[Senate Hearing 118-765]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-765
HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF MATTHEW
JAMES MARZANO, OF ILLINOIS, TO BE A
MEMBER OF THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION FOR THE TERM OF FIVE
YEARS EXPIRING JUNE 30, 2028
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
62-595 WASHINGTON : 2026
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia, Ranking Member
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon PETE RICKETTS, Nebraska
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
MARK KELLY, Arizona DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
ALEX PADILLA, California LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
Courtney Taylor, Democratic Staff Director
Adam Tomlinson, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
OPENING STATEMENTS
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware.. 1
Capito, Hon. Shelley Moore, U.S. Senator from the State of West
Virginia....................................................... 3
WITNESSES
The Honorable Matthew James Marzano, Nominee to be a Member,
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.................................. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Carper........................................... 10
Senator Markey........................................... 14
Senator Fetterman........................................ 15
Senator Capito........................................... 15
Senator Cramer........................................... 22
Senator Lummis........................................... 23
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Letters of support for Matthew James Marzano's nomination from:
American Nuclear Society (ANS)............................... 47
Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA)............................ 48
Generation Atomic............................................ 50
Good Energy Collective....................................... 52
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)....... 54
Fusion Industry Association.................................. 56
Press Release: Josh Freed, Statement from Third Way on the
Nomination of Matthew Marzano to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission..................................................... 58
HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF MATTHEW
JAMES MARZANO, OF ILLINOIS, TO BE A
MEMBER OF THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION FOR THE TERM OF FIVE
YEARS EXPIRING JUNE 30, 2028
----------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m. in
room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Carper, Capito, Markey, Kelly, Ricketts,
Boozman, Sullivan.
STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
Senator Carper. Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to
call this hearing to order.
Before we begin, it is important that we recognize that
today marks 23 years since the deadly 9/11 terror attacks on
our Country. I will never forget that morning. I am sure those
of you here in this room will not forget it either.
In the days, months and years following the horrific 9/11
attacks, we have mourned the loved ones that we lost. We have
also become stronger as a Nation in our resolve to move forward
and to rebuild in their memory.
Today we honor all those who died on that tragic morning
and in its aftermath, as well as their families, the heroic
first responders and recovery workers, and those who consoled
the many families whose lives were forever changed. We will
never forget them.
Today, on a happier note, we meet to consider Matthew James
Marzano's nomination to serve a 5-year term as a member of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Welcome. This hearing today
comes at an exciting and critical moment for nuclear energy in
the United States, thanks in no small part to this lady here on
my right and the leadership she has provided.
Today, nuclear energy is one of our most powerful tools to
ensure the reliability of the electric grid and to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Colleagues on this committee have
heard me say this before, but it bears repeating: nuclear power
is the largest source of clean power in the United States,
providing almost 20 percent of America's total electricity and
nearly half of our Nation's clean power.
The nuclear industry also creates economic opportunity and
supports tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. In fact,
according to the International Monetary Fund, nuclear power
provides the highest-paid jobs within the clean energy sector.
A new age of nuclear power is on the horizon with smaller,
cheaper and safer nuclear technology. In order to support the
cutting-edge nuclear technologies that will power us into the
future, Congress passed, with the help of this committee, the
ADVANCE Act, and President Biden signed it into law on July
9th. The bipartisan work by the members of this committee and
our staffs was essential to making the bill a reality.
The ADVANCE Act, which was led by Ranking Member Senator
Capito, empowers the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the
tools it needs to keep existing reactors safe and to review new
nuclear technologies efficiently. This landmark law also
directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to support 21st
century applications of nuclear energy.
To ensure successful implementation of the ADVANCE Act and
to secure our clean energy future, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission needs a full slate of commissioners. Thankfully,
President Biden has nominated Matt Marzano to serve a 5-year
term on the commission and to fill this final vacancy.
Matt understands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
mission and the importance of deploying more safe and clean
nuclear power. He is deeply committed to maintaining the
public's interest, trust and confidence in the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's work.
He has the technical expertise, gained over the course of a
decade in the nuclear industry, to get the job done. As a
Senior Reactor Operator, Matt led installation testing to
improve plant performance and safety at Braidwood Nuclear Power
Station in Illinois.
In South Carolina, Matt supported the enforcement of safety
standards for some 3,000 personnel during the construction of a
first-of-its-kind NRC-certified advanced nuclear reactor
design. Matt also taught safety procedures and protocol to
naval personnel as a civilian instructor for the Naval Nuclear
Propulsion Program at the U.S. Department of Energy.
As Matt has performed his current role on the Environment
and Public Works Committee, I have had the privilege to see
first-hand how he applies his background as a nuclear engineer
to his work on energy policy. We have witnessed Matt's
dedication to public service and his commitment to crafting and
implementing lasting bipartisan solutions. In fact, Matt's
expertise was essential to developing and ultimately moving the
ADVANCE Act to the President's desk for his signature.
With a decade of experience in the nuclear industry,
combined with his work for and with this committee, Matt will
bring particularly valuable credentials to the commission if
confirmed.
In closing, if Matt is confirmed, and I very much hope that
he will be, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will again have a
full slate of commissioners to protect the safety of our
current nuclear energy assets while facilitating the efficient
deployment of 21st century nuclear technologies. We have an
opportunity to meet this crucial moment for the future of
nuclear energy, and I believe that Matt Marzano will help us
seize the day.
With that, I am pleased to turn to our Ranking Member,
Senator Capito, who is, again, the lead author of the ADVANCE
Act, for her opening remarks. Senator Capito?
STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank
everybody for being here today on the solemn day of 9/11. I
appreciate the Chairman's tribute, but also his final words
that we will never forget how we felt, and how we feel about
the events of 9/11. So, I want to thank the Chairman for
reminding us of those sober days and dark days for our Nation
and for so many families who still hurt every single day for
the loss of their loved ones. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank Mr. Marzano for coming today. I met his dad
and his wife, so thank you all for being here with him, and to
present your policy views and answer some questions as the
nominee for the NRC.
As Chairman Carper noted, you first joined the EPW
Committee in 2022, following your selection as an American
Nuclear Society Glenn Seaborg congressional Science and
Engineering Fellow. ANS has a long history of supporting
congressional fellowships since 2000, and this committee has
repeatedly benefited from that expertise, and most recently
with Mr. Marzano.
Your decision to then select the EPW committee for your
fellowship was fortunate, as the committee was actively
addressing important nuclear energy issues. Following the
conclusion of your fellowship, after 6 months working on energy
policy for the Idaho National Laboratory, you rejoined Chairman
Carper's staff last year as a lab detailee.
In EPW hearings during your time detailed in the Committee,
we have discussed the need and importance of being able to
build energy projects all across this Country. During those
hearings you have likely heard me detail how I believe the
Biden-Harris Administration's climate agenda, and particularly
the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, is putting America on a
path that is harming our American competitiveness and
consumers.
We have continuously seen a regulatory strategy intended to
suffocate our fossil-fuel energy, shut down our coal plants,
and make it impossible to build new natural gas generation.
So, this regulatory assault on the power sector will result
in major reliability challenges and increase imposed costs on
American families and businesses. The negative effects on these
energy prices, from restricting the supply of reliable energy,
will be compounded by the growing demand that will result if
the electrify everything proposals are put into place.
I think this is the wrong approach, and it is part of why
we are here today. America desperately needs more reliable,
affordable energy sources to power our manufacturing sector, to
meet increased demand from data centers and AI and other
things, and to keep the lights on for our constituents 24/7,
365 days a year.
We should provide that power by preserving our existing
conventional energy generation, and deploying new innovative
technologies such as advanced nuclear reactors. Nuclear energy
can and should continue to be a part of America's energy
portfolio.
Global events in particular have drawn a sharp focus on the
need for U.S. energy leadership. Russia is creating
geostrategic dependencies through contracts between their
state-backed nuclear enterprise and emerging economies, and
China has announced plans to increase its nuclear power
capacity by 118 gigawatts, a 204 percent increase relative to
current levels. This planned increase would edge out the United
States as the global leader in nuclear energy policy.
