 15 in an expedited voice vote. If approved, she would serve until June 30, 2022.
The EPW Committee on June 13 held a hearing on the nominations of Svinicki and proposed NRC members Annie Caputo and David Wright on June 13. Caputo is a Senate staffer and former Exelon official. Wright, an energy consultant, is a former state lawmaker and member of the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
A vote on sending the Wright and Caputo nominations to the full Senate has evidently not yet been scheduled by the EPW Committee.
The only visible signs of congressional discontent with any of the nominees has come from lawmakers from Nevada, who have expressed concerns about signs that they would support the planned Yucca Mountain geologic repository for nuclear waste in the state. The NRC must license the facility, long opposed by leaders in Nevada.
For now, at least, it appears that the Senate will likely vote to keep Svinicki for another term before it leaves on July 4 recess, “but it is Washington,” one industry source quipped.
One possible complication is published reports that Democrats might drag out normally routine Senate actions because of the manner in which Republicans are handling a replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act.
