Congress Increases Funding for Nuclear R&D in 2019

• Congress increases DOE’s nuclear energy budget by $121 million over last year
• Reactor Concepts R&D funding up by $86.5 million
• Funds included for Versatile Test Reactor, ATF and computer modeling

Before leaving town this week, Congress approved its energy and water spending package for fiscal 2019. The bill approves $1.33 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) nuclear energy research, development and deployment programs, an increase of $121 million over fiscal 2018.

“This bill offers funding boosts for a number of industry priorities in research and development and will pave the wave for new breakthroughs,” NEI Vice President of Governmental Affairs Beverly Marshall said.

“It also shows Congress exercising appropriate oversight over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with a focus on rightsizing the agency’s fees, budget and staffing levels.”

Significantly, the bills include $323.5 million in funding for DOE’s Reactor Concepts Research and Development program, an increase of $86.5 million in 2019. This includes important programs such as advanced reactors and light water reactor sustainability. The bill also increases funding for the Versatile Test Reactor program, which would create a sodium-cooled fast reactor to test advanced technology reactor components and materials, from $35 million to $65 million.

In a new development, the legislation provides $20 million in funds for the High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) program, which could be used to fuel advanced reactors. The bill also continues funding for the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light-Water Reactors (CASL) Energy Innovation Hub and the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulations programs. The bill includes $75.6 million for the Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) program, a more robust and high performance fuel compared to the fuel used today, the same as last year’s funding level.

The bill also reduces NRC fee recovery by $10 million to $780 million, a result of ongoing regulatory efficiencies that are being realized by the NRC.

The legislation also contains positive report language which:

• Requires the NRC to submit a detailed plan to license ATF.
• Directs money to the Digital Instrumentation and Control program, under which the NRC must submit a report describing approaches to permitting the use of digital instrumentation and control in safety applications outside of the nuclear industry.
• Notes that the NRC must continue to provide a quarterly report on its licensing goals and right-sizing commitments to Congress.
• Highlights the NRC’s Transformation Initiative and notes an expectation of “concrete proposals” in 2019 to reflect savings achieved.