To meet these challenges, I led the bipartisan efforts the
Chairman talked about, with Chairman Carper and Senator
Whitehouse, to get the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile,
Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act, the ADVANCE Act, signed
into law. We were both there for the signature.
The ADVANCE Act will help streamline the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's licensing process to be faster, cheaper, and more
efficient. The law is intended, as you are well aware from your
work during the bicameral discussions on its path to enactment,
to ensure the NRC will enable the safe use of nuclear energy,
not be an obstacle.
Implemented properly, as Congress intended through the
bipartisan negotiations, the ADVANCE Act will position the
United States as the world leader in nuclear energy for decades
to come, and that is absolutely essential. That is absolutely
essential. This will require the Commission to make policy
decisions, provide leadership to the agency's staff, resolve
licensing issues, and to modernize the staff culture to reflect
today's energy outlook.
To successfully implement the law, the Commission must also
manage and allocate its resources, both money and personnel, to
the highest priority licensing and oversight regulatory
activities. Each Commissioner weighs in on the budget
formulation process, so I would like to understand what
actionable steps you would pursue, if confirmed, to ensure
licensees and applicants are getting the maximum value for the
fees paid to the NRC.
I am sure that you, Mr. Marzano, recognize the importance
of that principle, having worked for a licensee that paid
millions of dollars to the NRC every year. During your time
working at a nuclear power plant as a licensed reactor
operator, you gained important experience following the NRC's
nuclear safety regulations. This is a different role than
establishing those regulations.
So, I look forward to learning more about your experience
and how you will evaluate and vote on critical policy matters
if confirmed. I thank you, Chairman Carper, for bringing this
forward.
Senator Carper. You bet. Thank you very much, Senator
Capito.
Now I am going to take a minute or two to further introduce
Matt Marzano. He is joined by his father and his wife. I am
going to ask him in the course of his remarks that he introduce
them and any other family members that might be present.
Let me just take a few minutes to talk about Matt Marzano.
Matt currently serves, as we have heard, as an Idaho National
Laboratory detailee to this committee's majority staff, where
he advises our committee on policy matters relating to clean
air, relating to energy, including nuclear energy.
Prior to this role, Matt was selected by the American
Nuclear Society as a 2022 Glenn Seaborg congressional Science
and Engineering Fellow. He carried out his fellowship on the
majority staff of this committee as facilitated by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
Matt has a decade of experience in the nuclear industry, in
both the defense and commercial sectors. He began his career as
a civilian instructor for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program
at the United States Department of Energy. In that capacity, he
oversaw the training of U.S. Navy personnel preparing for
assignments as nuclear plant operators on submarines and on
aircraft carriers.
Following this role, Matt moved to the commercial nuclear
power industry at the V.C. Summer New Nuclear Construction
Project in South Carolina, where he supported construction
activities while pursuing a Senior Reactor Operator license.
Matt later earned his Senior Reactor Operator license at
Braidwood Nuclear Power Station in Illinois, where he led
installation testing of a modernized control system to improve
plant performance and to improve safety.
Matt holds bachelor's and master's degrees in nuclear
engineering from the University of Florida. He lives in
Washington, DC, with his wife, Jennifer, and their 1-year-old
son, Silas, who couldn't join us today. He has other
engagements. Give him our best.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. Matt is accompanied today by his wife and
his father, Mark, and he is going to introduce them as well.
With that, we thank you for your service, and to Jenn, to
Silas, to Mara and Mark, thank you for sharing Matt with us and
with the American people.
With that, Matt, you have 5 minutes or so for your opening
statement. You are recognized. Welcome. We are glad to see you.
STATEMENT OF MATTHEW J. MARZANO, NOMINEE TO THE U.S.
REGULATORY COMMISSION
Mr. Marzano. Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito,
members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, thank
you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am both
honored and humbled to have been nominated by President Biden
to serve as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
I want to thank you, Chairman Carper, for your kind
introduction. It has been the privilege of my lifetime to serve
you and the members of this committee.
I also want to thank my mother Mara and my father Mark, who
taught me the values that have guided me throughout my life. I
also want to say how important my grandmother, Elaine Waxman,
is to me. She taught me to aim higher and to not waste the
gifts and privileges that life has bestowed on me.
Last, I want to recognize my son, who is not here, Silas,
and my wife Jennifer. Jenn has inspired me with the strength of
her convictions from the day I met her. Her unwavering support
of me and our family are why I am able to sit before you today.
Thank you, Jennifer.
My interest in the sciences began early in life. I recall
long conversations about physics and the way the world works
with my grandfather, Pops, an electrical engineer who could fix
anything. Those talks were some of the fondest memories from my
childhood.
They inspired me to pursue scientific study with passion
and curiosity. It is because of his example and guidance that I
pursued a degree in nuclear engineering to understand how to
make practical use of the basic elements of the universe.
I learned then, as I believe now, that safely managed
nuclear energy has an important role to play in the Nation's
and the world's energy mix. Through my studies I became
captivated by the unique applications of nuclear energy not
just for carbon-free electricity generation but also its
potential to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.
After completing my degree, I joined the Knolls Atomic
Power Laboratory, one of the Nation's two facilities dedicated
to the Navy's Nuclear Propulsion Program. There, I trained
alongside the Navy's finest sailors to become a civilian
instructor, engineer, and operator implementing the nuclear
Navy's training mission.
Executing that mission required me to internalize and
uphold the rigorous, safety-focused standards that define
reactor operating excellence and instill this mindset in my
students. I later found that the same safety principles
underpinning the Navy's nuclear program carried over into the
commercial nuclear industry.
As a Senior Reactor Operator candidate at the V.C. Summer
nuclear project in South Carolina, I observed the complexities
of managing first-of-a-kind nuclear projects and the importance
of proactive engagement between the NRC and licensees. I
witnessed how this engagement can drive timely resolution of
regulatory issues that arise during the design and construction
phase of new reactors.
I earned my Senior Reactor Operator license at the
Braidwood Generating Station in Illinois. A Senior Reactor
Operator license carries with it the responsibility to protect
the public health and safety and the environment while
navigating the intricate relationship between nuclear power
operations and regulatory compliance. My understanding of this
relationship provides me with a practical perspective to apply
in regulatory decisionmaking and policy discussions.
That experience also gave me first-hand insight into the
management of aging nuclear reactors and cemented for me the
importance of a well-trained, well-resourced nuclear work force
to maintain the safety of our Nation's nuclear facilities.
I joined the Environment and Public Works Committee in 2022
as an congressional fellow from the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, and I continued serving as a
detailee from the Idaho National Laboratory after my
fellowship.
During my time with the committee, I have learned from
experts in energy and climate policy while advancing the
committee's priorities pertaining to nuclear safety matters and
oversight of the NRC. This included advising the Chairman on
the ADVANCE Act and working both across the aisle and with our
House colleagues to reach agreement on differing views.
I benefited from the bipartisan collaboration and learned
much from the minority staff of this committee and our
counterparts in the House. I thank them for their patience and
hard work on this successful effort.
If confirmed, my approach as a commissioner would reflect
the mandate imposed on all nuclear professionals across the
Country: to prioritize public health and safety. This is
because the benefits that nuclear energy can provide to society
requires the public's trust and confidence in the NRC's
decisionmaking.
I would seek to foster collaboration and collegiality among
my fellow commissioners to produce durable policy that
minimizes regulatory uncertainty and maximizes efficiency. I
would also work to ensure that all stakeholders have the
opportunity to bring their concerns before the agency and have
a voice in NRC matters.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
I look forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Marzano follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Carper. Thanks very much, Matt, and a warm welcome
to your wife and to your dad.
We are now ready to begin with some questions for our
witness. Senator Capito and I have agreed to one round of 5-
minutes of questioning. To begin, this committee has three
standing yes or no questions that we ask of all nominees who
appear before our committee, as you know. So I want to ask you
these three questions.
The first one is, do you agree, if confirmed, to appear
before this committee or designated members of this committee
and other appropriate committees of this Congress to provide
information subject to appropriate and necessary security
protections with respect to your responsibilities? Do you?
Mr. Marzano. I do.
Senator Carper. Second question: do you agree to ensure
that testimony, briefings, documents, and electronic and other
forms of communications of information are provided to this
committee and our staffs and other appropriate committees in a
timely manner?
