Nuclear Innovation Act

Nuclear Innovation Act

This bill directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to carry out a program for enhancing the U.S. capability to develop new reactor technologies through high-performance computation modeling and simulation techniques. Such program shall coordinate with relevant federal agencies through the National Strategic Computing Initiative while taking into account specified objectives.

DOE shall also carry out a program to:

• enable the testing and demonstration of reactor concepts proposed and funded by the private sector, and
• leverage the technical expertise of relevant federal agencies and national laboratories to minimize the time required to enable construction and operation of privately funded experimental reactors at national laboratories or other DOE-owned sites.

These reactors shall operate to:

• enable physical validation of novel reactor concepts;
• resolve technical uncertainty and increase practical knowledge relevant to safety, resilience, security, and functionality of first-of-a-kind reactor concepts; and
• generate research and development to improve nascent technologies.