[inaudible] [inaudible] speemac, a look at Nuclear Energy innovation, safety, and safety, and modernization proposals. Then agriculture secretary, tom bill sack is part of a discussion on hunger and Food Assistance program. Later, conversation with marilyn senator ben cardin. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up on friday morning jeff adelstein, politics reporter for the new orleans advocate will join us by phone to discuss the debate over removal of confederate monuments in new orleans. The mayor has backed the City Councils effort to remove number of monuments on public land. However, the city remains divided on the issue. Hannah smith, senior counsel will be on to talk about the recently argued case. The case deals with religious liberty and the Affordable Care act contraceptive mandate. Chris, author of the book of grunge in government, lets fix a broken democracy joins us for a discussion. Be sure to watch washingtons cspans washington journal. Up next, senate panel looks at Nuclear Energy regulation and innovation proposals. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is working on legislation to try to modernize the Nuclear Regulatory commission. This subcommittee and clean air and Nuclear Energy is chaired by senator Shelley Moore capital of west virginia. [inaudible] i would like to welcome all of our witnesses today. A particular welcome to the alumnus of the committee, mr. Merrifield to tell me he began here 1986, i think. I appreciate you returning. As each witness knows you have five minutes for an oral statement and that we will take questions. We are here today to examine and exciting topic and that is advanced Nuclear Reactors. While Nuclear Issues are somewhat new to me, i am learning these technologies have the potential to make Great Strides in advancing Nuclear Technology. This is a topic that many of us are very interested in because Nuclear Energy is an essential component for all the above energy policy. Our Current Nuclear plants provide clean, safe, reliable, and Affordable Energy to power our economy while providing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in benefits to local communities. They made valuable contributions to our Energy Security for years, we look for to what comes next. Advanced reactors have the potential to be cleaner, safer, more secure. One purpose of this hearing is to better understand the technologies and the barriers to their development. The other purpose of the hearing is to examine s2795, the Nuclear Energy modernization act which was introduced last week. S2975 directs to develop a Regulatory Framework in which license applications for a variety of technologies can be review. In keeping with with the nrcs safety and Security Mission. The nrc existing regulations are designed around one technology. Theyre not wellsuited for the innovations underway. This is an issue our committee needs to address and im glad my colleagues have come forward with a solution. Efficient and timely decisionmaking at the nrc is crucial for our existing plans and bridging technology. The bill modernizes the underseas budget and Fee Structure to ensure funds are available to complete reviews. The existing Industry Needs to me remain competitive and will allow emerging technologies to grow. The nrc safety and Security Mission is a vital one. Must be accomplished efficiently and with physical discipline. According to the nrcs principle of good regulation, the regulation, the american taxpayer, the right pane customer and licensee are all entitled to the best possible management at administration predatory activity. This bill aligns with the principal and i think my calyx for the hard work and bipartisanship to advance Innovative New energy technologies. These are technologies where our nation should be lead the way. Not just for our Energy Security but also in the interest of our national security. Only by leading we hope to advance our nonproliferation goals. With that im anxious to hear senators remarks and those of our witness. Thank you madam chairman. Im glad to be your wing man. Want to welcome to each of you, nice nice to see one of you again for many years now. And also to have a chance to welcome others back into and meet some of you for the first time. When our country began exploring Nuclear Power more than six years ago, i dont how people really had really had no idea, for this technology could be to the future of our Nations Energy supply. s energy supply. Serious incidents in places like chernobyl and 3mile island and fukushima has caused a number of people, both at home and around the world to question the liability of Nuclear Power. I think support support for this clean, Reliable Technology has begun to grow again in recent years. Given that developing, congress has an Important Role to play in ensuring that our nation invest wisely in nuclear while at the same time maintaining our focus on safety. Many americans may be unaware that Nuclear Technology was invented in the United States. For a number of years our nation led the world in Nuclear Manufacturing and construction and production. Jobs in the economic benefit of the socalled state here at home, for the most part and unfortunate this is no longer the case. Many Nuclear Components are now only available from our competitors including the french, south koreans, japanese, chinese. While the united. While the United States continue to have more Nuclear Power plants in any country, china in particular are gaining quickly. At the same time our countrys Nuclear Reactors are getting older and need to be replaced in years to come. Some people believe our Nations NuclearSuccess Story may be winding down, but i believe like a distance runner, Nuclear Power power in america is just getting it second went. Albert einstein used to say with adversity arise opportunity and he was right then and he is right today. While this industry has faced adversity in the recent years, it appears to be a fair amount of opportunity out of it now. If we are smart well seize the day and begin to replace our aging Nuclear Reactors with new ones in the years ahead that are safer, produce less and less expensive to build and operate. If we are smart about it i for seen opportunity to develop and build the next generation of Nuclear Reactors on american soil. I for see a chance at some of our close manufacture plans will reopen, construction clues will be called back to work and colleges will face it demand from industry. In short i seen opportunity for the United States once again lead the world in Nuclear Technology. Todays hearing is about how we seize the opportunity. Decisions we make today will impact what types of Nuclear Reactors will be operating in this country ten, 20, even 50 years from now. Unfortunately there has been Good Progress to deploy Nuclear Technology. Several years ago the nrc of proof construction to build for new reactors in georgia and South Carolina that were incorporate some of the most safety technology. Construction of these new reactors is creating thousands of new jobs for those economists in those states. The government increasingly likely will have small moderate reactors will become a reality in this nation. The first reactors are expected to become operational in the next decade. This is encouraging start but i know we can and need to do better. Ive also heard from businesses who believe that we can do better. Over 50 companies are investing in the next generation of Nuclear Technologies. Today will hear directly from a company that company