November 30, 2014

Senate EPW Set to Vote on Baran Re-Nomination for NRC Slot

By ExchangeMonitor

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote on the re-nomination to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of Commissioner Jeffrey Baran tomorrow during a committee business meeting. President Barrack Obama nominated Baran to serve the remaining years left on departing NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane’s tenure, which would expire in June 2018. Baran initially was confirmed to serve out the remainder of former Commissioner William Magwood’s term, which expires next June, but if approved, this would add an additional three years to the tenure of the former aide to Rep. Henry Waxman (D- Calif.). Republicans on the committee, though, have called for a hearing on the re-nomination— a request that Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has declined. Baran officially joined the Commission last month after the Senate approved his nomination in September.

The Environment and Public Works Committee will also host a hearing on Wednesday titled, “NRC’s Implementation of the Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendations and other Actions to Enhance and Maintain Nuclear Safety.” All five Commission members will be in attendance, as well as former California Seismic Safety Commission member Sam Blakeslee, Lecturer Daniel Hirsch from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Chief Nuclear Officer Anthony Pietrangelo. The hearing will likely provide Boxer another opportunity to question the NRC on regulation exemptions for secuirty and emergency preparedness at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station as well as seismic hazards at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Station.

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