Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane said Tuesday she would resign her position on Jan. 1, having competed the mission she set out for herself when she took the top agency post in 2012.
Macfarlane said her goals at the agency were to steady the helm “after a tumultuous period for the Commission,” which was marked by conflict among the five commissioners, which lead to the departure of Macfarlane's predecessor, Dr. Gregory Jaczko.
Macfarlane's second goal involved reassuring the U.S. public that the type of accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan in March 2011 after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake would not happen in this country.
Among her top accomplishments, Macfarlane said that during her tenure the agency “implemented a number of safety improvements including the addition of protective equipment at reactor sites and at regional centers around the country, seismic and flood protection enhancements at power plants, and progress on hardening venting systems at plants of similar design to those at Fukushima.”
Just this week, the NRC announced a regulatory conference for Arkansas 1, where an accident in 2013 revealed degraded floor seals. Due to weak seals, water from Unit 1's fire main flooded a lower auxiliary area, where fuel for backup generators was stored. That meant a flood could potentially render fuel for emergency generators impossible to retrieve.
Macfarlane also said the NRC also improved its ability to “engage the public,” and increased its focus on the “back end of the fuel cycle.”
Among the more volatile nuclear power issues is the potential construction of a national radioactive waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., adamantly opposes Yucca Mountain as the location for a repository. Any nominee for the next chair of the NRC could find their position on Yucca Mountain a pivotal focus of their confirmation process.
In a press statement, Macfarlane said was taking a position as director of George Washington University's Center for International Science and Technology Policy, where she would continue to work on nuclear safety and policy.