U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, led an oversight hearing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The session focused on how the NRC is implementing its revised mission statement and exploring ways to improve regulatory efficiency.
Chairman Capito addressed the recent changes to the NRC’s mission statement, which was updated for the first time in many years. She emphasized the importance of making this mission statement actionable and aligning agency guidance accordingly. “I want to talk about the mission statement, making it actionable. We’ve all kind of alluded to the fact that the mission statement was realigned for the first time in many, many years, and to achieve its greatest impact, the Commission has to, with the staff, has to rewrite the guidance so that further actions can adhere to the vision that’s outlined in that statement. The ADVANCE Act required the Commission to describe to Congress how it will update agency guidance to reflect the new mission statement. The report was due in July, but we have yet to receive that report. So, what are your observations about how the agency has reflected the spirit of the revised mission statement in its activities to implement the ADVANCE Act, and where do you see us going from here?” Capito said.
NRC Chairman Wright explained efforts behind updating their guiding principles: “The mission statement is something that we work very hard on, especially with colleague here to my left, we worked very hard on that over the holidays last year. And finally, the whole Commission, as you know, adopted it in January. The mission statement outlines exactly what we do as an agency every day. It hits every factor and even with the executive orders that are out there, as I see it right now, it supports the executive orders as well.”
Commissioner Crowell added: “I think the mission statement we’ve worked out on a bipartisan basis was well received by this Committee. I think it reflects the current goals and mission of the agency.”
The hearing also examined possible reforms aimed at streamlining reporting requirements for nuclear licensees—specifically non-emergency event reporting rules viewed by some as excessive or redundant. Capito pointed out Congressional intent behind recent legislation: “Congress passed the ADVANCE Act to direct the NRC to be more efficient in its regulation… Prime example of unnecessary regulations is what is known as ‘non-emergency event reporting,’ which is some-300 issues that require licensees to notify the NRC… after more than eight years of work, last summer, career NRC staff submitted a proposed rule… So I’d like to ask each of you… do you support this straightforward simple proposal that career NRC inspectors and staff endorsed… would you support providing a temporary compliance relief for licensees?”
Wright responded: “My position for a long time has been that that effort to eliminate these requirements is a good example of risk-informing our regulations and improving them. So yes I would support.”
Crowell stated: “Yes I think what we can do to reduce burden on our inspectors for doing potentially needless paperwork exercises is a valuable part of our efficiency goals.”
Commissioner Marzano concluded: “There’s definitely room for improvement. I support staff’s work here… In any way that we can ensure that NRC remains situationally aware…that is a valuable aspect of this type of reporting. But I do support streamlining making process more efficient.”
