Nuclear Regulatory Reform Beyond the Permitting Bill

Ashley Finan Center on Global Energy Policy November 2, 2026

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA) could facilitate nuclear energy development through federal permitting reform, but nuclear-specific regulatory challenges involving licensing procedures, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) capacity, and oversight would remain.

Six bills advanced unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September 2026 seek to address these challenges through reforms to fuel-cycle licensing, mandatory hearings, independent technical review, NRC staffing, and transparency.

The effectiveness and durability of these reforms will depend on implementation that improves efficiency while preserving safety oversight and public confidence.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA) could facilitate nuclear development by streamlining federal environmental reviews and providing greater certainty for permitted projects. But broad permitting reform alone may leave important nuclear-specific regulatory issues unresolved, including procedural requirements for Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing, the agency’s capacity to conduct timely reviews, the predictability of licensing requirements for developers, and the durability of safety oversight and public accountability across administrations.

Six nuclear bills advanced unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on September 2, 2026, offer a window into additional reforms under consideration. Developed on a separate legislative track and advanced before BAAJA’s introduction, the bills address fuel-cycle licensing, the sequencing of construction and licensing, mandatory hearings, independent technical advice, senior NRC compensation, and transparency around Department of Energy (DOE) authorizations. Together, they illustrate the potential for nuclear-specific legislation to complement broader permitting reform by reducing regulatory delays and uncertainty while maintaining effective oversight, but also the importance of getting the details right to realize these benefits.

H.R. 3978 Nuclear REFUEL Act

This Act would amend the Atomic Energy Act’s definition of a “production facility” to exclude spent-fuel reprocessing equipment that does not isolate plutonium. This change would allow qualifying facilities to avoid associated statutory mandates that can cause delay, including a licensing hearing even when no party requests one, formal technical specifications, and the prescribed inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria associated with a combined license. It would also afford the NRC greater discretion to determine appropriate requirements through its regulations and license conditions…………………………………

The bill and the proposed rule thus address different aspects of reprocessing licensing: the bill would remove certain statutory requirements for qualifying facilities, while the NRC’s rulemaking would establish a regulatory framework for licensing reprocessing facilities more broadly. The NRC would still need to address technology-specific hazards, and policy questions surrounding reprocessing economics, proliferation concerns, and disposal of the resulting waste would remain.

H.R. 9612 American Enrichment Deployment Act

This Act would permit uranium enrichment facilities to begin construction before receiving an NRC license,……………………………………………………….

H.R. 5549 Efficient Nuclear Licensing Hearings Act

This Act builds on earlier efforts to streamline the hearings process, including the NRC’s approval of simplified mandatory-hearing procedures in 2024………………………….

H.R. 9613 Nuclear Advisory Committee Reform Act

This Act would allow the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) to decline to review an application if it determines the application contains no unique, novel, or noteworthy issues…………………………………………………..

H.R. 9614 NRC Staff Pay Alignment Act

This Act builds on workforce and compensation authorities established by the bipartisan ADVANCE Act of 2024. The bill would authorize the NRC chair to set basic pay for career senior executives at up to 110 percent of the maximum Senior Executive Service rate within the Commission. This expanded compensation flexibility could help the NRC recruit and retain experienced senior personnel without requiring an across-the-board increase, sustaining technical expertise and consistent implementation across administrations.

H.R. 9084 Department of Energy Nuclear Transparency Act……………………

The committee’s proposals suggest that nuclear-specific reforms can complement broad permitting legislation by bringing procedural efficiency, regulatory capacity, and accountability together. Significant negotiation and adjustments went into the bipartisan agreement on these six bills. For example, Representative Pallone identified adoption of amendments to the enrichment and ACRS amendments as a condition of his support for the set of six bills. He also identified transparency as a condition of his support for nuclear legislation. But bipartisan agreement is only a starting point: each reform’s practical value will depend on its design and implementation, while its durability may depend on whether agencies exercise new authorities consistently and stakeholders begin making long-term commitments on that basis. Preserving the safeguards that helped secure agreement may also help sustain that support. https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/nuclear-regulatory-reform-beyond-the-permitting-bill/