Congress' ADVANCE Act on Nuclear Regulation Reform

originally published on Public Utilities FortNightly

The "Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act" is bipartisan legislation to provide a major boost to the future of nuclear energy in the United States and was signed into law in July. The new law is the culmination of years of work to build consensus on benefits of advanced nuclear reactors to our nation's electric grid, economy, and environment.

The ADVANCE Act facilitates U.S. nuclear energy leadership and supports development and deployment of new nuclear energy technologies. It does so, among others, by reducing regulatory costs for companies seeking to license advanced nuclear reactor technologies, requiring the NRC to develop a pathway for timely licensing of microreactors and nuclear facilities at brownfield and retired fossil-fuel energy generation sites, and directing the NRC to establish an accelerated licensing review process to site and construct reactors at existing nuclear sites.

There is much to unpack in the Act, so Public Utilities Fortnightly reached out to Balch & Bingham Managing Partner and Chair of the firm's Nuclear Energy Practice Stan Blanton. He explains what the ADVANCE Act does and why it is important to the energy and utilities industry.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: Important bipartisan legislation was passed recently and signed into law. What are the key takeaways on the impact of the ADVANCE Act?

Stan Blanton: The ADVANCE Act has been working its way through Congress since last year and has had broad bipartisan support at every stage. That is as important a takeaway as any provision, in that the policymakers in the United States recognize the need for future nuclear development, both to serve energy demand and for its clean air benefits.

That's also happening around the world, and a key part of this act is to maintain and promote leadership of the United States and U.S. companies across the world as nuclear energy continues to develop.

I can't talk about that subject without mentioning Georgia Power and its co-owners (Oglethorpe Power Co., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the City of Dalton) of Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the first nuclear power plants constructed in the United States in more than thirty years, which just came online, one in July '23 and one in April '24.

That gives the industry an opportunity to kind of kickstart other projects and benefit from the lessons learned at Vogtle.

At Balch, we are proud and honored to support Vogtle, and we look forward to further development of nuclear power in the United States and around the world to meet increasing energy demand with clean nuclear energy.

Some of the licensing provisions of the ADVANCE Act recognize the benefit of America's experience in developing commercial nuclear projects and a key component of the licensing provisions is to leverage that experience. As a licensing lawyer, I take more than a passing interest in the nuclear licensing provisions of the act, which should make licensing a new plant more reliable and efficient.

The act gives the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a schedule that it needs to adhere to and tells NRC that they can use lessons learned from licensing the same site or the same design for previous plants. That codifies a principle of regulation that encourages NRC to rely on its prior findings in licensing matters where appropriate. That's important.

PUF: The NRC is the gold standard internationally on nuclear safety regulation, but with new technologies for next generation plants, is the approval process certain?

Stan Blanton: First, it's essential that the nuclear industry has a strong regulator and that the public have confidence in the safety mission of the NRC. The NRC does a great job in accomplishing that safety mission. Companies thinking about building a nuclear plant though, need more reliability and certainty in terms of schedule and, ultimately, cost.

The ADVANCE Act moves in the right direction on that subject by providing that NRC in most cases is going to have to issue a license within twenty-five months or make a decision within twenty-five months of the application.

The environmental impact statement is due within one year, and there's no reason that can't be accomplished. All the hearings have to be finished within two years, and then there is essentially a month after the close of the hearings to issue the license.

A lot of work's been done before that hearing, so that's an adequate schedule. That will give companies confidence that licensing won't be the holdup in developing a plant.

PUF: Have companies started to take advantage of these new provisions?

Stan Blanton: The industry trade association — NEI — has reacted positively. The companies we talk to on a regular basis have followed this closely before it was enacted and signed, and they have reacted positively.

In terms of whether this act is enough to persuade a company to build a new plant remains to be seen. It certainly helps, but there are so many factors, including the price of gas, the cost of alternatives, and projected demand for energy. Demand is high right now, but that can change.

There is more that Congress can do to promote nuclear development. For example, some sort of protection for first-of-a-kind movers against cost overruns would be helpful.

