USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner’s Conflict of Interest

Groups try to block nuclear regulator’s vote, citing conflict of interest WP By Josh Hicks August 21 Dozens of environmental organizations and nuclear-power opponents are trying to stop a federal regulator from participating in upcoming votes scheduled to take place one week before he starts a new leadership role with an industry group.

In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday, the Sierra Club and 33 other groups called on the panel to postpone its Aug. 26 decisions until Commissioner William Magwood moves to his new job as director of the non-government Nuclear Energy Agency on Aug. 31.

“Mr. Magwood has created a real and apparent conflict of interest by pursuing and accepting a position with an international agency whose primary purpose is to promote nuclear power, at the same time he serves on a U.S. agency that is dedicated to protection of public health and safety and the environment,” the letter said…….

the opposing groups said a vote by the commissioner would lead to questions about whether he “influenced the agency to gloss over the serious problems that attend the long-term storage and disposal of spent reactor fuel, in order to fulfill his new mission of promoting nuclear energy worldwide.”….. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/08/21/groups-try-to-block-nuclear-regulators-vote-citing-conflict-of-interest/

August 22, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA