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Topic: Nuclear Energy Blog Brand: Energy World Region: Americas Tags: Data Centers, Florida, North America, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Permitting, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and United States Can Florida Revolutionize the Nuclear Energy Sector? March 21, 2026 By: Nick Loris
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A new bill in the Sunshine State’s legislature seeks to streamline the approval process for constructing nuclear reactors.
Advanced nuclear reactors are among the most promising technologies for providing large amounts of reliable electricity. Many designs are smaller, modular, and more flexible than traditional nuclear plants, making them easier to deploy across a range of applications. They can deliver stable power to meet increasing electricity demand and improve grid reliability. Power-hungry data centers that need dependable power and have emission goals are eager for the United States to build more nuclear facilities.
More than a dozen advanced reactor companies have emerged, backed by billions of dollars in venture capital. Over 100 small modular reactor (SMR) designs and technologies exist worldwide. However, the nuclear renaissance that proponents hoped for has not materialized at the speed or scale they envisioned. Several factors explain this, including relatively steady electricity demand, cheap natural gas, and declining costs of renewable energy. But a key reason is that policy has not kept pace with innovation.
Florida wants to change that.
On March 5, Florida’s House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation authorizing the state to oversee the permitting process for advanced reactor construction without compromising safety or public health protections. Sponsored by Representative Monique Miller, House Bill 1461 empowers the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), in collaboration with the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Protection, to handle reactor design review, permitting and certification, safety oversight, and construction approval. Companies would also need permits from the PSC for the transfer, storage, and disposal of nuclear materials.
Currently, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) holds that responsibility, which has been at the core of the problem. An excessively bureaucratic licensing and permitting process, along with a risk-averse culture at the NRC, has hampered the deployment of advanced reactors in the United States. Recent federal laws (NEIMA in 2019 and the ADVANCE Act in 2024), passed with bipartisan support, have called on the NRC to create a more efficient, flexible, and technology-neutral process.
Although it took several tries, the NRC seems to be heading in the right direction. The commission approved a construction permit for TerraPower’s advanced nuclear power plant in Wyoming nearly six months ahead of schedule. Importantly, instead of simply checking boxes for broad requirements that have little or no relation to the risk or performance of advanced reactor technology, the NRC is aligning its evaluation with the technology’s risk profile.
Following a performance-based, risk-informed review process will save time and money while ensuring strict public health and safety standards are maintained. Upcoming rulemakings from the NRC should build upon that positive momentum.
Even so, that authority need not lie solely with the NRC. A lawsuit filed by advanced reactor startup Last Energy and the states of Utah and Texas against the NRC makes the same argument. The lawsuit claims that advanced reactors and microreactors built in factories with passive safety systems present fundamentally different risks than the large nuclear plants for which the current rules were developed decades ago.
Should Last Energy win the lawsuit, a state process would provide more optionality for developers and the flexibility to handle a wave of applicants across a wide range of technologies. States already have access to key datasets on seismology, sea-level rise, and hydrology that inform environmental reviews. Building the capacity to evaluate reactor designs and make risk-informed assessments could provide a model for others to follow. If applicants prefer the NRC route, Florida’s HB 1461 preserves that option.
Even if Last Energy loses the lawsuit, HB 1461 remains a good idea. States already play a meaningful role in nuclear oversight through the Atomic Energy Act’s Agreement State Program, which allows them to regulate certain nuclear materials if they demonstrate to the NRC that they possess the technical and regulatory expertise to do so.
Building on this framework would encourage states to develop robust regulatory programs capable of overseeing reactor construction, operations, and fuel-cycle facilities. Such an approach would promote faster project development, reduce some of the licensing burden on the NRC, while allowing the NRC to concentrate on other core activities, such as relicensing and restarting nuclear power plants.
As the United States has dawdled, China and Russia are moving forward rapidly. This discrepancy isn’t due to a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, technological skill, or human ingenuity in America. It’s because outdated regulations and confusion impede progress. Florida’s leadership could provide the regulatory paradigm shift needed to restore American leadership in advanced nuclear energy and enable nuclear energy to meet the country’s growing power demands.
About the Author: Nick Loris
Nick Loris is the president of the Conservative Coalition for Climate Solutions. Loris studies and writes on energy and climate policies and testifies regularly before Congress. He is also an energy fellow at the Abundance Institute. Before joining C3 Solutions, Loris served as the Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
The post Can Florida Revolutionize the Nuclear Energy Sector? appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org