Energy Act of 2020 (incl. NELA provisions)
Enacted law- Law
- P.L. 116-260, Div. Z
- Bill / vehicle
- H.R.133 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021)
- Status
- Enacted law
- Date
- Signed Dec. 27, 2020
- Administration
- Trump I
- Topic
- Advanced-reactor demonstration; HALEU program
- Sponsors
- Bipartisan energy package led by Sens. Murkowski (R-AK) and Manchin (D-WV); incorporated the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA, S.903, Murkowski & Booker)
What it does
The first comprehensive update to U.S. energy policy in over a decade. For nuclear it did three big things: formally authorized the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to cost-share first-of-a-kind reactors, created the HALEU Availability Program to seed a domestic supply of the special fuel advanced reactors need, and authorized a versatile fast-neutron test reactor.
Why it matters
Moved DOE from basic science toward actually building advanced reactors, and was the first law to confront the fact that the U.S. had no domestic source of the high-assay fuel its next-generation designs require. Many of NELA's HALEU goals were enacted here (and again days later via the FY2021 NDAA).
Learn the underlying ideas
New here? These concept explainers give you the background to understand what this law is actually doing.