Newswire Policy

A new complaint filed by Constellation asks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order the PJM Interconnection to provide rules for co-located generation to serve large facilities, such as data centers.

As the United Nations’ COP29 climate summit kicked off this week, President Biden’s administration laid out plans to add 200 GW of nuclear power in the next 25 years through a combination of new reactor deployment, plant restarts, and upgrades at existing sites.

The added nuclear would triple the nation’s current capacity, which stands at around 100 GW.

The new U.S. road map—Safely and Responsibly Expanding U.S. Nuclear Energy: Deployment Targets and a Framework for Action—calls the deployment goals “ambitious but achievable,” including a short-term plan to jumpstart the domestic industry, adding 35 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.

Legislative proposals focused on streamlining the U.S. nuclear energy export process have circulated on Capitol Hill for several years, notably aimed at establishing a single point of contact in the government to simplify global nuclear projects.

The most recently introduced International Nuclear Energy Act (INEA) proposal (S. 826) promotes engagement with partner nations to develop a civil nuclear export strategy and to offset China’s and Russia’s growing influence on international nuclear energy development.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment on a proposed rule for a generic environmental impact statement for licensing new reactors. According to the NRC, the statement uses a technology-neutral framework and plant/site parameters to identify environmental issues common to new reactors as well as those issues needing project-specific analysis.

U.S. Reps. Mike Levin (D., Calif.) and August Pfluger (R., Texas) have introduced the bipartisan Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2024, which would establish an independent agency to manage the country’s nuclear waste.

In addition to establishing a new, single-purpose administration to manage the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, the bill would direct a consent-based siting process for nuclear waste facilities and ensure reliable funding for managing nuclear waste by providing access to the Nuclear Waste Fund. According to Pfluger and Levin, the bill’s provisions are in line with recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.

Heinrich

Cruz

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.) introduced a bill that would require the Department of Energy and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to create an independent committee of experts to study new technologies and opportunities for recycling the country’s inventory of spent nuclear fuel.

Introduced on September 24, the Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel Recycling Act calls for a DOE-commissioned study evaluating the costs, benefits, and risks—including proliferation—of recycling U.S. spent nuclear fuel into usable fuels for commercial and advanced reactors, as well as for other nonreactor applications, including medical, space, industrial, and advanced battery applications.

Eleven countries have been newly elected to serve on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-member Board of Governors for the 2024–2025 term. The election took place on September 19 at the plenary session of the 68th IAEA General Conference.

The American Nuclear Society recently selected two of its members to serve as the 2025 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows. The 2025 Congressional Fellows, Jacob Christensen and Mike Woosley, will help the Society fulfill its strategic goal of enhancing nuclear policy by working in the halls of Congress, either in a congressional member’s personal office or with a committee, when their fellowship term begins in January.

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Chevron doctrine marks a significant shift in the landscape of federal decision-making. For more than 40 years, this doctrine has provided a framework wherein courts deferred to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws in recognition of the specialized expertise these agencies bring to policy and regulatory development.

This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.

Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the best time to enhance the ability to support operations and maintenance for a new plant is before construction starts. This is one of many lessons learned by the currently operating nuclear fleet. As construction and startup of many nuclear facilities was completed, it quickly became evident that the ability to efficiently support operations and maintenance was limited. Most of the information necessary to establish and manage procurement of spare and replacement items, maintenance, and configuration of the facilities was unavailable and had to be gathered on a case-by-case, “on-demand” basis. Absence of necessary information and the associated challenges resulted in the need for staff augmentation and multiyear-long projects to develop equipment bills of material and maintenance programs and to perform technical evaluations for the huge quantities of spare and replacement items being requested.

Bradley Williams

The United States is already off to a good start with respect to new nuclear deployment. The completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the Natrium groundbreaking, and X-energy’s partnership with Dow Chemical to deploy an advanced reactor for industrial applications are all important first steps. These efforts are being complemented by the flurry of licensing activity with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and overwhelming support in Congress and the White House. But to achieve the current administration’s goal of tripling nuclear capacity by 2050, more needs to be done.

