Senate introduces bipartisan bill to enhance nuclear infrastructure

A bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate that seeks to enhance the nation’s nuclear power infrastructure.

The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (S. 4897) would preserve America’s nuclear fuel supply chain, reduce carbon emissions, enable U.S. international leadership, and strengthen economic, energy, and national security.

“In the face of Russian and Chinese aggression, it’s critical we remain the world’s leading developer of nuclear energy technology,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “This bipartisan legislation gets that done. Nuclear power is dependable and clean. Our bipartisan bill supports the continued operation of America’s existing reactors and sets the stage to deploy advanced nuclear technologies. It will also ensure that the nuclear fuel powering our nuclear plants comes from America or our trusted allies. Russia has flooded the global uranium market with cheap nuclear fuel … America can never again be dependent on our adversaries to fuel the nuclear plants to power our homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure. This bill creates a national uranium reserve, so we always have access to American fuel to power American nuclear plants.”

The bipartisan bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

“Carbon-free nuclear energy is already powering the electric grid at a large scale. Our bill would help combat climate change by providing incentives to keep safely operating plants online,” Whitehouse said. “We also need to further invest in research to develop a new generation of nuclear power technologies that overcome existing environmental challenges, including by reusing spent nuclear fuel.”

The bill would empower the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to lead in international forums to develop regulations for advanced nuclear reactor designs. It would also give NRC authority to deny Russian and Chinese nuclear fuel imports on national security grounds.

In addition, it makes the permitting process for advanced nuclear more predictable and efficient. It also requires the NRC to identify and update regulatory barriers to enable advanced nuclear technologies to reduce industrial emissions and create a prize to incentivize the successful deployment of next generation nuclear reactor technologies.

It would also modernize outdated rules that restrict investment in nuclear energy and develop the advanced nuclear fuels needed to power 21st-century nuclear reactor designs. Further, it authorizes a uranium reserve to ensure America does not lose the capacity to fuel its nuclear reactors with American fuel. Finally, it would authorize funding to assist in cleaning up legacy abandoned mining sites on Tribal land.

“Building on our other work in this space, the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act will further facilitate our country’s nuclear competitiveness through enhanced collaboration with allied nations, nuclear energy workforce development, and improved review processes to help deploy advanced nuclear technologies,” Crapo said.