WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation to accelerate licensing for domestic uranium enrichment is critical in building nuclear reactors at scale, panelists told the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy subcommittee Tuesday.
During the House subcommittee hearing, the panelists discussed six proposed pieces of nuclear energy-related legislation that subcommittee members said are aimed to further modernize nuclear licensing. Jeremy Harrell, CEO of ClearPath, told Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) that the most pivotal piece of legislation discussed at the hearing was the American Enrichment Deployment Act.
The American Enrichment Deployment Act seeks to revise the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing processes for uranium enrichment to make it more similar to requirements for other fuel cycle facilities.
In January, DOE awarded $2.7 billion to three United States uranium enrichment companies in an effort to strengthen the nation’s domestic enrichment capabilities. Harrell said that the industry has to maximize the taxpayers’ dollars that the federal government has put forward towards this effort. He said the draft bill to further streamline licensing processes for uranium enrichment facilities makes a lot of sense.
Several of the lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle agreed that strengthening domestic enrichment capabilities was an urgent priority as it is seen as a national security matter. The importance of domestic uranium enrichment was outlined by the ban on Russian uranium that will go into effect by Jan. 1, 2028, which was noted throughout the hearing.
“Congress has made a conscious decision to reduce reliance on Russian fuel products. We have put billions of dollars of taxpayers’ resources behind new enrichment projects. Why wouldn’t we take some reasonable steps to get project delivery on timeframe,” Harrell said to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) when discussing national security.
Harrell continued, “That 2028 timeframe is coming here fairly quickly and none of these bills shortcut the process [in] which a facility needs to get a license…but let’s absolutely get things started on an early basis because we’re racing against the clock.”
“We have to meet that Russia timeline, we have to stay at speed [and] it’s a national security imperative,” Harrell said.
Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of Nuclear Energy Institute, and Kathy Huff, former assistant secretary for nuclear energy, both agreed with Harrell.
“I would agree with his assessment of the American Enrichment Deployment Act. I think that’s urgent and necessary to move forward,” Korsnick said.
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) said that drafting of the American Enrichment Deployment Act needed to be done right so that the outcome matches the intent of the bill. Schrier asked Jeffrey Merrifield, former NRC commissioner, what would happen if the country did not have enough domestic enriched uranium capability, to which Merrifield said the lack of enriched uranium would hinder deployment of many advanced reactors.
Merrifield added that the U.S. has had an issue providing domestically enriched uranium and sees that becoming a large concern as the U.S. military seeks to deploy military-purposed reactors.
“Virtually of all that [enriched uranium] we have comes from abroad; for the civilian fleet that’s not as big of a problem, but for the U.S. military and the Navy, which are beginning to spin up own enrichment programs, that has to be U.S. sourced,” Merrifield told Schrier. “We need more attention to that as well.”
Additionally, Harrell said that the Efficient Nuclear Licensing Hearings Act would go hand-in-hand with helping get more domestic uranium enrichment capacity online through removing the requirement to hold uncontested hearings on applications to the NRC for licensing decisions.
The panelists said the removal of the uncontested hearings would save money for applicants and NRC and could reduce the licensing process by potentially six months. Korsnick added that this removal would have no impact on public engagement as it is at the end of the process and is an NRC-only process.
Merrifield said when he was on the commission he vouched for the elimination of the uncontested hearing.