ECA Update: December 12, 2011

Published: Mon, 12/12/11

 
In this update:
 
 
Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup
(Martin Fackler, The New York Times)
 
Fukushima's Ripple Effects Continue
(Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times Green Blog)
 
Big energy measures to slide past 2012
(Darren Samuelsohn and Darren Goode, Politico)
 
 
NRC commissioners tell White House they have "grave concerns" about Chairman Jaczko
 
 
 
Lawmakers Split Over NRC's Jaczko
(Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal)
 
 
  
ARPA-E's Majumdar Takes First Step Toward No. 3 Post at Energy
Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider
December 8, 2011
 
Arun Majumdar appears to be on a fast track toward becoming undersecretary of energy. That means Energy Secretary Steven Chu may soon have to decide whether to let Majumdar retain his current job as founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) or choose a successor.
 
Today the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a confirmation hearing on Majumdar's nomination as undersecretary. The hearing amounted to a bipartisan "competition for throwing bouquets," noted Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who joined his colleagues in heaping praise on the job that Majumdar has done since Chu plucked him 2 years ago from the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to head the department's new blue-sky research shop.
 

 
Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup
Martin Fackler, The New York Times
December 6, 2011
 
FUTABA, Japan -- Futaba is a modern-day ghost town -- not a boomtown gone bust, not even entirely a victim of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that leveled other parts of Japan's northeast coast.
 
Its traditional wooden homes have begun to sag and collapse since they were abandoned in March by residents fleeing the nuclear plant on the edge of town that began spiraling toward disaster. Roofs possibly damaged by the earth's shaking have let rain seep in, starting the rot that is eating at the houses from the inside.
 
The roadway arch at the entrance to the empty town almost seems a taunt. It reads: "Nuclear energy: a correct understanding brings a prosperous lifestyle."
 

 
Fukushima's Ripple Effects Continue
Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times Green Blog
December 6, 2011
 
The triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March startled many people in the American nuclear industry, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday, although the success in ultimately gaining control of the reactors did not.
 
"I think there are many people who are associated with this industry who believed we had designed away, or operated in a way, that eliminated the possibility of ever having a significant, really severe accident,'' said the chairman, Gregory B. Jaczko, who held a year-end roundtable session with reporters.
 
That it was possible for the three reactors to melt down without causing any immediate deaths was far less surprising, he said. "Plants ultimately have a number of safety features and designs to reduce the likelihood" of releasing enough radiation to cause immediate illness, he said.
 

 
Big energy measures to slide past 2012
Darren Samuelsohn and Darren Goode, Politico
December 11, 2011
 
Capitol Hill's biggest energy policy trend of 2011 is a Congress unable to accomplish much of anything.
 
Don't expect that to change until after next year's election.
The roster of unfinished business from this Congress is legion: Lawmakers have failed to pass measures responding to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill -- the worst such disaster in U.S. history -- or to act on mine safety legislation despite the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 coal miners in West Virginia.
 
Also still on ice: GOP-backed proposals to slap down Obama administration energy and environmental policies, a T. Boone Pickens-backed plan to boost natural gas vehicles and more than a dozen bipartisan bills on issues like hydropower, nuclear energy, and oil and gas reserve inventories, which have cleared a key Senate committee.
 

 
Controversy continues to surround vit plant safety culture
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
December 10, 2011
 
HANFORD -- A recent independent review of the safety culture at the Hanford vitrification plant shows that the culture is flawed, said Peter Winokur, the chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
 
That is contrary to the conclusion drawn by the panel that conducted the review.
 
Winokur's reaction was among recent developments in the intractable dispute about whether concerns about safe operation of the $12.2 billion plant are being raised and addressed without retaliation. Developments include:
 
 
 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Four members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from both parties say they have "grave concerns" about the panel's chairman, charging that his actions are "causing serious damage" to the commission and creating a "chilled work environment at the NRC."
 
In a letter to the White House, the commissioners say Gregory Jaczko's bullying style could adversely affect the agency's mission to protect health and safety at the 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the United States.
 
The two-page letter, signed by all four of Jaczko's colleagues on the five-member panel, stops short of asking that Jaczko resign. It says, however, that he "intimidated and bullied" senior career staff, ordered staff to withhold information and ignored the will of the panel's majority. The letter was signed by Democrats William Magwood and George Apostolakis, as well as Republicans Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff.
 
 
Click here to see a copy of Chairman Issa's letter to the White House and a copy of the original letter from the four NRC commissioners to the White House.
 

House committee to hold "The Leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission" hearing on Wednesday
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
December 9, 2011
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today released a letter sent to White House Chief of Staff William Daley asking him to designate a witness for the Wednesday, December 14 Full Committee hearing "The Leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)." The request follows a letter sent to Daley by NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko's four fellow commissioners where they expressed deep concerns about Chairman Jaczko.
 
"We believe that [Chairman Jaczko's] actions and behavior are causing serious damage to this institution and are creating a chilled work environment at the NRC," the four NRC commissioners wrote to Daley on October 13. "We are concerned that this will adversely affect the NRC's essential mission protect the health, safety and security of the American people."
 
The Oversight Committee's request to the White House comes after it obtained the October 13 letter from the four NRC commissioners last week in the course of its ongoing investigation into the operations and decision making of the NRC.
 

 
Lawmakers Split Over NRC's Jaczko
Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal
December 11, 2011
 
 
Lawmakers are splitting along party lines over whether to support U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko after colleagues questioned his leadership in a letter released Friday.
 
The other four members of the commission wrote a highly critical letter to the White House in October, saying Mr. Jaczko's leadership style was affecting the agency's ability to ensure nuclear safety and all but asking for President Barack Obama to remove Mr. Jaczko from the chairmanship. The letter was released Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who is holding a hearing on Wednesday at which all five commissioners are expected to testify.
 
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the NRC, said in a statement that Mr. Jaczko's response to Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident had been "swift and effective."
 

 
Scuffle at NRC has stench of industry influence behind it
J. Patrick Coolican, Las Vegas Sun
December 12, 2011
 
Let's apply the usual Washington rules -- nothing is what it seems and the motives of the accusers are often questionable -- to a dust-up at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Nuclear regulatory issues are of the utmost importance to Nevada because even though President Barack Obama killed the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, many in Washington, including in the industry, fantasize that Yucca is the government equivalent of Rasputin and can't be so easily killed.
 
Here's what's happened, though as often is the case, the surface facts don't tell us what's really going on.
 
 
More Information
 
 
 
 
 
To help ensure that you receive all email with images correctly displayed, please add ecabulletin@aweber.com to your address book or contact list  
ECA Bulletin 
While you're waiting for the next edition of the ECA Bulletin, browse previous editions