Click here to watch Ranking Member Capito’s questions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today questioned Christopher T. Hanson, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and Jeff Baran and David A. Wright, commissioners of the NRC.

Prior to the oversight hearing, the committee held a business meeting to consider several nominees for positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, as well as legislation to name three federal buildings—one of which is located in Wheeling, W.Va.—and four General Services Administration (GSA) resolutions.

HIGHLIGHTS:

NUCLEAR ENERGY’S POTENTIAL: “Nuclear is the least talked about, but in some ways could be the most powerful dual tool in terms of generating the power, but also in an environmental way that doesn't have the emission challenges…I’ll say.”

COMMUNICATING THE BENEFITS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY: “From the view of the American public, who I believe believes in an all-the-above energy plan for the country…and you heard by my opening statements and frustrations that I felt with the direction that we're going…How do you tell the country that nuclear needs to have a future and has a future, and any concerns from the past? How they're being allayed?”

CONGRESSIONAL EFFORTS SUPPORTING ADVANCEMENT OF NUCLEAR: “Congress created the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program to establish public-private partnerships. And then, the BIF [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] put $2.5 billion in funding to support this program. So, that's a major investment, and much welcomed in a bipartisan effort. To successfully build and operate these reactors the NRC must efficiently review and approve these designs. So, Chairman Hanson…how is the commission preparing to review those in light of the new funding opportunities?”

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