Anti-nuclear groups are drumming up opposition to the confirmation of Kristine Svinicki, a Republican member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission whose first term expires in a little over a month.

The Sierra Club is asking its members to reach out to members of Congress to oppose Svinicki. The White House nominated Svinicki to a second five-year term on NRC earlier this month, and she has garnered support from leading Republicans and some Democrats in the House and Senate.

The Sierra Club is accusing Svinicki of opposing all proposed safety upgrades for U.S. reactors in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan last year. A magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, triggering core meltdown in three reactors, radioactive releases and multiple evacuations.

"It's pretty straightforward for us: She's consistently voted against safety on existing reactors; she voted against all of the post-Fukushima safety recommendations made by NRC staff," said John Coequyt, a spokesman for the Sierra Club. "We just don't have the confidence that she has the safety of the public as her primary concern."

The group's accusations are steeped in a broader fight that pits Svinicki and her colleagues against NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who announced his resignation this week.

The Sierra Club is pointing to Svnicki's vote last March to halt implementation of about a dozen safety recommendations for upgrading U.S. reactors following the disaster in Japan. In her vote, Svinicki said that while she supported the recommendations, she had not received sufficient input from staff and wanted more information before moving forward.

Svinicki and her colleagues -- two Democrats and one Republican -- had accused NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko in a letter to the White House last year of changing a July 12, 2011, staff paper that accompanied the Fukushima recommendations (Greenwire, Jan. 9). They also accused the chairman of withholding information and creating a "chilled work environment" and later raised accusations that he berated female staffers.

But Jaczko told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in December 2011 that he pulled the document because it "mischaracterized" the views of the NRC staff. He said he notified his colleagues that he was going to replace it with a straight cover memo. "At that time, none of my colleagues expressed an objection to that course of action," Jaczko said during a committee hearing (Greenwire, Jan. 9).

Although NRC has since moved forward with organizing and implementing the post-Fukushima recommendations, it has drawn the ire of lawmakers like Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and Jaczko's former boss, for foot-dragging (E&E Daily, July 21, 2011). Jaczko this week also said the commission is moving too slowly and that the agency and nuclear industry need to more proactively address safety problems.

The Sierra Club hopes sending letters to Congress will increase scrutiny of Svinicki as she moves closer to the confirmation hearing, Coequyt said.

"We wouldn't normally weigh in on something like this, but for us, it's a concerning issue that she rejected all of the safety recommendations," he said. "I think she may have to explain some of these votes in a way that could improve her performance going forward."

Coequyt said he expects Svinicki will be shepherded through the Senate alongside whomever the White House chooses to replace Jaczko. She is facing stiff opposition from Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who have criticized her safety record and questioned testimony she provided on her work on the Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste dump.

Boxer has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Svinicki. The White House this week said a successor for Jaczko will emerge "soon." But Jaczko yesterday said he is focused on fulfilling his term, which expires June 30, 2013 (E&ENews PM, May 23).