Mr. Marzano. I do.
Senator Carper. Third, do you know of any matters which you
may or may not have disclosed that may place you in a conflict
of interest if you are confirmed?
Mr. Marzano. I do not.
Senator Carper. All right. So far, so good.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. With that, I am going to start with a
couple of questions, then turn it over to Senator Capito.
I want to thank our colleague for joining us, thank you.
This man has a perfect attendance record. I think he has a
better attendance record maybe than I do, or maybe we are tied.
Great to see you.
First question I have to ask deals with what might be your
priorities as an NRC commissioner. If you are confirmed as a
commissioner, implementing the critical mission of the NRC
requires a detailed understanding of the needs and requirements
of our nuclear fleet. It also requires a clear vision of the
potential for nuclear power's contribution to our energy
future.
Would you take a few minutes this morning to talk about
what your top priorities would be if confirmed to serve as an
NRC commissioner?
Mr. Marzano. Thank you for that question. Out of the many
priorities that the NRC is facing, or that I would be
supporting at the NRC, there are three that come to mind that
have a direct tie to some of the work that we have done in the
ADVANCE Act. First is the work force. Also, cultivating a
forward-looking approach at the agency. Then also looking at
the way that the agency conducts its public engagement.
Each of these, as I have mentioned, supports both
development of the work force and the efficiency needed in
order to meet the growing workload that the NRC may face in the
future.
On the work force, the workers at the NRC are the lifeblood
of the agency. It is because of their expertise, their hard
work and their commitment to the mission that the agency is
effective, that makes the agency effective. Supporting not only
the hiring authorities that have been granted through the
ADVANCE Act, but also focusing on the retention of the work
force are going to be key priorities and key focus areas of
mine there.
In terms of cultivating a more proactive approach, the NRC
is facing a wave of new technologies. In order to meet this
moment, they have to be ready for those technologies. So being
more proactive, engaging in the efforts going on across the
County and in the industry, the Department of Energy, to bring
that technology to commercialization, it is going to be
important for NRC to do the work up front in order to drive
efficiency in its processes.
Last, on public engagement. With new nuclear comes new
communities that are going to host nuclear facilities. That
means there are a lot of folks out in the Country that do not
have a good understanding of what the NRC's role is and what
those nuclear facilities may bring. So it is going to be
important for the NRC to get out into the communities and
inform the public of not only its role but what those
facilities will bring to those communities.
Senator Carper. Let me follow that up with another question
dealing with reducing climate emissions, something we talk
about a lot in this room. As the United States and our global
partners work to address climate change and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, nuclear technologies are poised to play an
outsized role in our clean energy future.
At last year's United Nations Climate Conference, over 25
countries agreed to triple global nuclear energy capacity by
2050. Incredible. Global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, in
order to meet our climate goals.
My question would be, what do you believe nuclear power can
do and how can it play an increasing role in decreasing
emissions? Specifically, how can the NRC contribute to a clean
energy future?
Mr. Marzano. As I mentioned in my testimony, early on in my
studies, the importance of nuclear power and the carbon-free
energy that it brings was cemented in my mind. It has only
become more clear as I have moved through my career that
nuclear power has an extremely important role, not just for
carbon-free electricity generation, but also reliable
electricity generation.
The NRC has a role to play in this. The benefits that
nuclear power can bring and the public license that nuclear has
currently can only be realized if it is operating safely.
Because of that, the NRC has an important role to play in
addressing climate change by licensing these technologies to
come and then also ensuring their safety as they operate.
Senator Carper. All right, Senator Capito. Thank you.
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr.
Marzano.
You spent 2 years working with Chair Carper as a fellow and
then a detailee at EPW. Based on this experience, could you
point to two or three examples where you would have voted
differently than how the majority of the commission voted?
Mr. Marzano. In terms of examples of how I voted
differently, it is a little inappropriate for me to comment
exactly without understanding some of the details on some of
the votes that the commission has made. I think that the
commission has done some great work up to this point in
listening to this committee, especially responding to the new
licensing framework that is being done for advanced reactors,
the technology neutral risk-informed, performance-based Part 53
process. This committee did a lot of work to drive the NRC and
the commission to address some of the concerns that industry
had as well as many others about making that rule work for all
stakeholders.
So again, without kind of having more information on some
of those votes, I would have to----
Senator Capito. Let me give you some examples. The
commission reversed previously issued license renewals which
created massive uncertainty for the licensees. Do you have an
opinion on that?
Mr. Marzano. Again, without the further details on that
issue, I think it would be----
Senator Capito. I am assuming you know the details of the
issue.
Mr. Marzano. Yes, I do have some of those details. The
reasoning behind that, from my perspective, from what I
understood, the decision that was made was to address concerns
about litigation and the environmental review process for these
plants. So I think what the commission did in that case was
appropriate to make those, to do the work to get that
regulation out, to provide more certainty going into the
future.
One of the things that I will note is those decisions were
made far ahead of the license expiration dates for those
plants. Getting that right means that moving forward, there
will be more certainty as more plants enter into the subsequent
license review process.
Senator Capito. OK, so you agree with that decision. What
about the decision to help the NRC's staff proposal and to
update, you sort of mentioned this in your response, the
agency's environmental review requirements?
Mr. Marzano. Not too familiar, again, with some of the
details. Are you talking in reference to the subsequent license
review?
Senator Capito. Yes.
Mr. Marzano. I wouldn't have voted--actually I can not say
how I would have voted on that. There are a lot of things that
I do not know about the information that the staff provides the
commissioner. It would be inappropriate for me to comment.
Senator Capito. OK. One of the things that really drives me
crazy is the NRC comes in and wants more money all the time,
yet they do not spend the money from the year before. So the
commission oversees this. Do you agree with that strategy?
Mr. Marzano. I think that it is very important for the NRC
to be more responsible stewards of its budget, and efficiency
in that budget, as you mentioned, is very important. Some of
the action that we took in the ADVANCE Act regarding the NRC's
budget is aimed at driving that efficiency.
I think now, after the ADVANCE Act has been in place, I
think it is incumbent on the agency to live up to those
authorities, and as a commissioner, if confirmed, I would
faithfully execute that provision and the rest of the ADVANCE
Act.
Senator Capito. OK, good. I am glad you went to that.
Because my staff has dutifully counted, and the words
``efficient'' and ``efficiency'' are used 24 times in the text
of the ADVANCE Act. You probably well know that. You alluded to
it there.
Given your work on this, will you provide a couple of
examples of the specific activities where you think they could
be more efficient as directed by the bill?
Mr. Marzano. Absolutely, Senator. I think driving
efficiency in terms of processes, again, going back to being
more forward-looking, I think in the areas of research, in the
areas of engagement with the Department of Energy's efforts,
going back to the memorandum of understanding that was put in
place by the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act,
leveraging those partnerships, getting ahead of the technology,
understanding where it is going, will create tremendous
efficiencies to prepare for this technology.
Senator Capito. Do you agree with the opening part of my
statement where I said that if we do not get this right, more
efficiently and in a more timely manner, we are going to lose
our global superiority in this area?
Mr. Marzano. I do agree.
Senator Capito. Thank you.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
I think Senator Markey is next. Let me just say thanks so
much night for stopping by the reception. It was wonderful of
you to do that. I know you had a lot on your schedule last
night. Thank you very much.
Senator Capito. Did you invite me and Senator Ricketts to
your reception?
Senator Carper. Yes, we did.
Senator Capito. We are feeling left out over here.
[Laughter.]
Senator Capito. Were you paying?
[Laughter.]
Senator Capito. He's speechless. I finally got one in.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. Senator Markey?
Senator Markey. Thank you. It was a great and well-deserved
tribute to you, Mr. Chairman. Historic service to our Nation. I
think you could tell how many people just absolutely love you
and respect the incredible work that you have done for our
Country.
I learned a great deal from communities next to the
decommissioning of the nuclear power station. Those people have
fought for transparent, accountable, and community-led
decisionmaking when it comes to nuclear waste and safety. You
saw this passion and frustration first-hand at the EPW field
hearing in 2022. Unfortunately, the degradation of trust
between Pilgrim's communities and the NRC is just one example
of the NRC's failure to meaningfully engage communities in its
regulatory and policymaking activities.
