Media Coverage
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
03.02.23
Following the Nuclear Innovation Alliance’s (NIA) December 2021 report, which examined how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the industry as a whole can make advanced reactor licensing more effective and efficient, the NIA partnered with Pillsbury Energy partners Anne Leidich and Jeffrey Merrifield, who is a former NRC Commissioner, to publish an updated report named “Improving the Effectiveness and Efficiency of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.”
The report offers acknowledgements by current and former Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) members, staff and stakeholders and NRC Commissioners and staff—suggesting several improvement recommendations and proposed solutions.
“We recognize the important role that ACRS has played in independently advising the Commissioners of the NRC on the safety of reactor designs,” said Merrifield in an NIC press release. “Given the bow wave of subsequent license renewals, power uprate applications and future license applications, we think it is critically important that the ACRS focus on the more complex and novel reactor licensing issues that come before the Agency. We also believe that the Committee would benefit from an organizational renewal to include a more diverse set of ACRS members. This change would enhance the value of ACRS to the Commission and the Agency given the wide range of new technologies which the NRC will have to grapple with over the coming years.”
To view the full report, click here.