OPINION:
For many, this past weekend started with the release of the film “Oppenheimer” and the story that changed forever how countries fortify their national defense. Though many remember the American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer for his work on the Manhattan Project, you can also thank him for being a catalyst in the development of nuclear energy, which generates nearly 20% of the nation’s total electricity and more than half of our carbon-free electricity.
In my home state of South Carolina, nuclear power generates more than 90% of our carbon-free electricity and accounts for over half of our total power generation.
Evolving from weaponry to powering our world
Oppenheimer’s work at the Los Alamos Laboratory and his research on fast neutrons resulted in his title as “father of the atomic bomb.” Though at the time it would culminate with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, the research would be a defining mark in the nation’s steps to unlock nuclear energy for peaceful use.
In August 1946, after World War II, Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act. The law built a framework for the development and further research of nuclear weapons. It formed the Atomic Energy Commission to oversee nuclear technology development, licensing and regulation.
Congress’ goal was for nuclear technology to “improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition and private enterprise.”
In 1951, reactors were able to generate electricity for the first time, having proved the capabilities and making the concept reality with a plant producing electricity for purchase.
In 1954, in keeping with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace proposal, Congress amended the act to provide for private development of nuclear technology and U.S. cooperation on nuclear technology with our allies around the world.
Under the direction of the commission, the commercial application of nuclear energy for electrical generation and medical uses was developed and flourished, in the United States and around the world.
Congress passed the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to replace the Atomic Energy Commission with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to regulate for safety and what would become the Department of Energy to oversee research and development of nuclear technology.
By 1991, nuclear energy generated 22% of America’s electricity. Today, that number has slipped to less than 20% of our total electricity. And our world leadership has been stagnated in recent decades as Russia and China seek to dominate world nuclear commerce.
Russian reactors are being built in Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. China is building its nuclear industry at a pace that will make it the largest in the world in the next decade and is seeking to export those technologies to displace U.S. nuclear relationships.
We need to reverse the trend and reassert U.S. nuclear leadership, for the nation and for the strong relationships with our allies around the world.
The future of nuclear power
As chairman of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I am proud to support full committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ mission to deliver reliable, affordable and clean energy to Americans by updating policies for efficient, predictable licensing and deployment which will allow for the expansion of nuclear energy.
There can be no doubt that restoring and accelerating nuclear energy expansion is a bipartisan effort.
Our goal is to advance durable and bipartisan policies that will expand nuclear energy and its many benefits for the nation — policies that make sense for the regulation of nuclear power today, and the new technologies expected to seek licensing and deployment in coming years.
Through our work this Congress, it has become evident that a modernized NRC and Department of Energy can achieve their respective missions.
In our “American Nuclear Energy Expansion” hearing this week, we reviewed legislation that would align, in statute, the mission of the NRC with the policy goals of the Atomic Energy Act to expand nuclear to maximize the general welfare.
Other legislation focuses on improving NRC licensing to be more efficient and predictable by requiring more effective decision-making milestones, time frames and metrics to measure performance and results; avoiding duplicative analyses in siting and environmental reviews, and updating the reviews to reflect the realities of advanced technologies; seeking new regulatory processes for advanced manufacturing and technologies, for more efficient and timely licensing; cutting the hourly fees the NRC charges in half for new advanced reactor applicants to reduce barriers to participation; and reforming an advisory committee to the NRC to focus on new technologies and reduce unnecessary reviews.
The NRC should not be an impediment to nuclear energy in the United States; rather, it should foster growth. An important aspect of our bipartisan efforts has been to engage the appropriate stakeholders throughout the process.
Stakeholder requests have also been incorporated into the drafted bills.
Let me be clear: Modernizing NRC and DOE authorities does not mean moving away from principles of safety. It does mean ensuring that regulations are updated to reflect the advances and capabilities of the nuclear industry today to deliver clean, affordable and reliable energy.
As your weekend begins with “Oppenheimer,” there’s a strong possibility that the rest of your weekend is powered by the ideas that stem from the Manhattan Project. Today, no other energy source provides as much carbon-free electricity as nuclear power, and no other carbon-free electricity source is as reliable as nuclear energy, which is available 24/7/365.
Robert Oppenheimer said, “It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they were found because it was possible to find them.”
Nuclear energy expansion and the benefits it unlocks can be obtained if we commit to the modernization of the NRC and DOE.
• Jeff Duncan is the U.S. representative for South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.
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