A bipartisan group of four Senators last week urged Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair David Wright to prioritize streamlining the agency’s environmental reviews as called for under 2023 legislation.
“We encourage the Commission to vote in a manner that fully reflects congressional intent to streamline the NRC’s licensing process, as directed in the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act,” the group said. The letter was sent by chairs and ranking Democrats on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and its Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, & Nuclear Innovation & Safety.
The March 6 letter was signed by Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), ranking member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) as well as subcommittee chair Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) and ranking member Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
Among other things, the ADVANCE Act called upon NRC to update environmental reviews of reactor applications and make expanded use of “categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and generic environmental impact statements,” according to the letter. The senators go on to say in the letter that according to a January NRC status report, many actions to implement the changes are “currently awaiting commission approval.”
Wright said Tuesday at NRC’s Regulatory Information Conference in Rockville, Md. that he agreed environmental reviews needed to be “done faster.”
“Why should we finish a safety review a year earlier when you’ve still got to sit back and wait for an environmental review?” Wright said at the NRC’s Regulatory Information Conference. “We’ve got to find a way to calibrate that better and get that done faster.”
Wright also said in his keystone remarks that “we’re making progress” on implementing the ADVANCE Act.
“In light of the administration’s new priorities and the direction of the Congress in the advance Act, I think we have an opportunity to openly and transparently collaborate with those in and around the nuclear sector,” Wright said, before adding that “this is a pivotal moment in time for the NRC, domestically, the nuclear industry is moving forward fast.”
