Powering the Nuclear Renaissance: Accelerating U.S. Leadership in Advanced Nuclear Reactors

Subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess of the subcommittee at any time. Welcome to today's hearing entitled " Powering the Nuclear Renaissance, Accelerating US Leadership in Advanced Nuclear Reactions." I recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement after the bell ends. Welcome to today's energy supplementary hearing, powering the nuclear renaissance. We are in the golden era of nuclear power, thanks in large part to the administration's leadership. The United States is the world's largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for more than thirty percent of the world's nuclear electricity generation. Decades of research at the Department of Energy, DOE, national laboratories combined with renewed interest in more cost-effective, flexible and fuel-efficient designs have positioned advanced nuclear energy technologies to transform exactly how we produce and manage power. These technologies could open the door to new applications from providing reliable round-the-clock electricity, to meet the growing needs of data centers to supplying electricity and industrial heat for energy intensive sectors such as manufacturings, chemical production, and mining. Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, represented by one of our witnesses today, play a critical role in advancing that nuclear innovation. From developing and testing new reactor technologies and fuels, to providing the research and infrastructure needed to move these technologies toward deployment, their work provides an essential foundation for America's next generation of nuclear energy. In the last fifteen months since President Trump signed four executive orders on nuclear energy, we have seen a historic shift in the nation's approach to expanding nuclear power capacity. President Trump and DOE have moved quickly and decisively to usher usher in an American nuclear renaissance. That leadership has produced tangible results. Last spring, the Trump administration set an ambitious goal of achieving criticality for at least three advanced reactor concepts outside a national laboratory by July fourth, twenty twenty six. With support from DOE through the reactor pilot program and the nuclear energy launch pad. That goal was not only met, but exceeded with four advanced reactor projects projects successfully demonstrating zero powered fuel criticality by America's two hundred and fifty birthday. Today, we are joined by the representatives from three of the companies that achieved these milestones Antares Nuclear Valoratomics and Eloatomics. These demonstrations represent significant progress in testing advanced nuclear technologies and moving advanced nuclear reactors closer and closer to commercial deployment. Despite this remarkable remarkable progress, significant gaps remain, particularly in securing the nuclear fuel supply needed to support advanced reactors. Many advanced reactors will require high SA, low enriched uranium, halium, which is not yet available at the scale needed for that very wide-spread deployment. expanding domestic enrichment and fuel fabrication capacity will be vital to supporting future demonstrations as well as commercialization. Additionally, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must modernize its regulatory framework to keep pace with advanced nuclear technologies. Outdated processes, lengthy licensing timelines, and unnecessary regulatory burdens can slow up innovations and drive up costs. We must ensure that the NRC has a modern, risk-informed framework that enables the safe and timely deployment of these very advanced reactors. Nuclear energy plays a vital role in America's energy security and long-term energy independence. By providing a reliable and secure source of base load power, nuclear energy can help meet our nation's growing energy demands. We should build on this momentum and continue to foster an environment where American nuclear innovation can move from demonstration to deployment. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the lessons learned from these demonstrations and what more we can do to advance safe, commercially viable reactors that strengthen our energy security and technological leadership. Thank you all for your participation. I yield back the balance of my time, and I'm gonna yield to the ranking member.

Well, good morning and thank you so much, Chairman Weber, for convening this very important hearing. And thank you to all of our witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee this morning. I especially want to thank Doctor Steven Shannon, head of North Carolina State's Nuclear Engineering department, for joining us today. I represent NC State, go Pack. Um, I look forward to learning more about the progress made and the challenges that remain when it comes to commercializing advanced nuclear reactor technology. Nuclear energy has played an important role in our electricity economy for decades. It's a reliable source of zero emission power that makes up nearly twenty percent of the power generated for the grid. But at a time when energy prices are rising and electricity demand is also increasing, we need solutions that can provide clean, reliable power to the grid. Growing our nuclear sector is a promising solution, but traditional nuclear reactors face a very high risk of cost overruns and schedule overruns. Advanced nuclear companies with novel reactor designs present present an opportunity to build a new generation of nuclear reactors that are easier and cheaper to build at the scale we need. But to realize that end, we need to address several challenges. Achieving zero power criticality is an important technical milestone. Now, more engineering and design must be done to build operational nuclear plants that can be commercially viable and safely connected to the grid. And we need to make sure these products stay on schedule. We need to train a new American nuclear workforce to build and operate these reactors for decades to come. Institutions like NC State are important partners in this effort. NC State has been training nuclear engineers through facilities like the Polstar pulsed star reactor for decades. NC State remains a key part of the pipeline for new nuclear engineers and serves as a model program for institutions across the country that want to help meet the needs of our developing advanced nuclear industry. The federal government has been and can continue to be an essential partner on these fronts as well. New reactor technology may become cost-effective at scale, but Americans cannot be held responsible for the high cost of first of a kind products through their electricity bills. And we've seen that particularly in South Carolina. That is where government can play a role in accelerating innovation and investing in technology that demonstrates and optimizes commercialization. Advanced nuclear companies like those before us today are collaborating with our national labs and the Department of Energy because the expertise, tools and funding that the federal government has to offer is significant. And just last week, Antares was selected by the US Army to construct micro-reactors in several facilities around the country including at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. These federally supported, first of a kind projects, are a promising step forward to lower cost and have large scale development of these reactors. This committee has long supported nuclear energy in a bipartisan manner. In twenty twenty we enacted comprehensive legislation to promote the research, development, demonstration and commercial application of nuclear technology through the Energy Act of twenty twenty. Though it has been six years since this committee last passed comprehensive authorization on this topic, it is clear that Congress and the federal government still have an important role to play as a partner to the private sector and in the training of a nuclear workforce. I look forward to seeing these technologies continue to develop and working on substantive legislation that enables ongoing advancement of innovative nuclear technologies. Lastly, I must take just a moment to emphasize that while there's significant potential for new t- nuclear technologies and growing demand for electricity, innovation cannot come at the cost of human and environmental safety. Federal investment must continue to be stewarded by sufficient expert staff. And independent regulators have to remain impartial and work in the public interest. With that, Um, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and I yield back.

Thank you, Megan.

Thank you, Megan. Member Ross, and I do wanna make unanimous consent request, I ask unanimous consent that representative Huizing of Michigan be allowed to participate in today's hearing and question the witnesses, without objection, so ordered. Uh, now I'd like to recognize the chairman of the full committee, Doctor Babin, for his statement. Thank you, Chairman Babin.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, appreciate uh you having this important hearing. Uh, today's hearing will examine the future of nuclear energy and how the United States can maintain global leadership in advanced reactor technologies. Uh, I'm looking very much forward to hearing the - our witness's testimony today, and I wanna tell you how much I appreciate you all being here. Nuclear energy is one of the - uh, one of America's most reliable sources of base load power. United States Navy has relied on nuclear propulsion for decades now. while expanded commercial maritime applications have remained limited. Nuclear power has also enabled NASA to explore the farthest reaches of our solar system and beyond, fueling missions such as New Horizons, the first probe to perform a flyby of Pl- of Pluto, and the Voyager missions which are now beyond the solar system. Advanced nuclear technologies are in unlocking new possibilities for modernizing maritime propulsion, and the global commercial fleet to powering a lunar outpost in future missions to Mars and beyond. Commercial nuclear companies are exploring new applications of nuclear energy in space, including space mining, orbital transportation, and fusion propulsion. These innovations are also delivering benefits here on Earth, including improved molecular imaging technologies for more targeted medical diagnostics, and radio-nuclide therapies that are helping treat cancer. The US military, through its JANIS program, is exploring advanced reactors to power installations independently of the civilian grid. This would provide US forces overseas with greater energy security while reducing reliance on vulnerable fuel supply lines and with the goal of achieving these capabilities by twenty twenty eight. None of these advances would be possible without strong public-private partnerships. The Fe- the federal research enterprise plays a very key role in supporting early stage research reducing barriers to deployment and establishing the conditions for industry to develop and commercialize advanced nuclear technologies. America's robust private sector is essential to turning nuclear innovation into a reality. Companies like those represented here today uh which you are representing uh are bringing these new ideas and technologies and investments to our marketplaces, creating a pipeline of innovation that will strengthen America's energy, economic and our national security. We cannot afford to lose this momentum or to cede leadership to our international competitors. The People's Republic of China and Russia are aggressively investing in advanced nuclear technologies, fuel supply chains, and manufacturing capabilities seeking to shape the next generation of global energy and technology markets. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, uncertainty surrounding US access to critical medical isotopes exposed vulnerabilities in our nuclear supply chains. The United States must strengthen our domestic capabilities and ensure that we lead in advanced nuclear technologies. As with so many other technologies we have discussed before this very committee, this uh the nation that leads in nuclear innovation will help set the standards and shape the global nuclear industry for decades to come. To maintain this leadership, the United States must work closely with like-minded countries to develop these vital capabilities in a safe and responsible manner. Through workforce dep- uh development and strategic civil nuclear cooperation, U S companies can gain access to emerging uh energy markets while our international partners can unlock vast amounts of reliable base load power. This committee has an important role to play in ensuring American innovations lead the way. While it is important to have thoughtful regulatory frameworks in place, we must also foster an economic environment that allows technological breakthroughs and innovations to thrive. I'm very eager to learn from our witnesses today how we can help make that happen. In closing, I want to echo Chairman Weber's comments about the truly historic moment that this sector is experiencing, made possible by the bold and aggressive vision of the current administration and its recognition of the potential advanced nuclear reactors that hold for our nation in the coming years. I want to thank you witnesses again, thank you for being here, for your testimony today. I look forward to a very productive discussion. So with that, Chairman Weber, I yield back.

Thank you, Chairman Babbitt, I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee for a statement.

Oh well, thank you uh Chairman Weber and ranking member uh Ross for this hearing and to the witnesses as well uh this committee has supported strongly uh the development of advanced nuclear technologies in a bipartisan way as the ranking member has mentioned uh, under former Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's leadership, we passed the first comprehensive authorization of our nation's nuclear energy R and D enterprise in fifteen years as part of the Energy Act of twenty twenty and then we provided billions in forward funding for these authorized activities in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act over the following two years. That's because we recognize the vital role that nuclear energy currently plays, along with our substantial uh renewable and energy storage assets, in providing clean, reliable power to our nation. And we're encouraged by the potential for advanced nuclear technologies, including fusion, I might add, to do so much more. Uh, that's why I'm also so concerned about several actions taken by the administration that could undermine our country's ability to develop and rely on these technologies in the years to come. Uh, President Trump's legally dubious and really unjustified firing of the Senate-confirmed Commissioner and former Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chris Hansen can never be viewed as an acceptable precedent. By all accounts, on both sides of the aisle, Mister Hansen was doing a good job balancing the NRC's long-standing critical mission to ensure the safety of our domestic nuclear fleet with thoughtful reforms to accelerate and reduce the costs of the NRC's processes. But that didn't seem to matter to the president. The administration has also fired and actively encouraged the loss of hundreds of key expert staff across various agencies that would be necessary to actually carry out the goals for nuclear energy that they say they're trying to achieve including at the NRC, and the Department of Energy's nuclear energy, clean energy demonstrations, and loan programs offices. President Trump has signed several executive orders with the clear goal of undermining the independence and the authority of the NRC, attempting to establish an alternative reactor licensing process at the Department of Energy with far less transparency or opportunity for public engagement than the NRC's well-established practices. Here I will note that the complaints of a small number of start-up companies with ties to the administration do not justify gutting an agency that has been the gold standard for the world in ensuring nuclear safety. The broader nuclear energy uh community recognizes that one disaster resulting from these actions would severely harm the entire industry. A short-sighted, move fast and break things approach could frankly be catastrophic. Lastly, it must be noted that the department has proposed major cuts to its nuclear energy R and D activities in each of its budget requests so far including a proposal to cut its flagship advanced reactor demonstration program by fifty-one percent, more than half, in fiscal year twenty twenty six and a proposed uh funding cut for the office of nuclear energy overall by nine percent in twenty twenty seven. The so-called big beautiful bill that this Congress uh passed last year on a partisan basis, also included a massive cut uh to support for DOE's loan programs office, substantially reducing its ability to support nu- uh new nuclear uh projects, that Secretary Wright has insisted are the top of its agenda. And renaming the loan programs office as quote " the office of energy, dominance, finance" doesn't make this move any less unwise. I believe there remains plenty of common ground for us to all work together to support and improve our notions nuclear energy capabilities. This committee has always done that working together. But we can do better than what we've seen in the last nineteen months of this administration. If America's going to lead the world in twenty-first century nuclear technologies we're gonna have to do better. Uh, with that, Mister Chairman, I yield back.

