 So commissioner Saviniki asked that I warm you up with with a joke So she doesn't have the pressure of having to come up with a joke So a photon checks into a hotel and the bell hop says do you need some help with your luggage and the photon says no, thanks I travel light All right, I'll work on these for next year So let me introduce commissioner Saviniki Commissioner Christine Saviniki was sworn in for a second term as a commissioner of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 29th 2012 her first term began in March of 2008 She came to the Commission from a position on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee where she worked on issues such as nuclear defense programs Nuclear security and environmental management Prior to her work in the Senate commissioners Saviniki worked as a nuclear engineer in various positions with the US Department of Energy Both in Washington DC and in Idaho before that she was an energy engineer for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission And on a personal note In my 30 years or so as a member of the US NRC you kind of form You know some favorites among commissioners I have to say commissioner Saviniki is one of my favorites because of her intelligence her her focus on providing what I believe to be very excellent vote sheets and well-written and Not the least of which is a dry wit that I come to appreciate greatly. So I give you commissioner Christine Saviniki Well, good morning. Thank you bill for that Introduction and I very much appreciate your kind words. I think when I began my service as a commissioner It was my hope that I would earn the respect of the agency's hard-working staff or at least some of them So that's very meaningful to me. Thank you I'm very pleased to take part in this year's regulatory information Conference it is the first intergalactic Regulatory information conference as is evidenced by the model of the death star that appears in the middle of the stage there I think that the people working on the artwork saw they saw Star Wars for sure. I think But my hats off to their creativity, I'm not the least but creative artistically or visually so I do appreciate The hard work on on the artwork I and I do want to add my thanks to the many NRC employees who make the conference possible I know we all say this But we need to say it because of the fact that we would not have the successful conference every year if it weren't for our many Conference staff and volunteers So I do thank them and many of them do it and do it again each year. So that's great I would like also to acknowledge our many colleagues in attendance who've joined us from across the country And around the world and and I thank you for taking your very precious time and traveling here to be with us Or even tuning in to the webcast because there are many things Competing for your attention. I'm sure so appreciate your time and to any of those That I've met this year or spoken to or visited your facilities I do appreciate you adding to my journey of continuous learning Which is what it is or has been for me to be an NRC commissioner Spent a journey of continual learning and and I do thank you for sharing your wisdom and insights and experiences with me I also would like to acknowledge the president presence of other important partners from federal state agencies I don't know if we have any local officials here today But the NRC's many critical relationships with other governmental entities are essential to the achievement of our mission So I thank you for taking the time to be here and in some cases for agreeing to be panelists in some of our breakout sessions Thank you for that. Good morning to my commission colleagues chairman Burns Thank you for your willingness to return to the NRC for a term of service on the commission and Subsequently to serve as its chairman. I'm very grateful for your willingness to do that commissioner baron Thank you for your willingness to come at all of these issues with a fresh perspective and to challenge us to consider things from different vantage points I really value your many contributions to the commission and your service here and Commissioner Austin dwarf I didn't just jump over you arbitrarily as has been mentioned after Completing your current term of service in June you have elected to turn your attention to the important work of shaping young minds and To invest your energy in the development of the policy leaders of tomorrow those are the women and men who will at some day it forms just like this one take your place and take my place and I think we all share a debt of gratitude to you for your willingness to do that work It has been a pleasure and certainly an honor to serve alongside you first as Congressional staff colleagues and then here on the nuclear regulatory commissions and we have traveled an interesting road my friend Have we not we certainly have and you know I just want to say there's been reference to the fact of differing views and differing opinions But in those rare instances where commissioner Austin dwarf and I just did not or could not for whatever reason see I tie in An issue I always knew that your position was rooted in principle It was advanced with a lot of honesty sometimes very raw honesty and it was defended always without any malice or guile And I think it is possible doesn't seem very evident But it is possible to have those kinds of very civil and respectful differences of opinion I would like to think I haven't served on other commissions But I would like to think that our commission tries to model that behavior always we try to model it for our staff as They might