Mr. Marzano, do you agree that it is the NRC's duty to
maintain strong public trust and confidence in its ability to
responsibly regulate civilian nuclear activity, including
through public hearings and transparent proceedings?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator, I do. That public trust and
confidence is key for the trust in the NRC's decisionmaking in
the interest of those communities and the public.
Senator Markey. I was very disappointed that the draft
final decommissioning rule did not include the requirement for
NRC approval of post-shutdown decommissioning activity reports,
which would allow for meaningful public input on
decommissioning plants before the decommissioning process
begins, rather than force communities into a contentious and
drawn out process, as we have seen at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Plant, with Holtec as well. We just need more engagement, more
transparency.
Mr. Marzano, do you agree that preemptive public
engagement, including on issues like decommissioning, can
result in better outcomes for the public, for the NRC, and for
licensees?
Mr. Marzano. Absolutely, Senator. That early public
engagement helps to build that trust, helps to drive some of
that community input, and helps to lead to better outcomes, not
just for the licensee, but the community as well.
I think that early planning, again, especially for
decommissioning, which is an incredibly complex process,
incredibly disruptive to the community from both the loss of
those jobs and the loss of the tax base and the revenue and the
public services that that plant had provided to those
communities, beginning that process early, from my observation
in the industry, is the most important thing to driving better
outcomes in the decommissioning process.
Senator Markey. You can see there in Plymouth,
Massachusetts, 1620, the Pilgrims arrived, we named the nuclear
power plant the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant. There have never
been more people in that room, going back to 1620, than there
were when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came to testify.
Because they wanted answers, and they felt they had not been
getting answers. I think that was very clear.
The duty of the commission is to develop regulations
governing nuclear reactor and material safety in a manner that
protects public health and safety and the environment. That
requires that its commissioners have a strong grasp of the
civilian nuclear sector from both a technical and political
lens, something I appreciated discussing with you in our
meeting in my office.
Mr. Marzano, has your experience as a reactor operator
informed your understanding of safety and regulatory issues?
Would you expect it to usefully inform your work, should you
serve on the commission?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator. I think my experience as a
Senior Reactor Operator and the license that the NRC issued to
me, the primary purpose and primary responsibility that I had
was to protect the public health and safety. Also, as a Senior
Reactor Operator, it was a responsibility to provide
electricity generation benefits that are derived from that.
So what my Senior Reactor Operator experience brings to the
commission in this sense is ensuring that robust safety
standards are upheld but then also maximizing the generation of
electricity. This is going to be extremely important as the NRC
moves forward with the directives from this committee and
Congress and the ADVANCE Act. I will carry that sense of
judgment, on which I had to make many decisions on a daily
basis, to the commission.
Senator Markey. Thank you. As you know, the job of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not to promote the industry,
it is to regulate the industry for safety. That is why we
created that agency in 1974. Do you agree that the commission's
central and statutory purpose is to provide reasonable
assurance of adequate protection of the public health and
safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to
protect the environment?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, sir.
Senator Markey. I think that is very, very important.
Because we knew there was a built-in conflict of interest at
the Atomic Energy Agency, which is why we created the NRC. When
you start to merge the two jobs, you could wind up with the
promotion side of it blurring the safety side of it.
That is in fact what has held back the industry for the
last 30 or 40 years. They just forgot that they had a principal
responsibility of guaranteeing safety, which is why hundreds of
people will show up in town hall to ask questions that they are
not getting answers to, because of the promotion of the
technology rather than the protection of the safety.
We thank you so much, Mr. Marzano. I am looking forward to
working with you in the future. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Carper. Thank you, Senator Markey.
Senator Ricketts, welcome.
Senator Ricketts. Thank you, Chairman Carper, and Ranking
Member Capito, for holding this important hearing. The work of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is critical to power
generation in Nebraska. Our Cooper Nuclear Station, which is a
385 megawatt facility, can provide energy to 385,000 households
in Nebraska, even when it is a hot summer day.
In order to make sure that we have facilities like Cooper
that can continue to get relicensed, we need to make sure that
the NRC is predictable, reliable, and expedient in its license
renewal process. That is really a critical thing for the State
of Nebraska, as many States. So thank you, Mr. Marzano, for
sitting down with me to discuss the future needs of the U.S.
nuclear industry.
Last November, Senator Capito and I sent you a letter which
requested the specific steps the NRC is taking to ensure the
subsequent license renewal review and approval process is
efficient, timely, predictable, and affordable. In March of
this year, the NRC outlined a road map to restore the license
renewal program to a path of timely and predictable reviews to
achieve the goal of 18-month review, 18-month reviews.
Mr. Marzano, confirm, will you commit to the road map and
to getting this rule process done in 18 months?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator, I think it is extremely
important to drive efficiency for subsequent license reviews.
There is a lot of talk about the new technology and the new
reactors that are coming and preparing for that. The NRC also
has a job to do in the existing fleet. It is about creating
certainty and efficiency in the subsequent license review
process.
If confirmed, I would certainly work with my commissioners
to achieve those goals and look for even more metrics to
measure performance in order to track and help drive
efficiency. I think in some respects, getting at granularity in
those processes can help tease out some of the areas where we
can improve.
Senator Ricketts. Great. How long do you think it will take
for the NRC to deliver an 18-month rule process? If you are
confirmed, how long do you think it will take for the NRC to
actually say, OK, we have a process down, it is only going to
take 18 months?
Mr. Marzano. I think it's hard to say right now how long
that would take. One thing that, from my career, that I took
away, the first time that I did ever did an evolution of a
plan, something big, something that had a lot of consequence
for the first time, I had to do a lot of work up front. Then
after you do something and you build that proficiency, that is
when you start to be able to pick up the pace and get better at
doing it.
I think in some respects, subsequent license review
processes are somewhat along the same lines. Going from 60 to
80 years brings in some different considerations. Because of
how similar the technology is across the operating fleet, there
are definitely opportunities to get more proficient.
Senator Ricketts. I know you do not have an exact time. Do
you have a ballpark how long it would take? Do you think it is
going to take a year process to get us to there, 2 years? Do
you have kind of a ballpark idea of how long you think it will
take it to get there?
Mr. Marzano. If confirmed, I would hope to join the
commission to drive that immediately.
Senator Ricketts. Do you have any ideas, is this going to
require additional cost to get to an 18-month timeframe?
Mr. Marzano. It is hard for me to say without further
details on how the agency is managing those resources. My
understanding is that as we get more proficient, that means we
will be able to manage those resources more efficiently. If I
am confirmed, it is certainly something I will look into.
Senator Ricketts. I will just sort of highlight some of the
work I did as Governor with our own department of environment
and energy, where we reduced our air construction permits down
from about 198 days to 65 days by leveraging lean six sigma.
Again, it is a process where it does not really cost you extra
to be able to leverage better process and better technology to
be able to drive out the wasteful steps to get this done. So I
would recommend that to you.
Also, are you familiar with the amendments Congress made to
the Atomic Energy Act of 1957?
Mr. Marzano. Without a little bit more context, I am not
familiar.
Senator Ricketts. Well, it is an important thing for you to
know, that you should know. It is related to your position, and
back then it kind of related to Senator Markey's point, the
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was a predecessor, obviously, of
NRC.
Had a rule, essentially the amendment that it passed back
then required the commission to hold a hearing for a new or
actual license even if there are objections to the process.
This rule was made when nuclear energy was in its infancy, and
also at a time when the AEC had conflicting rules, as Senator
Markey pointed out, in both regulating and promoting the use of
nuclear energy.
Basically, at that time, it was about promoting nuclear
energy and having a public basically process, hearing process,
to promote it, frankly. The previous commissions had requested
that Congress get rid of the statutory requirement. Are you
familiar with that?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, sir.
Senator Ricketts. OK, great. So since previous commissions
have requested Congress eliminate it altogether, if you are
confirmed, will you commit to making sure that you continue to
recommend it? That is part of your role at the NRC if you are
confirmed, is to weigh in on policy. Certainly, the commission
has recently approved some simplified procedures for mandatory
hearings.
