§16272 Reactor Concepts Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial Application

Summary

The Secretary must run three research and development programs to improve nuclear energy. One program must help existing commercial nuclear power plants using work like modeling and simulation. It must work on 12 areas, including reliability, capacity, aging of parts, safety, physical security and its costs, plant lifetime, operations and maintenance costs, flexible operation, integrated energy uses, efficiency, environmental effects, and resilience. Not later than 1 year after August 9, 2022, the Secretary, through the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, must check whether creating an isotope demonstration subprogram is technically and economically feasible and may set up that subprogram. The Secretary must consult with the Director of the Office of Science for that check. The Secretary must send an annual public report to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate describing funds spent, activities, goals, outcomes (including benefits for the whole reactor fleet), and funds given to private entities. Funding authorized: $55,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. (The term “critical radioactive and stable isotope” has the meaning given in section 18649(a).) The Secretary must also run a program to support advanced reactor technologies and another to build nuclear integrated energy systems made of two or more co-located or jointly run subsystems where at least one is nuclear. For advanced reactors, priority goes to designs that are proliferation resistant and passively safe and that, compared to reactors on December 27, 2020, are more competitive, efficient, lower cost, cleaner, more resilient, safer, use better fuels, and use advanced monitoring. The Secretary must work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on metrics, support materials and fuel research, modeling and simulation for faster design and licensing, waste management technologies, needed research facilities (like research reactors, hot cells, a versatile fast neutron source, and coolant testing for lead, sodium, gas, and molten salt), sensors and controls, advanced manufacturing, and safety and emergency planning. The Secretary must form an advisory committee of private-sector and expert individuals that reports to Congress each year. Funding authorized for advanced reactors: $55,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. Funding authorized for nuclear integrated energy systems: $20,000,000 for FY2021; $30,000,000 for FY2022; $30,000,000 for FY2023; $40,000,000 for FY2024; and $40,000,000 for FY2025.