American Senate approves bill to accelerate deployment of advanced nuclear technologies

The US Senate has passed a bill to accelerate the development of nuclear energy, including faster permitting processes and new incentives for advanced nuclear technologies. The bill won bipartisan support for its contribution to climate, security and economic goals that accelerating nuclear energy in the US is expected to help achieve, according to Euractiv and Politico.

The US Senate on Tuesday, 18 June, passed a bill to accelerate the development of nuclear energy, including faster permitting and new incentives for advanced nuclear reactor technologies.

The wide-ranging nuclear energy bill, known as the “ADVANCE Act” (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy), passed the Senate by a vote of 88-2, just over a month after the package won more than 390 votes in the House. It will now go to President Joe Biden for his signature.

“In a major victory for our climate and American energy security, the US Senate has passed the ADVANCE Act with overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment Committee.

In a deeply divided Congress, broad bipartisan support is the exception rather than the rule. Democrats see the bill as key to decarbonization and part of the Biden administration’s broader strategy to support clean energy. For Republicans, it is a way to support communities dependent on fossil fuels and ease their transition to new energy sources.

A similar dynamic is playing out with the Inflation Reduction Act, with more and more Republicans backing clean energy spending approved by Democrats because the investments are bringing new factories to their districts.

The Biden administration’s embrace of nuclear energy and its goal of tripling nuclear power generation by 2050 promise to create more jobs. Tax credits for nuclear power generation under the Inflation Reduction Act also support long-term investment.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, a leading industry group, estimates that a typical nuclear power plant employs 500 to 800 workers, and up to 7,000 during construction. For every 100 jobs at a nuclear power plant, another 66 are created in the local community.

Efforts to revive nuclear energy intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which highlighted the need for independence from Russian uranium and the creation of a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain. In addition, at the end of May, the administration established a national task force to manage and deliver nuclear projects, aimed at bringing together the public and private sectors to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants. The ADVANCE Act is therefore part of the US’s broader strategy and effort to usher in a nuclear renaissance.

Key aims of the new legislation

The ADVANCE Act aims to streamline permitting for advanced reactors, reduce regulatory fees and update outdated rules that restrict international investment. The legislation is expected to speed up the licensing of new nuclear reactors and reduce costs for companies.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is to prepare a report on simplifying environmental reviews and identify ways to quickly license nuclear facilities on brownfield sites or at former fossil-fuel plants that already have grid connections.

Other provisions of the bill include:

• coordination between the NRC and the Department of Energy on the qualification and licensing of advanced fuels,
• a strategy for licensing and regulating microreactors,
• developing regulations for advanced nuclear reactors,
• improving the process for approving exports of US technology to international markets while maintaining strict nuclear non-proliferation standards,
• improving the qualification and licensing of advanced and accident-tolerant fuels to enhance reactor safety and competitiveness,
• evaluating advanced manufacturing techniques to make nuclear reactor construction more efficient.

Streamlining processes for building nuclear power sources and regulating small modular reactors is also a current topic in the Czech Republic. In May, the government presented a draft Atomic Act aimed at speeding up permitting for new nuclear units and small modular reactors. The goal is to reduce the regulatory burden involved in approving construction and adapt legislation to new technologies such as modular reactors.

Safety concerns

Some lawmakers have voiced concerns that the bill promotes the development of nuclear energy at the expense of important safety standards. They fear that changing the NRC’s mission so that it is expected not only to protect public health and safety but also the financial health of the industry and its investors could turn the NRC into an advocate for the nuclear energy industry rather than a regulator.

There are also concerns about the environmental risks associated with nuclear energy, with environmental groups pointing to the long-term challenge of safely storing radioactive waste.

Nuclear non-proliferation groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, warn that measures to ease the licensing of advanced nuclear reactor technologies, including those using highly enriched uranium, should put safety first.