The statutory requirement will still impose regulatory
costs and will also delay the deployment of advanced nuclear
reactors, crucial for States like Nebraska. Since you have to
weigh in on this, will you, based on your experience, if
confirmed, reaffirm the previous commission's recommendations
to eliminate the statutory requirement?
Mr. Marzano. Senator, I think the commission has taken some
actions recently to improve that process, especially in terms
of the staff hours and the licensing hours that are going to be
required from there. I think beyond additional authorities from
Congress, one of the things I would look forward to is working
with the commission to implement those changes that the
commission can do now, and look for opportunities to improve
that process going forward.
Senator Ricketts. Right. So my question is a yes or no
question, though. So the previous commissions have said hey, so
yes, they are doing the streamlining that you talked about, but
they also made a recommendation to change the statutory
requirement. That is your job as a commissioner, to weigh in on
policy.
So will you commit to the previous commission's
recommendations to get rid of the statutory requirement that
was from this 1957 amendment?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator----
Senator Ricketts. You can just stop there, yes, Senator.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Marzano. Make sure that any legislation that does come
before, I think yes, it is important to revisit that process. I
think it will help in terms of new reactor licensing and
applications. I am mindful that to be careful that other public
engagement that is part of the licensing process is not
diminished in that sense. Yes, I would certainly look into
those legislative proposals and support them if I find that
they achieve that goal.
Senator Ricketts. OK, great. Thank you, Mr. Marzano. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman, for being flexible on my time.
Senator Carper. You bet, Senator Ricketts. Always happy to
have you with us for all of our business here.
Senator Boozman, good morning.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Senator
Capito, for having this important hearing. We appreciate your
being here, Mr. Marzano.
In my home State, in Arkansas, we have a two-unit nuclear
power plant in Russellville known as Arkansas Nuclear One. The
current license expires in 2034, which is not too far away to
begin to think about extending the license through the
subsequent license renewal process. Moving forward on that
process will involve a tremendous amount of stakeholder
engagement between our utility regulators, legislators,
customers, and the local community.
One would think that this process would guarantee long-term
certainty for commercial power reactors. However, a 2022
decision made to only allow environmental reviews for initial
license renewals after a plant's first 40 years created
uncertainty that the operators need to make long-term capital
investments for their facilities. Thankfully, after hearing
concerns from this committee, the commission quickly reversed
course on that decision and has established a workable process
to allow plants to run beyond 60 years.
Can you tell us your thoughts on this decision and how it
would have impacted the operations and reactors like that in
Arkansas as it considers subsequent license renewal? Does that
make sense?
Mr. Marzano. Senator, yes, I think the process itself and
that regulatory certainty that is required for licensees to
make those kinds of decisions, for the communities to rely on
those decisions, I think it is very important to get that
right. My sense of what the commission did was to correct a
longstanding issue to drive at certainty for that process
moving forward. If confirmed, now that the commission has
acted, that that process has gone through, I see tremendous
opportunity for subsequent license renewals and other license
renewals to move apace with the industry.
Senator Boozman. Very good, thank you.
So, nuclear energy creates jobs, powers our homes,
businesses, and is a key contributor to our national defense
capabilities. Additionally, nuclear plays a key role to help
produce low-cost, safe, reliable and carbon-free electric
generation for Arkansas and the rest of the Country, especially
when compared to the costs or efficiency of renewables.
While we must continue to accelerate innovation and
encourage private sector investment in advanced nuclear
technologies, we should not ignore the 94 nuclear reactors
currently in operation.
Will you elaborate on the importance of continuing to
support our existing fleet that generates roughly 20 percent of
our Nation's electricity and over half of our carbon-free
energy?
Mr. Marzano. The operating fleet is where I came from. It
is currently supplying some of the power in this room. It is
doing so with no carbon emissions, but it is also contributing
to the reliability of the grid.
The importance of keeping the operating fleet going was one
of the primary drivers of joining the committee and getting
into the policy work. The importance of them operating safely
to the end of their lifetimes, to carry us into as more
generation will inevitably have to come online, is extremely
important to me. I just want to also say, the people who work
in that industry, too, are my colleagues, professionals that I
have learned a lot from. I am mindful of the work that they do
every day.
Senator Boozman. You just mentioned the reliability of the
grid. That is something I think we are all concerned about. We
look at AI, we look at electric vehicles, the list goes on and
on and on. Do you feel like we are coordinated enough regarding
whatever entity you are a part of, and certainly nuclear is a
big part of that, are we stovepiping? Are people talking enough
about the reliability of the grid and how everything goes
together?
If we do what we say we are going to do in the next 10
years, there is real concern that the infrastructure is just
not there. That is not me talking, that is everybody that I
talk to that is in the business actually in the field, like you
used to be. Are we doing enough to ensure that the grid is
going to be adequate to do what we ask it to do?
Along with that, I would throw in the other problem of
cybersecurity protection that we are seeing, which is kind of
overlooked right now.
Mr. Marzano. Thank you, Senator. You bring up a good point.
One of the challenges moving forward, especially artificial
intelligence, is not just supplying the power for it, but then
also how artificial intelligence will be used in the industry.
NRC is definitely going to have to prioritize working to
understand that technology and some of the new potential
threats that could come, especially in the cybersecurity world.
That is something that we managed at the plant as well, we were
responsibility for ensuring that cybersecurity defenses were
implemented.
In terms of reliability, yes, that is in the front of
everybody's mind. If the NRC, and if confirmed, does its job,
which I hope to contribute to, then we can meet that moment.
Senator Boozman. Very good, thank you.
Senator Carper. Thank you, Senator Boozman. Thanks very
much.
I have a couple of questions, then I will yield after that
to Senator Capito.
We have heard today about your experience as a Senior
Reactor Operator. I want to make sure that all of us on the
panel and our staffs have the opportunity to fully understand
what the credential of Senior Reactor Operator really means.
Specifically, I would like to hear more about the skills, I
would like to hear more about the training that went into your
obtaining that license.
Would you take a moment to share with our committee how you
obtained your Senior Reactor Operator license, and how this
technical training has better prepared you to serve as a
commissioner on the NRC?
Mr. Marzano. Thank you for that question, Senator.
To become a Senior Reactor Operator, to qualify for the job
in the first place, you need to have reactor operating
experience, first and foremost. Then a combination of that with
technical education. In my case, the nuclear engineering degree
did serve me.
One of the things you are required to understand as a
Senior Reactor Operator is not just the nuclear engineering
part of it, but the mechanical engineering, the electrical
engineering, the materials processes and programs to keep the
plant functioning as well.
So in order to become a Senior Reactor Operator, to get
that license, you go through an 18-month intensive training
program. I did run through it once in South Carolina.
Unfortunately, that didn't work out. I got a chance to do it
again.
After that 18 months, you are receiving basically every
detail of that plant and understanding how that plant works,
what the role of every component is and how that component
relates to safety, to defense in depth.
All of that is really to inform the operation of the plant,
especially in the context of emergency planning, and operators'
responsibilities in the event of an emergency. So we train
extensively to be able to respond almost by second nature to an
event that is happening in order to protect the health and
safety of the public.
Then how these skills transfer over to the commission,
really it is that technical understanding, it is that practical
experience, understanding how NRC's regulations affect folks on
the ground in the plants that does not currently exist on the
commission. We talk a lot about the collegial nature of the
NRC, and that requires a diversity and independence of views.
This practical experience that I have, knowing how these
things work on the ground, knowing the issues that could arise,
is something that I look forward to bringing to the commission.
Senator Carper. OK. Thank you for that.
Let me just take us in a little bit different direction and
ask if you would share with us, elaborate a bit on how you
would approach decisionmaking as a commissioner, if you are
confirmed. How would you approach that?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, sir. I go back to in essence what that
license means. Decisionmaking in the role, again, requires that
balance between maintaining safety of the plant while also
providing electricity and maximizing electricity generation. So
on a daily basis, reactor operators, Senior Reactor Operators
across the Country have to make those decisions.
That experience, having that ability to apply that judgment
in situations often unplanned is an extremely important asset
that I think I will bring to the commission.
Senator Carper. All right. We talked earlier about the fact
that you and your wife, Jennifer, who has joined us today, have
a son named Silas, who is about a year old. What thing about
him and his colleagues across this Country that are just
starting in life, what kind of stake do they have in all this?