Thank you, thank you, member Lofgren. Uh, I'm gonna introduce the witnesses, our first witness today is Doctor Joe Hoagland, the Associate Lab Director for Fusion and Fish and Energy Science Dec Directorate. Our second witness is Mister Isaiah Taylor, CEO and founder of, is it Valor, is that how you say that?

That's right, Chairman, Valor Atomics.

Valor Atomics, welcome. Our third witness is Mister Mat Lozak, CEO of Halo Atomics. Thank you. And our fourth witness is Doctor Steven Shannon, head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University. He could not bring his security blanket in with him today, so he brought the North Carolina mascot. OK, you'll recognize that. Welcome. Our final witness is Mister Jordan Bramble, CEO and co-founder of Antares Nuclear. I now recognize Doctor Hoagland for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairman Weber. uh ranking member Ross and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Um I'm Joe Hoagland, Associate Laboratory Director for Fusion and Fusion Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and I'm honored to represent ORNL and speak to the role of the broader national laboratory system in advancing nuclear energy. In May of twenty twenty five, President Trump challenged the Department of Energy to bring at least three advanced test reactors to criticality by July fourth, twenty twenty six. The country exceeded that goal. Four d- four privately developed advanced reactors reached criticality by the deadline and a fifth followed in August. These milestones moved advanced reactor development from plans and models into real-world concrete and steel. They also demonstrated that urgency and scientific rigor can reinforce one another. The deadline did not change the v- the the deadline did not change the physics or relax any safety. But it did focus DOE, the laboratories, and industry on the decisions, evidence, facilities, and expertise needed to move faster under the highest safety standards. But criticality is a threshold, not an endpoint. Ultimately, deployment will depend upon cost, technical and supply chain maturity, and how quickly these systems can be brought into operation. These demonstrations validated core physics, provided generating operating evidence. The next challenge is converting that progress into complete energy systems that work, last, and can be manufactured, operated, and maintained repeatedly at an affordable cost for the nation's electric system. That challenge is urgent. Electricity demand is growing, driven by data centers and artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, electrification, and economic expansion. American needs more firm, reliable, and affordable power. The Army's recent Janus selection for micro-reactors demonstrates how progress can build customer confidence and create an order book for companies and suppliers needed to invest in the d- domestic manufacturing capacity. This is where the in- national laboratories, including ORNL, have been indispensable. Companies bring designs, investment, speed, and a path to market. The laboratories provide shared scientific capabilities, including testing, materials research, uh validated models, high performance computing, and an independent expertise to reduce the risk for multiple developers. Because many challenges cut across reactor designs, those capabilities create a ser- shared knowledge and minimize duplication acro- of effort across the industry. ORNL illustrates that system by working bringing together capabilities that are often separated from reactor and fuel development, irradiation testing, safety analysis, advanced manufacturing, and fuel cycle research. As an example, our high-flux isotope reactor and hot cell facilities, researchers test fuels and materials under radiation to examine the performance over time. Software suites that have been developed across the national lab, support nuclear safety analysis, and design efforts. During this summer's efforts, our manufacturing demonstration facility connected digital engineering, additive manufacturing, sensors, and inspection to support the efforts. And now through DOE's genesis initiative, Idaho National Lab, Argonne National Lab, and ORNL are now advancing the Prometheus project, an AI-enabled framework to make engineering evidence easier to trace and reuse. This accelerates the qualification of nuclear fuels, components, and shortens the time required to assemble and review the technical debase basis for deploying these new reactors. And I will say, although today's hearing focuses on fission, fusion energy can draw from this model as well, particularly in materials qualification, specialized testing, manufacturing, and supply chain development. The executive order asked whether America could move faster. These criticalities prove the answer is yes. Our next measure of success is whether we can make that progress sustainable. The national lab- laboratories are ready to turn our scientific achievement into usable knowledge so that American industry can deliver nuclear systems that strengthen energy security economic competitive and our national leadership thank you and I look forward to the questions.

Thank you, Doctor Hogan, Miss Taylor, you're now recognized for five minutes.

Good morning and thank you, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Ross, and the distinguished members of the subcommittee. My name is Isaiah Taylor and I'm the CEO and founder of Valoratomics. Thank you for holding this hearing to examine the state of advanced nuclear research in the United States. The United States has been a leader in nuclear energy since its genesis. Nuclear research was started and developed here, but then we stopped. Now we're making up for lost time. Nuclear is a part of our past, and it is integral to our future. It is the energy technology that will power AI, will take us to other planets, revolutionize manufacturing, and drastically reduce the cost of a fundamental civilizational input. Valor Atomics was formed to meet the demands of this moment. Since its inception, Valor has dispensed with the notion that nuclear needs to move slowly. Last November, Valor Atomics became the first start-up in history to achieve criticality. We did that in partnership with national laboratories, uh Los Alamos National Laboratory, uh NSERC, and the Nevada National Security Site. In February, we flew our reactor in partnership with the US Air Force on three Cseventeen's, from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah, becoming the first ever Cseventeen airlift of a nuclear reactor. And uh just a couple months ago, we achieved criticality again in our War Two-Fifty reactor. In doing so, we became the second company to fulfill executive order one four three O one, and became the first start-up to achieve criticality outside of the national laboratory system. Then on July first, Valor powered an NVIDIA Blackwell chip with the Ward two fifty reactor and became the first start-up in history to produce nuclear electricity. This list of accomplishments in the last year is just the beginning. But despite this amazing start, our rivals are still ahead of the United States in the rate of nuclear deployment. Since twenty sixteen, China has built twenty-seven gigawatt class nuclear reactors. while the United States has built two. Energy has always been a key input to civilization and industrial power. But in the next fifty years, energy will become far more important than it's ever been before to the sta- to the nature and stature of a civilization. As AI and robotics continue to improve, most problems of physical production will become problems of energy cost and access. In the time frame of decades, the nation with the greatest amount of energy will be the one that has the ability to either uphold freedom or to impose its will on the world. Some have naturally responded to this gap in domestic nuclear deployment by advocating for the funding of large-scale reactors like the ones that we used to build in the United States and like the ones that China is currently building today. And while I believe in a vibrant and diverse nuclear sector with many form factors and different strategic approaches, I do not believe that this is the best way for the United States to accelerate and meet the challenge at hand. Instead, we believe that we can use our strengths to maximum advantage by scaling advanced nuclear, a technology which uses advanced manufacturing to achieve production rate and scale, rather than relying on traditional supply chain and scarce construction resources. Advanced reactors have the ability to be inherently safe and mass-manufacturable. This is our best shot a- at accelerating energy generation, to both keep up with domestic energy needs and for our residential population, and keep costs down, but also to supercharge the burgeoning AI and robotics revolution. At Valor Atomics, we see the path ahead. We know that with fortitude, hard work, simplicity of design, primacy of safety, and ferocity of execution, we can rise to meet the energy challenge of this moment. At Valor, we also deep uh deeply believe that there's no necessary trade-off between growth and resources. We believe in abundance. Hard work and ingenuity allow us all to do more with less. We do not need to pick between data centers and power prices. By putting power down first and then building data centers afterward, we can actually lower prices in the communities where we accelerate AI. And we can also add advanced manufacturing and jobs onto it as well. It's an honor to be here and share our progress and vision with the community. Nuclear energy is the future, and it is a bipartisan objective

Thank you, Miss Taylor. Miss Lozak, you're now recognized for five minutes.

Thank you. Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Ross. and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Less than three years ago, Allo Atomics was two people. Today, we are two hundred and we are about to expand into a million square foot manufacturing facility to mass produce our hardware. On the fourth of July at twelve twenty AM, we achieved first criticality on our Allo critical test reactor. We moved from groundbreaking to a sustained nuclear chain reaction in less than eight months. The reactor used a full-scale core, representative of our ten megawatt electric commercial design. One year ago, the Department of Energy established a clear authorization pathway and set deadlines. All that brought the design, the team, the capital, and the execution. Together, we demonstrated that AMERICA can build and test new reactors quickly again. This work matters. All it was developing, a critically important technology for the US people, sodium reactors, starting in the thermal spectrum and eventually expanding to the fast spectrum. With this latter technology, we will be able to use nuclear waste as fuel. Few people realize that there is as much energy contained in US nuclear waste as there is in global known oil and gas reserves. Additionally, the volume of nuclear waste could be reduced significantly by using it as fuel. Lastly, by unlocking thorium and uranium-two-thirty-eight, we can extend the usable lifespan of nuclear fuel on Earth from one to two hundred years to millions of years. Sodium fast breeder technology unlocks all of these things, and ALLA will work hard to make this a reality. To do this, we need halalue, twenty percent enriched fuel. And fortunately, that supply chain is currently getting spun up by a number of great American companies. In the meantime, we are using off-the-shelf uranium dioxide, low enriched fuel. This is the standard fuel used by all the reactors in the country today, and it can support forty gigawatts per year of deployment. Why did we choose this fuel to start? Because the nation has a far more pressing challenge than dealing with nuclear waste or the limitations of oil and gas in the long term. Artificial intelligence has arisen in the past three years and is now accelerating faster than ever. AI is an incredibly important national security issue. It is imperative that we not lose to China on this massively impactful technology. The best way to power the development of AI is with nuclear power. Advanced nuclear needs no water, uses a small amount of land, is clean, base load, and we are proving that it can be affordable and fast to deploy. By using off-the-shelf UO two fuel, all those reactors will be able to scale rapidly to meet the growing demand of AI. And thanks to the choice of sodium as our coolant, we will have a very compact mass-manufacturable design. We are excited to continue working hard to bring these incredible technologies to bear for the American people. Based on our experience, I would offer Congress three priorities to help us continue this momentum. First, ensure that the DOE reactor pilot program remains a durable pathway. connecting the dots from initial criticality through to sustained full power operations. Second, ensure that the demonstration data generated under DOE oversight can be credited or adopted in subsequent NRC licensing. Third, continue to support the full-stack domestic nuclear fuel cycle, including advanced fuels such as helium and ultimately recycling and waste burning. America pioneered much of the world's nuclear technology, and we now have an opportunity to lead again. We are grateful to Congress, the Administration, Secretary Wright, Bob Boston, the Department of Energy, Idaho National Lab, and the career public servants who helped to make our demonstration possible. All who intends to repay that trust by building reactors, factories, American jobs, and by helping to restore U. S. nuclear leadership. Thank you.

Thank you, and now I recognize uh Doctor Shannen for five minutes to present his testimony.

Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Ross, and distinguished members of the committee, my name is Steve Shannen and I am a professor and the head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University. I have four main points I would like to bring to your attention. and then I'm happy to answer your questions. First, advanced nuclear technology is ready. Decades of federal investment in universities, national laboratories and industry have produced safer reactor designs, new materials and advanced instrumentation and controls. That work did not pause when the commercial sector slowed. It continued and it has brought us to a moment where nuclear can meaningfully contribute to growing US energy needs, economic competitiveness and national security. The technology is not waiting on invention. It is waiting on investment and deployment. Second, the next generation is showing up, and we need to be ready for them. When I graduated in nineteen ninety-five, my nuclear engineering class had nine students. This fall, over one hundred students enrolled in our introductory nuclear engineering class at NC State, more than double our enrollment from just three years ago. Peer institutions at Illinois, Tennessee, Texas A and M and others are seeing the same surge. That enthusiasm is real and it is fragile. We cannot afford to let the momentum of this moment outrun our capacity to educate and train these students. Sustained investment in faculty, facilities, and research funding is not optional, it is the foundation. Third, the workforce gap that all these young minds want to fill is urgent. At a workforce development workshop we hosted at NC State last month, industry attendees all said the same thing repeatedly. that the demand for nuclear professionals is far outpacing the rate of training. And when I told them, well, we have one hundred eager, brilliant students, who weren't starting this fall, they told me I was two hundred short. This is not just engineers. It is skilled trades, construction workers, operators, maintenance technicians, fuel cycle specialists, and cyber security professionals. The forecast deployment of advanced nuclear technology over the coming decades could be three times the installed base prior to twenty twenty. The workforce pipeline for that scale of growth does not exist yet, and is, and building it will require parallel pathways. We need classroom and simulator training running alongside industry experience, apprenticeships linked to engineering test facilities, and on-line programs enabling working professionals to retrain, refresh, and upgrade. The Department of Energy's recent fifty million dollar investment in workforce development awards, including a regional consortium led by NC State University, is the right model. and it needs to grow. Fourth, university research and the test reactor infrastructure is a national gap that must be filled. Advanced reactors use fuel types, materials, and coolants that differ substantially from the light-water reactors that make up our commercial fleet. The experimental data, workforce training, and licensing support required to accelerate commercialization and deployment needs university support, and universities need continued support to provide this necessary service. The Department of Energy, the NEUP program, and support from the national laboratory system and industry have been instrumental in getting us ready to make the next step. University-based research and the test reactors that enable this research are essential part of this next step. NC State's proposed Advanced Research and Test Reactor addresses a specific national gap in testing components under conditions of many advanced designs. Illinois, Abilene Christian, Texas A and M, Penn State, Tennessee, Purdue, and others are all pursuing facilities that also have identified capability gaps that they can and are eager to fill. These are not competing with industry, they are complementary efforts. If brought to fruition, they will provide the experimental and validation infrastructure that reactor vendors and national laboratories need to qualify, license, and deploy their systems. We need to move forward with the next generation of nuclear facilities at our nation's universities and we need your support to do this. Allow me to close with a broader observation. The number of nuclear engineering programs in the U S universities has fallen from over fifty in nineteen eighty, to approximately twenty today. That decline tracked the stagnation of the industry over the same period. But we're here today at a very different time for our field. We are at an inflection point in the other direction. The programs that train the engineers, scientists, and tradespeople of the next nuclear era need support that tracks with that growth. We need more faculty. modernized facilities, and research funding that motivates more Rone universities to get in the game, reaches into the higher technology readiness levels where advanced reactors now live, and allows our technical and workforce development contributions to keep pace with the growth of the sector. The recent milestones demonstrated by these zero-power critical operations on advanced micro-reactor concepts and the announcement that five micro-reactors will be built at Arm- US Army bases turned my department into a beehive. The students, the faculty are buzzing with excitement, and we can't wait to move forward. These milestones matter because not just technically, because they signal to a new generation that this field is growing, moving, and worthy of a career. And Congress has an opportunity to sustain and accelerate that mission, and on behalf of my community, I want to let you know we are ready to go, but we need your support. And with that, I welcome your questions and I thank you for your time.

Thank you, and now I recognize Mister Bramwell for five minutes. Thank you.

Chairman Babin, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Ross, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Jordan Bramble. I'm CEO and founder of Antares Nuclear. We build, factory produce micro-reactors for critical missions on Earth and in space. At Antares we appreciate the bipartisan support on this committee and throughout Congress in support of advanced nuclear energy.

Oh, nice.

Your support has enabled us to reach a point where building and deploying advanced reactors has gone from aspiration to reality.

I'm sure.

The passage of the bipartisan Advance Act of twenty twenty four and the May

Mm. Yeah.

twenty twenty five executive order signed by President Trump have created a policy environment that allowed Antares to go from concept to a concrete

Okay.

build schedule. The Advance Act streamlined nuclear regulatory commission processes for advanced reactors and micro-reactors while preserving safety. Executive Order fourteen three O one of May twenty twenty five created the reactor pilot program, with a clear mandate, achieve at criticality of at least three advanced reactors by July fourth, twenty twenty six, under DOE authorization. As we all know, we have met that goal as a nation. Executive Order fourteen two nine nine directed the Department of War through the Army to commence operation of an Army-regulated reactor at a domestic military installation no later than September thirtieth, twenty twenty eight. Just as industry and government partnered to pioneer a new wave of nuclear innovation throughout the reactor pilot program, We would encourage the nation with the same focus and energy to rally around this new target, the first deployment of an advanced reactor to provide power to a military installation by twenty twenty eight. We at Antares are working under the Army's Janus program to achieve that goal at Fort Bragg. These steps that we've taken have enabled industry to build with craftsmanship and accelerate from producing a reactor in years to months. The Department of Energy's reactor pilot program was an unequivocal success. The program worked because DOE provided focus-coordinated support that removed bureaucratic friction while enforcing rigorous safety standards under DOE's Atomic Energy Act authority. The companies bore their own cost while DOE accelerated safety reviews without lowering the bar. Um, you know, perhaps a misconception, but not only was the DOE involved with our licensing process under standard twelve seventy-one, we had the NRC in the room providing comments, Navy reactors, Army reactors, And we as a company have had the opportunity to engage with all of the preeminent nuclear regulators in this country. On June fourth, twenty twenty six, our Mark zero reactor achieved criticality at Idaho National Lab. Our reactor was recognized by the Department of Energy as the first privately developed reactor to achieve criticality in the United States, in more than forty years. The first under the reactor pilot program and the fifty-third reactor built at Idaho National Lab since nineteen fifty-one. We learned a tremendous amount from the program. The Mark Zero test validated our reactor physics, our control systems, our approach to fuel handling, the end-to-end authorization of our safety basis, and we exercised the majority of our supply chain. We learned how to partner with Idaho National Lab and the DOE broadly, and to operate nuclear facilities with the utmost care. When government and industry align on execution rather than process alone, hardware moves in months, while safety remains paramount. At Antares, we're focused on national security and the needs of our military. That's because we believe this technology, just like it did in the first nuclear age, will follow a path, defense applications first and then commercial. You know, not unlike the semiconductor, rocket propulsion, uh the internet or other capital-intensive technologies that, you know, we now enjoy as a commercial sector. Um, we're under contract with multiple military services to provide energy to critical assets at some of our nation's most important military installations. Through the advanced nuclear power for installation initiatives, we will deliver micro-reactors to Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. And now under the Army's Janus program, we will deliver micro-reactors to Fort Bragg. These programs represent energy resilience for our men and women in uniform. Fort Bragg is an installation, one of the most important military installations in the entire world, that has publicly had challenges with energy resilience. It's an installation that generates mission effects throughout the globe. And so we need our men in uniform to be able to operate with the comfort that the power will remain on. As we ramp up production, and as we partner with the military to build these systems, and prove out the technology, we will be exploring commercial applications to provide resilient power to compute, oil and gas hubs, austere mining environments, fulfillment and distribution centers, and more. We're also building nuclear power for space. In December twenty twenty five, President Trump signed an executive order on space superiority, followed shortly by the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power. We're responding to this charge. I'm excited to report to this committee that our future is bright. Looking six to twelve months ahead, the schedule's firm. In twenty s- twenty seven we'll produce electricity, and in twenty twenty eight we will be on military installations. Thank you for your leadership holding this hearing. I invite every member to visit our facility and torrents and our test facility at Idaho National Lab. What happens at those two sites is the best evidence I can offer you, that American nuclear energy is back. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Mr. Bramble. Um, I want to thank the witnesses, uh,

Thank you.

uh, for their testimony, and I ask unanimous consent to enter letters from Deployable Energy, Oklo, Xenergy, Terra Power, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Dow into the hearing record, and so without objection, I order. I'd now like to recognize myself, uh, for five minutes of questions and, uh, Uh, Doctor Hoagland, uh, you are the first in line here. In a fiscally constrained environment, Congress needs to focus on investments that provide strategic benefits to the United States of America. How should Congress prioritize advanced nuclear research and development investments in the most efficient and beneficial manner?

Yeah, I uh thank you for the question. So I think, you know, Nuclear energy right now is, I think everybody described as incredibly important. Its ability to be able to deploy quickly is also incredibly important. Um, what I think we're seeing and have demonstrated this year is a great ability between the private sector and the public sector to come together to make that speed happen. And so in terms of - of where the focus needs to be, the focus needs to be on the national laboratory systems to ensure they have the scientific expertise and the capabilities to evaluate, test, and define the fuels, the materials that need to go into these reactors. But at the same time, there needs to be a focus with industry that creates an environment that enables them to move fast. Their pace is what is really helping, but the laboratories and the laboratory infrastructure provided by by years and years of effort across the government provides the expertise needed so that we can move forward quickly, but do so safely and, in my view, get to a point where we have affordable, um, sustainable power plants.

Like to follow up, too, and also are there any research or testing capabilities, uh, that the United States risks losing to international competitors, if we do not invest in them now?

Uh, y- yeah, China for example is is investing very heavily not only in building reactors, but in the research associated with that.

OK.

Um, facilities that the laboratories have, they're called hot cell facilities, they're where you can work on uh materials in extreme in high radioactive environments are critical for all parts of of the industry, and they are desperately needed across the lab complex. Um, they are, um, we have them, but they are old and they are, um, we need a lot more in order to be able to support the efforts that we're scaling up.

Sure. OK, thank you very much, and while we're talking about People's Republic of China, Mister Taylor, uh, j- uh, they or PRC is not only building uh reactors domestically, but also seeking to establish itself as a major supplier of nuclear technology and infrastructure around the globe. What is at stake for the United States if the PRC

Thank you for the question. This is uh a little bit hard to see from the outside until you really start to consider the downstream impacts. The People's Republic of China is already interested in being an exporter of many types of energy generation technologies. But nuclear is unique in that if you are able to build an advanced reactor or even a traditional nuclear reactor in another nation, supplying the fuel for that reactor, uh, is something that you can also control the logistics of. Um, and that gives China an even greater ability to exert influence wherever they build reactors. Uh, having both the reactor development and the fuel supply, you know, and, you know, relatively small shipments under, uh, unlike, you know, traditional oil and gas supply chain or solar, for example, where once the installation is there, uh, you know, the energy can be supplied for a number of years. Nuclear has this, uh, you know, supply chain associated with it, which is the actual fuel itself. And so it's not just that China is wanting to build power assets which, you know, they'll have influence over around the world. Um, it comes with a, you know, an immediate supply chain constraint as well that China also gets to control. So, you know, we we do believe that this is a large problem.

Yeah. Well, would - would that give the PRC not only an economic advantage but also geopolitical leverage uh you know over the countries that depend on the PRC, nuclear technology?

Absolutely, if,

Yep.

yeah, it, and energy is one of the most fundamental inputs to any country and any civilization, right? Energy threats are are one of the biggest, you know, ways that, uh, China's able to, you know, influence and exert power over a nation. So it's extremely important that the United States not only builds nuclear domestically but that we become the premier exporter of nuclear technology as well.

OK.

Uh, Mr. Blozak, I see you nodding your head, you would you like to

Uh, yes, I would.

chime in there?

Uh, I would just add it's extremely important that We have a democratic society who propagates their energy technology around the world. I think we're all aware of the consequences that could happen if it was China who was the leader on this front and so the good news is that we have a number of US-based companies, three of which are here today, that are pushing extremely hard on mass manufacturing different types of reactors for different purposes. And I think it'll be a a fantastic outcome if we can propagate this technology, not only across the US but also across uh the rest of the world.

You bet. I wish I had more time, but I'm unfortunately out, so I'm going to yield and um recognize the uh gentlewoman from No- North Carolina, Miss Ross, for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairman Babin. Um, Doctor Shannon, I wanna get into this workforce issue. In your testimony you said that the need for talented trades, engineers and scientists is greatly outpacing the rate of training in the nuclear field. You also said that the advance for advanced reactors in the United States. Uh the new workforce needs are considerably broader than those of traditional nuclear engineering workforce. Uh can you elaborate on the specific skills and specialties that need greater emphasis, or new training programs to minimize future future bottlenecks? And I also know in North Carolina, NC State works very closely with our community colleges, whether there's any role for the community colleges to play Particularly in the trades.

