Luria introduces bill to advance U.S. interests in nuclear energy

Congresswoman Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) and Congressman Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16) introduced the Twenty First Century Nuclear Security Act, bipartisan legislation that will deploy a whole-of-government effort to assess the risk to U.S. national security posed by Russian and Chinese dominance in the global nuclear energy market and identify opportunities for the U.S. to regain global leadership.

The Twenty First Century Nuclear Security Act would require federal agencies to submit a report to Congress analyzing the importance of civilian nuclear power agreements and opportunities for advancing U.S. national security interests.

In addition, it would assess U.S. competitiveness against Russia and China in the global nuclear energy market and offer recommendations for developing a robust, free-enterprise response to regain superiority in the civilian nuclear power space.

“It is both an economic and national security imperative that America continue to lead the world in nuclear energy,” Luria said. “This bipartisan bill will help us better understand the global nuclear energy market and the strategies we must adopt to out-compete Russia and China.”

“Our country is facing a major challenge to its historical leadership in the global nuclear energy market,” Gonzalez said. “Authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China are actively taking steps to dominate the market and supplant the U.S. as the leader of nuclear technologies. This review will provide us the knowledge and tools to transform our domestic nuclear sector, prevail in the long-term competition against Russia and China, and advance our interests with respect to global nuclear security and nuclear proliferation.”

“The Nuclear Innovation Alliance supports this bipartisan bill to require the relevant agencies of the U.S. government evaluate the nature of global nuclear energy markets, including U.S. competition with Russia and China,” said Alex Gilbert of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance. “State-owned enterprises in those countries are emerging as strong commercial competitors and may be benefiting from unfair trade terms. This report is essential to informing Congress and U.S. policy to level the playing field for a private sector-led market approach with U.S. developed advanced nuclear energy.”

“U.S. commercial nuclear exporters are competing against nations, not companies, because much more than commercial sales are at stake in global nuclear energy markets,” said Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Assembly. “If enacted, The Twenty First Century Nuclear Security Act, would illuminate the implications for U.S. national security interests resulting from Russian and Chinese dominance in international markets, and the options for restoring U.S. commercial competitiveness and U.S. global nuclear energy leadership.”