WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the introduction of the Nuclear Assistance for America’s Small Businesses Act.
This bill seeks to provide assistance for American small businesses that engage or seek to engage in the research, development, and deployment of an advanced nuclear reactor. Additionally, this bill gives nuclear small businesses the option to defer a portion of their application fees that are accumulated through engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“As a champion for representing small businesses around our great nation, I’m proud to introduce this bill to ultimately level the playing field for small businesses that seek to get involved in the advanced nuclear industry.” said Rep. Donalds. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) current application review process and the fees associated with agency engagement are the epitome of burdensome government barriers that disincentivize small business participation and nuclear innovation. This bill will assist small businesses by providing them with the option to defer a portion of their accumulated NRC fees until after their application review process concludes. I’m thankful for my colleagues for supporting this important piece of legislation.”
“We applaud this effort to lower the barriers for small businesses to engage with NRC in licensing activities. We believe it will accelerate the rollout of advanced nuclear technologies to address our fundamental energy and environmental challenges.” Craig Piercy, Executive Director / CEO, American Nuclear Society
“Nuclear power is by far the most challenging field to enter as a startup due to the high cost of developing a first-of-a-kind design as well as the expensive licensing structure. Congressman Donalds has once again shown that he is a policy innovator for the industry by creating The Nuclear Assistance for America’s Small Businesses Act, which will ease the burden of regulatory costs for small businesses and startups in nuclear power. Decreasing upfront licensing costs will also allow startups to engage with the NRC earlier in the design process, which will expedite bringing new designs to market. These benefits will ultimately help more businesses enter the nuclear industry, which will bring more innovation and competition to advanced nuclear development.” ~Doug Bernauer, Radiant CEO
“Generation Atomic supports the Nuclear Assistance for America's Small Businesses Act. This common sense amendment to the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) helps address one of the largest barriers to innovation in the nuclear sector-- the costly process to get new technology evaluated and approved through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We commend Rep. Donalds and his staff for taking steps to address this important issue so we can keep pushing towards a future of affordable and reliable clean energy abundance.” Eric Meyer, Executive Director, Generation Atomic
Original cosponsors include: Representatives Fleischmann, Biggs, Budd, Carter (GA), Mace, Latta, Bishop, Rose, Salazar, Roy, and Weber.
Click HERE to read the bill in its entirety.
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