Internal Dissension Unsettles the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

From the New York Times: Internal Dissension Unsettles the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
WASHINGTON — Another chapter is out in the continuing and very public story of conflict within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has now taken the form of a battle of snail mail.

A letter addressed to the White House chief of staff and signed by four of the five commission members was circulated Friday criticizing the fifth member, Gregory B. Jaczko, its chairman, and expressing “grave concerns” that his deficiencies as a leader could compromise nuclear safety. It was dated Oct. 13. A similar letter was sent directly to Dr. Jaczko.

And this week, a rebuttal letter from Dr. Jaczko, also addressed to William M. Daley, President Obama’s chief of staff, said the other four members were improperly trying to involve themselves in management affairs, which in a reorganization of the commission in 1980 became the chairman’s sole responsibility. Dated Dec. 7, the letter said that the rest of the commission had “taken an approach that is not as protective of public health and safety as I believe is necessary.”

Criticism of the chairman first became public in June when an inspector general’s report critical of him came out. The letters echoed similar themes of discord.

Dr. Jaczko is a White House appointee, confirmed by the Senate, who used to work on the staff of the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.

A split between Dr. Jaczko and his colleagues has been evident for some time and mirrors a division of opinion about him in nuclear circles, where some are suspicious of his credentials. Dr. Jaczko, who has been on the commission for seven years and its chairman for two and a half years, has a doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but his background is in policy, not in the nuclear power industry or the nuclear Navy.

The situation is expected to get more charged next Wednesday when all five commissioners are expected to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is led by Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California. Mr. Issa, in his own letter to the White House, said “the public deserves to understand what actions have been taken and whether the president still believes that Chairman Jaczko is capable of leading the NRC.”

The other commissioners said that Dr. Jaczko “intimidated and bullied senior career staff to the degree that he has created a high level of fear and anxiety resulting in a chilled work environment.”

The staff of Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, used internal commission e-mails to argue that when the four complained to Congress that Dr. Jaczko had kept them in the dark about the commission staff’s activities related to the Fukushima Daiichi accident, they were not being truthful; in fact, Mr. Markey’s report argues, they were fully informed.

Dr. Jaczko previously worked on the staffs of Mr. Markey and Mr. Reid. Mr. Reid’s main activity relating to nuclear power has been to fight the establishment of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles from Las Vegas. Some nuclear power advocates say that Dr. Jaczko was too quick to kill the commission’s effort to evaluate Yucca, after Mr. Obama told the Energy Department to shut the program down.