Doug Lawrence

As the United States intensifies its efforts to combat climate change and transition to a low-carbon energy future, the role of nuclear energy has never been more critical.

One key strategy in this transition is the subsequent license renewal (SLR) of our existing nuclear power plants, allowing them to operate for up to 80 years. This extension brings several significant benefits.

Continued low-carbon energy production—By extending the life of existing nuclear power plants, we ensure a steady supply of low-carbon energy, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and helping meet our nation’s emission reduction targets. Given that nuclear power currently provides nearly 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply and more than half of its low-carbon electricity, maintaining this capacity is vital for a sustainable energy future.

The Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship offers American Nuclear Society members a unique opportunity to directly support public policy. By supporting nuclear experts through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program, ANS provides a path for its members to help advance nuclear policy and ensure a brighter, nuclear-powered future.

The U.S. Senate’s proposed Department of the Interior funding package provides $250,000 to develop a generic, technology-neutral standard for future high-level nuclear waste disposal facilities.

The goal is for the Environmental Protection Agency to use modern and international practices in creating new plans to store U.S. nuclear waste. This spring, the EPA had requested $635,000 to fund this work—but even the proposed $250,000 would help get the process moving.

So far, funding has been included only in the Senate’s version of the appropriations bill, but supporters hope it makes the final package when Senate and House lawmakers conference on the final fiscal year 2025 appropriations legislation this fall.

For more details, see the original story below from June 28.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is simplifying procedures for mandatory hearings on licensing commercial nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment facilities.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking qualified candidates for open positions on its Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.

The European Commission has issued a positive opinion on the technical and nuclear safety aspects of the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania.

Under the Euratom Treaty, nuclear project developers are required to notify the EC of planned investments and to demonstrate compliance with the highest nuclear safety standards.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have signed a revised memorandum of understanding establishing a framework for the agencies to cooperate on emergency preparedness for commercial nuclear power plants.

Dutton

The only nuclear reactor in Australia is a small one in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights, which has been used to produce medical radioisotopes since 1958. Recently, the Hon. Peter Dutton, Parliament’s leader of the opposition to the Labor-led government, announced his plan to get the country into the nuclear energy business by building five large reactors and two small modular reactors by 2050.

Criticizing the government’s “renewables-only” energy policy, Dutton promised to have the first nuclear reactor operating by the mid-2030s, should his Liberal–National Coalition win power in the next federal election (to be held on or before September 27, 2025). That promise, which would require overturns of existing federal and state bans on nuclear energy, has generated a great deal of controversy in Australia among government officials, political activists, and nuclear engineers.

The American Nuclear Society brought together 11 other energy and environmental advocacy organizations in calling on Congress to fund the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a new, technology-neutral, generic environmental standard for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States.

In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees, the groups ask for an additional $3 million in fiscal year 2025 for the EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air to work on the new standard.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2024.

The U.S. Senate yesterday passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, sending legislation that would make sweeping changes to the approval process for new technology in the nuclear energy sector to President Biden for final approval.

The legislation passed with an overwhelming majority in the Senate—the vote was 88–2—having cleared the House of Representatives in May.

The U.S. Senate voted last week to put three new members on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a bipartisan energy oversight board.

The chamber confirmed the nominations of Republican Lindsay See and Democrats David Rosner and Judy Chang. The votes on the nominations were 86–9, 68–26 and 63–33, respectively.

The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have sent a proposed rule covering the disposal of low-level radioactive waste to the agency’s commissioners for approval. The proposed rule would amend NRC regulations to require new and revised site-specific technical analyses and permit the development of site-specific criteria for LLW disposal. It would also authorize the near-surface disposal of certain greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) waste streams and provide for the licensing of those waste streams by NRC Agreement States.

Texans are likely to experience intermittent power outages this summer, according to an analysis by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Members of ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), and others from the energy industry spoke to the state’s House of Representatives’ Committee on State Affairs earlier this week. ERCOT’s newest report indicates a 16 percent chance of an electric grid emergency and a 12 percent chance of rolling blackouts in August—likely occurring on nights when there is low wind power production.

