Commission on Nuclear Energy in the U.S.

Part of the: 

U.S. Nuclear Energy Project

CSIS has launched a bipartisan high-level Commission on Nuclear Energy in the U.S. to study the future of nuclear energy in the United States.

The CSIS Commission on Nuclear Energy in the U.S. is made up of senior public and private sector officials from across the political spectrum who agree that nuclear energy is an important part of this country’s energy mix and that the U.S. is losing ground as other countries proceed with planned expansions of their nuclear sectors.
Concerns about the national security implications of a diminished U.S. presence in the global nuclear energy market are real. The Commission will address this 21st century challenge to determine how and when the United States can take steps toward ensuring that a strong, domestic nuclear sector is part of our future. The Commission will consider a variety of areas relevant to the nuclear industry including financial structuring, safety, regulatory structures, nonproliferation, and waste. The Commission will make recommendations in a consensus report to be published in the spring of 2012.
Commission Structure and Timeline

• The Commission will convene at CSIS on September 14th to review the project’s goals and agree on areas of work for a draft report. The Commission co-chairs and members will be announced on this date.
• By December of 2011, project staff will produce a draft report for review by the Commission.
• High-level subgroups made up of commissioners and outside advisors with expertise in a variety of areas will provide input for Critical Work Areas including financial structuring, implications of the Fukushima disaster, supply chain and labor concerns, opportunities for global collaboration, and national security implications.
• In March 2012, CSIS will publish a preliminary report that will include analysis of Critical Work Areas and will outline additional work areas that will be included in the report’s final iteration, due for publication at the end of June 2012. The final report will also contain analysis of several Special Topics, including but not limited to spent nuclear fuel and waste disposal and the nuclear fuel cycle.
• Throughout the summer of 2012, commission members and project staff will present the strategic plan to congressional and administration officials as well as thought leaders interested in nuclear energy and national security.
• The Commission’s goals include providing recommendations that are substantive and actionable; the final report will be comprehensive, bi-partisan, fact-based and credible treatment of a critical topic of the day.