The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is gradually reorganizing — including plans to reduce staffing levels — as part of an effort to direct more resources toward licensing new nuclear reactors, NRC Chair David Wright said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the agency’s annual policy conference, Wright described an approach of passive downsizing, allowing attrition to naturally reduce the workforce while refocusing NRC priorities. Commissioners appeared to subtly spar over the subject throughout the plenary, expressing different views on how NRC resources should be managed.
“We need to know what we need,” Wright told POLITICO’s E&E News after his opening remarks. “Who’s taking the early out? Who did we lose? How can we replace those people organically from inside the agency? Then, let’s take a look and see what we need. All the commissioners are aligned with that.”
The comments align with calls from some in the industry and on Capitol Hill for a leaner, more agile regulatory body, particularly as the United States pushes forward with nuclear reactor innovation. The NRC is currently facing 22 active or planned applications for advanced reactors, Wright said, with as much as 15 more possible in the near future.
