Dear Chairs Kaptur and Feinstein and Ranking Members Simpson and Kennedy: As you prepare to finalize the FY2022 Energy and Water Appropriations bill and begin work on the FY2023 bill, we encourage you to include robust funding for the Department of Energy’s advanced nuclear energy programs. In particular, we urge you to include the highest possible funding levels for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), which seeks to demonstrate multiple next generation nuclear reactor designs, and the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability Program, which would provide the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) required by most of these designs.
Advanced reactors, which include new light water and non-light water reactor technologies, offer a wide range of new designs and features, including innovative coolants and fuels that allow for even lower-risk and higher-efficiency operation; passive safety features that can make reactors walk-away safe; and smaller sizes that reduce costs and increase flexibility. Reliable and dispatchable electricity from advanced reactors can provide a necessary complement to clean but variable power from wind and solar.