COMMISSIONER KRISTINE L. SVINICKI TAKES OATH OF OFFICE AT NRC 

Kristine L. Svinicki was sworn in today as a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission by Chairman Dale E. Klein at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. 

As a Commissioner, Svinicki will serve for a term that will end June 30, 2012. 

 “I am pleased today to begin my service at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” 

said Svinicki. “As the agency continues its vigilant oversight of 104 operating nuclear power 

plants and other uses of nuclear materials, the agency also expects to receive additional new 

reactor applications in the coming years.” 

 “I am eager to be a part of this challenging and exciting period in the agency’s history 

and am committed fully to contributing to the continued success of the Commission in fulfilling 

its obligations to the Nation,” added Svinicki. 

Svinicki was nominated by the President and confirmed March 14 by the U.S. Senate. 

Her background as a nuclear engineer and a policy-maker at senior levels in our government will 

be a substantial benefit to the Commission. 

 Svinicki has a distinguished career as a nuclear engineer and policy advisor, working 

since 2005 as a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee for the 

Committee’s former Chairman, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and its current ranking Republican, 

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. As a professional staff member of the Committee, she worked on 

defense science and technology programs, and atomic energy defense activities of the U.S. 

Department of Energy, including nuclear weapons, nuclear security and environmental 

management programs with a collective budget of over $25 billion. 

Svinicki came to Capitol Hill in 1997, serving until 2004 as a senior policy advisor to 

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. In that capacity she was involved in the development of legislation 

and legislative strategies on energy, environmental and technology issues in the areas of 

telecommunications, energy research and development and nuclear waste management. 

 From 1990 to 1997, Svinicki worked as a nuclear engineer in the Energy Department’s 

Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste 

Management, and the Idaho Operations Office. Before that she was an energy engineer for the 

Wisconsin Public Service Commission. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 08-067 March 28, 2008
 Svinicki earned a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of 

Michigan in 1988. She is a member of the American Nuclear Society and served two terms on 

the ANS Special Committee on Nuclear non-Proliferation. She has served as a member of the 

Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Task Force on Global Nuclear Materials 

Management, and as an Expert Advisory Panel Member to the NRC on assessing the future of 

regulatory research needs. She was selected as a Stennis Congressional Fellow of the 108th 

Congress (2003-2004). She is a resident of Falls Church, Va. 

 Additional information on Svinicki is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/aboutnrc/organization/commission/svinicki.html . 

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