Nuclear energy policy of the United States

The nuclear energy policy of the United States began in 1954 and continued with the ongoing building of nuclear power plants, the enactment of multiple pieces of legislation such as the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, and the implementation of countless policies which have guided the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy in the regulation and growth of nuclear energy companies. This includes, but is not limited to, regulations of nuclear facilities, waste storage, decommissioning of weapons-grade materials, uranium mining, and funding for nuclear companies, along with an increase in power plant building. Both legislation and bureaucratic regulations of nuclear energy in the United States have been shaped by scientific research, private industries' wishes, and public opinion, which has shifted over time and as a result of different nuclear disasters. In the United States, there have been a number of legislative actions and policies implemented on a federal and state level to both regulate atomic energy and promote its expansion. The growth of nuclear power in the US ended in the 1980s, however, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed in 2005 which aimed to jump-start the nuclear industry through financial loan-guarantees for expansion and re-outfitting of nuclear plants. The success of this legislation is still undetermined since all 17 companies that applied for funding are still in the planning phases on their 26 proposed building applications. Some of the proposed sites have even scrapped their building plans, and some think the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster will further dampen the success of the expansion of nuclear energy in the United States. In 2008, the Energy Information Administration projected almost 17 gigawatts of new nuclear power reactors by 2030, but in its 2011 projections, it "scaled back the 2030 projection to just five". Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, public support for building nuclear power plants in the U.S. dropped to 43%, slightly lower than it was immediately after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, according to a CBS News poll. A survey conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors. A survey sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute, conducted in September 2011, found that "62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed". In 2022, nuclear energy accounted for 18% of all energy generation in the United States, this was an essential contribution to USA's surpassing a record of 40% energy generation coming from carbon-free sources. While nuclear energy remains a polarizing issue amongst Americans, two-thirds of US states and the US Department of Energy plan to incorporate nuclear energy in their green energy goals.

History of the Nuclear energy policy of the United States Almost a year after World War II ended, Congress established the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. Reflecting America's postwar optimism, Congress declared that atomic energy should be employed not only in the Nation's defense, but also to promote world peace, improve the public welfare, and strengthen free competition in private enterprise. Later legislation enacted by Congress split the AEC into our current Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates the nuclear energy industry more strictly than most other industries. The NRC and the Department of Energy (DOE), work together to ensure plant safety, building and operational permits, movement and storage of nuclear waste, management of weapons-grade byproducts of plants, radiation protection, and loan guarantees. The United States has more active nuclear power plants than any other country in the world, with 104 plants out of the total 441 active sites and another 62 under construction worldwide. This is nearly twice as many sites as the next two countries, France (58) and Japan (55), combined. Construction of U.S. nuclear facilities peaked between the 1970s and 1980s, during which time, these facilities were granted 20–40 year operational permits.

In the early days of nuclear energy, the United States government did not allow for any private sector use of nuclear technology. In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 into law, which prohibited the dissemination of nuclear technology or information to other entities, both domestic and abroad. This act represented the fear that foreign nations, including allies, would gain the technology and use it against the U.S. As time went on, this fear subsided and interest from the public sector emerged, in the hope that nuclear power could provide a viable energy alternative to coal. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, also under the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, amended the earlier act and ushered in the first nuclear age in the U.S. This amendment allowed the private sector to use certain government information about nuclear technology and establish private energy facilities. However, these facilities would have to abide by government rules and regulations and work closely with the government regarding the plant safety, mining, storage, transportation, and the use of weapons-grade byproducts.

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