The House passed a bill meant to reform the regulation of nuclear energy on Wednesday, easily clearing the two-third majority needed to fast-track the legislation.
The measure, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, would streamline the approval process for projects through reforms to the agency regulating nuclear energy while also encouraging the buildout of the next wave of technology, otherwise known as advanced reactors. The bill passed the lower chamber 365-36, with 166 Democrats joining with Republicans.
The bill was expedited through suspension of the chamber’s rules, which allows for the legislation to be brought to the floor more quickly. It now heads to the Senate, where senators are working on a deal to combine provisions from the House legislation and a separate bipartisan bill in the Senate.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told the Washington Examiner that “there’s a lot of overlap” in a bill he introduced with ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). The bill, the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy, or ADVANCE, Act, was passed in the Senate version of last year’s defense bill but later stripped due to requests from lawmakers to pass a measure through regular order. Now that the legislation has passed as a stand-alone bill through the lower chamber, it’s possible that a deal could be conferenced between the two chambers.
The House’s version, introduced by Energy, Climate, and Grid Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and ranking member Diana DeGette (D-CO), stands to be a bit broader than the Senate version. The House legislation would change environmental reviews for nuclear reactors under the National Environmental Policy Act, reforms that could be a tough sell for Democrats who are wary of bypassing NEPA to approve projects.
The House bill would also extend the Price-Anderson Act, a law that protects nuclear facilities from financial liability if an accident were to occur, for 40 years, compared to the Senate’s 20.
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Both bills are similar in the way they would reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, containing provisions that would require the agency to enable the quicker licensing of projects and allow for increased retention and personnel.
Carper mentioned that there are conversations happening at the staff level between committees in both chambers on how to move forward. It is unclear if any agreed-upon bill would be able to move forward on its own or if it would have to be attached to other pieces of legislation.
