Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA)
Enacted law Source: Original editorial Original synthesis from primary government sources — not archive content.
- Law
- P.L. 115-439
- Bill / vehicle
- S.512 (115th Congress)
- Status
- Enacted law
- Date
- Signed Jan. 14, 2019
- Administration
- Trump I
- Topic
- NRC fee/budget reform; advanced-reactor licensing
- Sponsors
- Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), with bipartisan cosponsors (Whitehouse D-RI, Booker D-NJ, Crapo R-ID, Capito R-WV, Manchin D-WV)
What it does
Overhauled how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission charges for and budgets its work — capping annual fees on operating reactors and excluding the cost of developing future-technology rules from the fees today's plants pay. It also ordered the NRC to set firm performance metrics for licensing and to build a technology-inclusive licensing framework for non-light-water reactors by 2027.
Why it matters
This is the legislative mandate behind the NRC's 'Part 53' rulemaking — the first new reactor-licensing pathway since 1989, finalized in March 2026. NEIMA is the starting gun for modern U.S. nuclear regulatory reform.
Primary sources
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