Take Action! Tell your Senators to STOP S.1111: The ADVANCE Act of 2023 

Take a stand against a new bill that keeps US taxpayers on the hook for the full costs of nuclear disasters and promotes nuclear energy worldwide. S. 1111, the ADVANCE Act of 2023, is a comprehensive pro-nuclear bill that includes a host of provisions propping up the nuclear industry, including renewing the Price-Anderson Act.

The most dangerous aspect of the bill is the renewal of the Price-Anderson Act, a 1957 law which caps the industry’s liability for nuclear disasters at only $13 billion. The Price-Anderson Act makes US taxpayers liable for the full costs of nuclear disasters – which could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars – and exempts the insurance industry from covering homeowners and businesses for damages from those disasters.

The nuclear industry claims that nuclear energy has an impeccable safety record and that the new “advanced” reactors under development are “inherently safe” and disaster-proof. If that’s true, they shouldn’t need taxpayers to continue being their insurance company.

The provisions included in S. 1111 would deepen the radioactive waste crisis and waste federal dollars on nuclear development, Let your Senators know that S. 1111 is bad news for US taxpayers and further entrenches the status quo of dirty, dangerous, and expensive nuclear power in the country and abroad.

Tell your U.S. Senators to Protect Taxpayers from the High Costs of Nuclear Power and STOP S.1111

Background

S.1111 - The ADVANCE Act of 2023

What’s in the bill? 

1. S. 1111 renews the Price-Anderson Act
   • S.1111 includes a 20-year extension of the Price-Anderson Act, a 1957 law which caps the industry’s liability for nuclear disasters at only $13 billion. Instead, the Price-Anderson Act makes US taxpayers liable for the full costs of nuclear disasters – which could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars – and exempts the insurance industry from covering homeowners and businesses for damages from those disasters. The nuclear industry claims it has the greatest safety record and that the new reactors it still wants Price-Anderson to cover are “inherently safe” and disaster-proof. If that’s true, they shouldn’t need taxpayers to continue being their insurance company.
2. S. 1111 promotes nuclear reactor exports. It assigns the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to coordinate:
   • Reactor import and export licensing
   • Regulatory assistance and development to OECD nations and export countries
   • Coordinate with the Department of Energy (DOE), corporations, and universities to train foreign workers
   • Establish an International Nuclear Reactor Export and Innovation Branch, to be funded by taxpayers, not the corporations that would profit from exporting reactors
3.  S. 1111 supports domestic nuclear fuel infrastructure expansion and development. 
   • S. 1111 allows for NRC to disapprove imports of nuclear fuel from Russia and China, and directs NRC to assess its readiness to authorize new and expanded nuclear fuel infrastructure in the US.
4.  S.1111 incorporates a number of problematic provisions to promote nuclear energy:
   • Nuclear reactor exports: It would direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish an office to approve exports and to assist countries in training workers and developing regulations; and it would direct the Energy and Commerce departments to facilitate reactor exports.
   • Building reactors on coal plant sites: the bill provides $25 million over 5 years for development of reactors in the Appalachia region. 
   • Provides grants to cover the licensing costs of several “first-of-a-type” reactor designs.
   • Creates regulations to promote construction of reactors on “brownfield” sites that are polluted with toxic waste. 
   • Allowing the use of lower-quality parts and materials in constructing nuclear reactors.
   • Requiring NRC and DOE to collaborate on regulating and approving new types of fuel for nuclear reactors.
5. S.1111 would end national security protections against foreign ownership of nuclear power plants. It would authorize G7 nations and South Korea to own controlling interests in US reactors, and it would create a new federal department to promote exports of nuclear reactors to other countries.
6. Nominal Support for Uranium Mine Cleanups: S.1111 would authorize $100 million for reclaiming and remediating abandoned uranium mines. Funding is desperately needed, but $100 million is a pittance compared to what is needed to clean up the 15,000+ abandoned uranium mines.
7. It authorizes NRC to offer signing bonuses to new employees in a range of specialized technical fields, while cutting the NRC’s overhead budget and limiting the fees NRC charges to companies that submit license applications. Such fees ensure that US taxpayer dollars are not wasted reviewing incomplete, unviable applications for nuclear reactors.