The Senate on Monday voted 87-0 to confirm Department of Justice attorney Robert Feitel as the new inspector general for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Feitel succeeds Hubert Bell, who served 22 years as the industry regulator’s inspector general before retiring in December 2018.
The vote was conducted shortly after 6 p.m., following a brief introduction from Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). It was the upper chamber’s first day back in session after a recess of more than five weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Feitel was nominated in October and advanced out of Barrasso’s committee in December. There was no word Tuesday morning on when he would be sworn in to his new job.
The NRC inspector general heads an office with an annual budget of roughly $13 million. Its mission is to prepare audits and investigations “to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness within the NRC, and to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement in agency programs and operations.” The office also serves as the inspector general for the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the health-and-safety monitor for nuclear sites managed by the Department of Energy.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general is responsible for detecting and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as mismanagement of the commission,” Barrasso said from the Senate floor. He added: “Mr. Feitel is well qualified. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this important possession.”
Feitel has been a federal attorney since March 1995, working nearly the last six years in the Capital Case Section at the Justice Department, which primarily supports the Attorney General’s Review Committee on Capital Cases in determining whether to recommend the death penalty in capital cases. He also served almost 12 years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