Why is this relevant in the lives of our children, and for
Senator Capito and myself, in the lives of our grandchildren?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, sir. I think the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission finds itself at an extremely important time in its
history as we are trying to rapidly reduce carbon emissions
across the globe and in the United States. Nuclear technology
has the opportunity to provide tremendous benefits to
addressing this issue.
One of my primary motivations for becoming a commissioner
is to ensure that the decisions that we make today are ones
that support a world for my son, for his generation and
generations to come. So it is extremely motivating for me. I
take to heart the NRC's role in this, and supporting the safe
deployment of nuclear energy.
Senator Carper. I am going to hesitate here just for a
moment and let Senator Kelly settle in, and when he is ready
to, go ahead and ask any questions he might have. Thanks for
joining us today.
Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have a couple
of questions. First of all, thank you, Mr. Marzano, for joining
us today and congratulations on your nomination.
I want to start by asking a couple of questions on fusion
energy. I understand that the NRC recently agreed to regulate
fusion energy systems under the byproduct materials framework.
This is an important step, because the framework allows for a
technology-neutral regulatory approach that does not treat
fusion and fission systems the same, obviously because they are
not the same. This is going to help researchers working on
fusion systems have certainty about the regulatory future that
they face.
So do you agree with the approach that the commission has
taken to date to provide a different regulatory pathway for
fusion energy?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator, that is why we worked very hard
in the ADVANCE Act to make sure that that was clear to the
commission, and why we have engaged in this committee with the
commission on this particular issue. Going back to my early
experience, fusion was one of the reasons why I got into this.
It turns out that I happen to be an atom splitter, not joining
them together.
I strongly believe that the decisions that we made in this
committee and that the commission has made were the right ones.
Senator Kelly. Do you think the commission has sufficient
authority to develop long-term fusion regulations?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, sir.
Senator Kelly. All right. Another topic on advanced nuclear
reactors, as you know, there is a lot of innovation happening
in the space. This innovation may pose challenges to the NRC's
existing licensing processes. I understand that a particular
challenge researchers may face when working on new advanced
nuclear reactor designs is that they may not know exactly how
to fill out a license application for the NRC, especially if
their reactor design is new or if it is novel.
Mr. Marzano, how would you characterize the opportunities
and challenges posed by new advanced nuclear reactor and small
modular reactor designs?
Mr. Marzano. Thank you, Senator. Part of my education was
understanding the economics of these new reactors and advanced
reactors, and really what that economic model is based on. How
the industry gets to a cost-effective way to deploy these
technologies is to get over those first-of-a-kind cost hurdles,
and getting to essentially the second, third, fourth design or
version of that reactor, kind of built and taking learnings
from that. A lot of this comes from being able to take a
manufacturing model with some of these reactors and to rapidly
produce them.
I feel strongly that that kind of model will work if the
industry commits to that.
Senator Kelly. So, a manufacturing model in contrast to the
model we use today?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator. These new reactor designs are
smaller, they are more scalable, they are more flexible. So
they are going to fit different applications, especially again
going back to electricity generation versus generating heat for
industrial processes.
To me, it is very important to support that model moving
forward.
Senator Kelly. What do you think we should do on the
application issue? What should the NRC be doing to help folks,
help researchers fill out these applications?
Mr. Marzano. I think one of the important things that the
NRC does today and can leverage in the future is the
preapplication process. That is why in the ADVANCE Act there is
a provision to lower the costs for potential licensees to
engage with the agency.
So I think that will help facilitate better interactions
and better understanding between the NRC staff and those
applicants, or potential applicants, on their specific
technologies. If I may, one more item that I have observed from
a policy perspective is the importance of NRC's work on
research itself and how it engages with the Department of
Energy on that research.
There is a memorandum of understanding that came out of the
Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act that has already
delivered tremendous benefits to both the NRC and DOE. So
research is also being informed by what NRC staff observed as
being important to licensing moving forward. It will be
fostering more of those types of interactions to help get over
those issues early on.
Senator Kelly. Mr. Chairman, can I get another 2 minutes?
Senator Carper. You got it.
Senator Kelly. All right. One last topic here, you are
probably aware that both Senator Lummis and I have been working
for a few months here with the NRC on the remediation of
abandoned uranium mines. There are thousands of these uranium
mines across the western United States.
Actually more than 500 are on the Navajo Nation. We have
been working for decades to clean up these abandoned mines.
They have horrible health effects on the Navajo people.
There have been a number of challenges. One of these
challenges has to do with how do we deploy new and promising
technology. Recently the EPA and the Navajo Nation piloted a
technology that could reduce the amount of hazardous waste at a
site by as much as 85 percent.
This technology hasn't been able to be used more widely
because they are awaiting a licensing decision from the NRC. As
I understand it, this is the first time that the NRC has
considered licensing a technology primarily intended to
remediate mine waste.
Senator Lummis and I met with the NRC chairman, Chairman
Hanson, about this a couple of months ago. Our understanding is
that the commission has provided a pathway to allow this
technology to be licensed as a service as opposed to needing to
go through a site-specific process. So it would be licensed
essentially to clean up any mine, wherever the mine happened to
be, instead of for the specific mine.
What role do you believe the NRC should play in helping to
facilitate cleanups of legacy uranium contamination?
Mr. Marzano. Thank you for that question, Senator.
Many nuclear professionals, my colleagues and I, came from
the industry understand and are aware of the legacy of nuclear
power development in the early atomic age. Addressing this
legacy is extremely important, not just for the cleanup and the
health of those communities but also to build more public trust
in nuclear energy.
Technologies like the one you have mentioned are extremely
important in helping that, and do show a lot of promise. Again,
I take this issue to heart. We have worked in this committee to
advance legislation to help address this issue. So it is very
important to me as well.
In order to meet the scale of the problem, in order to
improve the public health of the communities that are impacted
by this issue, a regulatory process needs to support and match
the scale and urgency of this problem.
Senator Kelly. That would lead to licensing this as a
service instead of a site-specific process, so it would be
licensed, we would like to see this licensed for remediation
writ large instead of specifically for each site.
Thank you for the extra time, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Carper. You are most welcome. Thanks so much for
joining us. I know you have a lot on your plate today.
Senator Capito?
Senator Capito. Thank you.
Mr. Marzano, you worked in the nuclear industry for about 6
years at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant that was under
construction in South Carolina, and then combined that with the
Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant in Illinois as a Senior Reactor
Operator, that is correct. So you have first-hand knowledge, we
have heard a lot about what you have said and really appreciate
that.
Can you provide us a couple of specific examples of NRC
regulations that should be updated to provide that more
efficient regulatory? You talked about engagement, pre-
engagement and things like that. I am talking more specific
types of examples.
Mr. Marzano. From my experience, the efforts underway at
the NRC to drive risk insights across all the regulatory
framework and responsibilities of the NRC has already paid some
dividends. It would be leveraging those risk insights and
continuing to operate as a risk informed regulator and looking
for more opportunities there.
In the role, I saw specific changes that helped with my
role as a Senior Reactor Operator to keep the plant up and
running, related to essentially using risk information in real
time to evaluate the status of the plant, especially in
response to maintenance activities that were going on or
components that fail. It is looking for more opportunities to
drive those risk insights.
Senator Capito. Let me ask you to give me a concrete
example of what a risk insight would be at a nuclear plant.
Mr. Marzano. There are these things called technical
specifications for every plant. That is essentially the law of
the plant. You have to meet those requirements. You have timing
that is required to do certain actions.
What these risk insights allow you to do is change those
times. So you can extend them, it is called risk-informed
completion time. What that has done has taken direct results
from a probabilistic risk assessment calculation, using that to
assess the plant's risk based on its current status, and then
able to give a little bit more operational flexibility based on
that risk.
Senator Capito. So, prioritize the higher risk, obviously,
would be the way that would go.
Mr. Marzano. Yes.
Senator Capito. So you are allowed to do that now. Were you
allowed to do that when you were operating?
Mr. Marzano. That was being implemented as I was operating.
It is certainly an operational flexibility that the industry
has been working on for a long time and one that has driven
higher capacity factors in meeting that reasonable assurance of
safety.
