Washington- Congressman Joe Pitts (R, PA-16) recently introduced bill, the   Streamline America’s Future Energy (SAFE) Nuclear Act, has been attracting national attention.  The Dallas Morning News ran an editorial this weekend entitled “So where’s the nuclear power?” supporting Rep. Pitts bill as a sensible way to promote clean power generation.  Additionally, the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, issued a memo entitled “Pitts Bill Could be a Nuclear Game Changer” supporting the bill as a way to prompt new development while ensuring that safety is paramount.

Congressman Pitts’ statement follows:

“I’m glad that this bill is attracting attention not only from Washington but from around the country. Americans want to move toward clean power and we need a process that allows for a thorough but efficient review so that we can take advantage of safe, new nuclear power generation.”

The Dallas Morning News editorial can be found at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-nuclear_0810edi.State.Edition1.2c96ba1.html

The Heritage Foundation WebMemo is located at: http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm2571.cfm

Background

The United States gets roughly 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, whereas France derives approximately 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power.  Rep. Pitts’ bill fast tracks the regulatory process for approval of new nuclear reactors on or adjacent to a site where reactors are already operating, reducing the time needed for approval to two years for reactors that meet certain criteria, including:

•Reactor design must already be certified;
•Any new reactor must be on or adjacent to an existing generation site;
•Reactor operator may not be subject of any Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) action to revoke operating permits;
•Operator must have completed construction/operation application that has been docketed by NRC.

The bill makes public safety a top priority in any approval of new reactors.  It will also task the NRC with developing regulations that will allow new reactor designs to compete in the marketplace.  Customers have been reluctant to purchase new reactor designs because the NRC has not been equipped to evaluate new designs well.  This has limited the available designs and reduced the competition in the reactor market, stunting innovation in the market.

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