Uh. Uh. Thank you, thank you, Ranking Member Ross. Um. Uh, the the the workforce devel- the work the workforce development aspect is, as I mentioned, it's it's we need more. The um and it and it and as you mentioned it spans engineering, science and the trades. Uh, the recent workforce development, uh, consortium that was d- that was, that's being led by NC State, uh, spans this entire ecosystem. We have partnered with, uh, community colleges. We've partnered with, uh, four-year colleges and R one universities. So the training is attempting to paint all of this, to - to - to capture this ent- this entire network. As far as emp- what we need to address, um, and - and the - the challenges as we move to advanced nuclear, and this new, this new phase of nuclear power is number one,

Mm-hmm.

these new reactors are very different. Uh, the, the advanced, the, the current reactor fleet is traditional light-water reactors, and there's a lot of these systems are very different than the light-water reactors that most of our nuclear engineering workforce has been trained on, constructing and running and maintaining. Alongside that, these reactors depend on a lot of advanced technologies that that the current reactor fleet does not rely on strongly. Things like AI in machine learning, cyber security, these are all and digital twins, uh virtual design of reactors, these are all things that that are not, don't play a very large role in sustaining the current reactor reactor fleet. And these are things that are needed in this new workforce and the these are the areas that you see a lot of the universities starting to lean hard into uh through a through, for example, the recent genesis awards, a lot of these awards were were support are are supporting uh, nuclear efforts both at the national labs and in the universities, and trying to get this these advanced technologies into something that can play a greater role in the uh in in in advanced nuclear.

OK.

So,

Hey, OK, go ahead.

sorry. No, I'm, it's okay. I could, I'm, I

That's enough.

could talk all day, so thank you for stopping me.

OK. I'm, I wanna ask Mr. Bramble a question since he's bringing this um micro-reactor to uh to Fort Bragg. Um you brought up earlier one of the next steps you're taking is to partner with the US Army to build more micro-reactors at Fort Bragg through the Milestone Janus program I'm interested to see this project and program move forward as an example of supporting energy resilience and a growing domestic industry as you alluded to in your comments um but as we discussed throughout the hearing many more steps are required between now and commercial Can you elaborate on what the next steps look like to actually bring that micro-reactor to Fort Bragg and have the army and your company come to an agreement on those specific milestones?

Yes, we have. Um, after detailed discussion and negotiation that, uh, really began in March, uh, we have reached firm agreement on those milestones. Um, the first thing I would like to say to, to, you know, address some of your earlier comments as well, is um we are not dependent on the taxpayer boring the c- boring the cost of these first of a kind systems. In fact, we've raised many hundreds of millions of dollars of private capital that we are investing alongside the taxpayer to first test our technology at Idaho National Lab at our test site.

Mm-hmm.

And so the systems that go to Fort Bragg will not be developmental first of a kind systems. And um you know, we really believe that's what's best for the American people and that's what's going to move the fastest. Um certainly it is our hope as a as a as a company that uh the work that we have done in licensing and regulatory engagement with the Department of Energy with the observation of uh army reactors uh will feel like reciprocity, right? Um you know really different institutions have their own regulatory authorities in this country that dates back to the Atomic Energy Act. Um but regardless of which regulator we're working with, uh we hope that it's a a unified and common experience. Um The other aspect of this is our supply chain. So, uh, we will begin fabricating the fuel for those reactors very soon. Um, regulatory work is already underway, and we've worked with the Army's technical review team to identify some of the key technical maturity risks to the program and have already started de-risking those in our facility in Torrance. One of those is our power conversion system, which we're building now and will test before Thanksgiving of this year.

Thank you, and I yield back, and I look forward to visiting it in Fort Bragg.

We would love to have you. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I'd like to recognize the uh gentleman from Tennessee, Mister Fleischman.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. Mister Chairman and ranking member, I want to thank each of you for your wonderful bipartisan remarks in support of nuclear power. Uh, gentlemen, thank you, it's what a distinguished panel, I know most of you. Uh, as you know my day job is Chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations. I'm privileged to serve on the science committee, uh, but I'm an appropriator. We fund the Department of Energy, we fund many of your initiatives. For sixteen years now, I have worked in a very strong bipartisan and bicameral way. And as those who are watching this today will see, Democrats and Republicans are working together on these initiatives. That is so critically important. Last energy and water bill I passed was for nineteen to six. We're hitting the sweet spot. So you're doing a great, great job. I'm bullish about the generation threes, I'm bullish about the generation fours, and I'm definitely bullish about the micro-reactors and the like. Could not be more pleased. We need fuel, we're producing halal now in the United States. I've been on site to see halal, but we need more of it. Uh, we need more LEU of course as well for existing fleet. But, uh, I'm so, so pleased and proud of each and every one of you all as we move forward. This is something Americans can be proud of. Uh, Doctor Hoagland, uh, you represent my lab, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I fund all the national labs. Proud of all seventeen of them. They're truly our national jewels. That's not only President Trump saying that, that was President Obama saying that as well. You're great. The reactor pro- uh, pilot program moved four advanced reactor designs through criticality on an extraordinary fast timeline. What specifically did we accelerate, sir? What did these critical demonstrations prove and what work still remains, sir?

Yeah, thank you for the question. So, I I think at a at a high level to start with, what these demonstrations proved was that we between a public and private partnership, um, we have the ability to take capabilities, long-term standing scientific knowledge, and combine that with the uh ability for industry to move quickly. Right, so the laboratory uh Idaho National Laboratory provides facilities for demonstrating uh and all of the infrastructure needed for that kind of thing. Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides lots of um science and background and materials uh modeling and simulation and of course fuel development. And fuel development I think here, particularly going forward, is going

Thank you. Uh, before I ask your your points, I just wanna stress this. I chair eight nuclear-related caucuses up here. uh, and for every caucus so our listeners know, uh, and our constituents know. I'm the chairman, but I have a corresponding Democratic co-chair. We are working together for the American people across this. So, again, I can't stress the need. And our friends in the Senate are working with us, and I'm so proud of President Trump. He has really worked very hard on this. I've worked with Secretary Granholm. I've worked with Secretary Moniz. I worked with - with other secretaries of other parties. but we are really moving forward at this time. In the time I have remaining for our CEOs, and I'm so proud of you, what role has the entire national laboratory laboratory ecosystem had in helping your company's achieve criticality, and how can Congress continue to support the labs and our shared goals? Obviously funding the Office of Science, I get that, that's my job and I will do that, but tell me your thoughts.

Mister Congressman, thank you. Um. One of the things I would highlight is that the reactor that we turned on at Idaho National Lab, um, it was on National Lab grounds. Uh, we actually found an existing facility that dates back to the nineteen sixties. We invested our own private capital in it so that it could become a reactor testbed. We will now use it for a second reactor after that. Um,

Mm-hmm.

National Lab staff, uh, and tradespeople actually augmented our workforce, uh, so that we could perform this. Um, we used National Lab facilities to store our fuel. Um, You know, if it were not for these existing test beds and user facilities that we were able to leverage, I do not think it would have been possible to move on the time-line that we did. The other thing I'd like to highlight is the fuel that was used in our reactor,

Oh.

the same fuel that will be used in our commercial reactors, the reactors that we build for the military, was developed under OSW's Project Pele and stood on the back of twenty years of development from the Department of Energy under the AGR program for for advanced triso fuels. Um, you know, were it not for that for the that decades of effort, I don't think the supply chain would have existed for us to go do this on this kind of time frame. And so, um, I would encourage the country to think about what are we doing now that will enable us twenty years in the future to make this technology more economical and more performant.

Well, my time is up, I would like your other uh to hear from you all, but our distinguished chairman has some questions. And by the way, our chairman here works hand in hand with me in all these endeavors. And I thank you, Mr. Weber.

Thank you, I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman. Now, the chair now recognizes the General Manager of North Carolina for at least five minutes.

Thank you, Mister Chairman and Ranking Member Ross, for holding this bipartisan committee hearing today. And thank you also to the witnesses for your testimony and for appearing before us this morning. I'm pleased to see such bipartisan support for advanced nuclear energy research and deployment across this committee. Advanced nuclear reactors have the potential to help power the next generation of clean and affordable, energy for American families. Currently, however, and for a variety of factors, building new reactors in this country has proven to be exceedingly difficult. Can some of you share a little a little about how the work being done by your respective companies and educational institutions is helping to minimize hurdles for new reactors and incentivize their safe development and deployment?

Well, thank you for the question, Congresswoman. The, the biggest thing that I would highlight in the difference between how we're building nuclear reactors now and how we used to be building them in the sixties and seventies, is advanced manufacturing. In the era where we were building many large-scale nuclear reactors, uh, we were better at large-scale civil infrastructure of many kinds. Um, it was an era in which we were building roads and bridges and dams and large steel structures all across the United States and over the last forty years, fifty years, United States has shifted toward advanced manufacturing. We're better at mass manufacturing and creating things that are more technically complicated, um, but are, uh, are able to be produced at scale. And so I think a lot of advanced nuclear is moving our technology in that direction, toward things that can be mass manufactured, built quickly. And there's some really great benefits of that as well, one of which is that you unlock inherent safety. In nuclear, the, uh, total size of the core is highly related to its safety. Um, you know, smaller reactors in general tend to be safer, uh, with some exceptions, but many of the advanced reactors, uh, represented here today, uh, benefit, you know, enormously from, from a smaller form factor. Uh, and that aligns us well with advanced manufacturing techniques. So, you know, I think this is really about, uh, a new generation of entrepreneurs looking at nuclear from first principles, and building it the way that we build many other things in the United States.

I, I would like to just add one comment. I I I think Mr. Taylor was exactly right. I I think innovation principles in general are very important here. Um, historically as we built reactors, we liked to build the biggest, most perfect reactor we could. Took years and years and years in that design process. Then we would go to the field, we would build, and find out there were things that we had not designed correctly, or other challenges. With this innovation effort, the designs are starting quickly. people are testing things, we're finding things that either don't work or need to be done design differently and then there's changes made very quickly in the process. By doing that, we're gaining the the scientific and engineering basis. So as we move to that commercial plant, by the time we get there, the system has been de-risked. And so its ability to operate effectively, to be on schedule, to be on budget, become much more likely. And so I think it's it's a really great process that we're working on.

The Gin Lady's mike on.

Can you hear me now?

I can hear you now. I can hear you now.

So, Doctor Shannon, as Ranking Member Ross mentioned, it is wonderful to see faculty from one of

Um, thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Uh, thank you very much for the question. Uh, partnership in this area, especially for universities, is vital. Uh, we're talking about uh, some some some some pretty some some asks with some pretty high dollar values for what universities usually ask for as far as infrastructure goes. And partnership across universities is vital. A lot of the efforts that you see right now for things like workforce development and a lot of the the the the research endeavors are multi-university efforts. Uh, we draw from expertise from as many, from from from multiple universities. It's very rare to find research efforts that don't tie in multiple universities, multiple national labs, and industry. Uh, we have consortia in our department that, where we draw from partnerships across multiple companies. We belong to, uh, academic consortia, where our research i- where our research and our results are pooled and where - and where we - we - we think that the The sum is greater than the parts, and we and we function that way. Um, and I think that that needs to continue. You can see where that benefited a lot of other high technology spaces. You can see that in fusion energy, you can see that in semiconductors, you can see that in AI, where multi-university partnerships uh strengthened the Univ- Univ- the United States' position in these technical areas. I think nuclear is no different, and I think that the the culture of the nuclear engineering programs that you see in the United States are definitely in line with the importance of of that collaborative, that collaborative spirit.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I yield back.

Yelda yields back and the chairman recognizes himself for five minutes. Mister Bramble, we're gonna come to you. And Terris, is it Mark O that you all pronounce that? Not Mark zero?

Mark zero.

Mark zero, OK. Mark zero became the first novel reactor designed to achieve criticality, criticalic, say that ten times, criticality. at Idaho National Laboratory, INL, for more than fifty five zero years. What did Antares learn from that discrimination, the demonstration that will directly inform the next reactor you all develop?

I think that's a great question.

Your mike, please.

