Obama names Yucca critic to lead nuclear agency

WASHINGTON - Allison Macfarlane, a geologist, environmental science professor and Yucca Mountain skeptic, is President Barack Obama's choice to lead the government's nuclear safety agency.

The White House announced Thursday that Obama intends to nominate Mac­farlane to become chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. An expert on nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, she served on the recent presidential commission that recommended new strategies for managing highly radioactive waste.

The nomination was seen as a bow to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Macfarlane, whom the Nevadan tried to place onto the NRC in 2007, would replace Gregory Jaczko, a Reid protege who announced his resignation this week.

"I am confident that like her pre­decessor, Dr. Allison Macfarlane will make preserving the safety and security of American citizens her top priority as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Reid said in a statement.

A federal court in Washington is weighing a lawsuit that could force the NRC to restart license hearings on a proposed nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain. Macfarlane has written over the years that she believed the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas was not well understood from a technical standpoint and appeared to be flawed.

Reid called for a quick confirmation of Macfarlane, offering to move her through the Senate paired alongside Kristine Svinicki, an NRC commissioner whose term is expiring. Republicans want her to continue serving for another five years.

"I continue to have grave concerns about Kristine Svinicki's record on the commission," Reid said. "But I believe the best interests of the public would be served by moving the nominations of Dr. Macfarlane and Ms. Svinicki together before Ms. Svinicki's term expires at the end of June, to ensure that we have a fully functioning NRC."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said she was scheduling a confirmation hearing for the two nominees for next month.

Immediate reaction from Republicans was sparse. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Reid's offer to move Macfarlane quickly assumes Republicans "just fell off the turnip truck."

The top official with the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's government affairs arm, called for the Senate to approve both nominees. Macfarlane "has been an active contributor to policy debates in the nuclear field for many years," said Marvin Fertel, the institute's president and chief executive officer.

Other industry officials predicted the nominee will be controversial.

"There are legitimate issues and she will need to address them. There is no joy in Mudville. There are deep reservations about her," said one consultant who asked not to be identified.

On the other hand, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a health and environmental advocacy group, gave Macfarlane a thumbs-up. "We expect her to be a strong advocate for practical steps to enhance nuclear power safety and security," said Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the group's global security program.

Macfarlane has been an associate professor of environmental science and policy since 2006 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Previously she was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

As an academic, she wrote about potential safety problems at Yucca Mountain.

At MIT, Macfarlane was among a group of scientists from Massachusetts and the University of Michigan who examined Yucca technical issues. Their work resulted in a 2006 book Macfarlane co-edited called "Uncertainty Underground."

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.