During a House Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) questioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright on the Trump administration's plan to bring three reactors to criticality despite a more than 20% cut in funding for the Office of Nuclear Energy
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00:00General A's time has expired.
00:01The chair now recognizes General A from Colorado's first district.
00:04Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
00:05Welcome to my fellow Coloradoan.
00:09Mr. Secretary, one of the things that frustrates us on this side of the aisle
00:13is the expression of lofty goals regarding energy expansion and operational efficiency.
00:19You talked about it in your opening statement.
00:22And I want to expand on my colleague's exploration of the issue of nuclear energy with you,
00:28which I know is one of the administration's energy goals.
00:32Is that right?
00:34Yes.
00:35Yeah, absolutely.
00:36And so just to let you know, last Congress, former Chair Jeff Duncan and I
00:40worked with the committee in the Senate to enact into law a bipartisan bill.
00:45I'm sure you know about it, the Advance Act.
00:47It seeks to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy technologies
00:51while ensuring the protection of public health and environment for future generations.
00:55I was really proud to be the co-sponsor of that.
00:58We had to do that bill because the NRC was already severely understaffed and overleveraged.
01:05In 2022, the NRC had shrunk by 23% in just six years,
01:10and over a third of the agency personnel were eligible for retirement as recently as last year.
01:17So this was even before the Trump administration came in.
01:21So I want to talk about some of the cuts the administration is proposing in nuclear energy to the DOE
01:29because what we're worried about, the NRC is already struggling, the DOE is cutting money.
01:35I don't see how we can achieve these lofty goals.
01:38So isn't it true the administration's budget would cut the Office of Nuclear Energy's funding by more than 20%?
01:46I believe it's a little bit less than 20%.
01:49It's actually about 24%.
01:51I may be in error, but I'll check that.
01:56The budget also cuts the Advanced Reactors Demonstration Program funding by half.
02:02Is that correct?
02:04That program is phasing down, so yes.
02:08Okay, so yes.
02:09Since the beginning of the administration, DOE has lost over 20% of its staff
02:14due to terminating probationary employees and employees taking deferred resignations.
02:19Isn't that correct?
02:21Dominantly from deferred resignations.
02:23Yes, it's about 20%, correct?
02:25I don't have final numbers yet.
02:27Okay, I'll guarantee you it is.
02:29And finally, DOE is currently under a hiring freeze right now.
02:34Is that correct?
02:36That is correct.
02:36Okay, now, so I want to talk about the administration's own stated goals for a minute.
02:44The president signed an executive order last month charging DOE with bringing three new reactors
02:51to criticality by July of 2026.
02:55That's just a little over a year.
02:56Is that correct?
02:57That is our goal, absolutely.
03:00Okay, that was what the executive order said.
03:02Is that right?
03:04I don't have it in front of me, but we have an aggressive goal to ramp things up in many years.
03:09I will tell you that I never ask incorrect questions.
03:14I wish I was as flawless as you, but I'll accept that.
03:16I'm not flawless, but I check my facts.
03:19Looking at all reactors built since 1950, are you aware that the average build time of those reactors was 8.1 years?
03:30And dramatically longer these days, but yes.
03:33Yes.
03:33Now, are you aware that the average application review process can take up to 5 years,
03:41and the commission phase typically takes 1 to 2 years?
03:45Yeah, I think you are correctly identifying some problems.
03:49Here's some good news.
03:50I have a minute and 16 seconds left, so I would like you to explain to this committee,
03:58given all the cuts that I just outlined, and given the personnel freezes,
04:05how the administration thinks that it is going to approve and bring online three new reactors to criticality by July next year.
04:14So, number one, there are going to be demonstration reactors at the Idaho National Laboratory.
04:18These are commercial companies that have technologies they want to test.
04:21So, they're going to be demonstration, not actual energy-producing reactors.
04:25That is correct.
04:26Okay.
04:27That's number one.
04:28Go ahead.
04:29And thank you for your leadership on the Advance Act, by the way, Representative.
04:32You're welcome.
04:33And the work on nuclear, it's not directly tied to the number of people.
04:38The NRC has grown hugely over decades and didn't deliver approved reactors.
04:44So, there's difference between throughput and number of people.
04:48I don't disagree with that, sir, which is one reason I did the Advance Act.
04:52But if you're going to have a plan, even to put these three demonstration reactors up by next year,
04:59you have to have a – do you actually have a plan of how you're going to do that between now and then?
05:05And if so, I would like you to send it to me, seeing as my time is up.
05:10Yes, and will do.
05:12I yield back.