Two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission—Allison Macfarlane, whom President Obama plans to name NRC chair, and Commissioner Kristine Svinicki, whose current term expires on June 30—appear likely to win Senate approval. At a June 13 Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seemed supportive of Macfarlane, a George Mason University professor who served on a blue-ribbon commission that studied nuclear-waste disposal. Some Democrats, including committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (Calif.), had misgivings about Svinicki; they said she had not been fully candid with the committee. However, Boxer predicted that both would be confirmed.