Capito Questions Marzano on Experience, Policy Perspectives, Efficient ADVANCE Act Implementation if Confirmed to NRC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, participated in a hearing on the nomination of Matthew Marzano to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

During the hearing, Ranking Member Capito questioned Mr. Marzano on his experience in the nuclear industry and his views on serving as an NRC commissioner, as well as his stances on both previous and current issues before the Commission. Additionally, Ranking Member Capito pressed Mr. Marzano on how he would efficiently implement the ADVANCE Act, and the importance of swift and predictable timelines to review and approve future nuclear energy projects.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON POLICY DIFFERENCES WITH PREVIOUS COMMISSION DECISIONS:

RANKING MEMBER CAPITO:

"You spent two years working with Chair Carper as a fellow, and then a detailee at EPW. So based on this experience, could you point to two or three examples where you would have voted differently than how the majority of the Commission voted?"

MR. MARZANO:

"In terms of examples of how I would've voted differently, I think it's a little bit inappropriate for me to comment exactly, without understanding some of the details on some of the votes that the commission has made."

ON NRC'S ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW REQUIREMENT POLICY:

RANKING MEMBER CAPITO:

"What about the decision to help the NRC's staff proposal to update, you sort of mentioned this in your response, the agency's environmental review requirements?

MR. MARZANO:

"I'm not too familiar, again, with some of the details. Are you talking in reference to the subsequent license review?"

RANKING MEMBER CAPITO:

"Yeah."

MR. MARZANO:

"Yeah, I wouldn't have voted - actually, I can't say, you know, how I would have voted on that. Again, I think there's a lot of things that I don't know about the information that the staff provides the commissioners, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment."

ON ADVANCE ACT EFFICIENCY FOCUS:

RANKING MEMBER CAPITO:

"Do you agree with the opening part of my statement, where I said that, if we don't get [the ADVANCE Act] right, more efficiently and in a more-timely manner, we're going to lose our global superiority in this area?

MR. MARZANO:

"I do agree."

ON NRC TELEWORK POLICY: "Well, if you've been in meetings, I'm sure you have, when I've talked with Chairman Hanson, one of my [issues] with the NRC is the telework policy. Now, it's two days a week. I think a day is six hours in the office. There was a push to change it to one day, every two weeks, with a day being four hours. The Commission came in and overturned what Chair Hanson had done. What's your opinion on the telework policy, and what changes would you make?"

ON ADVANCE ACT IMPLEMENTATION: "There's a lot of excitement about small nuclear in my State of West Virginia. There's a specific provision in there that could be very helpful to us, to develop these placements of these small nuclear reactors on abandoned coal mine sites that already have the generation in place. It would be great for the economics of the region and also for the workforce. So it's a win-win here, and it would probably have environmental benefits as well. So if I'm sitting here in a community, and I'm talking to my folks in West Virginia about the promise of the ADVANCE Act, when would the soonest reactor actually go online, in your opinion?"

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF QUICKLY AND SAFELY IMPLEMENTING NUCLEAR ENERGY PROJECTS: "So, I would say that as a Commission nominee, I want this efficient, I want it timely, without sacrificing any safety or environmental aspects of it, of course, and not to follow the history of the NRC, which has been a lot of foot-dragging, a lot of redoing decisions that have already been made. So I would implore you, if you go in this direction, that that you heed those words."

Click HERE to watch Ranking Member Capito's questions.

Click HEREto watch Ranking Member Capito's opening statement.

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