WASHINGTON, DC - A bicameral group of committee leaders today sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting a review of recent changes in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) planning, budgeting, and financial management activities. Signing the letter was: House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Subcommittee on Energy Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), and Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Chairman Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV).
The letter follows up on recent GAO reports, which recommended action to improve NRC’s fee-setting process, fee-billing process, budget justification documentation, and workforce planning, among others. The leaders request GAO conduct a review of NRC’s implementation of these recommendations.
“While NRC has launched some initiatives, it is unclear the extent to which NRC has completed these efforts and the extent to which these actions have resulted in the anticipated process improvements," wrote Walden, Upton, Barrasso, and Capito.
This letter comes on the heels of the House unanimously passing H.R. 1320, the Nuclear Utilization of Keynote Energy Act, last month. The legislation, authored by #SubDCCP Vice Chairman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), revises the NRC’s fee recovery structure and increases the predictability, transparency, and efficiency of the NRC’s regulatory processes.
