David Goldman/AP

Power struggle at watchdog agency could undermine nuclear-plant safety

Lawmakers overseeing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission continue to raise questions about whether it is functioning effectively.

Until the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan and a very public internal feud late last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was a fairly obscure federal agency with primary responsibility for regulating the nation’s 104 nuclear power plants.

But when the other four NRC commissioners—two Democrats and two Republicans—ganged up on Chairman Gregory Jaczko last year, accusing the Democratic appointee of bullying and intimidating his fellow commissioners and agency staff, the backwater agency based about 15 miles outside of Washington was suddenly in the spotlight with a good old-fashioned, inside-the-Beltway melodrama.

Six months later, things have settled down at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., at least on the surface, but the bitterness caused by the controversy still seems to linger and many lawmakers overseeing the agency continue to raise questions about whether NRC is functioning effectively at a critical time for the nuclear industry.

In a recent interview with National Journal, Jaczko spoke calmly about the debacle. Sitting in his office on the top floor of the agency’s headquarters, the embattled chairman’s words were measured. Reiterating what he has now said many times about the blowup, Jaczko argued that disagreements at an independent commission like NRC are the sign of “a healthy culture.”

“If people wanted everyone who agreed, then they’d save the money and they’d just have one person in charge,” Jaczko said.

There are dozens of independent boards and commissions in Washington, from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the Federal Communications Commission, but rarely has one of them had its dirty laundry displayed like the NRC’s was late last year.

“That was a really unusual circumstance,” former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve, a Democrat, told National Journal in March. “There often are disagreements, but this was one that was very public and that’s unusual.”

The four other commissioners at the NRC wrote a letter in October to then-White House Chief of Staff William Daley, charging that Jaczko had created “a chilled work environment” at the agency by bullying and withholding information from his fellow commissioners. After House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., released the letter in December, the floodgates opened, and in hearing after hearing, commissioners testified to lawmakers that Jaczko verbally abused female employees and snapped at fellow commissioners and agency staff.

Republican lawmakers in both chambers called for the chairman’s resignation, but Jaczko has been steadfast in saying he has no plans to step down. The White House and most Democrats, including the chairman’s former bosses Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., have stood by him.

When Congress returned for its second session in January, it looked as though the firestorm had passed. The commission, plunging itself back into the shadows of regulatory humdrum, went back to its work, dealing with post-Fukushima safety reforms and issuing the first new reactor licenses in the United States in decades.  

All five NRC commissioners appeared before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in March, discussing industry safety reforms after Fukushima and appearing to have a united front before lawmakers.

NRC Commissioner William Magwood, a Democrat who was in some ways the leader of last year’s upheaval, told reporters after the hearing that “the atmosphere at the NRC is a bit better than it was a few months ago.”

“We went through a very difficult time, everyone put their thoughts on the table, and we’ve moved on,” Magwood said, adding that the commission has been focused on its work amid “the distractions of the last six months or so.”

Regardless of the image they have put forth, however, there are still visible signs of disagreement among the commissioners. Most significantly, when the commission issued license approvals in February and March for four new reactors—two at a plant in Georgia and two at a plant in South Carolina—the chairman was the lone dissenter in both 4-1 votes.

“I think there’s still mistrust among the commissioners,” former NRC Chairman Dale Klein, a Republican, told National Journal in March. “While that’s not on the front page, I think it’s still lurking,” said Klein, who in the midst of last year’s clash called for Jaczko to resign.

“Trust is something you earn, it’s not a right, and so I think there still is some concern among the other commissioners … if you lose 4-1, as chairman, you’re not doing a good consensus-building,” Klein said.

“I think there’s a fundamental lack of communication, lack of trust,” Klein added, saying that the White House letter and the dissenting votes by Jaczko demonstrate the “disfunctionality” of the agency.

Jaczko has since defended his votes against the new reactors, saying that he and his fellow commissioners simply disagreed over the means of implementing new safeguards.

“We had a disagreement, but nonetheless we moved forward with issuance of the license,” he told National Journal in March. “I wasn’t comfortable doing that, but there was clearly a majority of commissioners who were, so I thought it was appropriate that we move forward and we issued the license,” Jaczko said, again noting that disagreements are healthy for the five-member commission.

This kind of obvious friction, though it may be simply over regulatory policy, just fuels the fire for those would prefer to keep last year’s controversy alive.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, chairman of the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee, told Jaczko in March that his voting is a troubling sign that all is still not well at the agency, while Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, called the “apparent, and perhaps real, friction” at the agency “disturbing.”

After Jaczko’s most recent dissenting vote on two new units at Scana’s Virgil C. Summer plant in South Carolina, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., called Jaczko “the lone obstacle blocking a full embrace of our nuclear future.” Though he praised the commission for approving the new licenses, Upton noted that he is still “deeply concerned by the politicization that has contaminated its leadership.”

In the Senate, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, didn’t shy away from the opportunity to call out Jaczko for his vote as well.

“I'm not surprised that NRC Chairman Jaczko opposed the license for these reactors in South Carolina just has he opposed the license for the reactors that will be built in Georgia,” Inhofe said, aligning the controversial agency head with President Obama.  

“The good news is that despite the Obama administration's efforts to stop energy development in this country, these reactors will be built, thousands of jobs will be created, and Americans will have increased access to reliable, affordable energy,” Inhofe said.

Meanwhile, the NRC's inspector general is still conducting an investigation of last year’s allegations and whenever a report is released, it is sure to reopen some of these wounds. An IG report last June already criticized the chairman for not being “forthcoming” with his fellow commissioners leading up to the shutdown of the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nevada.

Despite the still-swirling controversy, the NRC's employment website, along with Jaczko himself, continues to tout the agency as “a great place to work.” For many years now, even including 2011, the agency has topped the list of rankings for best places to work in the federal government. Whether that superior ranking will stay put, however, likely depends on whether the embattled regulatory agency can plunge itself back into the obscurity from which it emerged last year.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.