Nuclear energy advocates attended a White House summit today on domestic nuclear deployment and will help advise a new federal initiative to support building new grid-scale nuclear reactors.

The event showcased recent policy developments and new industry investments that have changed the playing field—for the better—for nuclear during the past few years. The White House is calling it “the largest sustained push to accelerate civil nuclear deployment in the United States in nearly five decades.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a final rule and corresponding update to the generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) the agency uses when considering applications to renew the operating licenses of nuclear power reactors. All four current NRC commissioners voted to approve the rule on May 16.

A bill being considered in the U.S. Senate seeks to remove the requirement for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold a public hearing for every nuclear reactor application.

Current law requires public hearings to be held by the NRC toward the end the reactor license application process, in addition to the statutorily required environmental and safety reviews that provide public engagement opportunities for stakeholders and citizens.

Padilla

Sen. Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) introduced the Fusion Energy Act (S. 4151) last month with a bipartisan group of cosponsors—John Cornyn (R., Texas), Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Todd Young (R., Ind.), and Patty Murray (D., Wash.). The legislation would codify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regulatory authority over commercial fusion energy systems to streamline the creation of clear federal regulations that will support the development of commercial fusion power plants—and would require a report within one year on a study of risk- and performance-based, design-specific licensing frameworks for “mass-manufactured fusion machines.”

“Congress must do everything in its power to ensure continued U.S. leadership in developing commercial fusion energy facilities,” said Padilla as he introduced the bill. “The Fusion Energy Act would provide regulatory certainty for investors as the NRC develops and streamlines frameworks for such facilities.”

The U.S. Senate approved April 30—by unanimous consent—a bill banning the importation of Russian uranium. The House of Representatives passed the bill, House Resolution 1042, last fall, and now President Biden is expected to sign it into law.

A review from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied a challenge to the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s license renewal application extension granted by the federal government.

In late 2023, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to formally docket the California plant’s request to extend plant operations beyond the current license expiration dates of 2024 and 2025 for the two respective units.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a proposed generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) for use in reviewing applications for new nuclear reactors.

In an April 17 memo, NRC secretary Carrie Safford wrote that the commission approved NRC staff’s recommendation to publish in the Federal Register a proposed rule amending 10 CFR Part 51, “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.”

Funding in President Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget may signal movement toward the promulgation of a new generic Environmental Protection Agency standard for high-level nuclear waste repositories in the United States.

Beshear

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed legislation last week that would have supported a push to bring nuclear energy to the Bluegrass State.

The governor said his objection to Senate Bill 198 is due to how voting members for the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority would be selected—and that it is not a reflection on his views toward nuclear power. The bill as written would designate members of the board from the private sector, bypassing the appointment authority of the governor or other state constitutional officers.

“The legislature can’t just say, ’You in this position in the private sector and you in that position on a private sector association are automatically on a board,’ and then [be] given governing authority,” Beshear said at a news conference. “That’s not the way the executive branch works, not the way that the power can be delegated to carry out the law.”

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Regulatory Information Conference—“the RIC” as it’s commonly known—is an annual rite of spring for many nuclear energy professionals. Each year, 2,000 industry people crowd into the Montgomery County Conference Center to hear the commissioners give their annual plenary speeches, attend technical sessions on regulatory topics, and kibitz with friends in the expansive foyer during breaks.

And as always, there are two distinct conversations at the RIC: the one that emanates from the stage, and the other that unfurls organically in the hallways. The official conversation is in the public record for anyone to read or watch. The hallway topic du jour this year was Part 53 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, of course—specifically, the Staff Requirements Memo (SRM) handed down by the commission the week before that instructed staff to produce a new proposed rule for public comment and set a six-month countdown clock to finish it.

The Department of Energy issued new guidance this week for converting coal-fired plants to nuclear units—an idea that has gained traction in recent years as the United States looks to cut carbon emissions.

A 2022 DOE study found potential for more than 300 coal-to-nuclear conversions across the country. While the process is complex, it would result in significant environmental and reliability benefits to the grid.

