Nuclear Regulatory Commission Plagued by Infighting

The following is from a report by Reuters about the politics within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The federal agency in charge of regulating nuclear power plants has direct involvement with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Deep-seated infighting within the five-member U.S. nuclear safety regulator was exposed on Friday after Democrats and Republicans in Congress separately released complaints about misconduct at the highest levels of the agency.

The details shed new light on how caustic relationships have become at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is rolling out a sweeping series of reforms for U.S. nuclear power plants in the wake of the March disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

On one side is the agency's chairman, Gregory Jaczko, who previously worked for prominent nuclear critics in Congress.

On the other, four commissioners -- two Democratic appointees and two Republicans -- who complained to the White House in October that Jaczko was overstepping his powers, and intimidating senior NRC staff and an independent group of advisors that was reviewing the agency's analysis of the Fukushima accident.

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