The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued two new final rules under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) meant to streamline environmental review during its licensing processes.
The first rule, affirmed on Monday by the Commission, creates a new generic environmental impact statement framework for new reactor technology. NRC said the new setup uses “a technology-neutral framework and a set of plant and site parameters to determine which potential environmental impacts would be common to the construction, operation, and decommissioning of many new nuclear reactors.”
The final rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of the month, an NRC spokesperson told Exchange Monitor in a Tuesday email.
NRC said the new framework is intended to improve the efficiency of the environmental review bringing licensing predictability through regulatory criteria based on broad matters and removing generic issues from its review and decisions in licensing cases.
Initially, the rule was planned to be only applicable to advanced reactors, such as small modular reactors and microreactors, but in April 2024, the commission directed NRC staff to change the title of the rule so that it can be applicable to any new reactors, according to the document.
The other final rule, published in the Federal Register March 30, updates NRC’s categorical exclusions list. Through this rule, NRC will eliminate the preparation of environmental assessments for particular administrative, licensing and regulatory actions that have no effect on the environment, the agency said.
These amendments in the rule will not add or change any new requirements for applicants or licensees, NRC said. The rule will become effective on April 29.
These two final rules were separate from the recent rulemaking that was called for by Executive Order 14300. The generic environmental impact statement rule was first explored in 2019 and proposed in October 2024. Updating categorical exclusions from the environmental review was first considered in 2021 and proposed in July 2024.