The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the 115th Congress.
Baranwal and National Park Service director nominee Raymond David Vela were approved in a joint voice vote by the committee. Afterward, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) recorded a vote in opposition to Baranwal. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was not at the meeting, also recorded votes against both nominees via committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
Cortez Masto and Sanders’ offices did not respond by deadline for comments on their opposition to Baranwal. However, during a Nov. 15 confirmation hearing, Cortez Masto quizzed the nominee regarding her position on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev.
If confirmed as assistant DOE secretary for nuclear energy, Baranwal would lead any efforts at the agency to license and develop the underground disposal space for spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Congress so far has resisted the Trump administration’s efforts to resume the long-stalled licensing process, but there are rumblings of developments as lawmakers work on a replacement for the short-term budget funding a number of federal agencies through Dec. 7.
Under questioning from Nevada’s soon-to-be senior senator, Baranwal said she would follow the law on nuclear waste disposal as set by Congress. As designated in the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, that means advancing Yucca Mountain.
The Energy and Natural Resources Committee also advanced Bernard McNamee’s nomination to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on a nearly party-line vote.
