The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will mark up legislation that would require the Department of Energy to construct two advanced nuclear plants.
H.R. 9710, the “Small Modular Reactor Demonstration Act,” would authorize $11 million over three years for research on advanced nuclear as well as the creation of a demonstration project with the aim to develop two small nuclear reactors or microreactors by 2034.
The bill is sponsored by Alabama Republican Rep. Dale Strong, who pointed to the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority-owned facility in northern Alabama that has sat unfinished since 1988, as one that would qualify under the bill. One of the projects must be either on or adjacent to an operating or retired nuclear site.
“Winter Storm Elliott was a wake-up call for us all,” he said in a release about the 2022 storm. “To avoid shortages in the future, we must be constantly investing in modern energy sources to power our economy for the next generation.”
