CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko may have announced his resignation, but he's not planning on leaving.

Speaking to reporters after a Nuclear Energy Institute conference in Charlotte, Jaczko said he's focused on fulfilling his term, which expires June 30, 2013.

Asked whether he would stay on the NRC if Congress asked him, Jaczko said he would "deal with those issues at that time."

The embattled chairman's comments -- his first since he announced his resignation Monday -- follow those of his former boss, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said Jaczko may serve the 13 remaining months of his term and could be nominated for a second term. House Republicans, on the other hand, are asking for Jaczko to leave the commission post as soon as possible (E&ENews PM, May 22).

Jaczko -- who once served as Reid's science adviser -- has been accused by his four fellow commissioners of bullying female staffers and withholding important information on NRC business. House Republicans say Jaczko has provided Congress with "contradictory" testimony (Greenwire, May 8).

Democrats and anti-nuclear groups say criticism of the NRC chairman is political and stems from his emphasis on nuclear safety.

A new nominee could be ushered through the Senate with Republican NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki, who's been nominated by President Obama for a second term. Obama could nominate a sitting commissioner to take the chairman's post without the approval of Congress.

The two Democratic commissioners -- William Magwood and George Apostolakis -- could face opposition from their own party for openly complaining about Jaczko's management style.

Jaczko declined to comment on who might take the chairman's gavel. "I'm not involved in the process of identifying a replacement," he said.

The chairman said he would not serve in another capacity at the agency but declined to say what he might do after he leaves.

Jaczko said he's focused on nuclear safety and called on the industry and NRC to more proactively tackle safety problems. Issues that take more than a decade to resolve are not useful for the industry or the public and use up precious resources, he added.

The agency, he said, isn't moving as fast as he'd like to implement safety recommendations stemming from the nuclear crisis in Japan in the wake of a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

He also addressed problems at the crippled San Onofre reactors near San Diego. The twin reactors have been shut down for more than three months while NRC inspectors investigate why tubes that carry hot radioactive water degraded and briefly leaked earlier this year.

A team of NRC inspectors is at the San Onofre facility and reviewing whether Southern California Edison sufficiently informed the commission before replacing steam generators at the plant.

Problems arose in January after tubes connected to a generator on Unit 3 of the San Onofre plant leaked radioactive water. Unit 2 had been taken offline earlier that month for maintenance. Investigators have since found hundreds of deteriorating tubes on both reactors, which they suspect were worn down after vibrating and rubbing against support structures (Greenwire, May 16).

Jaczko said it's still unclear why the tubes deteriorated at such a rapid rate but that design flaws might have been caught by a more stringent review. NRC is waiting for the company to submit a report identifying the problems and potential solutions, he added.

If the utility replaced the generators while complying with NRC regulations, Jaczko said, "we need to think about changing our regulations."

Northey reported from Washington, D.C.