NEI praises new law's nearly $1 billion in federal nuclear-research funds

The Nuclear Energy Institute praised the recent Omnibus Appropriations Act that recently was signed into law by President Obama, the NEI said on Monday.

"Encouragingly, the Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2016 includes strong support for nuclear energy to remain a vital component of a diversified electricity portfolio that will strengthen our energy security and increase economic growth while reining in regulatory overreach,” Alex Flint, NEI's senior vice president for governmental affairs, said.

The nuclear energy community will see $986 million injected into nuclear programs in 2016. This is an $80 million increase from the requested amount. This money will be used for nuclear research that will help develop clean energy and energy security for the U.S.

"The nuclear energy industry believes the Omnibus Appropriations Act has acted properly to effectively rightsize the NRC's budget to impose greater spending and process discipline on the commission," Flint said. "Lowering fees charged to nuclear power plant licensees is an important step in helping reduce the size of the NRC to match recent changes in the industry. As the NRC itself projected in its Project Aim report unveiled in mid-February, a 10 percent reduction in the size of the agency is needed. The public interest and the agency's safety mission will be better served once the NRC is right-sized, and it increases rigor throughout its regulatory processes. Industry and NRC resources alike must be focused on those areas with high safety significance."

Democrats compromised with Republicans to get clean-energy money into the bill. In exchange for money to be spent on clean and green energy initiatives, a U.S. oil-export ban, which existed for decades, was lifted.

Of the $986 million, $141 million will be used for nuclear research and development, which is $30 million over the requested and budgeted amount. Fuel-cycle research and development will get $203 million, while the small-reactor licensing program will get $62.5 million.

"The recognition that advanced and small reactors hold great promise as a future source of low-carbon electricity and as an export technology that can create many thousands of U.S. jobs is very positive,” Flint said. “It is a smart investment in a low-carbon and secure energy future for our nation.”

The bill rejected a $2 billion, 10-year tax intended for uranium decommissioning and decontamination that was to be placed on the nuclear-energy sector.

"Besides funding cleanup activities at the sites as part of the cost of enriched uranium purchased from the government for reactor fuel, the industry paid an additional $2.6 billion in taxes for this effort from 1993 to 2008,” Flint said. “Additional payments would have placed an unjustified $200 million-per-year financial burden on ratepayers.”