Chris Wright, president-elect Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate's committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

During the hearing, Wright-who's spent most of his career in fossil fuels-made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future. Asked what actions he would take as energy secretary to improve the development and deployment of SMRs, Wright said: "It's a big challenge, and I'm new to government, so I can't list off the five levers I can pull. But (I've been in discussions) about how to make it easier to research, to invest, to build things. The DOE has land at some of its facilities that can be helpful in this regard."

Wright is founder, chief executive, and chair of the board of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based energy development company specializing in fracking. He also sits on the board of directors for Oklo, a Silicon Valley-based developer of small modular reactors.

On climate change: Numerous media reports have speculated that Wright would use his DOE position to promote oil and gas, and reverse decarbonization efforts put in place during the Biden administration. He's also been called out for expressing doubts about the seriousness of climate change.

In a video posted to his LinkedIn account a year ago, Wright said there is no climate crisis. It also included a comment that "there's no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy," which Wright repeated during his Senate testimony.

However, Wright also said today: "I've studied and followed the data and the evolution of climate change for at least 20 years now. It is a global issue. It is a real issue. It's a challenging issue, and the solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system."

On nuclear fuel: Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) asked if Wright would make it a priority to build out and secure the fuel supply chain.

Absolutely, Wright said, adding: "It is a significant hole in the U.S. (energy) arsenal right now. It's a technology we developed, but yet we import most of it from abroad, and most that's enriched in the U.S. is by companies that are not American companies. … We need to build American nuclear infrastructure, on mining, on enrichment, on power production and on waste disposal, which is a tough challenge."

The nominee said he supports the ban on imports of Russian uranium and is wary of the amount now coming from China.

"It is very sad how dependent we have become on imported enriched uranium from Russia," Wright said. "We need to get beyond that without shutting down the nuclear power plants we have running today. It's an area that requires urgent action.

On nuclear waste: Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, (D-Nevada), pushed Wright to agree with her and her constituents that the long-ago proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility is a failed project and unworkable.

"If you're going to build large infrastructure-and nuclear waste disposal would certainly fall into that category-that has concerns, you need to have on board the local community as well. Nevadans … have deep concerns about seeing that facility go ahead, and I think that's your answer," Wright said.

Cortez Masto criticized his remarks as not an unequivocal answer to her question, and Wright followed with a pledge to work with the Senate to find solutions for nuclear waste disposal.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, (D-Wash.), asked Wright if he would uphold the agreements reached in the decades-long cleanup efforts at the Hanford site in Washington State, where plutonium production activities through the late 1980s left behind about 56 million gallons of liquid waste stored in 177 underground tanks.

"I can't overstate how critical I think it is to finish the job," Wright said. "The majority of our plutonium was produced there-not just for World War II, but (for the) post-war period and our arsenal today. … Hanford gave a lot to this country, and we left behind a mess that needs to be cleaned up."

Bio facts: Wright has degrees in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. He started Pinnacle Technologies in 1992 to support the launch of commercial shale gas production. Wright left his CEO position at Pinnacle in 2006 to become the chair of Stroud Energy, a shale gas producer. In 2010, he founded Liberty Resources, an exploration and production company focused on the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and Montana. He also founded Liberty Midstream Solutions, a provider of midstream services for emerging oil and gas resources.

In addition to serving on the board of Oklo, Wright sits on the board of EMX Royalty Corp., a global mining royalties company.