§18751 Infrastructure planning for micro and small modular nuclear reactors

Summary

The Secretary must send a report to Congress not later than 180 days after November 15, 2021 that explains how micro-reactors and small modular reactors could make energy more reliable and cut carbon emissions. The report must check whether current rules for Department facilities need changes to make sure they can run without the grid for at least 3 days, resist cyberattacks and electromagnetic pulses, and survive extreme natural events (like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, very high or low temperatures, heavy snow, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic activity, tornados, lahars, and seiches). It must also give a strategy for using nuclear energy to meet resilience and carbon goals, plans to work with private industry to bring these reactors to remote communities instead of diesel, an assessment of the value of switching Department sites to these reactors or nearby nuclear plants for backup power, and plans to deploy a micro-reactor and a small modular reactor for use by a Department facility in the United States by 2026, a small modular reactor by 2029, and to include these technologies in future energy planning. The law defines a micro-reactor as an advanced reactor with not more than 50 megawatts of electric power and a small modular reactor as an advanced reactor under 300 electrical megawatts that can be combined with similar units at one site; the terms advanced nuclear reactor, isolated community, and National Laboratory are defined elsewhere. The Secretary must offer money and technical help for studies to find sites for micro-reactors, small modular reactors, and advanced reactors in isolated communities, must do strong community outreach first to gauge interest, and must not give more than 50 percent of the study funds to National Laboratories.