that is making some of those investments. As these Companies Make advances in technology we need to make sure that our Regulatory Framework can keep pace. The nrc has considered the worlds Gold Standard of regulatory agencies, however science and Technology Evolve so much with the nrc. In closing, i believe that government in this country has a number of roles to play, im sure you agree, among them uses important in creating job creation and job preservation. That includes making sure that we have affordable, Dependable Energy and were producing it safely in this country. In ways that diminish the threat of Climate Change rather than increase it. Advances in Nuclear Energy can help us attain that environment and provide more promising future for our nation, for its people and for our planet. I hope you learn today about the rules of the nrc and other agency needs to play. And and that needs to be realized. Thank you. With that the chairman has requested. I put my statement in the record,. Without objection. Again, i would like to thank the the witnesses and welcome you to give a fiveminute statement, your full testimony has been cemented for the record. Then well go through a round of questioning. Senator booker i understand you like to make a comment about the bill in advance of the testimony. Im very grateful chairman for this opportunity and thank you for giving me a chance to say a few words. Im senator with no name today, want you to recognize that. Or senator whose name shall not be mentioned. Again, thank you and i wanted think senators in half, white house, and rakel for their partnership on this really important bill. American leadership on Nuclear Energy is absolutely critical, the historic Paris Agreement set Ambitious Goals to go above preindustrial levels. Scientists agree that even if all countries meet their commitments under this pack we are not on track to meet the ambitious targets, not even close. Meeting the rising Global Demand will simultaneously slamming admissions presents a very difficult challenge for this generation. Think about this. By 2050 meeting the paris targets would require us to cut emissions by 70 while producing 70 more electricity. Thats an incredibly difficult thing to do. To produce 70 more electricity than we do today what the same time emitting 70 less carbon. Im a big believer in Energy Efficiency and a believer in Renewable Energy. I thought with other senators to expand the tax credit for renewables. In order to avert the worst effects of Climate Change we do not see any way around the idea that we must substantially increase our Nuclear Energy capacity i am now back to normal. We have no choice but to increase nuclear capacity. Nuclear Nuclear Energy which provides a critical baseload power currently comprises more than 60 of our nations free Electricity Generation. Right now in the United States we have five new reactors under construction. The first new commercial units in 30 years, with several existing reactors have already been shut down prematurely. Many more are at risk. We need to make sure that we see dozens of more privatesector companies are beginning to move into this area and help to produce an environment where there are making their billion dollars of investment. We desperately need sound, longterm Government Policies that will support our existing fleet and also support a sustained commitment by the private sector to advance Nuclear Reactors that can be commercialized in the future. This bill, s2795 takes several positive, bipartisan steps in that direction. First, the bill would direct nrc to develop new state licensing processes for advanced Nuclear Reactors. Second, the bill over longer terms were put in place new technology, inclusive Regulatory Framework that would make licensing of advanced nuclear more efficient, flexible and predictable while maintaining safety and Security Missions. There, the bill would authorize a new costsharing Grant Program that the department of energy that would help the first advanced reactive project and move forward to pay for some of the licensing costs and nrc. This would place a cap on the fees that existing reactors paid to the nrc, while this cap may never be hit, putting it in place will provide certainty and protection for existing fleet. This is a critical challenge that we have in our nation right now. Making sure we are meeting our energy needs, dealing with the reality of Climate Change, and empowering business and innovation. Im very happy to have and working in a bipartisan fashion in what is a solid bill helping us to take a step forward. Thank you german for letting me make an introduction to the bill. Just attends second response. Let me show you that while we are just waiting the bill, it has nothing to do with global warming. In this disaster that youll see tomorrow on earth day in new york is an embarrassment and the president is not even going up for. My motivation on this is, when i say all all of the above, to save this country, all Energy Includes nuclear. Thank you. Another bill sponsored will make an introduction to the bill. Thank you madame chairman i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. We have introduced legislation to ensure that the nrc will be ready to license advanced reactor design as companies are ready to commercialize them. We have undertaken a deep dive into under workings of the commission. Through hearings and discussions with officials and stakeholders, we have developed a plan that will help modernize the commission and enable it to stay abreast of reactive design in the Nuclear Industry. Our bill, the nuclear act or luna, increases transparency and accountability in the nrcs a budget through modernizing reforms that are based on years of ep w oversight efforts. The measure also wants to develop a technology Regulatory Framework enabling the commission to review a diverse set of advanced reactor technologies. The improvements mean a great deal of transparency and accountability to the nrc. We want the commission to make changes that allow steak holders of various backgrounds and motivations to look at the commissions actions and understand what it is doing. In particular, the agency must be more transparent and its a budgeting process. This is especially true regarding the commission overhead costs. When the inner sea talks about overhead costs, it refers to activities that may be categorized as Corporate Support, office support, and mission indirect. At this point, our bill only captures one portion of these overhead costs. The Corporate Support costs because that is the only portion of the overhead costs that we can get the nrc to clearly label and fine. The inner sea must endeavor to make its budgeting information more transparent and assessable. Some amount of overhead is necessary for all organizations. Nonetheless, the inner sea needs to be able to clearly account for its overhead costs and for the way it uses fees for licenses to support these costs. Clear and transport budget processes are required for effective oversight. This is something i look forward to working with my fellow colleagues on both in this bill and beyond. Finally, its imperative the licensing process for advance reactors is transparent. It needs to take into account past lessons learned. Luna enables the undersea to create a technology inclusive Regulatory Framework. By creating a technology Inclusive Framework where enabling the undersea to review and license any advanced reactor design that it considers to be safe and secure. We are not forcing the