The American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Edison Electric Institute recently submitted comments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voicing support for the NRC’s proposal to amend the regulations that govern its environmental reviews of new nuclear reactor applications under the National Environmental Policy Act, the “Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Licensing of New Nuclear Reactors.”
“As representatives of public power, cooperative, and investor-owned utilities throughout the United States and its territories, we recognize that a robust U.S. nuclear energy sector is critical to providing communities across the country with around-the-clock, emissions-free electricity that is integral to ensuring grid stability, reliability, and affordability,” the groups noted.
“We recognize that nuclear energy will continue to play a key role in the energy resource mix going forward, including to help our members and communities across the country reach emissions-reduction goals,” they said.
APPA, EEI and NRECA said that they appreciate recent steps taken by Congress and the administration to expedite the regulatory process for new nuclear reactors, like the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act [Public Law No. 118-67].
The ADVANCE Act seeks to improve the efficiency and timeliness of licensing and regulatory timelines for the deployment of new nuclear technologies.
The groups said they are particularly supportive of certain sections of the ADVANCE Act, such as Section 206, which they said will better facilitate the licensing of nuclear facilities at brownfield and retired fossil fuel sites.
“We applaud the NRC’s efforts to reform environmental impact statement (EIS) procedures via the proposed amendments to 10 CFR part 51. As the NRC notes in the proposed rule, these are the most complex and resource-intensive environmental reviews the agency performs. We believe these proposed reforms will significantly reduce regulatory and licensing timelines for new nuclear reactors, supporting the availability of an affordable energy source for American consumers,” the comments said.
“We also encourage the NRC to codify the generic conclusions of the draft NR GEIS. As noted in the proposed rule, applying the Category 1 issues identified in the NR GEIS to new nuclear reactor applications that will have a small environmental impact will allow for generic impact analyses for the environmental issues common to many new reactors, reducing extensive and potentially redundant review processes for new nuclear reactors. We believe this will be vital in helping many of our members, especially those with limited staffing resources, address regulatory requirements and embrace new nuclear technologies to help their communities reduce emissions and provide affordable and reliable energy.”
The groups encouraged the NRC staff to rely on the NR GEIS in all applications, without requiring the applications to reference the NR GEIS, unless there are specific facts in the applications that indicate application of the NR GEIS would be inappropriate. “The NRC should state this plainly and clearly in the rule,” they said.
In line with the NRC’s goals as directed by the ADVANCE Act, they recommended the NRC recategorize the “Historic and Cultural Resources” section of the NR GEIS to Category 1.
“The NRC should assume the impact of both construction and operation on historic and cultural resources is small, unless otherwise indicated during the notice and comment period for approval of the construction and operation applications.”
The groups said they appreciate “the NRC’s willingness to consider input from key industry stakeholders and encourage the commission to swiftly adopt these much-needed reforms.”
