Chairman Capito Asks NRC Commissioners About ADVANCE Act Implementation and Increased Efficiency

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led a hearing examining the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) proposed budget for fiscal year 2027.

During the hearing, Chairman Capito asked Chairman Nieh about the increased efficiencies that the Commission has witnessed as a result of the ADVANCE Act and the ways those efficiencies are reflected in the FY 2027 budget. She also asked Commissioners Crowell and Wright about their perspectives on NRC staffing and how the Agency can best respond to changing workloads. In her second round of questions, Chairman Capito also asked Commissioner Wright about changes in the Agency's culture since the passage of the ADVANCE Act.

HIGHLIGHTS:

BUDGET EFFICIENCY

Chairman Capito:

"Let's just talk first with Chairman Nieh about the proposed budget, which is nearly $80 million lower than the enacted budget of Fiscal Year 2026. The proposal realizes much of the savings that Congress envisioned when we put together the ADVANCE Act, which directed the Agency to be more efficient in its licensing and oversight program, and in doing so lowering those regulatory costs paid by the industry. Will you please, Chairman Nieh, briefly summarize and quantify key cost savings that are included in this budget that would have been as a result of the ADVANCE Act?"

NRC Chairman Ho Nieh:

"[…] so, as you mentioned, there is significant reductions through the provisions in the ADVANCE Act that we're building into how we do business. In licensing alone, we've reduced costs by approximately $6 million and 30 full-time equivalents, and in the oversight program, we've reduced costs around $9 million and 40 full-time equivalents. There are other reductions that we have implemented as well in the corporate support area-again, another area of focus through the ADVANCE Act. So, taken together with the ADVCANCE Act alone, the focus on disciplined milestones and achieving efficiencies with that enabling mindset has enabled us to really deliver this value back to the country and so we can really execute our work at the best efficiency possible. […]"

NEED FOR APPROPRIATE STAFFING LEVELS

Chairman Capito:

"The next question I have is related to-several of you addressed this in your opening statements-and that's appropriate staffing levels. Many of you noted a lot of folks had left the Agency, and so we're seeing a dramatically different NRC. So, I want to start with Commissioner Crowell on this one. The proposed budget for NRC appears to include a notable reduction of staff, yet the licensing and regulatory work that the Agency is accomplishing is significant and ahead of schedule. What is your assessment-and you alluded to this in your statement-of the staffing needs in the budget and how does that align with future workload?"

NRC Commissioner Bradley Crowell:

"My concern in this regard is that these accelerated timelines and efficiencies that we've been able to achieve will be vulnerable to a dynamic in FY27 and beyond where we have an increased workload that will require us to review multiple applications at the same time. Right now, we're able to meet some of these aggressive goals because we're pretty much in a one-at-a-time framework. When that becomes multiple applications for different technologies, that's going to be more challenging. I'm also concerned about having the right knowledge skillsets to appropriately review some of the advanced reactor technologies that we expect to come before the Commission."

Chairman Capito:

"Commissioner Weaver, what would be your perspective on that? What is your view of how the Commission intends to address the human capital challenges as it faces the updates and continues to do the licensing and regulatory work?"

NRC Commissioner Douglas Weaver:

"In addition to the efficiencies that the Chairman mentioned, we're not simply doing the same old way of doing our work and trying to do it faster with fewer people. We're fundamentally changing the way we do licensing. We're using risk-informed, performance-based regulations and approaches, and what that means is we focus on what matters the most, and we spend our time on what really impacts safety. In that way, we can be more efficient, use less resources and still have good safety outcomes. It's true, we need to hire at this point, and I happened to check our website. We have, I think, 15 or more postings, and we're looking to hire approximately 80 people from primarily outside the Agency. We also have, I believe, 30 interns coming this summer, so we are hiring to fill the critical needs right now."

NRC CULTURE CHANGE

Chairman Capito:

"Chairman Wright, […] Senator Whitehouse and I just had a brief conversation about past hearings with the NRC not quite having as much camaraderie between Commissioners in terms of being able to get things done. Briefly, can you describe, is there a culture change at the Commission-level, and how do you see that?"

NRC Commissioner David Wright:

"Oh absolutely. […] Everything flows through what the first requirement was out of the ADVANCE Act-that's foundational to everything-was the adoption of the new Mission Statement. I worked very closely with Commissioner Crowell, and then Marzano came on near the end of it. The others are now here to help and to bring it forward. Everything flows from this Mission Statement, and it's connected to everyone through it-Commission, reactors, IT, international programs, fuels and other nuclear materials, medical stuff. Everything and everything is connected. So, I think, that right there, everyone is leaning into it, even the Commissioners themselves, and we have a very good relationship."

Chairman Capito:

"Good. And I would say the direction of redoing the Mission Statement came from the bipartisan ADVANCE Act, so I guess we can share a little bit of the credit for that."

Click HERE to view Chairman Capito's first round of questions.

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