Chairman Voinovich, Ranking Member Carper and distinguished members of the subcommittee, I am Marvin Fertel, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). I am honored to represent NEI’s member companies before this subcommittee today. Nuclear energy is vitally important to our environment, particularly in meeting the nation’s clean air goals, and to our nation’s energy security. It is also necessary that the nuclear industry has a federal regulatory agency that is stable, effective and efficient.

NEI is responsible for developing policy for the United States nuclear industry. NEI’s 270 corporate and other members include every United States energy company that operates a nuclear plant, as well as a wide variety of organizations and businesses involved in the use of radioisotopes for beneficial purposes. NEI’s membership also includes nuclear fuel cycle companies, suppliers, engineering and consulting firms, national research laboratories, manufacturers of radiopharmaceuticals, universities, labor unions and law firms.

The 103 reactors in the United States are among the world’s most efficient and reliable. Nuclear energy is the largest source of emission-free electricity in the United States and the nation’s second-largest source of electricity after coal. The U.S. nuclear energy sector is also the world’s largest, generating more electricity than the nuclear sectors of France and Japan—the next two largest—combined. On a percentage basis, nuclear energy provides electricity for 20 percent of American homes and businesses.  Globally, 18 nations generate a higher percentage of electricity from nuclear energy that the United States, including France at 78 percent, Japan at 35 percent. Nuclear energy is growing rapidly in the burgeoning economics like China and India.