Editor’s note: This piece is part of a series presenting questions for Senators and journalists to ask President-elect Trump’s nominees for senior government positions.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold its confirmation hearing on Wednesday for Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy (DOE).
A fossil fuel executive, Wright is the founder of Liberty Energy, a $3 billion fracking company. He is a staunch supporter of the fracking, oil, and gas industries, a critic of wind and solar energy, and is known as a climate change skeptic. He has never held a government position. As Secretary of Energy, Wright would be tasked with administering U.S. energy policy. Wright would also be responsible for safeguarding the country’s nuclear stockpile, nuclear modernization efforts, maintaining U.S. civil nuclear programs, and running the DOE’s 17 National Laboratories.
We asked leading experts what questions the committee should focus on in Wright’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, January 15 starting at 10 a.m. A livestream of the hearing will be available here.
U.S. Nuclear Testing Policy and the CTBT
- The United States has not tested a nuclear device since 1992. A generously funded and proven Stockpile Stewardship Program maintains U.S. nuclear warheads and both Democratic and Republican administrations have determined that nuclear explosive testing is technically and militarily unnecessary. Recently, on Dec. 20, the NNSA’s deputy administrator for defense programs, Dr. Marvin Adams, said “based on purely technical considerations, we are confident that we can get the information we need [through] subcritical” experiments and other elements of the stockpile stewardship program. Nevertheless, some advisors for the Trump presidential campaign have proposed spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to shorten the timeframe to resume U.S. nuclear testing in Nevada, where there is strong bipartisan opposition to such a move. In 2024, President Trump’s former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien went even further, proposing in an article published in Foreign Affairs that: “…Washington must test new nuclear weapons for reliability and safety in the real world for the first time since 1992—not just by using computer models.”In the view of most nuclear and defense experts, a renewal of U.S. nuclear explosive testing would be a self-inflicted disaster that would violate U.S. obligations as a signatory to the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which has the support of 187 countries, and would open the door to Chinese, North Korean, and Russian testing at a time of heightened nuclear danger. Nuclear testing would not demonstrate strength or resolve, but would squander U.S. leadership and empower adversaries. Can you, if confirmed as the secretary of the Department of Energy and advisor to the president on these matters, commit that you will fully evaluate the technical and security factors regarding any change to longstanding, bipartisan, U.S. nuclear testing policy and commit to consult in advance not only with Congress but with state and local leaders in Nevada, on any proposal to reduce the readiness time to resume nuclear explosive testing or to actually resume nuclear explosive testing? (Kelsey Davenport, Daryl G. Kimball)
- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has stated that it will not require nuclear weapons testing to ensure the viability and safety of the U.S. stockpile and successfully complete modernization plans. Do you agree with DOE and can you assure us that you will not support resuming testing? (John Erath)
Environmental Remediation and Waste Management
- As the secretary of energy, your department, in consultation with state and local governments, contractor employees, and local communities, is responsible for dealing with the radioactive and toxic legacy of eight decades of nuclear weapons development, production, and testing spread across 16 major sites in 12 states. Though many Cold War-era nuclear weapons production sites have been decommissioned, the contamination at many of these sites presents an ongoing hazard to the environment and surrounding communities. This nuclear legacy threatens rivers, aquifers, and wildlife now and in for generations to come. Would you acknowledge that the federal government has a responsibility to the communities that have borne the brunt of this legacy of contamination and that continue to bear the greatest risk, a responsibility specifically to ensure that necessary funding, resources, and expertise is devoted to the ongoing task of environmental remediation and waste management to the highest public, occupational, and environmental health standards? If confirmed as secretary of energy, will you meet with members of affected communities to hear their recommendations on the ongoing mission of the department to address these challenges? (Kelsey Davenport, Daryl G. Kimball)
Limits on Saudi Arabia Civil Nuclear Program
- Saudi Arabia has outlined ambitious plans for a civil nuclear program, including mining its uranium reserves and domestically enriching uranium to produce nuclear fuel. As recently as Jan. 13, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud reiterated Riyadh’s intentions to domestically enrich uranium. The same technology that Saudi Arabia would use to produce fuel for nuclear reactors could also be used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, which Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, have threatened to pursue if Iran develops a nuclear deterrent. Saudi Arabia has also been slow to update its outdated safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and accept more intrusive agency monitoring and verification. It is a long-standing U.S. policy to prevent the spread of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing and to support the implementation of the more intrusive IAEA safeguards agreement, known as the additional protocol. In negotiations with Saudi Arabia on a nuclear cooperation agreement, or 123 Agreement, will the Department of Energy seek a prohibition on uranium enrichment and reprocessing and require Riyadh to implement an additional protocol? If not, what additional conditions and requirements should the Department of Energy seek in a 123 Agreement with Saudi Arabia to provide assurance that its nuclear program will remain peaceful? (Kelsey Davenport, Daryl G. Kimball)
Nuclear Modernization and Preventing Waste
- President-elect Trump has said increasing government efficiency and cutting waste will be priorities of his administration. Can you give examples of where and how you will eliminate waste in the nuclear weapons enterprise? (John Erath)
- Nuclear modernization has fallen behind schedule and far over budget. What changes will you make in modernization plans to avoid wasting money? (John Erath)