Yes, sir, I think that's a great question. So, um, you know, first it was an opportunity for us to constrain the problem and, you know, move forward both both with speed and with safety so that we could validate uh, the way that we are going to store, handle, load fuel into our reactor, the actual procedure for fueling it, the start-up sequences, uh, the performance of our control system, and we're able to compare that back to the physics models that we modeled. Um, the other thing is, you know, we all design these reactors in a virtual environment, but until you've actually exercised the supply chain, you don't have a design. And this was an opportunity to go out on a rapid time-line, um, and exercise that supply chain. The other thing I'd like to mention is, um, you know, we just went through an end-to-end licensing activity, and that regulatory engagement actually forms the basis of the next reactor that we're doing in the same facility with the same lot of fuel that we've already fabricated. Um, one of the things that we learned from this from this from this program, from this effort, uh, you know, perhaps under-discussed, but I think is a model for the nation is, um, you know, for too long we've treated nuclear regu- regu- regulation as, um, you know, kind of the realm of lawyers, right? A a legal proceeding and Um, actually it is both safer and faster when you treat regulatory engagement as an engineering problem first and foremost, where you prove safety, right? You rely on physics to establish a safety basis. And that drives your requirements. That drives how you set up your organization. And that's what we did on the pilot program that I think allowed us to move so fast.

That's good to hear I take it you're not a lawyer.

Yeah, not at this time.

OK. Thank you for that.

Thank you.

I'm gonna go back, a follow-up, uh, criticality is an important milestone, but Antris is looking toward producing electricity with Mark one and deploying reactors at military installations. What additional technical testing is needed between achieving criticality in operating a nuclear reactor reliably in the military field?

Absolutely. So You know, our demonstration at Idaho National Lab, what we've completed so far and um, you know, mostly what's been completed to date, um, has really been focused on the reactor itself, not how we take heat from the reactor and convert it into electricity. Uh, and in many ways the power conversion systems are every bit as complex as, as the reactors. They have more moving parts. Um, tolerances are just as challenging, s- difficult supply chains. Um, we started this work three years ago. Uh, and, you know, we've moved through sub-component, hardware iterations, uh, and now we're testing the full-scale system, building it in our, in our factory in Torrance. Um, we'll then integrate that with a reactor at, at Idaho National Lab called the Mark-one reactor, which will operate Um, targeting six plus months, full power, full commercial scale electricity production, and will be nearly identical to the reactor that's then deployed to Fort Bragg.

The reactors that you're building, of course, obviously the Navy has had those in submarines for years and years and years and years, or or or is,

Yes, sir.

and this just, curiosity I have, is the size anywhere as small as the Navy reactor, or about the same?

It's more than an order of magnitude smaller than what's on the, on the naval submarines.

Really?

Um. The other thing I'd like to highlight is that, um, it's a very different operating regime, right? So the the naval reactors use highly enriched uranium, um, the same material that's used in nuclear weapons. That allows them to, uh, s- uh, take advantage of a much longer core life, right? These aren't even designed to be refueled because they last so long. The Navy primarily optimizes for performance above all else. Um, with micro-reactors, you know, primarily what we're focused on, Um, we also care about performance. We care about, you know, mission need, right? We we view this form of energy as strategic, but we also have to worry about the economics of it as well, um, in ways that the Navy doesn't. So that drives a different set of design decisions.

Thank you, sir. Uh, Mr. Lozak, I'm gonna come to you. Um. ALO or ALO, if you wanna call it that, went from groundbreaking to a sustained nuclear chain reaction in less than eight months according to our notes here. What do you think were the key factors that enabled it to move so quickly?

Uh, I'd say it's uh, thank you for the question, first of all. Um, I'd say it could not have happened without the support of the Idaho National Lab. Uh, we are located just outside of the lab fence boundary on DOE land, uh, but we did leverage quite a bit of staff from the Idaho National Lab in order to get to that criticality milestone. And what I'd highlight is what we're really doing next along the same lines as the prior questioning is helping the US to regain its mastery of sodium as a coolant. Um and we think this is a incredibly important um one of the best reactors that the US ever built most interesting reactors and futuristic reactors was EBR two and this demonstrated an incredible passive safety to Isaiah's point, demonstration many many decades ago and unfortunately due to political reasons that reactor was discontinued. And so what we are trying to do is take what's left of that talent and knowledge in the country and rebuild that muscle in order to unlock all the incredible capabilities that I referenced in my testimony.

All right, thank you. I'm passing my time. Um, Mister Christian Minerpi, you are recognized for five minutes.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and uh happy uh late morning to everyone. Uh, I represent Houston, the energy capital of the world. Uh, we are a city that builds things, that moves things, and that powers things. When this committee says nuclear renaissance, my district hears a job, we hear a career, we hear an opportunity to research in power what comes next for the nuclear future of this country. Texas runs a couple plants that carry less than ten percent of our grid's daily generation and as you all know we have a separate grid in the state of Texas. And we've stayed flat for a quarter century while demand keeps climbing. I want Texas to grow, I want Houston to grow, and I want this nation to grow in this space. I also want research dollars to land at schools like Texas Southern University and the University of Houston both of which have been knee-deep in nuclear research and our state's journey for a more dependable low-carbon power. I want a young adult from my district with a welding certificate to have a real path into these jobs. Doctor Shannon, I wanna start with you. Uh, you wrote that we're chasing three hundred gigawatts on top of the hundred that we've already got. and that our training pipeline must grow to match that. You've also laid out how universities are standing up advanced research and test reactors on campus. The University of Houston just joined the Texas Nuclear Alliance. They bring UH energy, the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, and the Texas Center for Superconductivity, and they pull faculty from eleven other sixteen colleges into that energy work. They sit in the middle of the biggest industrial corridor, in the country. Walk me through what a school like the University of Houston or Texas Southern University should be doing over the next twenty-four months to compete for a piece of that research and test react-

commit to research in this area, uh, and get critical mass in their, in their, in their faculty and staff to be able to support this endeavor. That's, that would be the nex- that would be the next step. Um, at that point then, I think, I think that the, the brilliance of your students and your faculties will, will, will get, get, uh,

Um, Mister Taylor, I I wanna go to you for a second. Your company has built something very impressive in a very short window, and you've

Was really built around traditional light water reactor. Regulator. The other thing I would point out is that the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is paid by fees from the industry. Uh, but I think there are opportunities for Congress to act. role in funding the industry uh and r apologies in funding the regulator and helping to make sure that we have the appropriate review staff the final thing I'll say is that the NRC has already been involved in reviewing both our reactor and other reactors at this table as part of the Department of Energy's pilot program the DOE actually reached out to NRC resources naval reactors and other groups and pulled those resources into our DOE pilot program review so the NRC is actually already familiar with all the designs of this table and

Got it. Thank you. I'll you back.

We're gonna call for recess and um subject.

Audio test one two three four.

Chairman's mike one, yeah.

Oh he doesn't cough like that. Yeah. And maybe you should do that.

Cough.

i'm gonna watch this i know she was like very interested in the problem we had to deal with but she was like yeah it was just like

she's attractive she's intelligent and she's like a

yeah she is right and then i was like oh my god they're so good yeah yeah oh wow i was like oh my god i was there for a minute but then i'm like i'm here i'm like i'm here so i'm like i'm here no i mean i mean i mean i'm happy i mean i was just yeah i mean yeah on my way to the restaurant and then i saw a couple of them just walking by and i was like yeah i'm like oh my god they're just like a couple of like like a couple of like yeah like a couple of them and then i realized like i was just like just like a couple of them and then i was like oh my god you know it's easy to start with but it's like you know i don't really like but it's not that it's not the favorite but it's like it's like you know like if you think of it like like the way it's like you know like you know like mom but it really is like a little bit like a little bit of a pretty good i mean like i i would much rather like a little bit more like a little bit more like a little bit more like a little bit more like a little bit more hmmm you don't need that much but i i i i i know that's the thing it's like you know you you you never know how your your band is gonna go down the line you you know you you you know yeah your your your your your your your your your your your your your your your band is gonna go down the line oh and then you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know your band is gonna go down the line and then you know you know you know you know your band is gonna go down the line and then you know you know you know you know you know you know your band will go down the line and then you know your band will go down the line and then you know your band will go down the line and then you know your band will go down the line and then you now you know your band will go down the line

oh yeah

yeah yeah

i think that's a good idea

yeah yeah i'm not sure how to say different so i'll just start with like older kids

hmm

uh-huh and then like whatever oh yeah yeah i think it's more like yeah like family yeah definitely i think um i think like your mom or your dad or something like that so i think like like family and stuff yeah yeah yeah it's like a fire in the back you know like a fire in a bear in a lion yeah yeah yeah it's like a huge thing like you can't even see it from up to the top it's like a huge yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah door just like a huge empty room with like a lot of stuff in it like like yeah like a lot of things like like a lot of things like like a lot of things like yeah like a lot of things like like a lot of things like like a big area that's yeah like a lot of the animals that live there are like like a little little bit of a lot of the animals that live there like like a little little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit there like a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bird that's like a kite and then i worked for like a year and a half i got a job at a company that they had a that's awesome yeah restaurant where they make like a sandwich with like a whole plate of oh wow that's like nice yeah potatoes and like a whole chicken and like a whole onion and like a whole pepperoni and like a whole garlic and like a whole cayenne and like a whole chives. yeah yeah there's another two yeah oh there's another two there's another two well i think that one yeah should be good yeah yeah there's another two yeah yeah well i think you can order that yeah yeah yeah yeah i do that i don't put batteries in the car in the shower i put it in the water and then i put it in the water and then i just put it in the shower and oh oh then i just put it in the shower and then i just put it in the water and oh yeah then i just put it in the water and then i just put it in the shower i put it in the shower and then i just put it in the water and then i just put it after in the shower and then i just put it in the shower and then i just put it into the water and then i just put it in the shower and then i just put in the water and then i just put it in the shower and then i just pour it in the yeah you know yeah so how did you get your first there is a there is a way to get it so you know yeah i knew it i knew it yeah i knew it i know um it's like a yeah like a yeah after the first one yeah oh my god yeah oh you're gonna like it yeah yeah they have like a whole bunch of different yeah oh that's great yeah like a hot products at the lunch bar like the whole thing was made in like a way from wheat or like oh yeah yeah like like like yeah it's not really hard at all yeah yeah like i'm just like all of these parts are like like i had this one and then the next and then it was like oh man i don't like it i didn't like it right very kind of secretive yeah yeah yeah yeah still kind of like a and almost to go under that was to be like a secret yeah and i think there's like a hundred dollars yeah yeah in like a hundred dollars a pack yeah um the the um the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the uh the the the the the the the the the the the the the the um the the the the the the the the the the the uh the the uh the the the the the the the the the the the uh the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the yeah the the the the the the the the the the the the the the that the the the the the the the the the the the the the the is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is a very good idea friend who was like oh i don't know if you guys are very familiar with this i was like very familiar with this and then i was like oh no i'm not familiar with this and then i yeah very familiar really um was like no no no no no and then i was like oh yeah yeah yeah and then i was like oh yeah yeah and then i was like oh yeah i'm not familiar with this and then i was like oh yeah it's like a a very sad moment

yeah

yeah like when you're riding on the road and you're taking off your seat yeah and then you're like you're driving super fast and then you're like yeah yeah

yeah

i'll do this i'll do this you know and then you go like yeah i'll do this and then you go like you're like i'll do this and then you go like yeah no yeah yeah yeah yeah uh-huh yeah i was like oh yeah i was like you know like you got that i think i'm gonna wait and see audio test that's still really hard to decide testing one two three four five mmm i'm gonna wait and see um i'm gonna wait and see um the um the um the um the um the um the um the um uh the um the um the um the um the um the um the um the um

Audio test one two three four.

