NARUC
Tim Echols is Chair of the NARUC's Subcommittee on Nuclear Energy. He is also Vice-Chair of the Georgia Georgia Public Service Commission. Paul Kjellander is PUF Senior Advisor and former Idaho PUC Chair.
At NARUC’s 2025 Winter Policy Summit, a resolution sponsored by Louisiana Commissioner Eric Skrmetta was passed that changed the name of NARUC’s Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues-Waste Disposal, to NARUC’s Subcommittee on Nuclear Energy. The name change reflects the increasing importance of the role of nuclear energy.
The newly named Subcommittee still will discuss nuclear waste, but encompass a broader deliberation on all matters nuclear, as it is deemed one of the solutions to the energy transition. The new name clarifies also the direction the nation is heading concerning nuclear, with the restart of once-shuttered nuclear plants such as Three Mile Island, and the advent of Small Modular Reactors.
PUF’s Paul Kjellander discussed the changes and importance of nuclear energy with the two leaders of NARUC’s Subcommittee on Nuclear Energy. Georgia Commission Vice-Chair Tim Echols was appointed by NARUC Immediate Past President Julie Fedorchak as Chair of the then-named Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues-Waste Disposal. Louisiana Commissioner Eric Skrmetta was appointed as Co-Vice Chair of NARUC’s Subcommittee on Nuclear Energy by NARUC President Tricia Pridemore in December.
PUF’s Paul Kjellander: You recently were appointed as Chair of NARUC’s newly named Subcommittee on Nuclear Energy, and had brought forward the resolution to help change the name. What was the rationale?