The White House is expected to submit two nominations in tandem for positions on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an informed source said this week.
Senate Appropriations Committee staffer Christopher Hanson would be nominated to succeed Stephen Burns, who retired from the commission in April ahead of the end of his term on June 30. Current Commissioner David Wright would be nominated to a full five-year term; he is currently serving the remainder of a term that ends on June 30, 2020.
Hanson’s nomination has been rumored for months, but is being held until it can be paired with Wright, the source said, citing conversations with staffers for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
There was no word this week from the White House on when the nominations might be submitted. A spokesperson for the Environment and Public Works Committee said only that no NRC nominees were pending before the panel.
With an annual budget in the ballpark of $1 billion, the NRC is the federal regulator for the U.S. nuclear industry, including management of spent reactor fuel and other radioactive wastes. It would rule on the Department of Energy’s license application for a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., if Congress appropriates funding for that proceeding to resume after nearly a decade. The agency is also reviewing two applications for consolidated interim spent fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico.
Wright, previously an energy consultant in South Carolina, was sworn in to the commission on May 30, 2018. He is filling what would have been the rest of the second full term for Commissioner William Magwood, who resigned in August 2014. Wright previously served on the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Hanson has been a Senate Appropriations Committee staffer since February 2015, with a focus on nuclear issues, including storage and disposal of used fuel, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously held several positions at the Department of Energy starting in May 2009.
