Several Republican senators are raising concerns about the use of emergency authority by Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko following the Japanese nuclear crisis, arguing that he may have overstepped his bounds in taking some decision making away from the five-member Commission. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) raised the issue during Jaczko's testimony at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing this week, the first time that Jaczko's emergency authority had been publicly discussed. "I was surprised to learn from my staff that [Jaczko] has invoked emergency authority and transferred Commission functions to himself in the wake of the earthquake in Japan," Inhofe said. He added, "The law confers emergency authority on the chairman in the wake of an emergency at a particular facility or materials regulated by the NRC.
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