Senator Capito. OK. If you have been in meetings, and I am
sure you have, when I have talked with Chairman Hanson, one of
my bugaboos with the NRC is the telework policy. Now it is 2
days a week, I think a day is 6 hours in the office. There was
a push to change it to 1 day every 2 weeks, a day being 4
hours. The commission came in and overturned what Chair Hanson
had done.
What is your opinion on the telework policy and what
changes would you make? We are looking at new technologies
here, in my view, if you can not be in a room with people to
innovate, I do not know how you are going to get this done.
Mr. Marzano. Certainly, Senator. I think interpersonal
interaction is extremely important, especially for new people
that are coming into the agency. There is going to be a lot of
new hiring that has to happen. That mentorship is facilitated
by being in-person, I do believe that.
It also is important for meeting those mission-critical
activities. There are some instances where being in-person can
drive better outcomes. I understand that. Some roles have to be
on the job. I was in one. The pandemic happened right as I was
kind of getting out on the shift. We didn't have a choice to
telework.
So there are definitely critical mission activities that
must be completed, and a telework policy must support that. I
do also recognize that workplace flexibility is also a
component of any telework policy. When the agency is having to
look at retain folks, one of the things I would understand and
look to kind of make a priority is finding that balance of
getting the mission done with providing the flexibility to keep
talent in the agency.
Senator Capito. Yes, I would like to see an overarching
policy from the Administration that would actually incentivize
people to go into work every day like most people do. This
Administration does not seem to want to do that.
Last question. There is a lot of excitement about small
nuclear. In my State of West Virginia there is a specific
provision in there that could be very helpful to us to develop
placements of these small nuclear reactors on abandoned coal
mine sites that already have the generation in place. It would
be great for the economics of the region and also for the work
force.
So it is a win-win here. It would probably have
environmental benefits as well.
So if I am sitting here in a community and I am talking to
my folks in West Virginia about the promise of the ADVANCE Act,
when would the soonest reactor actually go online in your
opinion? Because when you pass these bills, people think it is
going to be tomorrow. What would you say to that?
Mr. Marzano. Some of the plants that are out there right
now are to get these things online in the next decade.
Senator Capito. OK, so that is 10 years.
Mr. Marzano. Well, within the next decade.
Senator Capito. Well, but there are no provisions, the NRC
does not have the licensing for these, so they can not move
forward, right? I understand the one in Wyoming, they have a
construction permit but they do not have a permit for the
reactor. Is that correct?
Mr. Marzano. That kind of gets into the details of the Part
50 process. It is a two-step process. The construction permit
carries that plant all the way to when it is ready to start
loading fuel. There is a review that happens in order to
certify that the plant is built as designed and is ready to
receive the operating license. So once it does, it can load
fuel.
Senator Capito. So are you telling me that TerraPower can
go all the way to construction of the reactor right now? They
are permitted to do that? That is not my understanding.
Mr. Marzano. I have to correct it a little bit. The
construction permit is currently under review. So yes, right
now the activities that they can do are----
Senator Capito. They are clearing the land and all that
stuff now.
Mr. Marzano. Exactly. That activity is extremely important
to getting into the construction of the nuclear aspects, or the
safety aspects of those plants. So the timeline for the
Advanced Reactor Demonstration project reactors are to be built
within this decade, before 2030. It is important that the NRC
supports those timelines as well.
Senator Capito. Well, that is 5 years from now. That is
licensing, construction, online. Do you think 5 years is a
reasonable thing to tell people in Wyoming that is when they
are going to be online? I personally do not. You can probably
tell, the way I am asking the question.
Mr. Marzano. Again, first-of-a-kind hurdles. There are
always things that can pop up. It is not necessarily related to
the regulatory posture. There are things that happen in
construction that require licensees to shift and adjust.
I was intimately familiar with this at the V.C. Summer
project. You have a plan on how the construction process is
going to come together, but then some novel issue that was
unexpected comes up. It is about how those are managed and yes,
5 years is certainly an ambitious timeline.
I think looking at the first-of-a-kind, you are going to
see longer periods in order to get those line. The goal being
to get to nth-of-a-kind. The process that is being used there
is to demonstrate and then build on that progress.
Senator Capito. So I would say, as a commission nominee, I
want this efficient, I want it timely, without sacrificing any
safety or environmental aspects of it, of course, and not to
follow the history of the NRC which has been a lot of foot-
dragging, a lot of redoing decisions that have already been
made.
So I would implore you, if you go in this direction, that
you heed those words. Thank you.
Senator Carper. I can not speak for everybody on the
committee, but I suspect many of us share the consideration you
just voiced.
One of the advantages of having a commission with a full
complement of all five commissioners is there is a lot of work
to be done. To the extent you have one or two people on the
commission, it is going to take longer. To the extent that we
have five excellent nominees and commission members who are
able to contribute, we will get this done safer but also more
promptly, I would hope.
We have been joined by our colleague from Alaska, Senator
Sullivan. Welcome.
Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Marzano, congratulations to you and your family. I know
you have family support there, which is great. These are always
important hearings, and it is great you are being supported.
I want to follow on a couple of Senator Capito's questions.
First, this telework issue. I certainly hope that when you, if
you are confirmed, that you just make a strong stance. This is
ridiculous. I have Alaskans who fly 4,000 miles from Alaska to
come and meet with FCC commissioners and so forth. They can not
do it, they can not go into the buildings. They meet them in
Starbucks, because these guys are not working.
It is remarkable to me that we have Federal workers, and
there are tens of thousands, who still sit at home in their
pajamas. They do not even do work in my view.
You mentioned it, but talk about this issue of mentorship.
This could be an exciting time for small scale nuclear, as we
are talking about. Yet young people, if they join the
commission, they come in and they have no mentors, they think
working in their pajamas is a benefit. It is not a benefit. You
need mentors. You need smart people to help the next
generation.
Can you maybe give a little stronger statement on this
telework issue? In my view it is absurd. If most Americans knew
that their Federal Government, 90 percent of them still sit at
home, they do not come into work, it is ridiculous, what do you
think? Be a little stronger on this.
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator. My experience in the work force,
especially the nuclear work force, and before telework became
more ubiquitous across the industry, the characteristic of the
nuclear work force today is that there is a large age gap,
there are a lot of folks there that are potentially retiring,
and there are folks who are coming in. So what is required of
me and many nuclear professionals across the Country of these
jobs is to get up to speed quickly.
Senator Sullivan. Maybe that will resume when you are a 25-
year-old engineer sitting at home in your little apartment?
Mr. Marzano. When you are operating a nuclear power plant
and you are an engineer for a nuclear power plant, you have
your hands on. So it is going to be important in those aspects.
I think I have a bit of understanding and learning exactly how
those interactions or which interactions at the NRC are kind of
similar to that.
Those have to happen.
Senator Sullivan. Yes.
Mr. Marzano. Again, hiring----
Senator Sullivan. I have a couple more questions, but I
really think you should commit to this committee that you are
going to help do something about this. To Senator Capito's
point, it is really absurd. It is. It is harmful for the new
employees, even though they think they are getting a great
deal, oh, great, I can work at home, it is not good for them,
either.
So let me get to your experience level. There has been some
concern that this is a really important commission, there is a
lot of stuff happening, that your experience is not up to par
for where commissioners are. As a matter of fact, the
Breakthrough Institute, they stated that you may be the least
experienced commissioner ever seated at the NRC if confirmed.
So what is your response to that? I know you were a
contractor with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion program. What is
your response to being called the least commissioner ever in
terms of experience?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator. I would bring to the commission
today experience as a Senior Reactor Operator, the first
license holder to sit on the commission in nearly 20 years. I
think it is extremely important to recognize what that means in
terms of the technical expertise that I bring. Then also the
direct experience with the impact of NRC's regulations and
understanding how they are implemented on the ground.
My Navy experience, I was able to train sailors, some that
were fresh out of high school, to operate engine rooms of
nuclear powered submarines.
Senator Sullivan. Did you see the Breakthrough Institute's
criticism of your nomination?
Mr. Marzano. I am aware of it, yes.
Senator Sullivan. What is your direct response to it?
