On February 24, 2022, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued three unusual decisions pertaining to the agency’s review of subsequent license renewal (SLR) applications.  The Commission orders reversed a previous Commission decision—CLI-20-03—pertaining to environmental reviews conducted by the NRC under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for SLRs. In two of the orders the Commission reversed previously granted SLRs for four reactors—two reactors at Florida Power & Light Co.’s (FPL) Turkey Point nuclear power plant (CLI-22-02) and two reactors at Constellation Energy ..read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) recently completed a report titled “America’s Strategy to Secure the Supply Chain for a Robust Clean Energy Transition” on what it will take to secure the supply chains necessary to support the Nation’s clean energy goals.  The ultimate objectives DOE identifies are:  (i) to achieve diverse and resilient supply chains that will (ii) meet climate change goals, (iii) establish the United States as a leader in clean energy innovation and manufacturing, and (iv) create jobs in the clean energy economy.  DOE recognizes that nuclear energy is esse ..read more

On February 11, 2022, Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office Nuclear Energy announced the launch of the $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) Program aimed at preserving the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear power reactors and the low carbon power they produce.  The CNC Program was established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Infrastructure Act or the Act), which was signed into law on November 15, 2021.  We summarized the nuclear provisions in the Infrastructure Act, including the CNC Program in a previous blog. To bring the CNC Program from paper to practice, earlier t ..read more

In early 2022, blog author Amy Roma spoke with a Bloomberg Law reporter about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Part 53 rulemaking efforts to support advanced reactor licensing.  Amy’s position is that the NRC rulemaking process is both unique and complex, as it must be both “technology neutral” and “risk informed” across the wide range of advanced reactor technologies, none of which have been licensed yet by the NRC. On February 7, 2020, Amy was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article titled, “The Nuclear Industry Argues Regulators Don’t Understand New Small Reactors.”  The articl ..read more

Those involved with advanced reactors are well aware of the issues associated with high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel: advanced reactors need HALEU to operate, but the U.S. doesn’t have domestic production capabilities to make it.  And there’s a “chicken” and “egg” issue to solving this problem—fuel cycle facilities don’t want to commit the resources towards developing a HALEU supply chain until they know they have an established market.  The established market cannot emerge until the reactors are built, and they cannot run without fuel.  We have blogged about this iss ..read more

On December 16, 2021, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)—the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, respectively—introduced a bill entitled “Fission for the Future” (the “Bill”). The Bill aims to prioritize commercial deployment of advanced nuclear reactors, with an emphasis on siting reactors in communities that have been hardest hit by the retirement of fossil fuel generation facilities. The Bill would require the Secretary of Energy to create a federal financial assistance program to support the licensing, development, and constr ..read more

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) recently released a report entitled “Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation Options” (UNECE Report; Report).  The Report analyzes the environmental profiles of the full lifecycle of various technologies in order to evaluate their “all in” environmental costs—such as greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), human toxicity, water use, and other environmental and health metrics of different electricity sources—including wind, solar, coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear. In a finding that may be very surprising to many, but likely not those in the nuclea ..read more

On December 7, 2021, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) and Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) introduced legislation to change the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (“NRC”) fee structure for licensing advanced technology.  The legislation, called the “Accelerating Nuclear Innovation through Fee Reform Act,” H.R. 6154, would amend Section 102(b) of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (42 U.S. Code § 2215(b)), by removing the NRC’s review fees for applications for advanced fission and fusion reactors. By eliminating NRC review fees for advanced reactor license applications, the leg ..read more

On Friday, November 19, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the President’s roughly $2 trillion budget reconciliation package, voting 220 to 213 in favor of H.R. 5376 the Build Back Better Act (“Reconciliation Bill”), kicking the bill over to the Senate. While the bill is not final, it demonstrates a clear commitment for clean energy, aligning with the clean energy commitments in the recently enacted $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  (“Infrastructure Act”), which was signed into law on November 15, 2021. What happens next? The draft Reconciliation Bill ..read more

On Monday, November 15, 2021, the President signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Bill” or the “Bill”), which contains a number of provisions supporting nuclear energy. On November 5, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan US$1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill in a 228-206 vote, demonstrating one of United States’ largest commitments to decarbonization and creating significant opportunities for nuclear in the current energy transition.  The legislation first passed the Senate in August 2021, but was stalled in the House as Democrat ..read more