Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner William Ostendorff offered a frank assessment Friday on the events that led to former Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s resignation in 2012.
Ostendorff, who is leaving his post in June, said Jaczko’s colleagues tried for many months to form a collegial, working relationship before reaching last resort and sending a letter to the White House questioning his management style. Ostendorff said the letter was written only when “the commission saw damage being done to the institution,” which impeded officials’ ability to perform their jobs.
Jaczko, a Democrat who joined the commission in 2005 under President George W. Bush, was appointed chairman in 2009. A choice of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Jaczko is said to have played a critical role in thwarting the national repository planned at Yucca Mountain. He also clashed with colleagues over safety reform in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
What was missed in the stories that unfolded leading up to Jaczko’s resignation, Ostendorff said, was the fact that the former chairman’s colleagues tried to provide constructive feedback and advice, but “that advice was not accepted, nor was it welcomed.”
At the time, the four commissioners — split evenly across parties — claimed that Jaczko had blocked information, mistreated NRC staff, and reduced female colleagues to tears with his management approach. Obama would nominate Democrat Allison Macfarlane as his replacement.
Ostendorff said that he, Commissioner Kristine Svinicki, Commissioner Bill Magwood, and Commissioner George Apostolakis were “extremely cordial” with one another from day one, but the same relationship did not exist with Jaczko.
“It did not take another chairman coming in in order to fix a problem with the four commissioners that were still here,” Ostendorff said. “That to me is the story that has been mischaracterized. There is no collegiality issue that needed to be solved by the replacement chairman coming in. The problem itself was addressed when the former chairman departed the institution.”
When asked for his opinion concerning Jaczko supporters’ take that his ouster was a concerted effort over Fukushima disputes, Ostendroff said that “is completely inaccurate.”
“While Chairman Jaczko may have had some different perspectives on certain safety issues than other commissioner colleagues, never was that the issue. The issue was how he was conducting himself as chairman, and what was being done in significant incidents to prevent the flow of information to commission colleagues pursuant to his obligations under the Atomic Energy Act,” Ostendorff said. “It was never an issue about a disagreement on whether a certain safety-related rulemaking should be in place. It was how his office was conducting itself, how his office was interfacing with commissioner colleagues and with the staff.”
Not a Zealot for Yucca, but for Following the Law
Ostendorff is leaving NRC for a teaching position with his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy. When his term expires June 30, he will have served just over six years with the commission, a tenure highlighted by controversy over Yucca Mountain. During the interview he addressed the nuclear waste stalemate in Congress, saying that he’s not a zealot for the repository proposed at Yucca, but rather for following the law.
Ostendorff in 2010 voted to deny the Energy Department’s motion to withdraw its license application for Yucca Mountain. The commission found itself evenly divided over the issue, and the adjudicatory process for the filing remains suspended.
“At that time I thought that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was very clear of the requirements for a geologic repository in accordance with a federal statute,” Ostendorff said Friday. “I believe in the rule of law. I’m not a zealot for Yucca. I am a zealot for following the law, and if Congress and the administration do not like Yucca Mountain as a repository, I’m very open to seeing them amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. That has not happened, and I’ve seen very little progress in that area.”
As for the possibility of legislative action in 2017, after Reid retires, Ostendorff said he doesn’t “have a crystal ball.” He said NRC technical findings that support the Yucca Mountain repository are a “strong anchor point” for the waste disposal conversation moving forward, most recently the regulator’s final supplement to DOE’s environmental impact statement. That document found that the facility would have a “small” impact on local groundwater.
“Whether or not Yucca Mountain is the site for a repository, that body of work will help inform characterization of any other site that might be considered by the Department of Energy and the Congress,” Ostendorff said, adding that the U.S. will need a repository somewhere to fulfill NWPA commitments.
NRC Has Healthy Relationship With Industry
Last week an anti-nuclear advocate and adviser to the NRC warned officials not to fall into the same trap as the Japanese in letting industry overpower the regulator. A Japanese parliamentary panel report from 2012 found that regulatory capture, a theory in which industry dictates regulation, was heavily to blame in the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
Ostendorff said he kept an open-door policy during his time at NRC, which some might view as “being too close to industry.”
“Well I view it as, it’s part of our job to be well-informed and to understand the industry’s perspectives, and I’ve had similar discussions with the Union of Concerned Scientists and other NGOs,” Ostendorff said. “I believe that we have a healthy, constructive relationship with industry. I do not believe that we are captured by industry. I think that our independence as a regulator has been stalwart during my term and during the agency’s history.”