A bill under consideration in the Senate would instruct the
Department of Energy to design and demonstrate two small modular reactor
designs within six years.
On Tuesday, Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee
chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced Senate Bill 512, the Nuclear
Power 2021 Act. The measure would set up a public-private project to test one
reactor smaller than 300 megawatts and another smaller than 50 megawatts with
the goal of achieving Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification by
2017 and full design licenses by 2020.
“Modular reactors make sense because they do not require as
large up-front capital investment as conventional reactors. They will keep
construction costs down at a time when the expense of building a traditional
plant has become so high. I believe that it is appropriate for the Energy
Department to work with utilities on the design and approval process for these
reactors because nuclear power will play an important role in a carbon-constrained
energy world,” Bingaman said in a release.
The bill’s cosponsors include Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Mark
Udall, D-Colo., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Mark Pryor,
D-Ark.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group, expressed
its support for the legislation in a release Thursday:
“Smaller reactor designs can be installed, incrementally, in
less-populated areas of the country that don’t need large power stations, or in
developing countries that lack sufficient electric grid capacity to accommodate
large electric-generation facilities. Small reactor technology has the
potential to strengthen U.S. energy security, create jobs and help America
remove carbon from the electric, transport and industrial sectors.”
Additional small reactor research has been proposed
recently in the Obama administration’s proposed 2012 budget, which would set
aside $67 million for technical and licensing support for SMRs.