Obama names ex-Reid aide to lead nuclear commission

By Mary Manning (contact)

Published Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 1:56 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 5:21 p.m.

reid.senate.gov

Sen. Harry Reid swears in Gregory B. Jaczko as a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been appointed by President Barack Obama as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will decide the fate of a Yucca Mountain nuclear repository.

Gregory B. Jaczko has been a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since 2005 and is serving a five-year term.

"I am honored President Obama has entrusted me with the responsibility of serving as the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Jaczko said after he learned of his appointment late today. "I look forward to continuing to work closely with the talented and dedicated agency staff and my fellow commissioners."

Jaczko's appointment is the second recent blow this week to licensing and building a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reviewing judges granted Nevada standing in Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearings on licensing the repository.

Under law, the five-member commission has three members from the president's party and two from the minority party. The president appoints the chairman from among the commissioners, said NRC Deputy Director Beth Hayden.

The president has slashed the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository budget to $196.8 million, the lowest amount ever, directing the Energy Department to explore alternatives to burying 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste at the mountain.

Washington has been speculating since January, shortly after Obama was inaugurated, that Jaczko likely would be elevated to the chairmanship, replacing current chairman Dale Klein, a nuclear engineer and former confidante of President George W. Bush's Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Klein's terms expires in June 2011, and he has said that if he is removed as chairman, he will continue to serve out his term, Hayden said.

"It has been my deep and distinct honor to serve as your chairman," Klein wrote to the staff and commission today. "I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment in leading this agency through this challenging time."

Klein also sent his congratulations to Jaczko in his new role.

Before his appointment to the NRC, Jaczko, a nuclear physicist, had been the science advisor to Senator Reid.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman serves at the pleasure of the president. "The president has the authority to tap any one of the members on the commission as chairman," Hayden said.

Another NRC commissioner, Peter Lyons, ends his term on June 30, Hayden said. Lyons was nominated by former Sen. Pete Dominici, R-N.M.

Reid and Dominici struck a deal with each other to get Jaczko and Lyons on the commission during the Bush administration.

Administrative judges for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards handed Yucca Mountain opponents a victory on Monday, allowing 299 out of 318 contentions in a 153-page order that granted Nevada and California permission to participate in lengthy licensing hearings on Yucca Mountain.

The proceedings before NRC judicial review boards is expected to last up to four years.

The NRC judges' order allowed all but seven of Nevada's 229 contentions, including those about climate change, waste container corrosion from water inside the mountain and groundwater contamination.

The Energy Department and NRC's staff had argued in hearings earlier this year that all of Nevada's contentions were unacceptable. The NRC staff cited only 19 with merit.

NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the judges' ruling set the stage for a thorough hearing with the parties.

Jaczko's professional career has been devoted to science and its use and impact on public policy. In addition to science advisor to Reid, Jaczko also served as appropriations director to the senator.

He also advised members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on nuclear policy and other scientific matters and worked as a congressional science fellow in the office of Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

He has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University teaching science and policy.

After learning of the appointment of Jaczko as NRC chairman, Senator Harry Reid said, "I am pleased that President Obama has appointed such a qualified individual to lead the commission.

"Greg's entire career has been dedicated to applying science to public policy. His work in Congress and at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has improved the safety of nuclear power plants and is based on his demonstrated commitment to bringing all stakeholders to the table. Having worked with Dr. Jaczko I know he will continue working toward a safe and effective nuclear energy policy that leaves Nevada and the nation more secure," Reid said.