Marzano

Matthew Marzano became the newest member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when he was officially sworn into office by chair Christopher Hanson this week.

The nuclear engineer and former reactor operator was confirmed last month in a 50–45 vote in the U.S. Senate. Last July, President Biden nominated Marzano to serve on the commission, which is tasked with formulating policies, developing regulations, issuing orders, and resolving legal matters.

Marzano’s term expires June 30, 2028.

Lujan

Legislation that aims to leverage the best available science and technology of U.S. national laboratories to support the cleanup of legacy nuclear waste has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.).

The Combining Laboratory Expertise to Accelerate Novel Solutions for Minimizing Accumulated Radioactive Toxins (CLEAN SMART) Act, introduced on December 12, would codify and fund the Department of Energy to accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of breakthrough technologies and innovations for nuclear waste cleanup.

Legacy waste: Currently, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is responsible for the remediation of 15 legacy sites across the United States that hold nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War era. According to Luján, the cost to decommission these remaining sites continues to grow and is estimated to be nearly $700 billion, for a completion date near the end of the century.

A nuclear engineer, former reactor operator, and nuclear navy educator earned U.S. Senate approval today to take a seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Matthew Marzano was confirmed in a 50–45 vote in the Senate and steps into an existing five-year term that will expire June 30, 2028. He joins the five-member commission, which has been without a tiebreaker vote since June 2023, when Jeff Baran’s term expired.

Marzano brings more than a decade of industry experience both working in nuclear plants and advising energy policy on Capitol Hill.

Since its inception in 2020, World Nuclear Energy Day has grown in awareness each year. The day is celebrated annually on December 2.

This year on December 2, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution for World Nuclear Energy Day, celebrating the peaceful development of nuclear energy technology and underscoring the vital role of nuclear power in strengthening the U.S. economy and supporting a reliable energy grid worldwide.

Heinrich

Cruz

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.) introduced a bill that would require the Department of Energy and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to create an independent committee of experts to study new technologies and opportunities for recycling the country’s inventory of spent nuclear fuel.

Introduced on September 24, the Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel Recycling Act calls for a DOE-commissioned study evaluating the costs, benefits, and risks—including proliferation—of recycling U.S. spent nuclear fuel into usable fuels for commercial and advanced reactors, as well as for other nonreactor applications, including medical, space, industrial, and advanced battery applications.

The U.S. Senate’s proposed Department of the Interior funding package provides $250,000 to develop a generic, technology-neutral standard for future high-level nuclear waste disposal facilities.

The goal is for the Environmental Protection Agency to use modern and international practices in creating new plans to store U.S. nuclear waste. This spring, the EPA had requested $635,000 to fund this work—but even the proposed $250,000 would help get the process moving.

So far, funding has been included only in the Senate’s version of the appropriations bill, but supporters hope it makes the final package when Senate and House lawmakers conference on the final fiscal year 2025 appropriations legislation this fall.

For more details, see the original story below from June 28.

The U.S. Senate yesterday passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, sending legislation that would make sweeping changes to the approval process for new technology in the nuclear energy sector to President Biden for final approval.

The legislation passed with an overwhelming majority in the Senate—the vote was 88–2—having cleared the House of Representatives in May.

A bill being considered in the U.S. Senate seeks to remove the requirement for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold a public hearing for every nuclear reactor application.

Current law requires public hearings to be held by the NRC toward the end the reactor license application process, in addition to the statutorily required environmental and safety reviews that provide public engagement opportunities for stakeholders and citizens.

The U.S. Senate approved April 30—by unanimous consent—a bill banning the importation of Russian uranium. The House of Representatives passed the bill, House Resolution 1042, last fall, and now President Biden is expected to sign it into law.

Hanson

President Biden announced yesterday his intent to renominate Christopher T. Hanson to be a member and chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Hanson was designated NRC chair by Biden in 2021 and was sworn in as a commissioner on June 8, 2020. He is filling the remainder of a five-year term ending on June 30, 2024.

Experience: Hanson has more than two decades of government and private-sector experience in nuclear energy. Prior to joining the NRC, he served as a staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he oversaw civilian and national security nuclear programs. Before working in the Senate, he was a senior advisor in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. He also worked in the DOE’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, where he oversaw nuclear and environmental cleanup programs and managed the department’s relationship with congressional appropriations committees.