Kentucky’s Republican-majority legislature passed a bill this past week that could bring nuclear energy to the “coal-is-king” state as lawmakers broadly seek solutions to reduce carbon emissions. The bill went to Democratic Gov. Andrew Beshear on Monday for final approval.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Nuclear Society (ANS), a nonprofit representing over 10,000 professionals in the fields of nuclear science and technology, issued the following statements regarding today’s announcement of a $1.5 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for repowering the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert Township, Michigan.

A minibus appropriations bill—the second produced this month by Congress—emerged from conference negotiations yesterday with language that would extend the Price-Anderson Act—legislation first enacted in 1954 that makes it possible for nuclear power producers to seek insurance from the private marketplace. Today the House of Representatives voted 286–134 to approve the minibus package of six fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills, and the Senate is expected to vote today, too. By extending the Price-Anderson Act—now set to expire in 2025—Congress can support the current U.S. power reactor fleet and pave the way for new reactor deployments.

International leaders and government representatives from nations that are operating or interested in operating nuclear power plants adopted a Nuclear Energy Declaration on March 21 at the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Belgian government in Brussels, Belgium.

The Manhattan Project may have begun more than 80 years ago, but it’s still in the news—and not just because of Oppenheimer’s recent haul at the Academy Awards. On March 7, the Senate passed S. 3853, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act, by a vote of 69 to 30, sending the bill to the House. It’s Sen. Josh Hawley's (R., Mo.) second attempt to reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA)—which was first enacted in 1990 to address the legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons production—before it expires in June. The bill would extend the deadline to claim compensation by five years and expand it from the dozen states now covered to include individuals exposed to radiation in certain regions of Missouri, Alaska, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and the U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation have signed a memorandum of cooperation to collaborate on technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies.

The White House asked for nearly $1.6 billion in funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy in the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, released earlier this week. The requested funding is about 10 percent lower than the FY 2024 budget appropriation but still requires congressional review and approval.

A new report from the Breakthrough Institute has identified challenges and offers recommendations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for fostering inclusive and transparent dialogue and engagement with the public.

Improving Nuclear Regulatory Commission Engagement: Enhancement to Ensure Transparency and Collaboration with the Public notes that despite recent agency efforts at improving public engagement, such as through website upgrades and additional community meetings, the NRC still tends to prioritize technical jargon and complex procedures rather than offer clear, accessible communication. This leads to alienating the interested public, including community members and other stakeholders, and fostering misconceptions.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to publish a proposed rule and draft guidance surrounding licenses for advanced reactors—the first regulatory framework developed uniquely for advanced technologies and designs.

NRC staff has been instructed to establish a licensing process for commercial nuclear power plants that is risk-informed, performance-based, and technology-inclusive.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers passed legislation from the U.S. House of Representatives this week in support of nuclear energy production.

H. R. 6544 emerged from the chamber following a 365–36 vote. The legislation would speed up environmental reviews for new nuclear projects and reduce fees for advanced nuclear reactor licenses. It would also update the Price-Anderson Act, which limits the industry’s legal liability for nuclear accidents, by extending it for 40 years as well as increasing the indemnity coverage—changes advocated for by the American Nuclear Society in recent position statement updates.

New appropriations bills currently under review in the U.S. Congress include a significant funding boost for nuclear energy.

This week, ranking members of both the U.S. House and Senate released six fiscal year 2024 appropriations, including the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies bill that has nuclear energy funding for FY 2024.

Rep. Brandon Williams

Rep. Byron Donalds

For many Americans, the word “radiation” is often associated with fear of the unknown, yet the medical and scientific reality is that radiation is ever present in nature and is beneficial to human life. The truth behind radiation historically has been distorted and stigmatized—even the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recognizes that “radiation is naturally present in our environment, as it has been since before the birth of this planet.”

To embrace a responsible, low-carbon energy future, the American public should be aware of the beneficial applications of radiation instead of fearing it due to unsubstantiated hysteria generated by opponents of responsible nuclear energy.

Kentucky’s Senate voted unanimously this week to create a state agency that would study opportunities to bring nuclear energy projects to the state, where coal production has long dominated the power sector.

Senate Bill 198 would establish the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority, attached to the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research and governed by an advisory board with members representing various stakeholder groups.