States Pressed to Revise Nuclear Power Rules, Regulations to Implement New Federal Initiatives

Easier said than done without changing perceptions about nuclear power plants, industry experts and advocates told state lawmakers, legislative aides, and lobbyists on Aug. 7 during the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) Annual Legislative Summit at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.

That perception is obsolete, he said, as are many state regulations geared to address large-scale reactors, such as the nation’s newest, Georgia Power’s Vogtle Unit 4’s 1,114-megawatt (MW) reactor.

White said the future is “very small nuclear reactors” that generate as little as 1.5 MW “designed for a wide range of outputs to meet a variety of different needs” that tout new technologies “and different fuel forms.”

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White said among PWR/BWR reactor limitations is, while they “can essentially change output up and down,” they “are not optimized” to “be flexible and dispatchable in how they produce energy.”

Newer systems can “integrate, complement, and support” all energy types, including solar and wind, he said, making nuclear power “better partners in a better grid, balancing an all-of-the-above approach.”

“The idea is to take the experience we have and design the next step forward,” White said, noting that NIA is a “non-partisan think-tank” that provides technical expertise to lawmakers and other policymakers.

“All of this will lead to greater affordability as we look to the future,” Austgen said, noting there are more than 20 SMR projects in demonstration phases or being planned in the United States and Canada that could be in “operation by the early 2030s.”

Austgen said there are 94 nuclear reactors—63 PWRs and 31 BWRs—operating in 55 power plants across the country, with Georgia Power’s Vogtle Units 3 and 4 the first new reactors built in more than three decades in the United States.

Despite these plants relying on 70-year-old technologies, 30 different power companies across 30 states are using them to increase nuclear’s share of the nation’s overall electricity output past 20 percent as coal and natural gas plants are retired, she said.

That’s more than half the nation’s carbon-free electricity generation, she added.

Yet, Austgen said no utility-scale reactor projects are being proposed right now in the United States, although The ADVANCE Act could change that soon if states follow through.

More than 300 nuclear power bills in 45 states have been introduced in the last two years, she said.

Reviving Uranium Mining, Recycling Spent Fuel

White and Austgen acknowledged that challenges remain.

Utah Republican state Rep. Carl Albrecht,  a retired utility executive, said boosting the nation’s nuclear industry means loosening federal mining regulations, particularly for uranium, which the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claims it supports while the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) appears committed to foil.

In 1980, the U.S. produced and processed 90 percent of the uranium used by the nation’s nuclear plants. In 2021, only 5 percent of the uranium used in U.S. plants was produced domestically. The nation’s only uranium processing facility is in Utah.

“There’s still a lot of uranium on the Colorado Plateau, a lot locked up on BLM lands,” Albrecht said. “We have got to get the message to DOI that if we’re going to convert to nuclear, we have to mine and process” uranium.

Austgen agreed, noting that the U.S., United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Australia are “working together” to ”friend-source” uranium, and NEI is lobbying DOE to create a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel similar to the petroleum strategic reserve, she said.

Storing spent fuel is another concern bedeviling the industry. “Eventually, all nuclear fuel will need a deep geologic depository,” she said, although “some advanced reactors are actively working on how we can recycle” used fuel.

Many fears of leaks or sabotage are exaggerated, Austgen said. “If we stacked all the used nuclear fuel ever [generated], it would cover one football field 10 feet high,” she said. “If all energy you used had come from nuclear energy, the waste would go into a 12-ounce can.”

Utah Republican state Rep. Kay Christofferson said his state has been “involved in SMRs” for years with little progress.

“It’s taking years and years” in review, he said. It’s “difficult to get people who want to invest when it takes at least 10, 15 years to get there, and they don’t even know they’ll get there.”

The ADVANCE Act provides a “better pre-application process” to ensure the Nuclear Regulatory Commission “understands what the applicant wants to do and the applicant knows what the regulations and process is. NRC can review that more quickly, efficiently” now, Austgen said, but states must also grease their regulatory rails.

She cautioned that these types of investments are always long-term, but for investors who “have the vision and can stick with it for that five, 10, 15 years,” the payoffs are tremendous.

“While it may have taken five, 10, 15 years to get that reactor to operation, those reactors have been operating for 40 years,” she said. “Most are now licensed for another 20 years,” and others a “supplemental 20 years,” meaning they will provide returns on investment for 80 years, at least.

“It’s a long-term investment and long-term asset, but I agree, [permitting] has to be faster,” Austgen said. “If we want clean energy, we already have a lot from nuclear—and there is potential for a lot more.”