The service wins Action Network holds a discussion at 1 p. M. Eastern here at cspan3. Senator ted cruz campaigns in indiana today. Well have live coverage of a rally hes holding at the Johnson County fair grounds in indianapolis. That starts at 6 30 p. M. On cspan. Indiana holds its president ial primary on may 3rd. Cspans road to the white house coverage continues later today as Ohio Governor john kasich campaigns in the washington, d. C. Suburb of rockville, maryland ahead of the primary. Live rof kaj starts at 2 00 eastern time on cspan and the campaigns for governor kasich and senator ted cruz announced last week theyre teaming up to try to deny donald trump to try to deny the necessary delegates for the nomination. Madam secretary, woo proudly give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the United States. Tonight the safety and security of the u. S. Electric grid, lights out, a cyber attack, a nation unprepared, surviving the aftermath examines the potential for Cyber Attacks on the u. S. Electric grid, how vulnerable the sus to attacks and the degrees to which Government Agencies and electric companies are are equipped to deal with an attack. There was a bill passed last fall in the senate after years of wrangling that now has private industry willing to pass on information to the government. But only after they have sanitized it. Watch the correctors tonight on 8 p. M. Eastern. The Senate Environment and subcommittee held a meeting on Nuclear Energy regulation. This is two hours. Well, id like to welcome all of our Witnesses Today and particular welcome to alumnus of the economy, mr. Merryfield, who told me he began here in 1986 i think. As each witness knows, you have five minutes for an oral statement and then were going to take questions. Were here today to i think examine an exciting topic and thats advanced Nuclear Reactors. Id like to thank senator carper because i know he has a great interest in this. While Nuclear Issues are somewhat new to me, im learning these technologies have the potential to make great describe in advancing nuclear tops. Theyve made valuable contributions to our Energy Security for years and we look forward to what comes next. Advanced reactors have the potential to be cleaner, safer and more secure. So one purpose for this hearing is to better understand these technologies and the barrier to the development. The other purpose is to examine the Nuclear Modernization act, which was introduced last week. S 2975 directs the nrc to develop a Regulatory Framework under which licensed applications for a variety of technologies can be reviewed. In keeping with the nrcs safety and Security Mission. Existing regulations were designed around one technology and are not well suited for the innovations under way. This is clearly an issue our committee needs to address and im glad my colleagues have come forward with a solution. Efficient and timely Decision Making at the nrc is crucial for existing plants and emerging technologies. The bill modernizes the nrc budget and Fee Structures, the existing Industry Needs to remain economically competitive and allow emerging technologies to grow. It must be accomplished efficiently and with fiscal discipline. According to the nrcs principles of good regulation, the american taxpayer, the rate paying customer and licensees are all entitled to the best possible management and administration of regulatory activities. This bill aligns with this principle and i thank my colleagues for their hard work and bipartisanship to advantage Innovative Energy technologies. Only by leading can we hope to advance our nonproliferation goals. With that im anxious to hear senator carpers remarks and those of our witness. Senator carper. Thank you, madam chairman. Thanks for letting me be your wing man. Its good to be here with all our colleague, particular will with senator inhofe, who has a lot of expertise in these issues. Its nice to see one of you again and to have the chance to welcome others back and meet others for the first time. When our Country First began exploring Nuclear Power, i think it was 60 years ago, i dont know that people had any idea of how important this could be. Serious incidence at chernobyl caused many around the world to question this. Congress has an Important Role to play in ensuring our nation insists wising in nuclear while maintaining our focus on safety. Many americans may be unaware Nuclear Technology was invented in the United States. The jobs and the economic benefit of this growth stayed here at home for the most part. And unfortunately this is no longer the case. Many Nuclear Components are now only available from our International Economic competitors, include the french, south koreans, japanese, now the chinese. While the United States continues to have more Nuclear Power plants than any other country, other nations, china in particular, are gaining quickly. At the same time our countrys Nuclear Reactors are getting older and many will need to be replaced in the years to come. Some believe our nuclears Success Story will be winding down but i believe like a distance runner, Nuclear Power in america