have differences of opinion For with each other, but I think we try to model it more broadly that it is possible and I felt really good I thought we got some acknowledgment in our two most recent congressional hearings Comments from the dais from congressmen and senators that they they could observe that it was apparent How well we work together, so I think we should take some pride in that I think it's it's an accomplishment and it's pronounced fuchsia and it's not fuchsia Which is always what you want to call it or it's pronounced pink anything any color you'd like to call it But it is technically fuchsia. I know I expanded your view of what colors can be made in a different types of apparel I just think you're jealous because as I look out I noticed that all the gentlemen really have are their wardrobe is confined somewhat narrowly to Parts of the color palette and women can wear anything they want almost pretty much Well, if they're their Lady Gaga or somebody they can wear whatever they want, but you know I also would know I wanted to wear and as I was trying to leave the house today. I felt that I should go put on a black Outfit I'm all seriousness. I was very tempted to do that, but then I was Remembering that today is International Women's Day, so I want to welcome all of the women here today today is International Women's Day and I Thought you know I didn't want to wear a bright color because it seemed not serious to me And then I have these long internal monologues with myself and I said really Christine on International Women's Day You don't want to wear it because it's feminine because being feminine is not serious So I really you know I really challenged myself on this stuff. I'm like no There's nothing that makes it not seriousness. That's somebody. It's not serious. That's just somebody Else's opinion about it. And so Although I think in the United States for our international visitors I don't know that we make as much of International Women's Day as a number of other countries do but first lady Michelle Obama will be meeting with Girls in schools today because the theme at least in the US this year is let her learn about the education of girls and women Which I think is a very important topic to be talking about so This is my eighth Rick speech not that I'm counting or anything and in a few short weeks I'll begin my ninth year of service on this commission That brings to mind for me. I wasn't gonna mention this is a little off-color But I was listening to a female comedian and she goes you hear about women being in labor for 20 hours I don't even want to do something pleasurable for 20 hours. It's like way too long to be doing something but eight years is a long time to be doing something and You tend to fall into patterns one unfortunate pattern is as I mentioned last year I told a joke at my first Rick and then people have this expectation that you'll tell another joke Now as I sat here this morning. I thought perhaps mr. Dean is well and truly taking that Responsibility off my shoulders. I don't have any better jokes than him. I had to decide Pons are the lowest form of humor. Am I the only one who calls them that so I had a pawn and I'm a vegetarian so it was funny to me The other one is based on such tired Sexist stereotypes that I wasn't going to tell it and then I thought wait. It's International Women's Day So I ought to tell that one because women come off looking kind of good in it So I don't know between you should I tell neither what should I do go for okay, so both Well, I think I heard a clear vote for both So the first one is have you heard that there's new scientific evidence that vegetables can feel Pain as you're eating them. That's why I drowned all mine in dressing. It's the only romaine thing to do Okay, and the other one since that one went over so well, I got a little bit more out of them than you have done You're a commissioner. Okay. Oh, that's right He said I'm a commissioner. So you have to laugh So a computer company distributed a corporate clothing catalog, you know like logoed catalog for the employees It included a pair of cufflinks that had the two keys from the computer keyboard for control and escape a Female employee was overheard saying to another make a great gift for any man because it would remind him of the two things He can never have So let me that was a good one see I thought funny the men liked it because you're all a Really good spirited group, but I don't know the women if the women liked it, but anyway, maybe we liked it for different reasons I Should Try to get through some remarks I guess here and then if we wanted to leave time for commissioner ostendorf I did talk to bill about ending early Partly because commissioner ostendorf's q&a has the potential to be the most interesting thing in the Rick Have you noticed how when people are leaving they become like really honest about things His q&a might really be good But the best analogy I could use I am beginning to feel the longer I met NRC that that I draw these comparisons to a family it does feel like being in a family There's a musician and spoken word poet loud and wane right and I'm a fan of his works But he was he has this way that he put it He said I doubt that the length of the acquaintance Necessarily makes it easier for loved ones to know you better or for you to know them The past keeps getting in the way, and I think that is true in families a little bit true in NRC And as a commissioner I communicate on the issues that come before me principally through the vehicle of my written votes Or in the case of our adjudicatory orders through a descent or additional views that