Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§16279a Advanced reactor demonstration program

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 149— - NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY AND PROGRAMS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IX— - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT › Part Part E— - Nuclear Energy › § 16279a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a Department of Energy program to build and test advanced nuclear reactors in the United States. A "demonstration project" means any advanced reactor run to show it can work in commercial use, including as part of an electric utility. The program must test different reactor types that can make clean electricity (compared to other new generation on December 27, 2020), provide heat for towns or industry, store heat or make synthetic fuels, power remote sites, or serve as backup or mission-critical power. It must also find research private companies won’t do because of cost or risk, and help private companies use federal labs, staff, and government-funded research results. When picking projects, the Secretary must favor a variety of designs (different coolants, fuels, and neutron types) and judge proposals by likely future operating cost, technology readiness, team skill, and ability to meet cost-sharing. Reviews must be done by outside panels that include at least one non-conflicted representative from each of these groups: an electric utility, an industrial high-heat user, an investment expert, a project manager, and an environmental health and safety expert. Federally funded projects must use cost-share agreements. The Secretary must consult labs, universities, utilities, industry users, developers, safety and non-proliferation experts, and avoid delaying projects already underway as of December 27, 2020. The program must set up faster contracting, identify technical risks, support near-term R&D to fix the biggest risks, and create advisory working groups of developers, academic and lab experts, safety and non-proliferation specialists, and others. The Secretary may use milestone-based demonstrations. No entity can get money from this program in the same fiscal year if it already gets funds from another Department reactor demonstration program. The law authorizes these amounts: $405,000,000 for FY2021; $405,000,000 for FY2022; $420,000,000 for FY2023; $455,000,000 for FY2024; and $455,000,000 for FY2025.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §16279a

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)For the purposes of this section, the term “demonstration project” means an advanced nuclear reactor operated in any manner, including as part of the power generation facilities of an electric utility system, for the purpose of demonstrating the suitability for commercial application of the advanced nuclear reactor.

(b)The Secretary shall establish a program to advance the research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of domestic advanced, affordable, nuclear energy technologies by—

(1)demonstrating a variety of advanced nuclear reactor technologies, including those that could be used to produce—

(A)safer, emissions-free power at a competitive cost of electricity compared to other new energy generation technologies on December 27, 2020;

(B)heat for community heating, industrial purposes, heat storage, or synthetic fuel production;

(C)remote or off-grid energy supply; or

(D)backup or mission-critical power supplies;

(2)identifying research areas that the private sector is unable or unwilling to undertake due to the cost of, or risks associated with, the research; and

(3)facilitating the access of the private sector—

(A)to Federal research facilities and personnel; and

(B)to the results of research relating to civil nuclear technology funded by the Federal Government.

(c)In carrying out demonstration projects under the program established in subsection (b), the Secretary shall—

(1)include, as an evaluation criterion, diversity in designs for the advanced nuclear reactors demonstrated under this section, including designs using various—

(A)primary coolants;

(B)fuel types and compositions; and

(C)neutron spectra;

(2)consider, as evaluation criterions—

(A)the likelihood that the operating cost for future commercial units for each design implemented through a demonstration project under this subsection is cost-competitive in the applicable market, including those designs configured as integrated energy systems as described in section 16272(c) of this title;

(B)the technology readiness level of a proposed advanced nuclear reactor technology;

(C)the technical abilities and qualifications of teams desiring to demonstrate a proposed advanced nuclear reactor technology; and

(D)the capacity to meet cost-share requirements of the Department;

(3)ensure that each evaluation of candidate technologies for the demonstration projects is completed through an external review of proposed designs, which review shall—

(A)be conducted by a panel that includes not fewer than 1 representative that does not have a conflict of interest of each within the applicable market of the design of—

(i)an electric utility;

(ii)an entity that uses high-temperature process heat for manufacturing or industrial processing, such as a petrochemical or synthetic fuel company, a manufacturer of metals or chemicals, or a manufacturer of concrete;

(iii)an expert from the investment community;

(iv)a project management practitioner; and

(v)an environmental health and safety expert; and

(B)include a review of each demonstration project under this subsection which shall include consideration of cost-competitiveness and other value streams, together with the technology readiness level, the technical abilities and qualifications of teams desiring to demonstrate a proposed advanced nuclear reactor technology, the capacity to meet cost-share requirements of the Department, if Federal funding is provided, and environmental impacts;

(4)for federally funded demonstration projects, enter into cost-sharing agreements with private sector partners in accordance with section 16352 of this title for the conduct of activities relating to the research, development, and demonstration of advanced nuclear reactor designs under the program;

(5)consult with—

(A)National Laboratories;

(B)institutions of higher education;

(C)traditional end users (such as electric utilities);

(D)potential end users of new technologies (such as users of high-temperature process heat for manufacturing processing, including petrochemical or synthetic fuel companies, manufacturers of metals or chemicals, or manufacturers of concrete);

(E)developers of advanced nuclear reactor technology;

(F)environmental and public health and safety experts; and

(G)non-proliferation experts;

(6)seek to ensure that the demonstration projects carried out under this section do not cause any delay in the progress of an advanced reactor project by private industry and the Department of Energy that is underway as of December 27, 2020;

(7)establish a streamlined approval process for expedited contracting between awardees and the Department;

(8)identify technical challenges to candidate technologies;

(9)support near-term research and development to address the highest risk technical challenges to the successful demonstration of a selected advanced reactor technology, in accordance with—

(A)paragraph (8);

(B)the research and development activities under section 16272(b) of this title; and

(C)the research and development activities under section 16278 of this title; and

(10)establish such technology advisory working groups as the Secretary determines to be appropriate to advise the Secretary regarding the technical challenges identified under paragraph (8) and the scope of research and development programs to address the challenges, in accordance with paragraph (9), to be comprised of—

(A)private sector advanced nuclear reactor technology developers;

(B)technical experts with respect to the relevant technologies at institutions of higher education;

(C)technical experts at the National Laboratories;

(D)environmental and public health and safety experts;

(E)non-proliferation experts; and

(F)any other entities the Secretary determines appropriate.

(d)The Secretary may carry out demonstration projects under subsection (c) as a milestone-based demonstration project under section 7256c of this title.

(e)Entities may not receive funds under this program if receiving funds from another reactor demonstration program at the Department in the same fiscal year.

(f)There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program under this subsection—

(1)$405,000,000 for fiscal year 2021;

(2)$405,000,000 for fiscal year 2022;

(3)$420,000,000 for fiscal year 2023;

(4)$455,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; and

(5)$455,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 16279a

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73