The Trump administration on Wednesday announced its intention to nominate a veteran of the nuclear industry as the new assistant secretary to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
There was no immediate word on when Rita Baranwal would be formally nominated. The White House and Baranwal did not respond to requests for comment by deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
Baranwal has since August 2016 served as director of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative headquartered at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory. The program is intended to promote nuclear power through research and development that address cost, safety, security, and other issues that present barriers to the technology.
Previously she spent almost nine years at Westinghouse Electric in a number of management roles, ending as director of technology development leading a staff of roughly 80 managers, engineers, and technicians in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Before joining Westinghouse, Baranwal worked for Bechtel Bettis for two years and nine months at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa. While there, she headed research and development on nuclear fuel materials for U.S naval reactors, according to the White House announcement.
Baranwal has a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in the same field from the University of Michigan.
The nomination would pass through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on its way to a potential confirmation vote by the full Senate.
If confirmed, Baranwal would lead DOE programs related to nuclear reactors and nuclear waste, including the still-unfunded effort to resume licensing for the Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada. The Office of Nuclear Energy, which is currently funded at over $1.3 billion for fiscal 2019, is now led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Edward McGinnis.