I might append to that decision And in the course of the last year since I spoke here those views and various forms have run the gambit from very sincere expressions of commendation from me to the NRC staff for those Instances where I feel that their work was very insightful, and I feel very blessed by the careful and disciplined work that they do To those instances where I have called out things when I'm not convinced when I think that maybe it isn't going to work the way people think and So I you know it runs the gambit and that's why Bill's expression of at least acknowledging my hard work is so meaningful to me Because that's what I'm there to do as a commissioner. I kind of say I'm the internal skeptic I'm the asker of tough questions, and I just had the opportunity to meet the newest member of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board And he was saying well ask a lot of questions some of them are dumb I don't like that phrase dumb questions, but he said you know that out of food I asked ten questions that tenth one sometimes really gets to something that we all need to talk about and I think that that's true In his Washington Post review of the book Descent and the Supreme Court book reviewer David Cole writes Majority opinions are exercises in power Descends our appeals to our better judgment the majority prevails But the dissenters role is by far the more romantic It is the work of the individual who on principle stands against the crowd History not rhetoric or cogency determines whether a dissent wins out in the long run Yet by articulating a compelling vision a persuasive dissent can contribute to the arc of historical change My recent vote on the establishment of centers of expertise comes to mind in this regard although I Wouldn't call the vote romantic. I'll have to think more about that I knew I wasn't going to be on the winning side of the question when I cast the vote So I was able to shall we call it give full license to my Misgivings about the proposal now anyone who's in NRC is a student of my positions And I certainly hope you have better things to do with your free time But you know that I am a near universal skeptic of the establishment of task forces steering committees groups centers Directorates or any of the other broad panoply of bureaucratic workarounds for what I think is often some sort of process or Organizational dysfunction, and I think that you ought to get we have a little thing a nuclear called a root cause So I'm big on those but in this specific case I even attached a memorandum to that vote was an internal NRC memo from 1979 Where an individual spoke very freely an NRC individual spoke very freely About how such a proposal had been tried and had failed and his view as fundamentally Unworkable now only time will tell if as David Cole said about distant dissents Whether or not my vote will contribute to the arc of historical change But over enough time maybe who knows in some cases playing the role of internal skeptic is no more Complicated than attempting to hold the agency's work product to the same high levels of scrutiny as it will be held To after it is finalized But doing so before that work product leaves the building as final regulatory action In the case of rulemaking the standards is laid out in the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 or straightforward Under that law the reviewing courts are instructed to hold unlawful and set aside agency action findings and conclusions that are found to be one Arbitrary capricious and abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with the law to contrary to constitutional right power privilege or immunity Three in excess of statutory jurisdiction authority or limitations or short of statutory right or For without observance of the procedure required by law now This seems straightforward enough doesn't it until you throw into the mix court deference to agency Expertise factual expertise as well as deference to the agency's own interpretation of its powers under the relevant statute as Long as the right procedural steps are followed the odds seem pretty much stacked in the regulators favor Still that makes the role of the internal skeptic that much more necessary and important There's nothing to stop the NRC from requiring the most exacting standards of itself and Careful study of the agency's regulatory history would bear out that traditionally the NRC has held it to higher Standards, I think than any of its critics have held it So what exactly is the reward for fulfilling the role of internal skeptic? Well, I would say it provides its own satisfaction as better articulated in the words of Abraham Lincoln Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith Let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it Or Considering this is a very diverse crowd if you prefer your wisdom in the form of a country music lyric Stand your ground when everybody's given in and Low and behold when you stand that ground long enough you might find That you convince people of something now and then you might even convince a group of people to change their mind about something and Those moments, I will tell you are the particularly gratifying ones Those are the moments that keep you in it for the long haul and if your tenure is long enough You might also develop a deeper understanding of where and how things change and where they don't or where they are not likely to It recently occurred to me I don't know what I was thinking of at the time But I did some quick Calculation in my head and it occurred to me that if an NRC employee has in the neighborhood of 25 years that they've