Two nominees to sit on the federal board that regulates the nuclear power industry are headed to the full Senate for confirmation.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee gave the OK to Nuclear Regulatory Commission nominees Stephen Burns and Jeffery Baran, both Democrats, by votes of 11-6 and 11-7. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., was the only GOP lawmaker to join all the panel’s Democrats in voting to send the nominees to the floor.
Both Baran and Burns are expected to earn confirmation from the upper chamber.
Burns would replace George Apostolakis, a Democrat, with a term ending June 30, 2019. Burns has most recently served as head of legal affairs with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, and is also a former NRC general counsel.
Baran, a top aide to retiring House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., would serve out the rest of former Democratic commissioner William Magwood’s term, which expires June 30, 2015. An attorney by trade, Baran was recently appointed to Democratic staff director for energy and environment with the House committee.
