President Donald Trump appointed Ho Nieh as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday evening, cementing his remake of the independent agency in a move long expected by nuclear observers.
Nieh joined the NRC as a Republican commissioner in December, when the Senate confirmed his nomination as well as that of Republican Commissioner Doug Weaver. Nieh’s rise to chair means he will replace David Wright, whom Trump appointed to head the agency when he took office in January.
Republicans now hold a 3-2 majority on the commission, after Trump fired a Democratic commissioner in June.
Nieh is a veteran of the nuclear industry. He helmed regulatory affairs at Southern Co. when it finished adding two nuclear reactors to Plant Vogtle in Georgia and served as director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation from 2018 to 2021.
In a statement on Thursday, Nieh emphasized his support of Trump’s executive order to change the NRC by reorganizing staff, reconsidering safety standards and setting 18-month deadlines to review nuclear reactor safety designs.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the dedicated NRC staff and my fellow Commissioners, and I am energized by what we will accomplish together to enable the safe and secure use of nuclear technologies,” Nieh said in a statement. “With the support of Executive Order 14300 and the ADVANCE Act, the NRC is designing the future of nuclear safety regulation.”
Nieh also applauded Wright for “guiding the NRC through a crucial period of transition as the agency embarks on this pivotal period of change.”
Trump’s moves to remake the agency have been criticized by former commissioners like Allison Macfarlane as eroding the independence of the agency, discouraging its staff and increasing the chances that dangerous design flaws go unnoticed. But the administration has argued that nuclear power is a national security priority, asserting that the quick construction of more reactors is needed to power artificial intelligence data centers.
Two people familiar with NRC operations, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, told POLITICO’s E&E News that the decision to make Nieh chair over Wright was effectively finalized over a month ago, before he became a commissioner.
Wright’s tenure as chair was marked by growing tension between the historically independent NRC and the White House and Department of Energy. Wright told lawmakers in September that he had pushed back when a DOE attorney suggested in meetings that the NRC would “rubber-stamp” DOE and Pentagon nuclear work.
Wright will remain on the panel as a commissioner, according to the NRC press release. His term expires in 2030.
Nieh fills the commission seat vacated in June by Democrat Chris Hanson, who was the NRC chair during the Biden administration. Trump fired Hanson in June without citing a cause, a move that Hanson and some Democrats called illegal.
Months later, Nieh’s nomination won support from some Democrats.
Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has criticized the White House’s attempts to roll back NRC independence, supported advancing Nieh’s nomination through a cloture vote last year.
“He struck me as an expert and professional on the substance, and someone committed to the integrity of the NRC,” Whitehouse said at the time. “The agency badly needs both of those.”
At his confirmation hearing, Nieh told senators he would “100 percent stay committed to the independent safety mission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure that all the decisions NRC makes are, in fact, made independently.”
Many nuclear power industry players quickly expressed their approval of Nieh.
Todd Abrajano, president and CEO of the United States Nuclear Industry Council, congratulated Nieh in a statement on Thursday evening.
“As demand for clean, reliable power grows, the NRC’s mission to uphold the highest safety standards while enabling the next generation of nuclear technologies has never been more important,” he said. “I have no doubt that Chairman Nieh’s experience in both domestic and international nuclear regulation positions him well to guide the agency through this new era of nuclear deployment.”
Nieh becomes chair after a year of upheaval at NRC. During Wright’s term as chair, more than 260 employees left, while the general counsel and executive director of operations were replaced.
A fall agreement also allows the NRC to fast-track reactors already vetted by DOE. Critics and former regulators have warned that it undermines the NRC’s independence, amounts to a “rubber stamp,” and could jeopardize public safety.
But some former officials, like Obama-era NRC Chair Stephen Burns, defended the move as a reasonable way to streamline nuclear energy expansion. Similarly, many praised the NRC’s Monday decision to approve the replacement of analog safety-related controls with a modern digital system at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant.