spent with NRC as an agency employee I have been a commissioner on their commission for about one-third of their career and That's something I tend to call scary math meaning it's math that you do and you kind of go That's kind of scary that to think to think of that So I try not to think about it, but what insights have I developed in that time period by my Observation it's people that change the most readily partly because people are more resilient often than we give them credit for But partly also in an organization people will move in and out and through various positions of responsibility in the organization So to my observation, that's the most ready type of change that you see Processes are the thing that change the next most readily in my observation and least changeable of all is Culture now, I'm certainly not suggesting that it's impossible to change an organization's culture And I would even posit to you that there are some good things about culture not being readily changeable Almost every organization has positive attributes to their culture and you want those to be deep-rooted But you've heard this morning and you will hear more throughout this conference About NRC's project aim initiative in a session this afternoon I think we've heard tell of this the nuclear industry nuclear industry presenters will discuss Initiatives they have going on industry-wide to respond to changes in the broader energy economy But in within their industry as well If we step back though, I think in any given period it's tempting to claim that we are faced with uniquely dynamic levels of change levels of change that our predecessors didn't have to confront I Personally think that that distorts reality a bit. I I instead look at it as an enduring Change imperative that's going on all the time for people and organizations I think it's the concept of remaining static That's an illusion as we're sometimes reminded even if you think you're standing still The earth is moving so you're actually in in in movement yourself So I think our commitment to to ongoing change or a better word would be a commitment to ongoing adaptation as people and as organizations That commitment needs to be deep and enduring in my mind and I appreciate that Victor McCree made some reference to this this morning He said long after we stopped referring to project aim as project aim and call it something else I think what Victor was talking about was this change imperative this adaptation imperative that we have I think anything less than a deep commitment to that and acknowledgment of it is a disservice to those we serve and Those we lead. I think that a commitment to continuous learning and change is Reflected in the nuclear technology professions in NRC as an organization It's our commitment to continuous improvement and a learning environment In other words, sometimes you're just in it for the long haul whether you wish it or not whether you expected to be or not Whether you want project aim to be one and done It's going to be followed by the next necessary change and the next adaptation and the one after that and the one after that In her article entitled the long haul the journalist Amy Schoen writes. I have a confession to make I've been reading the same book for nine years in my defense. It's really long I don't know if it makes it better or worse that it's an obscure book I'm in no particular hurry to finish for one thing. There's not much of a plot So it's not as if I've been on the edge of my seat for a decade and for another Reading this book has become part of who I am in In this article she goes on to examine what she terms the mystical appeal of the long haul Why do people stay at something for a long period of time? She concludes that the appeal lies in quote being and staying open to the possibilities It lies in enjoying the slowness of a worthy complex endeavor in Surrounding yourself with people with positive people of a like mind and Remembering to laugh even through the moments that aren't fun Even when you look in front of you and see hundreds more miles to walk Even when life takes over and you need to put away your project and come back to it later These are all part of the process. They are all in fact what makes the long haul so very worthy And in the end by pushing ourselves by digging deep We will get a little closer to knowing what we are made of This week we mourned the passing of a I was going to say a large figure in American political life Very small woman, but a very significant figure in American political life Nancy Reagan passed away a couple of days ago Now she will be in a few days laid to rest next to her husband President Ronald Reagan in California at the site of his presidential library at the dedication of that presidential library in 1991 President Reagan spoke these words the last part of which is actually engraved on his tomb Just the last part of the quote. I'm going to give he said in my 80 years I've seen what men can do for each other and to each other I've seen war and peace feast and famine Depression and prosperity sickness and health I've seen the depths of suffering and the peaks of triumph and I know in my heart that man is good That what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life Thank you So commissioner. We have a handful of questions This first one actually I think is a pretty good one Based on your experiences as a congressional staffer and a commissioner Are there any legislative innovations that the commission could recommend or pursue? For example at a past commission hearing David Lockebaum of the UCS suggested there be financial incentives for safety