The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not be affected by President Donald Trump’s new federal hiring freeze, as the agency has been under a self-imposed suspension on hiring for more than a year as part of Project Aim.
Trump signed a presidential memorandum Monday, effectively suspending hiring in most of the executive branch, save for positions in military, national security, and public safety. His administration has advised the NRC not to refer to its staffing inactivity as a “hiring freeze.”
Initiated in 2014, Project Aim is the regulator’s effort to re-evaluate and reduce its staffing and workload to become a more efficient organization. The program included the goal of reducing staff from 3,674 to 3,552 full-time employees by the end of 2016. It actually beat that goal, cutting the workforce to 3,481.
NRC spokesman David McIntyre said by email this week that the agency is evaluating a memo from the White House on the hiring freeze. He said the regulator has not set a specific personnel target for 2020, when the program is slated for completion, but “we continue to look for additional ways to streamline the workforce.” There is no end date set for Project Aim’s hiring suspension.
At the turn of the millennium, the NRC’s workforce expanded significantly in response to the nuclear industry’s projected plans to license and build new nuclear reactors. The period of growth has ceased, and the nuclear industry is now in decline. The NRC has made an agency-wide attempt to reduce the number of individuals occupying overage positions, which includes offering early out and/or buyout packages to increase attrition.
The NRC in 2016 approved 150 staff recommendations for reducing the agency’s expenses and staffing workloads, which was projected to save about $40 million in fiscal 2017. The savings ranged from $1 million to $1.3 million and encompassed cost reductions in everything from information technology service contracts to lowering the frequency of staff reviews and inspections at nuclear sites. In all, the recommendations called for the removal of about 180 full-time equivalent employees.
