Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Thursday blasted the Department of Energy’s effort to streamline permitting for next-generation nuclear reactors.
The Rhode Island lawmaker, and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, filed formal public comments on a proposed rule that would allow some “advanced” reactors to bypass a key part of the National Environmental Policy Act. The rule would create new “categorical exclusions,” allowing certain projects to avoid detailed environmental reviews.
The exclusions could apply to experimental reactors being developed through a DOE program aimed at deploying at least three advanced commercial reactor demonstrations by July 4.
DOE partly justified the move by citing prior regulatory approvals and analyses of similar advanced reactor designs that found they posed limited safety risks. Whitehouse said that reasoning is flawed.
