WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Tuesday Senate hearing, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright offered a briefing to an Arizona Democrat on what the Department of Energy is doing to fast-track reactor deployment.
In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee fiscal 2027 budget hearing, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said there have been concerns about a lack of transparency in how DOE has been changing its review processes
Wright told Gallego that DOE should hold a briefing with Gallego and other senators to discuss the changes the department has made to its approval process. Wright said DOE has been working “hand-in-hand” with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to certify the test reactors.
DOE has been working with 10 NRC employees temporarily detailed to DOE on the reactor pilot program, Wright said. The Donald Trump administration has sought to speed up reactor application reviews.
DOE’s reactor pilot program intends to have at least three test reactors reach criticality by the 250th anniversary of the United States. DOE is using its authority, granted by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, to permit the test reactors.
“You have a fairly bipartisan consensus that we want to see nuclear be built and be fast and be permitted, and we want it to be done safely,” Gallego said. “We want to go out there and talk about how this is potentially a win for America, but we actually need to work with colleagues [and] constituents who are probably worried about some of the changes.”
During the hearing, Wright also told the Senate panel that multiple test reactors will hit criticality before the reactor pilot program’s July 4 deadline
Wright’s comment comes a month after Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that DOE will have up to four reactors critical by the summer.
“In your great state [of Idaho] before July 4th, we have multiple small modular reactors running their entire nuclear systems, producing the processed heat out of the other side, and we know how to turn that into electricity through a steam turbine, but it just won’t have the steam turbines on it,” Wright told Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho).