Senate Votes 88-2 To Bolster Key Energy Sector

The U.S. Senate has decisively approved a significant legislative package aimed at strengthening America’s nuclear energy industry.

In an 88-2 vote, the Senate passed the bill, with opposition coming from Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

This nuclear legislation was combined with a separate bill to renew funding for the U.S. Fire Administration and firefighter grant programs. According to The Hill, the combined package will now head to the president’s desk for signature.

“We benefit from more tools in the toolbox as we take on the climate crisis—with the urgency the moment demands,” noted White House climate advisor Ali Zaidi.

The legislation’s main objective is to accelerate the approval process for building new nuclear plants, especially as many existing reactors are approaching the end of their operational lifespans. Additionally, it reduces the licensing fees that energy companies must pay to initiate projects. The bill also directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to submit a report on how to streamline and speed up environmental reviews.

“Hopefully it will be history-making in terms of small modular reactors, which is the future of nuclear,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told reporters ahead of the vote on Tuesday.

Supporters argue the measure will provide a much-needed boost to the country’s nuclear power capabilities.

“It’s a facilitator of the process by which industry has to get approvals for building these projects,” explained Lesley Jantarasami, managing director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s energy program, speaking to The Hill.

However, not everyone agrees with the bill’s provisions.

Edwin Lyman, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ director of nuclear power safety, raised concerns about a provision that changes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s mission, preventing it from “unnecessarily” restricting nuclear development. He warns this could compromise safety across the nation’s nuclear fleet.

“I just see this as inviting the industry to challenge every decision that the commission tries to make that has the potential to impose more than this minimum amount of regulation and could essentially paralyze it from actually working to improve nuclear safety and security,” Lyman told The Hill.

In the House, lawmakers also strongly backed the nuclear-fire package, passing it 393-13-1. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a progressive Democrat from Michigan, voted “present” — signaling her support for the firefighting funding but objecting to the nuclear provisions.

“I voted present in objection to the ridiculous decision to tie the reauthorization of vital firefighting programs for our communities together with poison pills that undermine nuclear safety and were strongly opposed by leading grassroots environmental organizations,” she explained to The Hill.

Proponents of nuclear power, which currently supplies about 20 percent of America’s electricity, have long maintained that the technology addresses priorities for both political parties — increasing domestic energy security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions since reactors emit only steam, not air pollutants.

Although the storage of nuclear waste remains a point of contention, the United States has never experienced any accidents involving the leakage of spent nuclear fuel.

“As of August 1, 2023, 93 nuclear reactors were operating at 54 nuclear power plants in 28 states. Of the 54 operating nuclear power plants, 19 have one reactor, 31 have two reactors, and 4 have three reactors. The U.S. nuclear energy industry has supplied about 20% of total annual U.S. electricity since 1990,” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“In 2021, 33 countries had commercial nuclear power plants, and in 15 of those countries, nuclear energy supplied at least 20% of their total annual electricity generation. The United States had the most nuclear electricity generation capacity and generated more nuclear electricity than any other country. France had the second-largest nuclear electricity generation capacity and third-highest nuclear electricity generation. In addition, France had the world’s highest nuclear share—about 68%—of total national annual electricity generation,” the agency added.