ASME AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS PARTNER TO CONVENE BRIEFING ON 'SMRS'

ASME AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS PARTNER TO CONVENE BRIEFING ON 'SMRS'

ASME recently partnered with ten other organizations to host a Congressional briefing on small modular reactors (SMRs) for nuclear energy.  The event was held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL), Co-Chair of the Congressional Research and Development Caucus, and Representative Michael Simpson, Chairman of the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, provided remarks at the event.
To the Obama Administration, small and medium modular reactors, 300 megawatts or less, represent one of the most promising reactor concepts of the U.S. Nuclear Renaissance, offering such advantages as improved safety and economics, shorter construction times, distributed generation, and availability for non-power generation applications. 
In its FY 2012 budget, the Administration requested $95 million to support new reactor concepts.  In total, the Administration would like $452 million over the next five years to support a government-industry cost share SMR Program.  Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons was a featured speaker at the event, and discussed the Administration’s goals related to SMRs, including a five-year public-private partnership that would lead to the commercialization of several concept reactors.

In June, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Committee fully honored the Administration’s request to support SMRs as part of their annual appropriations bill, providing $95.7 million in their spending bill.  So far, the Senate has not been as supportive.  Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) voiced her skepticism about the technology at a hearing in July, mostly because of the spent fuel issue.  This week, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill was passed by the committee, but did not include funding for the program.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is currently considering two design concepts for approval to become licensed reactors. 
Following Dr. Lyons at the briefing were Richard J. Myers, Vice President of Policy Development, Planning and Supplier Programs for the Nuclear Energy Institute and Sandy Byrd, Vice President of Strategic Affairs at the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation.  Both discussed the practicability, and economic advantages of nuclear energy, i.e. job creation, economic footprint, and technical feasibility. 
For more information about this briefing, or about the Congressional R&D Caucus, please visit: http://www.researchcaucus.org/
Robert Rains handle public policy-related energy issues for ASME.  He can be reached at: rainsr@asme.org