WASHINGTON, D.C. – Industry members told a subcommittee of the Government Oversight Committee Tuesday that Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards are slowing down advanced nuclear deployment.
At the same time, a former NRC chairman said stripping NRC of its independence could undermine public confidence in the safety of nuclear power plants.
Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, and Joshua Smith, energy policy lead at Abundance Institute, testified at a House Oversight subcommittee on Economic growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs hearing.
The two industry representatives said NRC has stifled advanced deployment through irrational regulations.
The NRC’s current regulation is not suited for microreactor and small modular reactor (SMR) deployment, Smith said. Bipartisan legislation such the ADVANCE Act, and Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) have been enacted to enable new forms of nuclear technology. However, the ADVANCE Act is only a year old and Smith said NEIMA has failed to garner the intended surge of SMR deployment.
House oversight subcommittee chairman Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) concurred with the sentiment as he said advanced nuclear technology, particularly SMR and microreactors, are ready but is held back by strict regulations.
Former NRC commissioner and chair Stephen Burns, who was the third panelist at the hearing, voiced concerns about the “push and pull over efficacy and appropriateness of the licensing process”, as he said in his opening statement.
Burns also indicated that past nuclear accidents like the partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania during 1979 have damaged public confidence in prior years.
