https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/power-switch\/2024\/01\/24\/congress-takes-aim-at-nations-nuclear-regulator-00137531<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Lawmakers who support a new generation of advanced nuclear power are setting their sights on what they see as the technology\u2019s top obstacle: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
\nThe Biden administration has touted small, factory-built reactors as a possible lifeline for an aging nuclear industry and a crucial step toward cutting the nation\u2019s planet-warming emissions. But only one reactor design has gotten the greenlight from the NRC, and administration-backed advanced nuclear energy projects are struggling to get off the ground.<\/p>\n
Key leaders in the House and Senate are now considering fundamental changes to the NRC, an independent federal agency tasked with protecting public safety and health.<\/p>\n
The House Energy and Commerce and Senate Environment and Public Works committees are negotiating a compromise legislative package that would streamline regulations at the NRC and potentially adjust the agency\u2019s mission statement, as I write today.<\/p>\n
The talks come after four Senate Democrats recently kneecapped a renomination bid for one of the NRC\u2019s longtime regulators, Jeff Baran, who was first appointed by former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was among the Democrats who called Baran an overzealous regulator overtly hostile to nuclear energy. Today, Manchin said he won\u2019t support any nominee who\u2019s too focused on safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just looking for people who understand that we have to have nuclear energy in the mix,\u201d Manchin said.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers believe fundamentally changing the NRC, in leadership and policy, will give so-called small modular reactors a fighting chance to succeed.”<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/power-switch\/2024\/01\/24\/congress-takes-aim-at-nations-nuclear-regulator-00137531<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[617,542,180,444,512,236,551],"class_list":["post-12971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-bureaucracy","tag-congress","tag-nuclear","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-nuclear-power","tag-regulation","tag-regulations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12972,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971\/revisions\/12972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}