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Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise today in support of David Wright's nomination to serve as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Right now, we stand at a critical junction to ensure that our Nation has the ability to provide reliable and affordable power for our constituents, our onshore American manufacturing, and also to win the AI race. Nuclear energy is absolutely central to achieving these goals.

Fifty years ago, Congress established the NRC to recognize the foundational principle of having a credible, independent nuclear safety regulator. Since then, the NRC has seen major periods of change, from responding to our most significant nuclear accident to preparing for a nuclear renaissance that did not fully materialize.

Through this time, the NRC has evolved on how it functions, but far too frequently, these functions have been inefficient, time-consuming, expensive, and have not allowed our nuclear innovators and the American people to fully realize the benefits of nuclear power.

That is why, last year, Congress passed the ADVANCE Act with overwhelming, bipartisan support to make the NRC's functions more efficient, predictable, and affordable. That was my bill.

Now the Commission must ambitiously implement this legislation. Additionally, President Trump has tasked the NRC with implementing his Executive order to further reduce the licensing timelines and shed unnecessary regulations.

This is a challenge that the Commission must meet, and we expect the NRC to deliver. Achieving this will require experienced and highly qualified Commissioners who are empowered to lead the Agency through a period of high expectations. Well, David Wright meets that mark.

Chairman Wright was first confirmed as an NRC commissioner in 2018, reconfirmed by the Senate for a full 5-year term in 2020, and has served as President Trump's Chairman through the end of that term in June when his term expired.

Throughout his 7 years on the Commission, Chairman Wright has demonstrated his vision to make the NRC a modern, risk-informed regulator. He supported policies that streamlined requirements to advance novel technologies that will help clean up contaminated, abandoned uranium sites as well as policies that create the groundwork for fusion energy.

He led this effort to extend the duration of certain licenses to provide long-term regulatory certainty, and Chairman Wright has instilled accountability with the NRC staff by directing the Agency to focus on issues most important for nuclear safety.

In January, as required by the ADVANCE Act, the Commission updated its mission statement for the first time in a generation. Chairman Wright worked with his colleagues to revise the mission statement which reads:

The NRC protects public health and safety and advances the nation's common defense and security by enabling the safe and secure use and deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies and radioactive materials through efficient and reliable licensing, oversight, and regulation for the benefit of society and the environment.

I support this revised mission statement as it aligns with what Congress intended by passing the ADVANCE Act. It is now time for the Commission to put this new mission statement into action as the law requires--and Congress and President Trump expects--to the benefit of our Nation.

David Wright will help make this mission a reality, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting for his reconfirmation to the NRC.

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