(This June 18 story has been corrected to correct the nuclear fuel type from “highly enriched uranium (HALEU)” to “highly enriched uranium” in paragraph 8)
(Reuters) – The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to accelerate the deployment of nuclear power capacity, including by allowing faster permitting and creating new incentives for advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
Expanding nuclear power has broad bipartisan support, with Democrats seeing it as crucial for decarbonizing the energy sector to fight climate change, while Republicans seeing it as a way to ensure a reliable electricity supply and create jobs to create.
A version of the bill had already passed in the House of Representatives and it now goes to President Joe Biden for his signature to become law. It cleared the Senate by a vote of 88 to 2.
“In a major victory for our climate and America’s energy security, the U.S. Senate passed the ADVANCE Act with overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
“Today we sent the ADVANCE Act to the president’s desk because Congress worked together to recognize the importance of nuclear energy to America’s future and get the job done,” said Republican Shelley Moore Capito, a ranking member of the committee .
The bill would, among other things, reduce regulatory costs for companies seeking to license advanced nuclear reactor technologies, create a prize for the successful deployment of next-generation reactors, and accelerate the licensing of nuclear facilities in certain locations.
The bill could benefit companies like Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, which is trying to build a $4 billion sodium reactor in Wyoming on the site of an old coal-fired power plant but is struggling to secure a key permit .
Non-proliferation groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, have warned against measures to ease the licensing of high-tech nuclear reactors, including those using advanced fuels such as high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), arguing that safety must remain the priority .
The U.S. nuclear industry has struggled to expand in recent decades due to rising costs and complex licensing requirements, and as advanced nuclear technologies prove difficult to finance and develop.
