Dive Brief:
- According to Platts, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Jeffrey Baran will likely be renominated to his seat, based on comments at a public meeting this week.
- The five-member commission currently has two vacant seats. In July, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Annie Caputo and David Wright to fill those vacancies.
- Their nominations must still be approved by the full Senate, but no date has been set for a vote.
Dive Insight:
Baran's term isn't up until the end of next June, but the idea is to get his nomination approved alongside Caputo and Wright, Platts reports.
Baran was sworn in at the NRC in October 2014, and according to his bio, his priorities include safety enhancements in response to the Fukushima disaster, improving oversight of power reactors entering decommissioning, and boosting the transparency of agency decision making.
Nominated to the empty seats, Caputo is a senior adviser to Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, and chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Wright is a former member of the South Carolina Public Service Commission, and served as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in 2011.
President Trump also selected Kristine Svinicki, who was already serving on the commission, to serve as chairman.
