The Senate on Monday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as chair of the nation’s nuclear energy oversight panel as Democrats fretted over the agency’s future.
By a party-line vote of 50-39, David Wright, who was first confirmed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2018 and elevated to chair by Trump earlier this year, will return to his position atop the commission. His most recent term expired in late June.
The vote comes amid turmoil at the NRC. In June, President Donald Trump purged a Democratic member from the independent commission, an action Democrats and other groups have argued was illegal.
And while the regulator is under increased scrutiny as it shoulders a significant workload, POLITICO’s E&E News reported that a Department of Government Efficiency staffer told senior NRC officials in May to give a “rubber stamp” to new reactors.