enhancements The commission our commission of course has the opportunity to propose legislative changes and fixes to the Congress I Don't know that I've sat and thought hard about this in recent time but I I I think my reaction would be more that I marvel at the wisdom of the Atomic Energy Act I think that in its form and as subsequently amended rather modestly over the years I think it provided a very forward-looking and fulsome structure for the United States of America To harness the power of the atom for good and civilian and for various civilian uses And I think within that framework it is up to the NRC To take that legal framework and craft this body of regulation which we've done That I think is is very robust and I'm hard-pressed there might be ways that we could further improve our regulations themselves But I don't think that I would say that I find the law itself lacking So here's a question related to your expression of your role as an internal skeptic Thanks for honoring the role of the internal skeptic. It's indeed important How do you view the role of the external skeptic including those who believe the NRC? Does not fully endorse adequate safety? I'm very sincere in stating that I Love that we get a diversity of public comment chairman Burns was asked a question along these lines earlier and he said I think it was a you know, how do you feel about getting? Public comment that is on the maybe extremes of the continuum of perspectives that the public holds I think that that's very valuable in reference to my statement about asking Ten questions nine of which fall pretty flat, but the tenth one is the one that everybody forgot to ask I think that it is useful to have the far extremes of public comment I spend a good bit of time looking at public comment records that we receive not just the staff's Synthesis and response to those. I think that that's where you're going to discover Things that might otherwise fall through the gaps now You don't always agree with the far extremes of Perspectives that are presented to you, but I think that there's there's real value in spending some time Considering those things that might seem a little bit out there but really make you step back and I will say that as a commissioner it's a tremendous privilege, but It's an awesome responsibility and not awesome like young people say as in it awesome as an inspiring awe Maybe a little bit scary at times to have this kind of public Responsibility to balance all of these perspectives and arrive at a decision or judgment is great I think to serve on a commission where my individual view then gets balanced against people who have very different resumes than me And so at the end of the day when I talk to friends and family about the safety of nuclear in the United States It's not just my wisdom. It's that whole system of making sure that We thought about it from every angle and I know it seems tedious and ponderous at times And it it takes a lot of time to go through those procedural steps But as a result, I think that's where you can reside all your confidence. It's not in the wisdom of any man or woman It's this collective ability to make sure that we've looked at it hard and from every angle So I think that the people who have views on the mark believe you me There's days that I cast a vote on our commission that I feel maybe just as extreme as any external skeptic feels I won't crawl under my car and check the brake lines before I drive. No, that's a horrible thing to say But some days we we kind of you know, it's like we cast that vote and it's like the missiles are flying, Hallelujah I know that I upset people. I do I maybe I but it's a I have tremendous respect for the NRC staff and and People are not shy about sharing their view with me I know that there's a lot of concern about why did people differ from other people? Maybe it's coming from Capitol Hill I'm bothered by that at all what I don't like is people not being respectful and not being civil I'm I wish we could all do a little bit better. It's why closed with the the remarks of Ronald Reagan because I mean He had a pretty rough political career and I know that politics can be rough business But I I do think that it's possible to have very different views and and come together And I think sometimes that my strong dissents or no votes or yes votes that are maybe for something else other than What was proposed? I think that they they play an important role and I struggle with dissents on adjudicatory Orders between the view that you don't want to shine a spotlight on the fact that you're dissenting because that means that others didn't agree with you But after the passing of Justice Scalia who I had tremendous respect for I thought about he was known for zingy Dissents now. I'm not prepared to to you know be in any way mentioned in the same sentence with Justice Scalia but you know he was very smart and someone I have a lot of respect for and He didn't pull his punches and so I think there's room for that as long as respect is there So the next next question is actually in an area that that You have expressed some skepticism with the staff on on the new reactor licensing process And the question is what lessons has the NRC learn from initial application of part 52? I think the concept is good and we're of I'm sorry Complete my thoughts the concept is good of segmented You know licensing for new reactors But I do continue to believe that for large light water reactors the strength of part 52 Is in the one-step licensing my understanding is and I guess is getting to be what 20 25 years ago now When people were trying to look at ways to get better