I'd say it's a step in the right direction. It remains to be seen whether or not it's enough to cause somebody to start a new plant.

PUF: On the international scene, U.S. companies have challenges. Touch on that, and are you optimistic that's going to move forward, as well?

Stan Blanton: U.S. reactor vendors are active in Europe and China. Six reactor designs in China are the Westinghouse AP1000 design.

Now that Westinghouse-designed reactors have been constructed both in China and here in the U.S. at Vogtle, European countries are considering the AP 1000 given its proven track record. The reactor vendors though, are looking for United States leadership on the international front.

It is helpful that the NRC import-export branch was established in the ADVANCE Act. NRC's regulation is the gold standard in international regulation, and a lot of countries just adopt NRC regulations, or if NRC certifies a design, they recognize that as a certified design in their own regulatory framework.

It's important that those NRC safety standards be the standard around the world, so we have reliability and confidence that reactors are designed and built safely.

PUF: Talk about the coming nuclear renaissance. Are you optimistic going forward over the next few years that there will be some more development?

Stan Blanton: I am optimistic. You don't have to look any further to judge that than our law firm. We're doubling down on the hiring of nuclear lawyers, we're trying to expand our nuclear practice, and we wouldn't be doing that if we didn't think there were going to be additional plants developed.

Just read about demand for energy right now, such as AI and data centers, and there are lots of new applications for nuclear power that didn't exist ten years ago or even five years ago. People are starting to acknowledge the clean air benefits of nuclear energy to a much greater extent than they did, especially given the projected growth in demand.

A lot of tech companies that have clean air commitments, but are heavy energy users, are taking a hard look at nuclear power. But it takes a significant amount of time and analysis to decide to build a new plant.

I'm sure those companies are looking at every kind of renewable and gas and everything else along with nuclear, to make sure they're being prudent to their customers and shareholders. But I am optimistic that somebody is going to start a nuclear plant sooner rather than later.

PUF: What do you say when companies ask you, "What should we do?"

Stan Blanton: Well, our advice would be technology neutral. I don't push nuclear power over any other technology. Whether or not nuclear is the right answer for a particular company is a complex question.

I think that companies that have stable, reliable customer bases and scale in terms of their generation portfolio are more well-suited to develop large light-water reactors. The region of the country makes a difference. Some regions of the country are more accepting of nuclear power and pro-nuclear than others.

The company's customer base is important. Small modular reactors or, eventually, advanced reactors, should require relatively smaller initial capital investment and will probably be more attractive to smaller companies or those that participate in more competitive markets.

Different companies have different time horizons for recovery of investment. A company that has a long time horizon for nuclear power development is more likely to build than somebody with a ten-year asset recovery horizon. A lot of factors go into what is the best solution for a particular company.

PUF: Talking to Commissioners and their Staffs and the Consumer Advocates, the leaders of the utilities and vendors, what can they do to move along a nuclear renaissance?

Stan Blanton: I think it goes back to what I just said. Regulators faced with a new nuclear project need to take the long view.

If you think nuclear power is beneficial, then you need to understand that situations are going to change during construction and certainly over the useful life of the facility. The value that a nuclear power plant provides is a stable, reliable source of clean energy for decades. The commitment that short-term problems don't outweigh long-term customer value needs to be there.

I'm a pro-nuclear guy. There's no better generating asset to own than a nuclear power plant, if you care about eighty years from now, rather than five years from now.

PUF: What's most rewarding to you in this process for the last couple of years with this legislation, Vogtle, new companies coming, and the increased attention to new energy demand?

Stan Blanton: I'm kind of going back to where I started. The public is starting to appreciate the value of nuclear power to a greater extent. The interest in protecting the climate has a lot to do with that.

The efficiency that nuclear power brings to serve a lot of people. The two new Vogtle units should serve a million households and businesses for at least eighty years.

To have worked on that project is a great source of pride for me. I have been an advocate for nuclear for about thirty years in my law practice, and seeing the strength of support by both parties of our government is gratifying.