"The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, whose four fellow commissioners complained about him to the White House, saying that he had been withholding information from them and wielding too much power, drew a spirited defense on Wednesday from a predecessor at the agency."

"Peter A. Bradford, who was a commission member from 1977 to 1982, was speaking with reporters in a conference call on another topic, whether the recent approval of a new reactor design by the commission represented a major step toward a 'nuclear renaissance.' (It doesn't, he said.)...

Of the four other members, two are Republicans and two are Democrats, but Mr. Bradford said the letter was not in fact bipartisan. 'In Washington, you've got a situation where the 'nuclear party' transcends the Republican and Democratic party,' he said. 'You've got four members of the nuclear party writing a letter about the chairman, who's never been a member of the nuclear party.'"

Matthew L. Wald reports for the New York Times' Green blog December 28, 2011. [2]