If NRC is such a great place to work, why did its chairman just resign four years early?!

NRC HQ in Rockville, MDThe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) likes to toot its own horn. Just about every year, NRC trumpets itself as among the "Best Places to Work in Government." It has just done so again.

One has to wonder why NRC staff have so much time on their hands, to fill out the associated form at rates 50% higher than their federal peers in other agencies? Did NRC staff finish protecting public health, safety, and the environment against atomic reactors and radioactive waste earlier in the week, leaving them with lots of time on their hands, with nothing better to do?

The many nuclear catastrophes waiting to happen on NRC's derelict watch would indicate otherwise.

One has to wonder if NRC itself "encourages" its workers to fill out the form, favorably? Or does that just go without saying?

Perhaps NRC, in addition to being afflicted by Nukespeak, also has a serious case of "Group Think" going on, à la in Orwell's 1984?

And one has to wonder, if NRC is such a great place to work, why NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane chose to abandon ship four years early?!

Her predecessor, Greg Jaczko, also fled the agency early, after the nuclear power industry and its friends on the NRC Commission itself, and amongst the agency staff, pulled out the stops, and launched a witch hunt against him, as punishment for carrying out the Obama administration's budget policies on the proposed Yucca Mountain dump, invoking emergency powers in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, etc. NRC -- what a great place to work. Unless you'r the chairman of the agency, it appears. Then you can't wait to run for the exits.