A member of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to step down at the end of his term later this year.
Stephen Burns noted his decision during an all-staff meeting Monday near NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. “At the All Hands, the Commissioner reiterated (not for the first time) his intention to retire again after his term ends on June 30,” agency spokesman David McIntyre said by email Tuesday.
Burns joined the commission on Nov. 5, 2014. He was the commission’s chairman from Jan. 1, 2015, to Jan. 23, 2017, replaced by Commissioner Kristine Svinicki shortly after President Donald Trump took office.
Prior to becoming a commissioner, Burns spent much of his career as a lawyer for the nuclear industry regulator starting in 1978. He became deputy general counsel in 1998 and served as general counsel from May 2009 to April 2012. Burns also did a stint as executive assistant to then-NRC Chairman Kenneth Carr. He retired from the NRC to become head of legal affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris.
While nominated by Democratic Party President Barack Obama, Burns registered politically as an independent. His departure will leave the commission with one Democratic Party member, Jeff Baran, and three Republicans: Svinicki, Annie Caputo, and David Wright.
No more than three members of the five-person commission can represent one political party. Trump would nominate Burns’ successor, who would require Senate approval.
