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FY 2023 DOE Appropriations for Research Reactors
Congress declined the administration’s request of $45 million to launch a program that would support research reactor construction and upgrade projects at universities. However, it directed DOE to provide further details about the need for such projects, suggesting appropriators may be willing to support them in fiscal year 2024. In the meantime, the National Institute of Standards and Technology appropriation did include a $20 million earmark requested by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) for work on a “next generation” reactor at the University of Missouri, which currently hosts a reactor that began operating in 1966 and is the most powerful one operated by a university in the U.S.
Congress has provided no funding for a proposed multi-billion-dollar user facility that would expose components and fuel to radiation environments similar to those that will exist in advanced reactors. The administration sought $45 million to keep early design work moving ahead but had deprioritized the project on the grounds it would compete for resources with the advanced reactor demonstration program.
The National Reactor Innovation Center was established at Idaho National Lab in 2019 to assist companies in testing and demonstrating advanced reactor concepts. It received $50 million this year as well as $20 million for construction of a reactor testbed called LOTUS (Laboratory for Operations and Testing in the United States).