Just three days after Gregory Jaczko announced his resignation as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, President Barack Obama nominated Allison M. Macfarlane as his replacement.
Macfarlane, an associate professor at George Mason University since 2006, was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and has extensive knowledge of nuclear waste issues. According to a White House announcement Thursday, she holds a doctorate in geology from MIT, where she was also a research associate. Her other academic credits include work at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
A book she authored in 2006, “Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High-Level Nuclear Waste,” outlined challenges to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain waste repository.
If confirmed by the Senate, she will serve out the remainder of Jaczko’s term, which ends June 30, 2013. Jaczko faced criticism from other commission members and the agency’s staff for his management style, which some of them said was abusive. He has consistently denied the allegations. Nonetheless, Jaczko resigned his position in advance of the publication of an NRC inspector general’s report on his actions as chairman.