America’s safe, clean, and nuclear future (Rep. Joe Pitts)

The United States gets roughly 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, whereas France derives approximately 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. There is no reason we cannot vastly increase the portion of our electricity that comes from nuclear energy.

We need to fast track the regulatory process for approval of new nuclear reactors, reducing the time needed for approval to two years for reactors that meet certain criteria.

Still we need to make public safety a top priority in any approval of new reactors. Any new reactor design should be certified and placed on or adjacent to an existing generation site. The operator of a new reactor should not have outstanding violations on any current reactor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

We should also task the NRC with developing regulations that will allow new reactor designs to compete in the marketplace. Customers have been reluctant to purchase new reactor designs because the NRC has not been well equipped to evaluate new designs. This has limited the available designs and reduced the competition in the reactor market, stunting innovation.

With the NRC better equipped to evaluate new designs, the nuclear industry can begin researching, developing, and commercializing the new nuclear technologies that will lead to a nuclear energy renaissance.

I believe we should also create a new National Nuclear Energy Council since today’s national nuclear policy on the federal level is jumbled and disjointed. The Department of Energy and the Department of State, for example, have different priorities when it comes to nuclear energy policy. If we want to truly advance nuclear energy, we need everyone on the same page. A national council could be tasked with coordinating the federal government’s policy with the needs of the nuclear industry in a manner that would help advance clean, safe, nuclear energy.

With these goals in mind, I have introduced the a bill with bipartisan support, H.R. 3448, SAFE Nuclear Act, which stands for Streamline America’s Future Energy.

There is no reason people across the political spectrum cannot embrace a future in which the United States produces a majority of its electricity from safe, clean nuclear energy. This clean, nuclear energy future would mean a more secure energy infrastructure and a reduced dependence on those who wish to do harm to America’s interests abroad.
Though we may not all agree on issues like cap and trade, we can all agree that we need to find a way to produce the energy that fuels our lives in a way that is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Nuclear power fits that description, and the SAFE Nuclear Act will go a long way toward making that safe, clean future a reality.

Cross-posted from The Heritage Foundation