September 26, 2016 

The Honorable James M. Inhofe 

Chairman, Committee on Environment 

 and Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) appeared before the Committee on 

Environment and Public Works on April 6, 2016, at the hearing entitled, “Oversight Hearing: 

The President’s FY 2017 Budget Request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” From that 

hearing, you forwarded questions for the hearing record to the Commission. On July 12, 2016, 

the NRC provided responses to your questions. As a follow-up to Question 1, I committed to 

you to hold a stakeholder meeting and report on implementation of key outcomes and 

recommendations from the stakeholder process. 

As we committed to do, on July 26, 2016, the Commission held an all-day meeting 

where the NRC invited a number of external stakeholders to share their perspectives on the 

NRC’s programs and performance. Participants included State and Tribal representatives, nongovernmental organizations, industry, organized labor, vendors, academia, and the medical 

community, as well as a former NRC Chairman and a former NRC Commissioner. At the 

conclusion of that meeting, the Commission directed the staff to provide an information paper 

identifying each substantive issue or recommendation raised at the meeting or in any 

subsequent correspondence to the Commission related to that meeting. 

As directed, the NRC staff reviewed the transcript and written comments, and 

subsequently consolidated all of the recommendations into 18 topic areas relating to the NRC 

Principles of Good Regulation – Independence, Clarity, Openness, Reliability, and Efficiency. 

These Principles help focus the agency on safety and security while appropriately balancing the 

interests of NRC’s stakeholders. As part of this in-depth review, the NRC staff assessed: (a) 

how recommendations have been previously dispositioned; (b) whether current NRC activities 

are responsive to the recommendation; or (c) the need and plans for additional NRC actions to 

be responsive to the recommendation. The results of the NRC staff’s assessment are reflected 

in an information paper submitted to the Commission on September 15, 2016, a copy of which I 

have enclosed to keep you informed of this issue. 

After a careful review, NRC staff concluded that “the issues and areas for improvement 

raised by stakeholders were consistent with ongoing efforts in that topic area, and the concerns 

raised will be considered in those activities.” As such, the NRC staff did not identify any 

substantive issues or recommendations raised by stakeholders that would require new plans for 

additional NRC action. I have reviewed the staff’s assessment and agree with the staff’s 

conclusions. As such, I do not intend to take any further action aside from continuing to oversee 

the staff’s ongoing efforts described in the paper. However, as the NRC continues its on-going 
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work on the issues raised by our stakeholders, I want to assure you that the agency will 

continue to focus on the issues and maintain open communication with our stakeholders. 

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me or Eugene 

Dacus, Director of the Office of Congressional Affairs at (301) 415-1776. 

Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

 Stephen G. Burns 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc: Senator Barbara Boxer