is just getting its second wind. Albert einstein used to say with adversity lies opportunity. If were smart, well seize the day and begin to replace our aging Nuclear Reactors with new ones in the years ahead that are safer. If were smart about it, i foresee an opportunity to develop and build the next generation of Nuclear Reactors on american soil. I foresee a chance to at some of our closed manufacturing plants reopen, construction crews will be called back to work and colleges will face a renewed demand from industry from skilled nuclear technicians. I foresee an opportunity for the United States to once again lead the world in Nuclear Technology. Todays hearing is about how we seize this opportunity. Decisions we make today will impact what types of Nuclear Reactors well be operating in this country, 10, 20, even 50 years from now. Fortunately theres been Good Progress of late and were beginning to deploy new Nuclear Technology. Several years ago the nrc approved construction to build four new reactors in georgia and south carolina. Construction is creating thousands of new jobs for those economies in those states. Its becoming increasingly lightly that small modular reactors will become a reality in this nation with the first reactors expected to become operational within the next decade. This is an encouraging start but i know we can and need to do better. Ive also heard from u. S. Businesses who believe we can do better. Over 50 companies are investing in next generations nuclear technologies. Today were going to hear from a company who is making investments in those advancements. We need to make sure our Regulatory Framework can keep pace. The nrc is considered the worlds Gold Standard of Nuclear Regulatory agencies. In closing, i believe that government in this country has a number of roles to play, im sure you agree. Among them, though, few are as important as helping to create a nurturing environment for job creation and job pregser vags, including making sure we have Affordable Energy and diminish the threat of Climate Change rather than increase it. It can provide a more promising future four our nation, for its people and for our planet. I hope well learn about the roles that the nrc needs to play if that promising future is to be realized. Thank you. With that the chairman has requested its just that i put my statement in the record. Thank you. Without objection. So ordered. Again, id like to thank the witnesses and welcome you. You can give a fiveminute statement. Your full testimony has been submitted for the record and then well go through a round of questioning. Senator booker, i understand youd 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 the senator with no name today, i want you to recognize that or the senator whose name shall not be mentioned. But, again, thank you chair capito. I seem to be doing this often but thanks senators inhofe and crapo on this bill. There are ambitious targets. Scientists agree that even if all countries meet their commitments under there pac, were not on track to meet these ambitious targets, not even close. It prevent sents a very difficu target. It would require us to cut emissions up to 70 while producing 70 more electricity. Thats an incredibly difficult thing to do, to produce 70 more electricity than we do today, while at the same time emitting 70 less carbon. Im a big believer in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. I fought to expand the tax credits last year for renewables. But in order to avert the worst effects of Climate Change, we do not see any way around the idea we must increase our Nuclear Energy capacity in the coming decades. We have no choice but to increase nuclear capacity. Nuclear energy currently comprises more than 60 of our nations free electricity carbon free Electricity Generation and right now in the United States we have five new reactors under construction. The first new commercial units in 30 years but certainly existing reactors have been shut down prematurely and many more are at risk. We need to make sure we see dozens of more private Sector Companies beginning to move into this area and help to produce the environment where theyre making their billion dollars of investment. We desperately need long, sound Government Policies to support our existing fleet and advance Nuclear Reactors that can be commercialized in the future. This bill s2795 takes several positive bipartisan steps in that direction. First, a bill would direct nrc to direct new staged licensing processes for Nuclear Reactors. The bill would put in place new technology, inclusive Regulatory Framework and make licensing of advanced nuclear more efficient, flexible third, the bill would authorize a new cost sharing Grant Program at the department of energy that would help the first advanced reactor projects that moved forward to pay for some of the licensing costs at nrc. This bill would place a cap on the annual feels that existing Nuclear Reactors pay to the nrc, while this cap may never be hit, putting it in place will provide certainty and protection for existing fleets. This is a critical challenge we have in our nation