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Hearing on the Nomination of Allison Macfarlane and Re-Nomination of Kris- Tine L. Svinicki to Be Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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Hearing on the Nomination of Allison Macfarlane and Re-Nomination of Kris- Tine L. Svinicki to Be Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission S. HRG. 112–971 HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF ALLISON MACFARLANE AND RE-NOMINATION OF KRIS- TINE L. SVINICKI TO BE MEMBERS OF THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 13, 2012 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 25–055 PDF WASHINGTON : 2017 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\_EPW\DOCS\25055.TXT SONYA COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman MAX BAUCUS, Montana JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware DAVID VITTER, Louisiana FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont MIKE CRAPO, Idaho SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York BETTINA POIRIER, Majority Staff Director RUTH VAN MARK, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\_EPW\DOCS\25055.TXT SONYA CONTENTS Page JUNE 13, 2012 OPENING STATEMENTS Blumenthal, Hon. Richard, U.S. Senator from the State of Connecticut ............ 1 Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California ........................ 3 Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 23 Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware ................... 25 Alexander, Hon. Lamar, U.S. Senator from the State of Tennessee ................... 27 Sanders, Hon. Bernard, U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont ....................... 29 Sessions, Hon. Jeff, U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama ............................. 34 Lautenberg, Hon. Frank R., U.S. Senator from the State of New Jersey ........... 35 Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming .......................... 36 Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland ................ 38 Udall, Hon. Tom, U.S. Senator from the State of New Mexico ............................ 39 Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 217 WITNESSES Macfarlane, Allison, Ph.D., Associate Professor, George Mason University ....... 39 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Boxer ............................................................................................ 43 Senator Inhofe ........................................................................................... 45 Senator Sessions ........................................................................................ 48 Senator Barrasso ....................................................................................... 60 Response to an additional question from Senator Alexander ....................... 63 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Udall ............................................................................................. 64 Senator Boozman ....................................................................................... 67 Senator Crapo ............................................................................................ 69 Senator Carper .......................................................................................... 71 Svinicki, Hon. Kristine L., Commissioner. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commis- sion ........................................................................................................................ 72 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 74 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Boxer ............................................................................................ 75 Senator Carper .......................................................................................... 79 Senator Udall ............................................................................................. 81 Response to an additional question from Senator Barrasso ......................... 85 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\_EPW\DOCS\25055.TXT SONYA VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\_EPW\DOCS\25055.TXT SONYA HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF ALLISON MACFARLANE AND RE-NOMINATION OF KRISTINE L. SVINICKI TO BE MEMBERS OF THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Senators Boxer, Inhofe, Carper, Lautenberg, Cardin, Sanders, Udall, Gillibrand, Barrasso, Sessions, Alexander, and Boozman. Also present: Senator Blumenthal. Senator BOXER. We will proceed. And because we know Senators have schedules, we will withhold our opening statements and allow you to do your introductions. So we will start with Senator Blumenthal, please, introducing the nominee for Chairman. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you, Madam Chairman and Rank- ing Member Inhofe. I am very, very honored today to introduce Al- lison Macfarlane, President Obama’s nominee to be a Commis- sioner, in fact, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I want to thank the Chairwoman and members of the Committee for giving me this opportunity. Dr. Macfarlane is a native of Connecticut; she was born in Hart- ford, raised in Avon, went to Avon High School, which is an area just a few miles north and west of Hartford, our capital. And I would like to say that is her most important distinction, but actu- ally, as you know, she is a geologist of national, indeed, inter- national stature, and I think supremely well qualified to head the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at this critical point in its history and our nation’s. She is a remarkable scholar and leader, and a person of genuine vision and courage, and she has been an Associate Professor of En- vironmental Science and Policy at George Mason University since 2006, but she has been in a variety of academic positions at Har- vard, Stanford, and other universities before the one that she has now. (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Jul 06, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\_EPW\DOCS\25055.TXT SONYA 2 She has also served on the Blue Ribbon Commission established by the President, 15-member commission which produced a report very recently that addresses one of the principal challenges for the NRC in coming years: to develop an integrated nuclear waste facil- ity management program and make sure that we move from spent pools to dry casks in as many of our nuclear facilities as possible. This issue is extraordinarily important to Connecticut because of our Connecticut Yankee and our Millstone plants, where some of our fuel is still stored in pools and where we have a substantial amount of nuclear waste, and the interest of Connecticut in this issue is very, very profoundly significant. Dr. Macfarlane is not only a person of academic and scholarly distinction, but she is also a person of great collegiality and integ- rity, and I am very proud to introduce her to this Committee and to support her for this profoundly important position, and I hope that members of the Committee—I know they will—will be as im- pressed as I am by her personal, her professional, and her aca- demic distinctions and her qualifications for this profoundly impor- tant position. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman. Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. And Senator Sessions is going to reintroduce Hon. Kristine Svinicki, Commissioner. Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Chairman Boxer and Ranking Member Inhofe and members of the Committee. It is a delight for me to be able to introduce you this morning Kristine Svinicki. She is no stranger to the Committee, having ap- peared before us at least five other times in the last several years. I have personally known Kristine for more than 7 years, time enough for me to show and learn what an impressive and good per- son she really is. Let me tell you a few things about her. She was born and raised in Jackson, Michigan, a mid-sized town in the southern part of the State. Her Grandfather Svinicki came to America from Eastern Europe to work in the iron mines of Michigan. Kristine is the youngest of seven children of Amol and Jane Svinicki. Her father was an Army veteran of World War II. Although her father never spoke about his war experiences, as so often is the case, Kristine and her siblings were surprised and very moved to learn, after his death, of his multiple commendations for valor in combat, including two bronze stars, of which he
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