Yeah. Oh, this is really good. so that's like one hundred percent yeah wow i would say that one hundred percent yeah that's pretty high that's pretty steady i mean yeah yeah definitely right right right yeah yeah one hundred percent ok yeah so now if i go around ninety thousand it's kind of a lot yeah it's kind of a lot of a lot of a lot of a lot of a lot of a little bit of a lot of a lot of a lot of a lot of a and then we're looking for a place to start our classes and uh-huh yeah we're just starting our classes and then we'll go to yeah a place and then we'll go back and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll come back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll go back to our classes and then we'll come back to our classes and then we'll come back to our classes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah uh-huh yeah yeah yeah yeah like classic american style like a classic american style like a yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah like a classic american style like a classic american style like a like a classic american style like a classic american style like a yeah yeah yeah like a classic american style like a classic american style like a yeah like a classic american style like a classic american style like a yeah yeah like a classic american style like a classic american style like a uh-huh it's like a classic american style like a very

The name Valor is very significant to me. Um, I worked under my business when I was practicing, so thank you very much for sharing that information. S- South Carolina is at the heart of America's nuclear legacy. For generations, our skilled workforce has powered the nation's nuclear mission. And today, as AI, national security, and manufacturing all demand more power, um, nuclear energy matters more than ever. South Carolina is proud to lead the way, keeping America the world's top nuclear power while delivering reliable affordable energy that lowers costs for our communities, especially in our rural areas. My first question, uh Savannah River National Lab is central to that effort that I just mentioned. Lending the technical expertise needed to recycle legacy nuclear materials into the fu- in into the fuel our next generation of advanced reactors will require. This important work is critical for both our national security and our energy future. I think the the chairman earlier mentioned a little bit about um the cost and funding. My question is simple but kind of related to that. How does the Department of Energy provide the funding and support needed for this important work to continue? And I know we heard from Doctor Hoagland a little bit earl earlier about the the hot cell facilities and to increase the number and also modernize what we have. But if you would like to elaborate a little more on that, and I would also like to hear from the others.

Uh, yeah, thank you for the question. Uh, yeah, I think as we look forward, uh, from where we are today, and I think, um, Savannah River and and Oak Ridge are good examples, one of the keys going forward is how do we think about the fuel that we have today and how do we think about the advanced fuels that we're developing and how they're going to be used. In order for us to understand the science and the engineering that has to go around those fuels, we need the f- kinds of facility where you can work with and manage them. So hot cells is part of that. When we - when you have a ra- irradiated a fu- a fuel that becomes radioactive it has to be worked on in a - in an environment safely right where there's no no exposure to folks so having those kinds of facilities are critical going on then coupled with that we have to also have the facilities that allow us to continue to do research into new kinds of fuels so for example triso-X something uh the the lab is advanced and is now becoming commercial uh it we need the kinds of um materials testing, the kinds of computer simulation testing, and um what we call PIE, which is the ability to actually evaluate the fuel and make sure it's operating uh in a safe way over over time. And then now we need to have the chemistry and the separation sciences to think about how do we recycle that fuel. So I think those are critical um infrastructure things that all of the laboratories need to continue uh to be able to have available to support industry.

Thank you.

Uh, and thank you, Congresswoman, you know, South Carolina is very special to me in particular, all of my wife's family are longtime uh multi-generational Clemson, uh and uh also the

Yes.

We should have brought our mascot today.

Ah, that's right, yeah, I I totally dropped the ball here. Um, but uh also the the Cseventeen's that carried our uh nuclear reactor, two of the three were were from South Carolina. And, uh, and actually the pilot gave me a, a, uh, a small Clemson badge and I told my wife's family's from there. So, um, the, you know, Savannah River actually helped us out in this War Two-fifty criticality. Uh, we needed a new container certified for transporting TRISO fuel. Uh, we had a unique format of TRISO fuel. It's a little bit different than, you know, some of the others that exist today. And, uh, it was incredible to see the laboratory spring into action and, uh, and to be able to do this. And I think there's a lot of these areas where We need rapid regulatory support and safety analysis, uh, that, you know, there's decades of safety experience in these labs, and it's really amazing to see them spring into action. Um, so I think, you know, doubling down on that and continuing to make sure that we have these areas of expertise within the labs is incredibly important.

Thank you.

Congresswoman, if I may. Um, we at Antares actually have an office in Aiken, South Carolina, shortly outs- outside of the gate of Savannah River National Lab. And, um, you know, one of the reasons we chose to locate there, uh, you know, is because the workforce and the and the critical mission that the lab performs. Um, through our work on the Army's Janus program and our our work with the Air Force as well, we are required to develop a long-term solution to the to the waste product that's generated from these reactors. So there is ongoing work between the DOW and the DOE, uh, in working on a a long-term site where where where, um, you know, that could be achieved. Savannah River has unique capabilities in in reprocessing that, you know, we believe can both solve that problem while also making more payload available to the to the country as a whole. Um, so that's very important to us. Um, the other thing I would say to the matter of funding it, um, you know, there's always much debate about the economics of reprocessing, but if you look at uh what that funding will do to the development of workforce and the broader set of personnel capabilities that'll be developed, these will pay dividends not just in nuclear energy but throughout um, our strategic deterrence programs, um, other things that the military is responsible for, uh, and will really benefit the nation as a whole. So it is quite important.

Thank you so much. My time has expired, so I'm sorry, I have to move on and I will now recognize Representative Foster for five minutes of questions.

Uh, thank you, uh, Chair Biggs, and I'd also like to thank Ranking Member Ross, uh, for helping organize this meeting. You know, I'm the proud co-chair, uh, with Representative Fleischman of this committee of, uh, both the Advanced New nuclear caucus and the national labs caucus. Um, I also, I guess, represent one hundred percent of the strategic reserve of PHD physicists in the US Congress. Um, and, um, uh, and I represent actually both Argonne National Lab and, um, and Fermi National Lab where I worked for twenty-three years. Um, and, uh, I'd also like to congratulate the whole industry on the criticality milestones. You know, ever since I was in graduate school, um, I've been frustrated by the existence of advanced nuclear designs that were simply not And it's really great to see them. I actually have in my hand here, um, uh, memento of the first, uh, criticality milestone, which was Enrico Fermi's, uh, nuclear pile, uh, underneath the Stag Stadium in, in Chicago, um, the University of Chicago. Um, and, and so it's, uh, it's a pleasure to me to just make contact with the technical, uh, progress that's been made from time to time when, you know, come to Congress. Uh, now one of the things I've been keeping my eye on, um, is one of the challenges of small modular reactors is they tend to have lower burn-ups. Uh, so that that means that they make more, uh, more tons of nuclear waste per, um, kilowatt hour of power. And it would say, uh, the only way around that, I believe, is going to be reprocessing. And is there any progress on that? On just getting higher, higher burn-ups in the small modular reactors? Or do we really have to you know, either either come to a political solution where we agree to just entomb these in Yucca Mountain or some successor or make uh or finally make um, you know, reprocessing economical. So what's the sort of status of that?

Mm-hmm. Uh, thank you for the question. Uh, we think a lot about this. So, uh, there's been some great recent progress on the NLIC side of things where five different states were down-selected by the DOE to be potential homes of future recycling and reprocessing. Uh, we do have catch-up to do here. So France today is recycling most of their fuel for mixed oxide fuels. And that's one good way to get another five percent, another five percent, another five percent each time you go through the the fuel cycle. Um, with fast spectrum reactors, we could increase that to around twenty percent on each, uh, burn-up cycle and also achieve a much higher burn-up, uh, in general. with that technology. So this is something that we are working on uh in partnership with Idaho National Lab. And I would I would add that I think what's really interesting is the government is great at resolving chicken and egg challenges. And with the industry, we have to be really good at proving that a fast spectrum reactor can be as cost-effective as a light-water reactor. When that happens, we will unlock the economics of reprocessing and fast spectrum. But part of that also requires metallic fuel. And so with investment in the fuel, with the government helping to resolve that chicken and egg problem, the public-private partnership of bringing the cost down of fast spectrum reactors, along with bringing the cost down of metallic fuel and triso fuel, uh, is a critical thing that we should do as a nation.

Yeah. So actually the, the question on triso fuel, if you're gonna reprocess, the first thing you have to do is, you know, get past all the ceramic and so on that you put around it. Is that actually a technical barrier on this or does the TRISO actually uh represent a significant barrier to eventually reprocessing?

Well, it So first thing I'd just say, the purpose when TRISO was built, right, was to make it incredibly tough, right? So that so now you wanna take it back apart, right? So it it takes a little bit of doing, but no, it's it's possible to take that fuel back apart. Um we have to figure out how to do it economically, have to figure out how to do it at scale. Um, I - I'd like to add to - to Mister Lozak. I - I - I think high burn-up is part of the solution. I think just putting us in a position to take the fuels and being able to extract everything that is useful, right, so you've got certainly, uh, the fuel that's still there, um, but you've also other - got other transuranics that can be used. The fact that supply chain now from other countries is becoming a challenge, having that available in the US is important. And then you have the other isotopes that are in, uh, that are being created inside those fuels. Many of those isotopes now are becoming economically important and strategically important for a lot of other technologies. So being able to pull those back out and being able to use them, not only then reduces the amount of fuel, but it re- it reduces the - the cross-sectional load, uh, from a radioactive and toxicity standpoint. Um. And there's a lot of effort now at the laboratories and in the private sector to figure out how do we actually do that in a way that's that's cost-effective. Um, and I'm super encouraged.

You know, as soon as you break apart the tricell, you know, you have to deal with all the volatile stuff that comes off and find,

It, yes, depending on which kind of process you use.

you know Yeah, and so is there a, you know, when when you work through the economics of this, is it, oops, I am now, this is way too much fun.

Yeah.

I just wanna

Co- Congressman, if if I may

The gentleman's Yeah, well I just I just want to point out this this microphone

Yeah.

broadcast problem did not happen when Democrats were in charge. I just want to

The gentleman in California is now recognized for five minutes.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I want to thank the witnesses, uh, for being here today. Mister Bramble, thank you for, uh, for hosting me at Antares, uh, nuclear's, uh, facility in California, and for your, uh, work, uh, that your team is doing to advance micro, uh, nuclear, uh, micro-reactor technology. I would encourage my colleagues uh to see firsthand uh as well uh because uh a a site visit does more to explain the promise of this technology than in any hearing, I think um it could. Um most Americans do not realize how strained and vulnerable our our grid has become. I appreciate uh Antares and all the other um uh uh private sector partners um in terms of the work that they're doing to be part of the solution to that problem. Um to Mister Bramble, from a resilience standpoint, how would uh, micro-reactors to strengthen resilience for the military, for the civilian grid, for space missions, and for other applications, uh, such as nuclear power for maritime infrastructure at our ports. Uh, what, what, you know, take a step back, give us a big picture perspective on, on what can be done and, uh, to solve the resilience problem.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for the question. Um, maybe just to zoom out for a minute. Um, you know, the unique characteristics of nuclear fission Um, right now it's the highest capacity factor form of energy generation that we have in this country the light-water reactors after decades of development operate at ninety-three percent capacity factor when you put these small units together modularly you can achieve even higher capacity factors theoretically than that, right? Um, and that's ultimately what we're working towards. Um, in addition to the capacity factors, they have one of the lowest sustainment tail, if not the lowest sustainment tail of any other form of power generation. So one of the challenges our military faces, and I'd encourage everybody to think about our missile defense infrastructure, um the North Warning radar throughout the thr- throughout the Arctic slope in Alaska and throughout Canada um our strategic deterrence assets, command and control, cyber warfare, um all of these assets that ju- that exist inside of our country that generate these strategic mission effects throughout the globe, um and in space, sat- satellite communications and electromagnetic warfare, um broadly these technologies either depend on a civilian grid, which are

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. As someone who's also a member of the of the Homeland Security, As someone who's also a member of the of the Homeland Security, uh, uh, committee, committee, as well as the Cyber Subcommittee, as well as the Cyber Subcommittee, uh, uh, certainly, certainly, uh, uh, they take that point very seriously. they take that point very seriously. Um, Um. to both Mister Bramble um and to Mister Taylor, both of you uh have companies that are uh that are headquartered in California. Uh California currently has a moratorium on new nuclear power plants. What opportunities is California missing out on because of that moratorium, and how would the state lifting it change the energy landscape in the state? I'd be curious to know your perspective.

Well thank you for the question Congressman. I I think that over the next couple of decades, uh a a few US States will emerge as leaders in advanced nuclear, and therefore in energy abundance. And, uh, like I mentioned in my opening remarks, energy has always been very important. It's, it's been important for being able to run factories and to be able to create metals and all these different things that we need for industry. I think it's becoming more important than it ever was before. We're gonna see more automated factories with higher rates of production. Uh, we are gonna see metals come back to the United States, steel, aluminum and other things. And the States which decide to lead on that, will be the ones which benefit from it in terms of jobs and industry and and all of these things. Um, so I, I think that there is a window of time here, you know, speaking as somebody who, you know, might, uh, go into the office every day in Torrance and, you know, look around at all the incredible resources around us, the best town in the entire world is in South Bay, LA, uh, and we're not allowed to turn on the reactors that we build there. We have to ship ours, you know, to different s- to a different state, um, so I think there's an enormous opportunity here if we're willing to, to work on that.

