Unit 3 at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia, one of the newest reactors in the U.S. But the country’s nuclear fleet is aging, prompting Congress to pass the ADVANCE Act to help promote development of new nuclear technology. Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much on Capitol Hill these days, but they just passed bipartisan legislation toWhat’s called the ADVANCE Act aims to make it easier and faster to build new reactors across the country.
“Nuclear energy is essential to a clean, resilient and reliable electric grid and represents the largest source of zero-carbon electricity in the United States,” Despite a polarized political environment, the ADVANCE Act worked its way through Congress with support from Democrats attracted to the fact that nuclear plants do not emit greenhouse gases and Republicans who view nuclear as a reliable provider of baseload power.
But critics of nuclear power said the ADVANCE Act protects the financial health of the industry and its investors more than the public., “this is not about making the reactor licensing process more efficient, but about weakening safety and security oversight across the board, a long-standing industry goal.”