Mr. Marzano. My direct response is that it is certainly
inaccurate. It do not think it fairly characterizes my
experience, I do not think it fairly characterizes the work
that I did for this committee and the Senate in getting the
ADVANCE Act passed as well.
Again, that Senior Reactor Operator experience is an
extremely important view to bring to the commission today. If I
may, again, going back to my point about getting up to speed in
this industry, the folks that are my generation that are mid-
career right now had to learn a lot fast in order to take
bigger and bigger roles in the industry today.
I think that perspective, and I think in terms of my career
level, is something that is an asset that I would bring in
understanding the modern issues that are facing the industry
and both the staff at the NRC. I think those things are
certainly of value to the commission.
Senator Sullivan. Mr. Chairman, I have a couple more
questions, OK to hit on those?
Senator Carper. Go ahead.
Senator Sullivan. You mentioned your experience here, which
I know was meaningful. I read your article, ``Reflections on a
Year in D.C.'' which was published by the American Nuclear
Science Review. You didn't list that in your requirement for
the application before the committee as one of your written
articles.
Why didn't you do that? You know you are supposed to list
everything you wrote. You only wrote that a year ago. Seems
pretty relevant. Was there something you were trying to hide
from that?
Mr. Marzano. No, Senator. That was a simple oversight. My
interpretation of that question was research papers, anything
that I had published along those lines. If that was an
oversight on my part, I take responsibility for that.
Senator Sullivan. OK. Let me go to permitting reform. Now,
no offense, I do not want to be too partisan here. I have been
working with Senator Capito and others for almost 10 years now,
since I got to the Senate, on permitting reform, efficiently,
timely, certain.
My State, the great State of Alaska, is ground zero for--
you can not permit anything. You want to build a sidewalk, you
want to build a road, every radical lower 48 environmental
group in the Country, want to get a delay, nav gas for your
small airplanes, every lower 48 group comes and sues, stops,
delays. It is crazy, and our laws allow it.
We have a gold mine called the Kensington Mine, southeast
Alaska, employs about 400 people, $110,000 is the average wage.
It took 20 years to permit that mine. Twenty years. Nobody
thinks that is a good idea. No offense, but my Democrat
colleagues are the ones who block permitting reform. That is
just a fact.
So I work that as the Democrat nominee, a Democrat
committee that is chaired three to two, that the opportunities
for particularly this new generation of nuclear will be stymied
and stalled because Democrats do not focus on permitting
reform. They are fine with 20-year gold mine projects in
Alaska. They kind of align themselves with some of these
radical lower 48 groups.
So what is your view on permitting reform to take advantage
of this? Do you think it should take 20 years to permit a gold
mine or a nuclear facility or a small scale nuclear? It is a
really important issue. I know you have seen it; I know you
have worked on it. You guys are going to be in charge. If we go
the old way, and it is the Democrat way, it is going to be a
problem. What is your view on this?
Mr. Marzano. I certainly think that there is tremendous
room for improvement in getting projects done fast. My role as
a commissioner----
Senator Sullivan. To Senator Capito's point, nobody wants
to abandon safety. That is not what we are. You can do
efficient, timely, certain. Because you know, when the private
sector invests, and they are like, that is going to take 20
years, you run all the private capital away. That is why China
is beating us on all this stuff, because they subsidize their
companies. We can not do that.
Sorry, I interrupted. What is your thought on this? It is a
really important issue.
Mr. Marzano. Certainly, my role as a commissioner, if
confirmed, is to be driving those efficiencies as Congress has
directed in the ADVANCE Act.
Senator Sullivan. Yes, we did.
Mr. Marzano. I take that to heart, and I will faithfully
execute. I think it is extremely important in order for nuclear
power to be making a contribution to grid reliability. Yes, at
reducing carbon emissions.
So it is in the interest to improve, and that is what the
ADVANCE Act directs the NRC to do.
Senator Sullivan. Let me ask one final question. Have you
ever been to Alaska?
Mr. Marzano. No, sir, I have not.
Senator Sullivan. Can I get your commitment if you get
confirmed that you go up to Alaska, visit some other remote
communities? I have over 230 communities in my State that are
not connected by roads. We try to get them connected by roads.
Like I said, every radical lower 48 environmental group in the
Country stops.
You can not build a road in Alaska. You want to build a
road in Delaware, somewhere else, sure, nobody cares. In
Alaska, you try to build a road, 20 environmental groups sue to
stop. So I have communities, 230 communities that are not
connected by roads.
So everything costs more. Everything. Everything. Including
power generation. Because almost everybody is on diesel. You
try to get off diesel, and these lower 48 groups will sue, stop
us, no, you can not do that. You can do it in Delaware, you can
do it anywhere else. Can't do it in Alaska, sorry. We have to
keep you pristine. They have no idea what they are talking
about. None of them from Alaska.
So there is excitement on these ideas of small scale
nuclear that can maybe help some of these smaller communities,
have a lot of poverty, super high energy rates. So can I get
your commitment if confirmed to come up and just see what it is
like to live in a super-remote community who, when you try to
get things done, the lower 48 environmental groups stop
everything? It would be helpful for you guys.
We do not have any nuclear power there now. We used to, by
the way, on our military bases, a long time ago. There is some
excitement along these lines. As you probably know, Eielson Air
Force Base was looking at a, or is still looking at a small
modular program, would be the first one in the military, which
I am sure the NRC is involved with. I know they are involved
with it.
Can I get your commitment on that? Any thoughts on getting
power generation to really remote parts of America, not just
Alaska? West Virginia?
Mr. Marzano. Yes, Senator, I will certainly visit the
State. There is extremely important nuclear work that is going
on there. The same power systems that Eielson Air Force Base is
considering also provide the opportunity to serve small
communities as well.
Senator Sullivan. Yes.
Mr. Marzano. It would be absolutely imperative for the
commission to have an understanding of those applications as
well.
Senator Sullivan. Great. Good. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for letting me go over. Important
questions.
Senator Carper. You bet. I would say on a personal note, as
you may know, Senator Sullivan, Matt and his wife, Jennifer,
who is here with us today, are the parents of a young son,
Silas, who is about a year old. When our sons were a bit older
than that, my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Alaska
and to visit, among other places, Denali. We had just the most
wonderful experience.
Silas is a little bit young to conquer Denali, but you may
want to keep that on your to-do list.
Senator Sullivan. Now, the one thing, I do ask a lot of
people to come in Alaska, and a lot of them come in the summer.
I was just out fishing a couple of days ago.
It would be really good for you to go to Eielson in January
or February where it is 40 below zero and dark. That just gives
you another----
Senator Carper. We will not be doing any field hearings at
that time of year.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. All right. I am going to ask unanimous
consent to submit for the record letters of support for Matt's
nomination, including letters from the American Nuclear
Society, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, Generation Atomic,
and the Good Energy Collective, as well as the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. These organizations
represent nuclear professionals, they represent technical
experts, and they represent policy specialists.
I think I am going to forego any further questions at this
time. Let me just ask Senator Capito, do you have any closing
comments you would like to make?
Senator Capito. I am good. Thank you.
Senator Carper. In closing, I want to thank Matt for
appearing before us today. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
will play a critical role, a critical role in helping us
realize our clean energy future and in reinforcing the
reliability of the electric grid. These efforts will take a
terrific amount of work.
Matt is a committed public servant with the technical
expertise needed to support that work. Matt's confirmation
would bring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to a full slate
of commissioners, which is essential as we enter into a new era
of advanced reactors. I firmly believe that he will be an
excellent addition to the agency. I hope to work with our
colleagues, Senator Capito, to advance his nomination in the
coming weeks.
Before we adjourn, a little bit of housekeeping. First, I
would like to ask unanimous consent to submit into the record a
variety of materials related to today's hearing, including
several letters in support of Matt's nomination.
Without objection, so ordered.
[The referenced information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Carper. Finally, Senators will be allowed to submit
written questions for the record through the close of business
on Monday, September 16th. We will compile those questions and
send them to our witness. We will ask for a reply by Monday,
September 23d.
Anything else, Senator Capito?
Senator Capito. No.
Senator Carper. All right. With that, this hearing is
adjourned. Thanks so much.
[Whereupon, at 11:39 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[all]