The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved its proposed rule that would streamline the environmental review process for advanced nuclear reactors, a critical step to help speed the new nuclear technologies to market.
The commission voted to codify recommendations first proposed in 2021 that the agency’s staff has estimated could reduce the costs of environmental reviews by 20 percent to 45 percent.
The move comes amid a major bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to get advanced reactors to a commercial scale in the U.S. — including by speeding up the regulatory process at the NRC.
Nuclear power advocates have been pressing the agency to codify the findings of the generic environmental impact statement for advanced reactors, and a coalition of six groups sent a letter to the NRC in February urging the agency to approve staff’s findings.
