§18751 Infrastructure Planning for Micro and Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

Summary

Requires the Secretary to send a report to Congress within 180 days after November 15, 2021 explaining how micro-reactors and small modular reactors could make energy more reliable and cut carbon emissions. The report must go to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and on Science, Space, and Technology. Defines a few key terms in one line each: advanced nuclear reactor (see another law), isolated community (see another law), micro-reactor (an advanced reactor that makes no more than 50 megawatts), National Laboratory (see another law), and small modular reactor (an advanced reactor under 300 electrical megawatts that can be built with similar reactors at one site). The report must check whether current rules for Department facilities need changes to ensure at least 3 days of backup power during grid failures, protection from cyberattacks and electromagnetic pulses, and resilience to extreme natural events (for example, earthquakes, storms, floods, and extreme temperatures). It must include a plan for using nuclear energy to meet resilience and carbon goals, a plan to work with private industry to deploy these reactors to remote communities to replace diesel and other fossil fuels, an assessment of the value of switching facilities to these reactors or co-located nuclear power during outages, and plans to deploy a micro-reactor and a small modular reactor for a Department facility in the United States by 2026 and a small modular reactor by 2029, plus to include these reactors in future facility planning. The Secretary must also offer financial and technical help for feasibility studies to find sites in isolated communities, do strong community outreach before funding projects, and not give more than 50 percent of the available assistance funds to National Laboratories.