Quotable: Prior to the vote, EPW chair Sen. Tom Carpenter (D., Del.) said, “Matt understands the importance of deploying more safe and clean nuclear power . . . . He has extensive technical expertise, gained over the course of a decade in the nuclear industry.”
“No other commissioner has this unique and . . . valuable set of credentials that Matt possesses,” Carpenter added. “I strongly believe that he would be, and will be if confirmed, a tremendous asset to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it implements this critical bipartisan law, which we all voted for.”
However, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), ranking member of the EPW Committee, took issue with Marzano’s background.
“I believe the White House has sort of exaggerated Mr. Marzano’s experience in the nuclear energy industry, although I do recognize his training and time working at a power plant,” she said. “As I stated at his confirmation hearing, demonstrating a capacity to follow procedures is fundamentally different than a commissioner’s role in setting policy, promulgating regulations, and adjudicating significant legal issues.”
“I do not have confidence that [Marzano] has the necessary background and experience to be that change agent at the commission—or to set the commission up for the agency’s next 50 years as Congress just envisioned in the ADVANCE Act,” Capito added.
Background: Prior to his current role as Idaho National Laboratory’s detailee to the EPW Committee, Marzano was the 2022 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow and spent a year learning how policymaking affects nuclear science, energy, and technology by working directly with legislators and congressional committees on critical nuclear policy decisions.
Marzano also has more than a decade of experience in the nuclear industry. He began his career at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in 2012, supporting U.S. Navy training; and in 2015, he moved to Dominion Energy, where he spent two years supporting the twin AP1000 reactor expansion project (since halted) at V. C. Summer nuclear power plant. Marzano then joined Exelon Generation (now Constellation) at Braidwood nuclear power plant, supporting digital plant upgrades while obtaining a senior reactor operator license.
