On Monday, November 15, 2021, the President signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Bill” or the “Bill”), which contains a number of provisions supporting nuclear energy....more
On October 21, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight & Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing titled “Judicious Spending to Enable Success at the Office of Nuclear Energy.” A recording of the hearing is...more
The U.S. has made significant commitments to decarbonize its electricity sector by 2035 and its economy by 2050. As the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report highlights, following through on...more
Last week, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators re-introduced the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act (ANIA), which is aimed at improving the nation’s nuclear infrastructure and supply chain, growing the economy, creating...more
There is a new space race developing, with higher stakes and more ambitious goals than just going back to Earth orbit or the Moon. The U.S. has developed a sizable technological lead in rockets and satellite technology,...more
Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new funding program issued by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). An impressive $40 million in funds are being set aside to support the new Optimizing...more
On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced it is soliciting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from industry stakeholders and technical experts on innovative uses of nuclear...more
The year 2020 is surely to be remembered for the pandemic that swept the globe and affected the lives of millions of people and touched practically every industry sector. Despite the hardships faced, the nuclear industry has...more
The US$900 billion COVID-19 relief/stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by the President on December 27 includes sweeping energy provisions that constitute the most significant energy legislation passed by Congress...more
12/30/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Infrastructure ,
New Legislation ,
Nuclear Power ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Extenders
Last week, Congress passed a $900B omnibus spending bill, which contains, most importantly, relief measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also various authorizations and appropriations for FY2021, including $1.5...more
On October 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded X-energy and TerraPower $80M each for their respective initiatives to build advanced nuclear reactors.
The proposals were evaluated under the Advanced...more
On September 17, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the re-opening of its Arctic Energy Office (AEO), which was originally established in 2001, but failed to take off due to insufficient funding. ...more
In early September, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it awarded nearly $30 million in funding to support nuclear fusion technologies....more
The latter half of May has seen regulatory initiatives benefiting advanced reactors promoted across the government. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) affirmed new guidance on non-light water reactor (non-LWR)...more
Over the past month, there have been major developments related to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) advanced reactor licensing reform and nuclear-related export controls. ...more
Fusion holds the potential to revolutionize energy generation around the globe, and innovators in the private sector have been working hard to make this potential a reality. ...more
In time for the Thanksgiving long weekend, we want to draw your attention to a number of interesting reports on advanced reactor developments that have come out over the past couple months...more
On 3 October 2019, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the imposition of civil penalties for violations of the Part 810 regulations (10 CFR Part 810), which control the export of...more
10/11/2019
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Bans ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
NDAA ,
Part 810 ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Rulemaking Process
On Wednesday Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) hosted a meeting on the Hill about how to enhance the development of nuclear energy by finding its “SpaceX” moment. The meeting relates to NIA’s new publication, In Seach of a...more
9/13/2019
/ Aerospace ,
Climate Change ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Projects ,
Funding ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
Nuclear Power ,
Outer Space ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
SpaceX
On June 18, 2019, U.S. Representatives Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Denver Riggleman (R-VA), along with Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Conor Lamb (D-PA), introduced in the House the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (H.R. 3306), an...more
The reintroduction of Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA) caps off a week of activities focused on innovation, and follows on advancement of key U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) guidance on advanced reactor...more
3/29/2019
/ Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Projects ,
Innovation ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Licensing Rules ,
Nuclear Power ,
Power Plants ,
Power Purchase Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Research and Development
The start of 2019 has seen significant progress towards production and licensing of high-assay low-enriched uranium (“HALEU”) fuel. If this momentum keeps up, it has the ability to check off what we have long-discussed to be...more
Happy New Year! As we start off 2019, we want to motive the nuclear community by sharing a few legal updates and popular reports that have come out around the end of the last year....more
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently released a staff paper-SECY-18-0096-seeking Commission approval of a new proposed methodology for establishing “functional containment” performance criteria for non-light...more
This month, the NRC published an early draft regulatory guide on the content of license applications for non-LWRs. The document is designed to help license applicants apply the NRC’s movement towards a...more