President Trump Fires Democrat Nuclear Safety Commissioner
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Christopher Hanson’s dismissal comes as the White House has sought control over independent agencies.
By Josh Siegel & Kelsey Tamborrino
June 17, 2025
President Donald Trump has terminated Commissioner Christopher Hanson from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the latest move by the White House to assert control over independent agencies.
Hanson said in a statement Monday that he was removed from the position Friday “without cause” and “contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said Monday that “all organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction,” adding that President Trump “reserves the right to remove employees within his own Executive Branch who exert his executive authority.”
But Democrats and nuclear experts sounded the alarm, calling President Trump’s move illegal and arguing it could undermine progress on bipartisan efforts to accelerate development of smaller U.S. reactors that could help address climate change and meet rising power demand.
Hanson was tapped to be the chair of the NRC by fake pResident Joe Biden in 2021. He was originally nominated to the commission by President Trump in 2020.
Hanson was later replaced in the top spot when President Trump selected then-Commissioner David Wright to serve as chair during his second administration.
President Trump has sought more control over independent agencies since he returned to office, and his push has so far been supported by the Supreme Court.
In May, the justices issued a two-page unsigned order declining to reinstate two members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board that he had fired, even though federal law bars the president from dismissing the officials for political reasons.
Hanson spoke out after President Trump issued an executive order in February seeking to bring independent agencies under control of the White House.
President Trump signs an order to claim power over independent agencies
“As a five-member bipartisan commission, the agency was deliberately structured by Congress to promote independence from outside influences that might turn the focus away from safety,” Hanson said at the agency’s annual regulatory conference in March.
“This was a purposeful lesson learned from the days of the Atomic Energy Commission and implemented through the creation of the NRC.”
Scott Burnell, a spokesperson for the NRC, said the agency “has functioned in the past with fewer than five commissioners and will continue to do so.”
Hanson added in his statement Monday that it has been an “honor to serve” at the commission.
“My focus over the last five years has been to prepare the agency for anticipated change in the energy sector, while preserving the independence, integrity and bipartisan nature of the world’s gold standard nuclear safety institution,” he said.
Top Democrats noted the president can only remove commissioners for cause — which is restricted to inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office — and said the Trump administration has provided no evidence of wrongdoing by Hanson nor cited any cause in its decision.
“In removing NRC Commissioner Hanson, Trump has overstepped his authority, jeopardizing U.S. nuclear leadership at a critical time. It’s hard to understand this when so much nuclear reform progress has been bipartisan,” said Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, in a joint statement.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, argued that “illegally firing Commissioner Hanson imperils Trump’s own so-called ‘energy dominance’ agenda and is a gross abuse of power.”
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Another way to look at this: new situations may be beyond for which Mr. Hanson is equipped