The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has appointed Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols as Vice-chair of the Nuclear Issues-Waste Disposal Subcommittee. NARUC President Robert Powelson of Pennsylvania made the announcement this week.

"The wise disposition of nuclear waste continues to be one of the most important issues of our day," said Commissioner Echols. "If we don't come up with a solution soon, we'll need nine Yucca Mountain repositories by the end of the century, and that would be impossible to bring about."

Echols succeeds Georgia Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald as Vice-chair of the Nuclear Waste subcommittee. NARUC has also appointed Commissioner Echols to the Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment.

Commissioner Echols is in his second six-year term on the Commission, having been re-elected in November 2016. Echols and his wife, Windy, have been married 33 years and they have seven children.  He lives in Jefferson, Georgia.