Senators ask NRC to recognize improved safety of advanced reactors

摘要

Two Republican senators November 21 called on NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “recognize the improved safety systems of advanced nuclear reactor designs” as NRC develops emergency preparedness requirements for such reactors. John Barrasso of Wyoming is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that oversees NRC, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Developing and deploying advanced nuclear technologies would maintain and expand the use of nuclear energy, which “is vital to preserve the cornerstone of our electricity infrastructure,” the senators said. To spur the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies, Congress passed in December 2018 and President Donald Trump signed in January the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, S. 512, which was introduced in March 2017 (Inside NRC, 4 Feb, 1). The law requires NRC to establish a risk-informed, technologyinclusive regulatory framework to license and oversee advanced nuclear technologies, including advanced reactor designs. That framework includes emergency preparedness requirements.