No. CS/CS/HB 1461
Filed under Environment & Water.
Advanced Nuclear Reactors; Authorizes PSC to regulate advanced nuclear reactors in this state; authorizes DOH & DEP to exercise specified powers & duties; requires PSC, DOH, & DEP to jointly establish criteria for certification of laboratories that perform analysis on nuclear materials; authorizes possession of nuclear material for specified purposes; requires permits for transfer, receipt, possession, use, storage, or disposal of nuclear materials; requires certifications for significant design modifications of small modular reactors; requires PSC to make certain determinations before issuing such permits & certifications; authorizes PSC to issue reciprocal permits under certain conditions; requires commission, after consultation with DEP & DOH, to adopt rules; revises criteria PSC must consider in preliminary study of electric utility 10-year site plans & in making determinations for proposed power plants; revises requirements for development of certain standards by electric utilities; removes such requirement for rural cooperatives; revises applicability of power plant capacity & expansion thresholds.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThe bill gives the Public Service Commission authority to regulate advanced nuclear reactors statewide, requiring state permits before anyone transfers, stores, or uses nuclear materials, and certification before building or modifying a reactor.
A reactor that replaces an old power plant, or adds no more than 75 megawatts, at an already-certified site skips the full state siting-certification process, unless the developer opts in.
An advanced reactor built purely for private use, not connected to Florida's power grid, skips the standard preliminary-review report and the commission's proceeding on whether a new plant is even needed.
When regulators weigh whether Florida needs a new power plant, they must now consider nuclear energy use instead of renewable energy use; the state's renamed clean energy policy now counts nuclear power as clean.
AIThe bill hands the Public Service Commission direct regulatory authority over advanced nuclear reactors in Florida, including evaluating and approving reactor designs and prescribing safety and construction standards, in consultation with a University of Florida nuclear materials facility.
AIA Public Service Commission permit is required to use or store nuclear materials for reactor research and testing, and any advanced reactor's construction or significant design change must be certified by the commission before work may begin.
AIA person, corporation, or entity may hold nuclear materials needed for advanced-reactor research, design, testing, construction, or operation, but not in amounts that would endanger national defense, security, or public health and safety.
AIA reactor that replaces an existing unit, or that adds no more than 75 megawatts in the aggregate, at a power plant site already certified under the Florida Electrical Power Plant Siting Act skips that certification process, unless the developer elects to seek it anyway.
AIAn advanced reactor that will not connect to Florida's electric grid is excused from the standard preliminary statement-of-issues report and from the commission's determination-of-need proceeding that other new power plants must go through.
AIDeciding whether Florida needs any proposed new power plant, the commission must now weigh whether nuclear energy resources are being used to the extent reasonably available, in place of the prior factor asking about renewable energy sources and technologies.
AIThe renewable energy policy statute is renamed the clean energy policy statute, and its definition of clean energy now expressly includes energy produced by nuclear reactors alongside renewable energy and renewable natural gas.
AIThe duty to develop and annually report clean-energy promotion standards no longer names rural electric cooperatives, while the same duty is broadened from municipal electric utilities to electric utilities generally.