The head of the US nuclear safety regulator loses his temper and uses threats and intimidation to try to get his way, the agency’s own independent watchdog said in a report.
The report paints a picture of a toxic work environment at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission at a time when the agency is working through whether it needs to change rules and oversee any expansion of the nuclear industry in the wake of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, appointed by US President Barack Obama, did not break the law in his actions on one of the most controversial policy issues the commission has faced — what to do about a nuclear dump proposed for Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Inspector General Hubert Bell said in a 46-page report.
However, Jaczko “strategically provided ... varying amounts of information” to the four other commissioners who helm the agency,” the report said.
Jaczko “withholds information to the commission by either suppressing papers or manipulating the agenda planning process,” commissioners’ staff told the Inspector General, and “often yelled at people,” according to a former chairman.
“Chairman Jaczko acknowledges that he sometimes loses his temper. He said he worked to control it and there are times when he has wished he has said or done things differently,” the report said.
Asked for comment on the interpersonal problems described in the report, Jaczko said through a spokesman: “I believe very passionately and strongly in nuclear safety and I take that responsibility very seriously. I hold people to a high standard.”
The Inspector General’s seven-month investigation began after complaints that Jaczko had exceeded his authority in closing down the commission’s technical review of the Yucca dump.
The US Congress passed a law in 1987 promising to bury waste from the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors deep inside Yucca Mountain. However, the issue has been fought in courts and in Washington by Nevadans who fear the dump could pollute water and hurt tourism.
The Obama administration killed the Yucca proposal after taking office. Before his appointment to the five-member commission, Jaczko was a top aide to US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a senior Democrat from Nevada and the top political opponent of the site.
Before the report was made public, Jaczko said the Inspector General had cleared his actions, adding that he hoped the report would settle this matter.
Instead, the findings give new fuel to Republican lawmakers who want to revive Yucca.
“The report reveals a calculating and political [commission] chairman who has abused his authority, who sought to suppress scientific reports and withhold information from fellow commissioners — strategically working to rig the system in a no holds barred effort to derail the Yucca Mountain repository,” US Representative John Shimkus said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in