Um, we we agree wholeheartedly. Um, you know, I think w- w- one of the things you'll find in California, um, is we've invested substantially in the build-out, uh, of of renewables. Um, and, you know, ourselves, um, I suspect everybody on this panel, uh, broadly supports the the the scaled adoption of renewable energy, but, um, generally what we've invested in are not dispatchable from technologies and we actually end up shunting it when it's not in use. Um, and then furthermore, uh, uh, the state of California is often importing, uh, you know, dispatchable from power that's generated in other states, right? And so, um, you know, that's ultimately not the way in the long term we're going to make, uh, electricity rates the cheapest possible for - for - for - for the residents of California. Um, we ha- actually pay, uh, amongst the highest in the nation for - for retail electricity. Um, and, uh, I don't think it's the way that - the long term that we're gonna encourage the industrialization uh of the economy in California and um to Mister Taylor's point South Bay of LA has some of the greatest engineering talent on planet earth and uh you know we're we're we're gonna have to be able to attract that industry for it to continue to be a a hub of industrialization going forward.

Uh thank you very much I've run out of time but I look forward to working with you all, uh as we advance this technology. Mister Chairman I go back.

Gentleman Neal's back, the General Manager of Maryland is now recognized for at least five minutes.

Oh, thank you. Thank you to the chair and ranking members, and thanks to to uh the witnesses here today. I think I might be one of the last ones um uh you know at the tail end. Um and I I really do appreciate you all talking about US leadership in this nuclear um renaissance, and how important it is as many of our um my colleagues have talked about the resilience and redundancy of our grid in terms of energy. Um I represent Maryland's sixth congressional district, and it stretches from up County Montgomery County, which is adjacent to DC to Western and Mountain Maryland. And we are really, um, the hub of innovative research, thanks to an incredible workforce. But we also have, uh, parts of NIH, NIST, uh, our Cancer Institute, uh, Fort Detrick, and we do a lot of extensive biosafety research. The innovative companies in my district are really also at the forefront of clean energy and are particularly working with, um, institutions like NIST. I just visited Constellation Energy's wind project in Oakland. and Xenergy at the forefront of nuclear energy research and development, and is part of DOE's advanced reactor demonstration program. And I think they sent in a letter for the record. As these technologies move from the research domain to commercial success, I have two main questions. Is the technology safe? And will it eventually make energy more accessible and affordable? First on safety, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees nuclear energy projects. And the administration has tried to take some of that regulatory authority and move it under the president's direction. The NRC is supposed to be an independent regulator, which is crucial and critical for public trust and public safety. And one critical safety incident really could undermine and be catastrophic for the entire industry. So, Doctor Hoagland and Doctor Shannon, I know federal investments are critical to your institutions, and you are both widely respected nuclear experts, so I just have to ask, Is there a potential that political interference and nuclear safety oversight could make it harder for these companies to succeed? And is there a potential um to undermine public trust or potentially undermine independent decision making?

Uh, yeah, I think

And I'm not trying to be political, I really wanna make sure, cuz I believe in independent um agencies.

Yeah, I I I appreciate the question. I think utmost for all of us, right, safety is is the most important concern and I think has been mentioned in here today. It, the industry cannot have a a mistake as we're as we're going through this. If you look at what's happened to date, there's a great partnership going on between the Department of Energy, the National Laboratories, and the NRC. Um, the laboratories, Oak Ridge National Lab, for example, has a very long partnership with NRC, uh, where we do a lot of technical and and back-up analysis for them. to make sure that the things that people are proposing in any sort of uh reactor design are well thought out. We give it an independent evaluation, we provide that information back to the NRC. In the efforts that happened this this last summer, there was a combination of work between the NRC, between DOE, between the uh um uh Department of Defense, right, that were all engaged looking at uh these uh technologies and making sure they met all of the safety criteria. So I think I think that partnership has has guaranteed that we're on the right pathway. I think there is work that can be done at frankly all of our organizations to figure out how do we streamline and modernize the way we think about safety analysis, how can we bring tools such as AI into the process, to make it simpler and easier, not less safe, but more efficient using modern technology, and I think that's what we're all working toward.

Perfect.

Um, with regard to the safety, I think, I think Dr. Holden's captured uh a lot of that. One thing I wanted to touch on in in your opening statement was the transition from research to commercial.

Right.

And the role of, you know, the question then becomes is what's the role of universities as as as a as a technology moves up the technology lines.

Very important foundational research.

So one analogy I'll draw is another area that I've worked a lot in is semiconductors. And if you look at these steps it takes to make a computer chip, it's fundamentally the same unit processes used today or the ones that were used thirty years ago when I first started working in this space. Uh, it is a, is a combination of etching, deposition, lithography, and all of, and all the fundamental root technologies that were used thirty years ago are still used today. But if you obviously look at the performance of a computer chip, in nineteen ninety nine versus two thousand s- twenty six. It is, it is extraordinarily more cost-effective, right? The, the, the, the, the computational capacity is higher, and it's, and it's, and, and it's, and that was born out of continuing to develop the basic research that eventually fed into the improvements in commercialization, which this industry will realize, you will, you will, will further realize the economic advantages as you continue to develop things at the basic science level.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, uh, I am running out of time time, so I'm just gonna say I will submit to the record, um, something about partnerships and turning how we, um, really actually building public-private partnerships into a commercial reality, but and improve good reliability, but I'll submit that for the record. Thank you and I yield back.

Uh, the gentlelady's at least five minutes has expired. And the gentleman in Colorado is recognized.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. I'm encouraged by the questions and the testimony that we've had in this hearing. The question is not whether nuclear is good, but the question is what does American nuclear manufacturing in that industry require? Um, Mister Taylor, you have demonstrated that uh nuclear uh that that reactor physics work. What's the biggest constraint between um building one successful manufac- or one successful reactor and manufacturing dozens? Is it fuel, is it technology, licensing, manufacturing capacity, or is it something else?

Uh, thank you for the question, Congressman. Um, I would say as of six months ago there was a, there was a question of which one of these things was gonna be the bottleneck. Um, for a long time licensing has been the biggest bottleneck, I think we're seeing that rapidly change, which is amazing. Um, you know, like other people have mentioned, not through a change in safety standard, but through a change in emphasis on building reactors and testing them. rather than uh rather than on trying to uh fully get to a commercial product the very first time you turn something on. I think that now we're looking at uh the broad-based uh manufacturing supply chain for many things in the United States. You know, there are electronic supply chain, for example, is quite limited uh here in the United States and it's not an option for us to, you know, purchase our nuclear instrumentation from China, for example. Um and so I think that there are uh unfortunately it's shared with many other industries. if we're gonna try to make cars and drones and aircraft and nuclear reactors, you're gonna face many of these similar bottlenecks. Um, it's why we've designed the reactor the way that we have. We try to use, uh, commercial off-the-shelf technology wherever possible. We try to, uh, we've actuall designed the reactor in the size and form factor that it is, because it allows us to use the oil and gas supply chain, for example, in a lot of cases. Um, so at this point, you know, the, the next big, you know, blocker on our road map is fuel. Um, we're producing our own fuel, uh, in order to, to scale as fast as we need to go. Um, but we would love to see more enrichment come online. You know, if we're gonna go from the, you know, uh, ninety gigawatts, uh, that we have in the United States today into the couple of a hundred we will need more fuel and more enrichment. Um, so we're helping tackle the fabrication side of that, but the enrichment side, uh, does need to catch up.

Is that part of the standardization that you're talking about in order to move from bespoke plant construction to manufacturing? fuel is a part of that standardization.

Yeah, and I would say that there are many different types of nuclear fuel, and it's a good thing that there are many different types. You know, we very much believe in a, a diversity of different designs, different supply chains. Uh, the free market is really good at figuring out this sort of thing, uh, and scaling. Uh, that said, I think it's time for us to, to actually move into scale. We have a couple of different leading designs and, uh, yeah, we, we need to scale up. The demands that we're seeing in AI and advanced manufacturing are unlike anything that the in- you know, energy industry has ever seen before, and they're only getting greater. Um, so at this point, Valor is entirely focused on scaled production. Um, and we're doing that in, you know, in states that really believe in being part of the energy future. Uh, so that's - that's where we're looking today.

Great. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Doctor Hoagland, uh, you make the great point that criticality is the, is the threshold, not the endpoint. What's the next milestone we should care about in Congress if the objective is commercial deployment?

Yeah, thank you for that question. I I think the next step now is is that scale, right? We gotta go from taking all of the fundamental information, engineering, science that has been learned, and now that's got a scale in the next step to an actual deployable plant. Um, and I think the learnings then that come from that have to then be fed into a p- a su- a building supply chain. Right? Cuz even even as you get to this, the full demonstration, um, you're still not gonna have a supply chain, you still don't have the standardization. Without that, it's gonna be difficult to get to effective cost. So what you you need to take that step to demonstration, then you need to take the step to standardization. That'll build a supply chain that can make costs go down and become more reliable.

And the capital would be ready to deploy once that's there right I mean private industry clearly is

yeah I I think I I came from the utility industry and if you can if

winning

ninety three ninety five percent capacity factor is a wonderful thing if I can make that cost effective utilities will use it all day long industry will use it all day long

right I uh as a former electric utility uh attorney myself I understand that and it's an incredible promise there uh Mister Chairman I think my time is about ready to expire so I will yield the Thank you all for being here and thanks for this great hearing,

J-

Mister Chairman.

You're welcome. The gentleman kneels back. The gentleman in Utah is recognized for five minutes.

Thank you Mister Chair for allowing me to wave onto this outstanding committee. And to our witnesses for being here, and Isaiah, thank you, it's good to see you again. I was at the Abundance Institute's uh sponsored event. Uh, this is spring, yeah. It's great seeing you and I appreciate the great work you folks are doing. And I'll just say, Utah is all in on nuclear energy. And I'm afraid to say, and I have a friend and colleague from California, Mister Fong, who spoke earlier, the state of California as an example will be neglectful of you good people, then there are other states more than happy to pick up the pieces that they're gonna drop uh in in i- in what I consider to be an irresponsible fashion so so from our governor through our state legislature and our federal delegation, we are all united. And I'll point out again that the fact that we have a great deal of talent, as you've talked about around your office in Torrance, California, is fine in California, but the reality is is if government is not gonna be a partner with you, it doesn't matter how much talent you have because you can't execute on the capacity that you have. So so I will say, and I'm proud to say, that I'm from a state where you did have to airlift you had to airlift your reactor to my state to actually get it to criticality which it has done. And I'm proud of your work and I'm proud of the fact that we are a welcoming state and a welcoming government to the outstanding work you're doing. We you do uranium milling and we have reactors in the state of Utah, and the we have a nuclear life cell life cycle campus in Utah. We're supportive of the Trump administration's effort to lead this nuclear renaissance from the beginning to the end. We're excited when Valor's Ward two fifty reactor located at the San Rafael Energy Lab in Emory County a very humble place but a great place. And it and it's in my district and it reached criticality back in June, as you've heard earlier. We're making great advancements, and I'm glad this committee is focused on how Congress can help you accelerate the great work that you're going to do. And I'll go back to Mister Taylor. Congratulations to you and your team for the Ward two fifty reaching criticality and I was glad to join you at the Operation Gigawat Summit this past spring it's great to see the progress that's happening not just for the state of Utah and for the work that you're doing but for the co- entire country. So, Isaiah, I have a few questions for you, as you look to scale this technology to more military installations, what are the biggest remaining barriers that you confront?

