Todd Jacobson
WC Monitor
4/10/2015

President Barack Obama made it official this week, announcing that he intends to nominate White House nuclear energy official Joyce Connery and nuclear industry veteran Bruce Hamilton to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. WC Monitor first reported last week that the two were the top candidates to be nominated to fill the remaining vacant spots on the Board. Connery is currently the director of Nuclear Energy Policy in the National Security Council’s Office of International Economics, and she has been nominated to be the chair of the five-member Board, filling Peter Winokur’s slot. Hamilton would replace the late Ken Mossman. DNFSB Vice Chairman Jessie Roberson has been serving as the acting chairman of the Board since Winokur retired. Connery and Hamilton must be confirmed by the Senate before joining the Board.

Connery’s most recent stint at the National Security Council is her second after she served on the NSC staff from 2008 to 2010. She also served as a senior advisor to Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman from 2010 to 2012, and prior to 2008 she was a senior policy advisor in National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Hamilton served on nuclear-powered cruisers and aircraft carriers during a 24-year career in the Navy, and after retiring in 2002, he joined Luminant, eventually heading up Fuelco LLC from 2009 to 2013. Fuelco was Luminant’s joint venture with Ameren Missouri and Pacific Gas and Electric, which served as a broker between Russia’s TENEX and its U.S. subsidiary, TENAM Corp.

Timing for Senate Consideration Unclear

Connery and Hamilton are not expected to face any opposition in their confirmation, though it’s unclear how soon the Senate could take up their nominations. The Senate cleared DNFSB member Daniel Santos last year, but it moved relatively quickly because Winokur was retiring and the Board needed a third member to maintain a quorum. It’s been slow to consider Obama Administration nominees this year, and a handful of Department of Energy nominees remain in limbo, including Monica Regalbuto, the choice to head up the Office of Environmental Management. “I haven’t heard anything controversial about them, but I’ve got no clue when they could get taken up,” one Congressional staffer told WC Monitor.

In a message to employees, Roberson said the Board didn’t know when the Senate would take up the nominees, but that she was “optimistic that the process will occur smoothly and we look forward to Ms. Connery and Mr. Hamilton joining the Board. I am appreciative of the progress taken to fill the additional Board Member positions. This is important in the agency’s ability to provide effective oversight.”