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Senate to Consider Sproat Nomination

By Eric McErlain
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be considering the nomination of Ward Sproat to be Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Department of Energy. Also on the agenda is the nomination of Jeffrey D. Jarrett to be Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy.

Click here for the live stream of the hearing beginning at 10:30 a.m. U.S. EST. One of my colleagues, Trish Conrad, is at the hearing and will providing a summary later in the day.

UPDATE: For some reason, the live stream doesn't seem to be working. We'll be back with a summary later.

AFTERNOON UPDATE: Thanks to Trish Conrad for this short summary:
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a confirmation hearing earlier today for Edward F. Sproat, III. Sproat has been nominated to serve as the Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Department of Energy. Among his other responsibilities, Sproat will oversee the design and license application of the Yucca Mountain Project.

Sproat made a personal statement to the committee then responded to brief questions from Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Richard Burr (R-NC).

In his comments, Sproat stated that nuclear must be a part of the country’s energy portfolio and that it can play an important role in limiting greenhouse gases. He also said that we need to develop a spent fuel repository for our national security.

Upon becoming Director, he said his key goals will be the design and license application for the repository, addressing the related transportation issues and following up on the federal government’s obligation regarding taking possession of used fuel from the country’s nuclear power plants.

He noted that reprocessing technologies may relieve some need for long-term disposal, but that a deep repository would still be needed.

Sproat shared that he will approach the job with six values in mind. They are safety, integrity, quality, accountability, teamwork and continuous improvement.

He has been asked by the committee to respond to a series of written questions. The Committee is expected to vote on the nomination shortly after receiving that document.

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