Yeah, I think you, Congressman, it's been unbelievably, uh, it's been an amazing journey building in Utah. We were looking at many different US states, um, uh, as we're evaluating where to turn on our first reactors, and Utah was far and away the winner. Um, not just the, the governor and the legislature, which were amazing, but even the local community. I mean, we love being in Emory County. Uh, we love being in Orangeville. And I think it's one of the really interesting aspects of Utah, even rural Utah, that they wanna be part of the future. Um, they wanna be part of the future of energy generation, of advanced manufacturing, all these other things. Um, at Valor we really believe it starts with the community. And, you know, it's great to have a governor's support, which we do. But if you don't have the, you know, city council, and the mayor, and, uh, he, and the county, uh, commissioners, uh, it doesn't matter. And so, you know, we've, we've had an amazing time there. Um, we do think that deploying, uh, nuclear on military bases i- is incredibly important. Um, the only thing I would say on that is that I believe that we need to go faster. We're we're seeing that the the other militaries,

Mm-hmm.

you know, our rival militaries around the world are are moving, uh, unfortunately at a faster clip than we are today. Um, and I think there's, uh, one really important thing to note about technological development. It actually goes back to the the safety questions that we were addressing before. Rapid iteration is the key to technological development. And it's also the key to safety. Being able to quickly turn things on, test them, learn from them, redesign, test them again, is really where safety comes from and it's ultimately where cost effectiveness comes from as well um so we would urge Congress uh to think in shorter timelines, to think in more iterations uh and that's really what's going to allow us to scale.

And uh my last question to you with the time remaining is what's your idea to Utah and what is it other states could do and by the way I don't want them to have a competitive advantage on us so we're happy to be the the um the most attractive

Keep the keep the secrets, yeah.

girl at the prom that everybody wants to ask for out for the date. that is how you wanna think about it, but we we welcome you, but what is it States can do to be more friendly and helpful to you as an industry as you pursue your efforts?

Mm. You know, I was talking to the ranking member about this before as well, and what's, you know, good about up about certain States in deployment and I think a lot of people think that it's tax incentives. Lots of States offer this tax incentives. We're happy to pay our taxes, we wanna pay our taxes, we want to be able to actually help, you know, the States and the communities that we're in, be able to build schools and and do other things. It's actually really about speed of permitting. Um, that's really the number one thing, uh, when you're looking at, you know, developing new technologies and building new things, is that you need to be able to know that on the other side, on the government side, you're gonna have an application looked at quickly. You're gonna have rational answer, you know, questions that you'll be able to answer rationally. And, you know, there's really nothing that we can't do if we're able to make sure that that process is fast. Um, and Utah has just been incredible in this. I mean, it's a very sophisticated state in terms of all of the different energy

Thank you for that testimony. My time has expired, but I'll say Utah is ready. We stand ready to help you execute on the programs that you're uh working on. And thank you, Mister Chair, for the time.

Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Michigan for five minutes.

Oh, thank you, Mister Chairman, and I, too, uh, appreciate the opportunity to wave onto this committee and, and, uh, um, I, I'm gonna have a couple of questions about um basically reliability, affordability, which is a a huge watchword obviously, uh but how we get there uh through uh scale and lowering costs through repetition on that. But I the reason why I wanted to to to come is um I represent Southwest Michigan, and no good Michigander would show up anywhere without showing you their their map. Uh so the district down here along the uh along Lake And, uh, we are, uh, we're home to a small town called Covert. Uh, Covert, Michigan, uh, is home to the Palisades nuclear power plant. Uh, that, uh, that is the, uh, really a historic thing that is happening right now. Uh, they are restarting a commercial nuclear plant after shutting it down, taking the rods out, taking all fuel out, and having a plan decommission. And, uh, it Restoring this is actually going to put eight hundred megawatts of reliable carbon-free base load back onto the grid and support hundreds of good paying jobs, has been already. Um, and, uh, just this past weekend the process of loading or maybe reloading, uh, that nuclear fuel into the reactor began. Uh, so it's pretty exciting major milestone for, uh, for all of us in the district, but I think also for those of us that have been working on these projects for - for many years. You know, Palisades shut down in twenty twenty-two and from the federal level, uh, we started working on a bipartisan basis across two administrations, um, to, uh, to bring it back online. And I've - I've visited the site myself a number of times, uh, and it's truly a testament to the type of energy dominance that we can achieve when community, the private sector, public stakeholders all come together and I think put our - put our heads together. So, uh, Holtec, the, uh, current owner and operator of, uh, Palisades is, uh, has - also has plans to construct two SMRs, so m- small modular reactors on site, and I think that's really gonna put Southwest Michigan, uh, on the forefront of the next generation of American nuclear energy. Um, look, we know that, uh, electricity demand is increasing, whether it be through EVs or whether it be through, uh, compute power, whether it be through manufacturing, whether it be just us as consumers. We - we know that, uh, uh, eh, we have a lack of capacity here in the United States. And, uh, we've seen decisions, including in places like my own in the state of Michigan, uh, those decisions in recent years, uh, have made utility costs higher. They've been shutting down our base load, uh, uh, through coal-fired power plants and things like that. And we, we've had nothing to, uh, replace that. Uh, it's, especially when you saw radical environmentalists reject nuclear for so long. And, uh, I, I think that we're at a really exciting time where we're seeing nuclear, uh, come back because it is gonna be affordable. So affordable energy is the watchword, uh, for me and, um, you know, I - I - I think, look, you know, families, whether it's in Michigan or anywhere else in any of our districts, uh, really, uh, understand this is not an abstract debate for them. Um, they experience it when they open their utility bill. And as I said, in places like Michigan where - where we had other considerations other than cheap power driving, uh, decisions, regulatory decisions, uh, which enforcing really private sector, uh, uh, providers of that energy into making decisions that aren't necessarily good business decisions, and they certainly weren't good for, uh, for, uh, for capacity, uh, issues. Um, you know, that's, uh, that's a, that's hit us in manufacturing. Michigan has an intense manufacturing need for electricity to expand, uh, our manufacturing base. And, um, you know, we're, uh, we're wanting to make sure that, uh, plants are built in our home state or here in the United States if we wanna look at it more broadly rather than them going overseas. That means the United States has to have clean, affordable energy for consumers, for, uh, manufacturers,

OK.

for everyone. So, my questions. Um, Doctor Hoagland, uh, from a system-wide perspective, how do we preserve and expand nuclear generation to keep electricity reliable and affordable for families and manufacturers? And then, Mister Lozak, I want to get to you, uh, you specifically discussed manufacturing reactors at scale and lowering costs through repetition. Um, what needs to happen for those costs to be, uh, the cost savings to become real and ultimately show up in the price consumers are paying for their electricity? So, Mister Hoagland.

Yeah. Yeah, really quickly. There are two parts to that. One, the existing fleet. So Palisades is a perfect example, right? Ha- we - we need to manage and continue those - that fleet to operate, right? Many of the plants have already got licenses for sixty years of operation. They're moving to eighty years of operation. Um, making sure all the safety, all the operability for those plants is maintained is critical. Cuz if we we don't we lose the ninety gigawatts that we already have. Then behind that, we need to then begin to think about how do we use micro-reactors to support parts of the grid which which the folks here are representing we need using the same ideas of innovation the same ideas of standardization how do we then apply that to SMR scale um technologies and how do we apply that to large scale AP one thousand technologies. All of that together uses similar technologies, uses similar fuels, uses um similar manufacturing capabilities, so it all at the end of the day drives back to the standardization and the supply chain. If we will keep moving all of those, then you will have the new technologies available and you can begin to deploy them where they make the most sense on the grid. So in some places a micro-reactor is gonna be exactly what you other places you'll need large scale

gentleman's time has

i've i've worn out my welcome mr.

has expired

chairman i do appreciate the opportunity though

so no sir you've not worn out your welcome you've just worn out your six minutes and thirty seven seconds who's who's counting i recognize mr.

i deeply appreciate that

bear five minutes

thank you mr. chairman and ranking member you know i always enjoy the expertise that we have here and your witnesses and there's been a change in my opinion around the country uh on how we view uh nuclear and i think that's a fantastic uh and it's it's because of people like you that that do that but you know i'd like to start off with a comment because i think it's relevant to my area back home uh and mister taylor you made in your in your um remarks and i'm gonna quote it cause i think it's well said that we do not need to pick data centers and power prices uh by putting down uh on the ground preemptively the selling uh and the opportunity to sell excess power back to the grid we can lower the prices for some of the communities uh while building the ai complete and be able to compute uh this important aspect of being able to have our our nation be competitive so i thought that was very relevant because we've got some push back in some of the rural areas in my area because they just you know they they understand data centers but they're not they're not sure they want them right right next to right next to them but i thought that was uh very relevant to the times so all i wanted to do is just repeat that and and thank you for that comment so my question's uh my question goes to doctor holden uh purdue university is in my district uh and it's home to india it's only a nuclear reactor Purdue or PUR one and it's almost the nation's first, it is the nation's first and only all digital NRC licensed research reactor. So Purdue researchers are using that capability to explore technologies like digital twins, artificial intelligence, cyber security and remote reactor operations. So, Doctor Holden, can you discuss in your test, and you did in your testimony, uh the work at Oak Ridge and what they're doing with digital engineering, modeling, simulation, and ai enabled tools to accelerate nuclear employment and deployment. So how important how important will technologies like digital twins, ai enabled monitoring, uh be to getting advanced reactors from demonstration to widespread commercial deployment? And what role should universities like Purdue play alongside uh the national laboratories um in validating these technologies.

Uh, yes, Congressman, thank you for that question. It's a great question. Um, what, I might be a little biased coming from the laboratory, but I would say the ability to model in digital twin is absolutely critical. Um, and the reason I say that is the physics involved in these advanced reactors and in their designs is extremely complex. Having digital twins allows us to greatly speed up the process of the design, understand the physics and to ensure safety uh as as these are built. Um the laboratory complex actually working with many universities has developed capabilities and utilized the high performance computing systems at the laboratories to be able to do very high fidelity, very detailed analysis of all of the different reactor designs that that are being contemplated. That greatly simplifies the ability to license and eventually to manufacture. Um, having the universities involved in that is - is critical for a couple of reasons. One, it's an opportunity for the workforce to be developed. We need folks that can do not only - they can do AI, they can do high-performance computing, but they can apply it specifically to nuclear challenges. We need more of those badly. They're - But there's um a shortage at the moment I think it was as we've already talked. Um it also allows an opportunity though there's a lot of creativity in the in the universities and those students have the I think the opportunity to really um, affect the direction of where nuclear energy may go.

So can you sh- can you enlighten me on what the what the connectivity there between the twin, having the twin, what does that do? does that

oh yes sir um so think of a digital twin as that so it's it's a simulation in a computer environment of the way a real reactor would work but you can make all kinds of changes without having to worry about you know manufacturing or safety or any of that and you can push operational characteristics to the envelope to make sure it operates safely without causing any damage to anything

OK, thank you. We got sixteen seconds left, but Mister Taylor, I had a I had a question about uh, you know, the the other thing, not only do we get electricity out of using nuclear, but I was really interested in the high temperature that we can use in industrial manufacturing and so on, cuz you you you can't get to those high temperatures in a very easy manner, and having this kind of capability is good. And so we're already we're already down to s- I'm already seven seconds over, so thank you for that answer anyway. So

I'll I'll keep it uh I'll keep it very brief. You're exactly right. You know, I think Indiana has a a long history of steel production and many other important things. Uh, and all of these come down to to high temperatures. Uh, our reactors uh will have an outlet temperature of around eight hundred to nine hundred degrees Celsius, unlike the traditional nuclear reactor, which is around three hundred degrees Celsius. Um, counter-intuitively, this also makes them more economical, you can hit higher efficiencies, and you can unlock uh things like steel production and the pre-processing uh, you know, of other metals and other ores to be able to do metal refining and other things. Uh, we think this is a very important part of America's industrial future. The the majority way that this is done in the world today is coal, uh, metallurgical coal. And even though that's worked really well for the last couple of hundred years, there's a much cleaner way to do it. Uh, and that's through nuclear power. So we're excited to be doing that.

Well, I wish I had more time, cuz I'd I'd have questions for the rest of you too, but I yield back, Mister Chairman.

You give me yields back, we thank you for your service, uh, Doctor Baird, we we do thank you. Uh, so I thank the witnesses for your valuable testimonies and the members The record will remain open for ten days for additional comments and written questions from members. This hearing is adjourned.