News Type: Regulatory News

November 21, 2024 – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued construction permits for the Hermes 2 test reactor facility to Kairos Power LLC on November 21, 2024, sixteen months after receiving the construction permit application from Kairos (July 2023).

September 16, 2024 – The NRC has issued a Construction Permit to Abilene Christian University (ACU) to build its Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility on the university’s campus in Abilene, Texas. It marks the first research reactor project approved by the NRC in a number of decades. The MSRR, which will not generate electricity, will use molten salt coolant with fuel dissolved in the salt.

July 19, 2024 – The NRC issued a safety evaluation (SE) documenting the completion of its staff’s review of the construction permit application submitted by Kairos Power LLC (Kairos) on July 14, 2023. The application is for the Hermes 2 test reactor facility, which is proposed to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will support development of Kairos’s fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology.

May 21, 2024 – The NRC formally accepted a construction permit application submitted by TerraPower, LLC , on behalf of US SFR Owner, LLC (USO), a wholly owned subsidiary of TerraPower, for the commercial Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 (Kemmerer Unit 1) to be located in Lincoln County, Wyoming.

March 24, 2024 – The NRC issued new guidance documents to facilitate the licensing process for non-light water reactor designs. This ARCAP guidance was developed to support near-term advanced reactor applicants under 10 CFR Part 50 and Part 52, and also support the 10 CFR Part 53 rulemaking effort. It reflects a technology-inclusive, risk-informed and performance-based structure for NRC license applications. The ARCAP encompassed the industry-led Technology-Inclusive Content of Application Project (TI-CAP) and is built on the outcome of the Licensing Modernization Project.

March 12, 2024 – The NRC expanded its previous international cooperation agreement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to now also include the United Kingdom Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR).  This Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) is intended to result in increased collaboration on the technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies. Under the terms of this MOC, CNSC, ONR, and U.S. NRC may take each others’ experiences, regulatory information and results into account when conducting technology assessments for the purposes of feedback to vendors or making recommendations for regulatory decisions. 

March 4, 2024 – In response to prior Commission direction, the NRC staff developed draft proposed rule 10 CFR Part 53, “Risk-Informed, Technology-Inclusive Regulatory Framework for Commercial Nuclear Plants,” (Part 53). The draft proposed rule offers a voluntary, performance-based alternative regulatory framework for licensing future commercial nuclear plants.

February 12, 2024 – NEI submitted a letter to the NRC providing an update to industry’s regulatory priorities that are intended to lead to a more modern and efficient regulatory framework for new and advanced reactors.

December 18, 2023 – The NRC has issued the final rule regarding emergency preparedness. The rule and related NRC guidance were effective on December 18, 2023 and address how state-of-the-art facility designs and safety research apply to future operation of small modular reactors and other new technologies.