NEI president commends sponsors of nuclear energy innovation bill

Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick commended the sponsors of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) at a recent Senate Energy and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing.

“The industry must be able to rely on a safety focused, efficient and technically expert regulator,” Korsnick said. “We commend the
bill’s sponsors for taking on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s untimely, somewhat outdated and unnecessarily costly
regulatory processes.”

The bill would reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) budget and fee recovery programs to improve transparency and accountability, and require the NRC to establish performance metrics and periodically report to Congress. It would also develop a
reliable regulatory framework for the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors, enhance the efficiency of uranium recovery licensing,
and increase the transparency of the process by which the U.S. Department of Energy disposes of excess uranium.

EPW Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) reintroduced NEIMA last week with cosponsors Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).

“The bill … affirms Congress’ view that this country can and should be a leader in advanced reactor technology,” Korsnick said. “The bill effectively directs the NRC to think differently about reactor licensing. It requires the NRC to accommodate light water reactors, small modular reactors and advanced nonlight water reactors—in short, an all-of-the-above approach.”