Caputo to step down from NRC amid changes

Second-term commissioner Annie Caputo has decided to resign from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an NRC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday morning. 

Caputo’s resignation announcement comes the day after David Wright was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on NRC for a new five-year term. It also came a day before the White House announced the nomination of former NRC staffer Ho Nieh to a seat on the nuclear regulatory agency. 

“It has been my honor and privilege to serve as a commissioner, contributing to the work of the agency,” Caputo said in a Tuesday statement emailed to Exchange Monitor from the NRC spokesperson.

“I have decided to resign from the Commission, effective upon the swearing in of my colleague David Wright,” Caputo said. “The time has come for me to more fully focus on my family. As I step away, I’m confident the agency will continue to evolve under Chairman Wright’s leadership, excelling as a world class regulator and enabling the safe and secure use of nuclear technologies for the benefit of our society.”

Caputo is serving in her second term on NRC, which was not set to end until June 30, 2026. Caputo previously served on the commission from 2018 to 2021. 

President Donald Trump nominated Caputo in May 2017 and she was later renominated by President Joe Biden in May 2022.

Caputo’s resignation was met with concern from some nuclear energy experts in the industry.

Director of Nuclear Energy Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute Adam Stein called Caputo’s resignation a “loss for the nation”, he said in a Tuesday press release.

“Her votes were substantive, and she was willing to identify issues that others were willing to overlook and push for improvements, rather than simply accepting the status quo, even when it might not be the gentlest path,” Stein said. 

Mark Nelson, founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group, said Caputo’s resignation was a result of a full-scale attack from “bunch of folks who don’t seem to understand the crucial role the NRC plays in protecting nuclear energy from endless, arbitrary legal attack and investment-killing uncertainty,” he said in a Tuesday X post. 

Nelson said he was concerned that constant fluctuation at NRC may derail the current nuclear push in the United States. 

“I work on nuclear energy around the world and though the NRC isn’t perfect, for those of us who love nuclear energy and want to expand it, it’s better than pretty much any other regulator in a democracy,” Nelson said. 

With Caputo’s resignation on the horizon, the NRC’s other two commissioners are Bradley Crowell and Matthew Marzano. According to an NRC spokesperson, Wright’s confirmation paperwork is being processed prior to his swearing in. 

Nieh, Trump’s newest NRC nominee, awaits to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The latest moves come weeks after former NRC Chair Christopher Hanson was terminated by Trump. 

After Wright’s term ended on June 30, an acting chair was not designated although Caputo, among other senior staff, were delegated certain authorities while Wright was away from the commission.

Caputo was a congressional staff member for 13 years. She also worked as a senior policy advisor to Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who was the chairman of Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.