ADVANCE Act Signed, Paving the Way for Advanced Nuclear Innovation in the U.S.

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As a follow-up to our previous client alert, President Biden has signed the ADVANCE (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy) Act into law. The ADVANCE Act is aimed at speeding up the deployment of nuclear energy and passed through Congress with strong bipartisan support.

The bill simplifies permitting processes and introduces new incentives for advanced nuclear reactor technologies. A primary goal of the legislation is to modernize the country’s approach to licensing new reactor technologies. Key measures include:

• Reduced regulatory costs for licensing advanced nuclear technologies.
• Innovation incentives, such as a prize for deploying next-generation reactors.
• Streamlined licensing for nuclear facilities.

Two additional key elements of the bill are its promotion of small reactor technologies, referred to as microreactors, and the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites, such as retiring or retired coal plants, for the development of nuclear power plants. 

The bill aligns with recent Department of Energy (DOE) plans to allocate $900 million for small modular reactor (SMR) plants, the commitment of $2.7 billion from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to boost the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, and the administration's overall goal to increase the 19% share of U.S. electricity currently generated by nuclear energy. The legislation seeks to address past challenges in the nuclear industry by lowering costs and simplifying regulations, thereby promoting climate change mitigation, energy reliability, and job creation.

Click here to read Womble Bond Dickinson’s July 1 client alert on the ADVANCE ACT.