Roadblock removed, Ostendorff confirmed

William Ostendorff was approved by the U.S. Senate to a new term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after one of Vermont’s senators released a hold on his nomination this week.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, was blocking Ostendorff to protest a secret vote by the NRC last month recommending the Justice Department intervene in a legal fight between the state and Entergy Corp., the operator of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Sanders wanted the government to stay out of the fight. He held the nomination hostage until being told the Justice Department would not intervene.

Released from the hold, Ostendorff was confirmed to a five-year NRC term late Thursday, the day on which his old term expired.

In a statement, Sanders said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., played a role in negotiations that ended the impasse. While he opposed Ostendorff’s views on the Yucca Mountain Project, Reid had said he would not oppose a new term for the engineer and former nuclear submarine commander.

Entergy sued Vermont after the state Senate voted 26-4 last year not to renew a state license for the Vermont Yankee plant. The NRC had granted the plan a 20-year license extension, but state leaders, including Sanders, want to move on from nuclear.

"If Vermont chooses an energy future that does not include a 40-year-old, problem-ridden nuclear power plant and that emphasizes energy efficiency and sustainable energy, it is certainly our right and the federal government has no role to play in that decision," Sanders said.