Allison Macfarlane
Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
With the government shutdown over, at the NRC we are back in business and getting back up to speed with our work. We want to welcome back our thousands of employees who endured the furlough and thank those who kept the mission essential functions of the NRC operating during this period.
There are many questions to be answered in the coming days, such as when will various meetings we had to postpone be rescheduled, and so on. We are working as rapidly as possible to get answers to those questions and encourage you to check our public meetings page for the latest information. We are lifting the suspension on adjudications.
The Waste Confidence meetings seeking public input on this important topic resume their regular schedule the week of Oct. 28.
A great deal of our important work has gone undone over the past week or so. We recognize it will take some time to get us back to normal – to catch up with the mail, to reschedule meetings, rebook travel and plow through the in-basket. While we all want to be back to normal quickly, we need to work through the backlog in a careful and deliberate manner. It will take us a few days to get services such as our website caught up.
Thank you for your patience and it’s good to be back.
U.S. NRC Blog 
They were never “without the NRC.” Our Resident Inspectors remained on the job throughout the furlough, providing daily oversight of nuclear plant operations.
In addition to granting power plant licenses, the NRC processes about 1,000 licensing actions – such as amendments – and conducts hundreds of inspections at the nation’s nuclear power plants each year. The NRC also oversees the nation’s fuel cycle facilities. We administer and oversee about 2,900 materials licenses in 13 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, and conduct oversight of state programs in the other 37 states with a total of about 18,900 licenses. Not to mention rulemaking, security, and international activities – well, as you can see, we are indeed quite busy.
The deal reached by Congress and signed by the President to end the partial federal government shutdown included back pay for furloughed employees.
Reportedly, yes: back-pay for all furloughed government workers. And no, it wasn’t vacation.
They are granting a few licences every other 30 years. They can take their well deserved pay.
What NRC “work”? The real workers were those who actually operate and maintain our nuclear facilities. They did just fine without the NRC.
Will the furloughed employees get back pay, i.e. paid vacation for the furlough