US House lawmakers pass nuclear licensing reforms with bipartisan support

The US House of Representatives has approved a package of nuclear licensing reforms with broad bipartisan support in hopes of speeding the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors.

Lawmakers voted 365-36 Feb. 28 in favor of the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, which would reduce licensing fees and ease the regulatory burden for new nuclear developers. The bill now heads to the Senate.

The proposed reforms come as nuclear energy advocates argue that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission statutes are outdated, reflecting neither new technologies nor the urgency of reducing power sector emissions.

The legislation would be "the most significant update to nuclear energy policy in the United States in over a generation," Rep. Jeff Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, said in a Feb. 28 statement. Duncan and Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, introduced the bill, which combined 11 others from lawmakers of both parties, in December.

The bill would revise the NRC's hiring process, direct the NRC to finalize a rule implementing timely environmental reviews, and set requirements to expedite certain reactor-licensing decisions.

The package would also authorize the US Department of Energy to pay for certain licensing fees and create a pilot program allowing the DOE to make purchase power agreements with commercial nuclear reactors.

Evan Chapman, US federal policy director at Clean Air Task Force, applauded the bill's passage in the House, calling it a "welcome sign of bipartisan interest" in nuclear energy. "If signed into law, these bills would enable the US to increase nuclear energy production, support energy security, and further the deployment of advanced reactors. We are encouraged by this bipartisan progress to support the deployment of advanced nuclear energy while bolstering US leadership."

But some skeptics said that the reforms are too industry-focused at the cost of safety.

"Congress needs to strengthen, rather than weaken, the NRC's science-based safety focus," Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in an opinion piece in The Hill newspaper.