Retired admiral withdraws NRC bid

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Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 9:27 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A former Navy admiral has withdrawn his nomination to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the White House announced Thursday.

Last July President Bush nominated retired Navy Vice Adm. John J. Grossenbacher, who most recently served as commander of the U.S. submarine forces in the Atlantic, to finish out the remainder of former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve's five-year term, which ends June 30, and to serve another term that would end June 30, 2008.

There are two vacant slots on the five-member commission, one of which must be occupied by a Democrat and one by a Republican, under law. Grossenbacher was tapped to fill the Republican seat, and President Bush nominated Greg Jaczko, a member of Democratic Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's staff, to fill the Democratic seat.

The commission regulates the commercial nuclear industry and will ultimately decide whether the Energy Department will get a license to operate the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.