Ark. Code § 8-9-802

Current with legislation from 2024 Fiscal and Special Sessions.

Section 8-9-802 - Legislative findings

The General Assembly finds that:

(1) In August 2016, the Argonne National Laboratory hosted a delegation from Arkansas, including staff from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission;

(2) In January 2017, the Arkansas Alternative Energy Commission issued a recommendation to the Governor to support the University of Arkansas and the United States Department of Energy national laboratories to prepare and make recommendations and to offer options on using existing technology to convert spent nuclear fuel rods into new nuclear fuel;

(3) In August 2017, the Joint Committee on Energy held hearings on advanced nuclear technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods and unanimously approved an interim study resolution on the matter; and

(4) In November 2018, the Joint Committee on Energy held a meeting at Arkansas Nuclear One and further discussed the issues under subdivisions (1)-(3) of this section, including without limitation that the:

(A) University of Arkansas system, in conjunction with other institutions of higher education, can and is willing to provide a detailed analysis examining the benefits of "New Nuclear" compared to the risks of continued storage of spent fuel at Arkansas Nuclear One;

(B) Fast reactor technology and electrochemical spent fuel reprocessing are ready for commercial development; and

(C) The Department of Health and the Department of Energy and Environment support the application for federal funding for the establishment of an education, risk analysis, and optimization design program;

(5) Acts 2021, No. 1092, required the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor and the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor to jointly conduct a study on the commercial application of existing technology to reclaim and repurpose spent nuclear fuel rods; and

(6) It is appropriate to build upon the study conducted under Acts 2021, No. 1092, and to study the technical and economic feasibility and commercial viability of the interim storage and recycling of spent nuclear fuel at locations in Arkansas.

Ark. Code § 8-9-802

Added by Act 2023, No. 259,§ 1, eff. 8/1/2023.