| Senate OKs ex-Amarillo director By Jim McBride jim.mcbride@amarillo.com Publication Date: 05/27/06 A Texan with longtime Amarillo ties was confirmed Friday to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and will chair the agency that oversees the nation's nuclear power industry. The Senate approved Dale Klein's nomination by unanimous consent Friday before recessing for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. In April, President Bush nominated Klein to serve on the NRC. Upon taking the post, Klein will become NRC chairman and will serve until June 30, 2011, said Don Stewart, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's office. Klein previously served as chairman and executive director of the Amarillo National Research Center and oversaw $45 million in funding for plutonium research and nuclear weapons dismantlement. Klein was sworn in as the assistant to the secretary of defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs in 2001. He will succeed outgoing NRC Chairman Nils Diaz, who opted not to seek a third term. "I am excited about the new opportunity and while I will certainly miss the Department of Defense activities, I learned a lot while I was there and look forward to taking what I learned and applying it to the NRC," Klein said Friday. Klein said Americans are concerned about high energy prices and that nuclear power is gaining renewed interest. "Nuclear is about to make a comeback. As part of the NRC, our job is to make sure it's done safely and remains reliable for the ratepayers," Klein said. In his current post, Klein is the principal staff assistant and adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Defense Department officials on policy issues and plans for nuclear weapons, and nuclear, chemical, and biological defense. Klein also is directly responsible to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense for all issues linked to nuclear weapons safety and security, chemical weapons demilitarization, and chemical and biological defense programs. Prior to his Defense Department appointment by Bush, Klein was the vice chancellor for special engineering programs at The University of Texas System while also serving as a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Nuclear Program) at UT-Austin. Klein also has held other key university posts and has served on several Energy Department committees, including the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee. |