Obama to Appoint Industry-Experienced Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners
By:
Christopher J. Rourk
The Obama administration is believed to be close to nominating former Department of Energy (DOE) Director William Magwood and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor George Apostolakis to fill the two vacancies of the five-member United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). Both of the appointees have extensive backgrounds in the nuclear power industry and would likely help the USNRC to make progress on many important regulatory issues facing the industry, such as long term high level waste storage, new design certification, and license applications for new reactors.
At the DOE, Magwood served as the Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy from 1998 to 2005, and he has worked as an industry consultant since leaving the DOE. As Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, he was the federal government's senior civilian nuclear technology official and also had the longest tenure of any director to serve in that position. Prior to working at the DOE, Magwood was employed by the Edison Electric Institute and as a scientist with Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Dr. Apostolakis has served on the Advisory Committee for Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) since 1995, a committee that directly advises the commissioners of the USNRC. He has also worked as a consultant to the USNRC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, the State of California, and Bechtel Power Corporation.
The appointment of two industry-experienced commissioners would help to allay industry concerns caused by the Obama administration's appointment of Gregory Jaczko as chairman of the USNRC in May. Jaczko is the former science adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was instrumental in killing the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The lack of a long-term high-level waste storage facility has been used by opponents of nuclear power to argue that no new plants should be built. Magwood and Apostolakis would bring considerable nuclear industry expertise and credibility to the USNRC, if appointed and confirmed.
For more information on this issue, please contact Christopher J. Rourk at 214.953.5990 or crourk@jw.com.
Christopher J. Rourk is a partner in the Dallas office of Jackson Walker. Before graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995, he was a licensed Profession al Engineer and worked as an electrical engineer for Bechtel Power Corporation at the San Onofre and Vogtle nuclear power plants, for Westinghouse designing electrical generators, and on rulemaking at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If you wish to be added to this e-Alert listing, please
CLICK HERE
to sign up. If you wish to be removed, please reply to this e-mail with REMOVE in the subject line and include your first and last name.