stability and predictability into the reactor licensing process That was the core learning that is now reflected in part 52 It is interesting that we're now looking at maybe step-wise or segmented licensing for different types of reactors Now that might cause one to say well that invalidates the learning of part 52, but I don't agree with that I think you need a tailored application of process depending on what you're trying to do I was reading some remarks of Former deputy secretary Dan Poneman the other day and he had a great Nietzsche quote in there Which was the most common Form of human stupidity is to forget what we were trying to do in the first place So that's a great quote. I couldn't fit that into my remarks, but now I fit it into the Q&A But I think that you need to the processes are just processes They're tools we shouldn't be a servant of something it should serve us And I think that that is something that gives me a lot of comfort about the way that the NRC applies It's regulatory framework both as it exists I think the staff uses a lot of discernment and judgment in terms of applying the regulatory framework That's there you mentioned the shine technology, you know, we talk about that or people aren't close to it I can't describe to you how weird the shine technology is it was unlike Really anything we do on a day-to-day basis and and it does give me confidence that the NRC staff could take this Regulation and not regulation and say this applies and that doesn't apply or this applies to a certain extent or You know, how can the safety case be made here now? We are just at the construction permit stage and we'll get when we get to an operating license That'll that'll tell the larger tale there, but I think that that we do have the wisdom to go ahead and apply These processes I do think there are things in part 50 and 52 that just don't fit for small modular reactors and advanced reactors whatever form they might take and I'm Confident that even if we don't have a part xx. That's just for this exotic reactor We have the discernment and judgment to apply the basic safety and security fundamentals and emergency preparedness We can do that if we're allowed to exercise that judgment and I think We do have a lot of critics who are uncomfortable with the use of exemptions I I I don't have an issue with exemptions if you can force people to do something if you if you have the power under Law to compel you have to have a commensurate power to exempt or excuse or offer relief those two things Absolutely go hand in hand And so Anyone granted an exemption by the NRC I think would testify to the rigor with which they have had to demonstrate their ability to qualify for that exemption So I I think that if we're allowed to use the tools we have available I think 50 52 or however we might approach advanced reactors The basics are there to do just fine So here's a question related to Storage of high-level waste will the approval of interim storage be contingent on approval of the yucca mountain if the question refers to the Potential applications that the NRC might receive for consolidated storage facilities. These are the ones that have been much talked about in the trade press There is not any linkage we have regulations that would allow us to license Consolidated interim storage facilities. So unless I'm missing something about the question. There isn't any legal or regulatory nexus with disposal So one more question and then Sort of a coda at the end The statement of considerations for 10 CFR part 73 refers to high assurance Is this a term of art that means the same thing as reasonable assurance? Or does it support and ensure that we can maintain reasonable assurance of adequate protection of safety? I Haven't looked at 73 Particularly in some years. I'd have to go back and look at the context of the reference to high assurance Just from the English language standpoint. I don't it sounds different So I would need to look at the SOC the statement of considerations and I'd need to understand Maybe a distinction was being drawn with reasonable assurance there But that in and of itself would be odd to me and I'd want to understand that a little bit better There isn't anything in the Atomic Energy Act about security that calls for high assurance So I don't know sometimes we just get literary and and that's another reason I know people You know my votes. I'm such a stickler for just speaking with clarity and saying what you mean It's because 10 years from now 20 years from now your phrase ology that you thought was a rhetorical flourish becomes a career for a lawyer and a technical person's worse than I know so You know, that's why if you want to NRC has had Wonderful poetry slams. We actually have a spoken word poetry Contests inside the building and so people have other outlets for creative vague terminology that they want to use And it shouldn't be in regulations and it shouldn't be in guidance Yeah, matter of fact one of my staff Tonya Hood won that competition this year. It's amazing I went to one. I was out of town for the last one that was held this year Just NRC's creativity really the end in at least in spoken word poetry really blew me away It was amazing. So to NRC staff that can go to future ones. It's it's really great So the last one here is really not a question, but I think it's something that perhaps you and I have engendered And it's a joke for the commissioner How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is two one to change the light bulb and one to find a place to store the old one for a hundred thousand years Hey, that's good Ladies and gentlemen Commissioner Christine