right now, making sure were meeting our energy needs, dealing with the reality of Climate Change. Thank you, chairman, for providing me this opportunity and making an introduction to the bill. I look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses. Let me ensure you while we enjoy this bill and are cosponsors the bill, it has nothing to do with Global Warming and this disaster tomorrow and the president isnt even going up on it. Senator crapo would like to make a comment. Senator booker and i have introduced legislation. We have undertaken a deep dive into the inner workings of the commission. Through hearings and discussions with officials and stake holders, we have developed a plan that will help modernize the commission and enable it to stay abreast of reactor design advancements in the Nuclear Industry. Our bill, the Nuclear Industry administration and moderation act or nema, increases transparency through modern sizing reforms that are based on years of ecw oversight efforts. The measure directs the agency to develop a technology inclusive Regulatory Framework to enable the commission. Nemas improvements bring a great deal of transparency and accountability to the nrc. We want the commission to make changes that allow stake holders of various backgrounds and moat vagtss to look at the commissions actions and understand what its doing. In particular the agency must be more transparent in its budgeting and fee process. This is especially true regarding the commission overhead costs. When the nrc 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 define. The nrc must endeavor to make its budgeting information more transparent and accessible. Some amount of overhead is necessary for all organizations. Nonetheless, the nrc needs to be able to clearly account for its overhead cost and for the way it uses fees from licenses to support these costs. Clear and transparent budget processes are required for effective oversight. This is something i look forward to working with my fellow colleagues on both on this bill and beyond. Finally, it imperative that the licensing process for advanced reactors is transparent and tabs into account past lessons learned. Nem oa enables the nrc to creata technology framework, we can review any reactor design that it considers safe and secure. We arent forcing the nrc to pick winners or losers on one time of reactor or design. Nema improves the communication between various stake holder groups and the agency. Enabling better transparency, accountability and communication are critical to ensuring the nrc remains the worlds preeminent safety and security regulator. Such improvements also provide more stability and predictability in the industry and among stake holder groups will increase its ability to perform its Safety Mission and share information with all stakes holder groups. Thank you very much, madam chairman. Wed like to go to the witnesses. I understand the original sponsor would like to, senator white house, has some comments. Thank you very much, chairman. Let me first thank chairman inhofe and senator crepo and senator booker for the work we have done together to try to streamline this process. The sense that i have and that brought me to this conversation is that the approval process is an Obstacle Course for a Technical Technology but not suited for those that arent that technology. The relevancy is two plus two equals cheese. It just doesnt fit or make sense at all. We do have new technologies that are emerging. They have enormous promise for a carboncon strained world. We have done in america a lot of the leadership design for them, but if we cant get them through a process to where theyre actually creating electrons, then we havent done ourselves any good. So i look forward to pursuing this. I would add two brief points one is that it should remain, i think, a very high priority goal of this committee and this process to continue to point towards ways to use reuse, i should say, spent nuclear fuel. Some of these technologies hold out at least the promise of taking the enormous stockpile of what is now Dangerous Nuclear waste for which we have no means of disposal and which will be very expensive to deal with and repurpose that into what a person told me trillions dollars of free power. That needs to be a significant subordinate role as we go into this process. I think it is a tragedy we are losing some of our Nuclear Facilities to an economic problem that there is no payment for their carbonfree power. If a Nuclear Plant is not safe, then im the first person to want to shut it down yesterday, but if the only reason that its being shut down is because it cant compete kmkically with a natural gas plant and the only reason it cant compete with a natural gas plant is because it gets no benefit throughout the corporate world and our government, we recognize there is value to being carbon free, we are artificially damaging an industry that should be doing better. And we need to figure out a way to make sure that there is, in fact, a payment a payment to the carbonfree value and the electrons they produce. With at that i close my comments and than