Up & Atom

KEY TRENDS IN LAW AND POLICY REGARDING
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND MATERIALS
Congress recently passed legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium products into the United States. The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act (HR 1042) (the Act) was approved by the House of Representatives on December 11, 2023, and the Senate on April 30, 2024. President Biden plans to sign the bill, and the ban would go into effect 90 days later.
The House Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security held a hearing on April 10, 2024 to examine federal responsibility for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), along with opportunities for mitigating disposal challenges—such as through reprocessing and recycling fuel—to advance nuclear energy for the nation.

In this Law360 article, Ryan Lighty discusses the US Congress’s efforts to incentivize coal-to-nuclear transitions. With the recently passed Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, Congress authorized a new program to foster the deployment of next-generation nuclear facilities at depowered coal sites.