President Obama tapped Stephen Burns to head the federal agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear power industry.
Burns will take over as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission beginning Jan. 1, replacing Allison Macfarlane, who resigned in October. Burns doesn’t need congressional approval for post because the Senate has already cleared him to serve on the five-member NRC through June 30, 2019.
“I am pleased to have been selected to serve as the NRC’s next chairman. It is a great honor to lead the agency to which I dedicated most of my professional career,” Burns said.
Burns was most recently head of legal affairs with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. He is also a former NRC general counsel.
As chairman of the NRC, Burns will be tasked with overseeing nuclear waste storage issues that could get more attention in a Republican-controlled Senate. Front and center will be Yucca Mountain, the proposed permanent nuclear-waste site in Nevada that the Obama administration pulled the plug on in 2010.
Federal courts ruled that the NRC must complete its review of whether Yucca can safely store waste to comply with federal law, but the agency said it doesn’t have enough money. House Republicans have tried sending the NRC more money, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who strongly opposes Yucca, has blocked the moves.
The Obama administration has said it would prefer a “consent-based process” instead of Yucca, meaning it wants local or state governments to apply to host the waste.
Other items on the NRC agenda include implementing safety reforms to protect U.S. nuclear reactors from disasters like the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan and licensing of next-generation nuclear reactors.
Marvin Fertel, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute industry group, said he would “look forward to working with Chairman Burns.”
