Kristine Svinicki, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, announced Monday, Jan. 4, that she will leave the regulatory agency on Jan. 20, the day that Joe Biden will become president. She has been a Republican NRC member for nine years, and chairman for the entire Trump administration.
Her current term was scheduled to end June 3 30, 2022, but she would have been removed as NRC chairman when the Biden administration took control of government. Under law, the NRC consists of five members, appointed for five-year terms, with a majority consisting of appointees of the incumbent administration, including the chairman.
Svinicki’s departure will allow Biden to appoint a new Democrat to the commission, joining Democrats Jeff Baran and Christopher Hanson to form a majority, and to name the chairman, most likely, according to several sources, Baran.
Svinicki is a nuclear engineer and long-time Washington player in nuclear policy and politics, including long service as a Senate Republican staffer. She has been the longest serving commissioner in NRC’s history, according to the agency.
In announcing her decision to step down from the NRC, she said, “When I speak to college students and young professionals, I tell them that public service is a calling. If it calls to you, you should heed it and, if you do, you will not regret a single day. As I look back on 30 years of federal service, I know this to be as true as ever. I sincerely wish the women and men of the NRC staff every continued success as they build upon the proud legacy of their predecessors, while transforming the NRC into a modern, risk-informed regulator ready to address the nuclear technologies and challenges of tomorrow.”
In the nine years she served on the NRC, the agency’s relevance has followed the long, slow decline of the U.S. nuclear industry. Once a high-profile, news-making institution, the NRC has become a low-profile, under-the-radar, organization. That’s unlikely to change and likely a good thing.
–Kennedy Maize
kenmaize@gmail.com