ICYMI: Capito Delivers Keynote Address at Nuclear Regulatory Commission Conference

To watch Chairman Capito’s speech, click here or the image above.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, delivered keynote remarks at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Regulatory Information Conference. In her address, Chairman Capito spoke about the history of nuclear innovation in the U.S., the importance of the ADVANCE Act to preserving our country’s nuclear leadership, and the urgency in working together to successfully overcome challenges facing the nuclear industry.

HIGHLIGHTS:

HISTORY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY: “Building on President Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ vision, Congress recognized the tremendous opportunity for atomic energy, and declared it a vital part of our common defense and security, and that is no different today.”

NRC CHALLENGES: “Licensing actions are taking longer and are more costly, while the technology and experience has increased. You would think as technology gets more sophisticated, as experience of the workforce gets better, it should be the opposite. It should be less expensive and more timely. The Agency is dedicating fewer of its staff and resources to actual licensing work, and the regulations and processes that were established for yesterday’s technologies have become stagnant, and updating those just takes too long.”

ENERGY RELIABILITY: “We really need more baseload, and we need more vibrant reliability so that we can also not just provide the reliability, but also provide the affordability that I think many of those, particularly in the heartland and where I live, and everywhere in this country, are demanding. Nuclear must and will be part of the solution.”

IMPORTANCE OF ADVANCE ACT: “The ADVANCE Act really gives a suite of policies, I think, to reduce the regulatory costs, increase efficiency, predictability, and timeliness. That’s the whole point. We must be ready to license new technologies for new uses. It can build on our previous successes and carry us into the next several years.”  

MEETING THE MOMENT: “I would encourage everybody in this room to really build on the momentum that we have, understanding that we can ambitiously implement the ADVANCE Act and really get moving. When you look at AI and data centers, when you look at what some of these large companies are doing and the investments that they are planning to make and pledging to make in this area, we have to have the regulatory environment to be able to move forward, and the licensing availabilities so that this can actually happen.”

Click HERE to watch Chairman Capito’s speech.

# # #