WASHINGTON – Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) released the below statement after convening an unclassified roundtable discussion on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) with senators, civil nuclear industry and national security officials:

“As global electricity demand continues to grow at exponential rates, the world needs safe, resilient, secure, and affordable sources of power. Nuclear energy, including Small Modular Reactors, will be a critical component of meeting this demand. A recent Department of Energy report found that the U.S. alone will need 200 GW of new nuclear power by 2050 – creating a global market that could be worth $250 to 400 billion by 2040, while spurring U.S. jobs. 

“China and Russia have recognized the potential of nuclear power and are investing heavily in their advanced reactors, while attempting to secure nuclear contracts all over the world.  The United States must not let our adversaries monopolize the growing civil nuclear industry, set the safety standards around nuclear power, dominate the supply chains for such a critical source of energy, and/or attempt to use advanced reactor contracts to exert undue geopolitical and economic leverage. 

“We were pleased to co-host this bipartisan roundtable alongside Senators Manchin, Barasso, and Capito, amongst others, bringing together CEOs across the civil nuclear industry and national security officials from the U.S. government to discuss how the United States, alongside our allies, can outcompete our adversaries in deploying the next generation of civil nuclear power at home and abroad, and ensure that our own critical domestic facilities and capabilities are supported by secure, continuous, and clean power.  We look forward to continuing this work with all relevant stakeholders.”

Sen. Warner has a long history of supporting clean energy technologies critical to our national security. He is a co-sponsor of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act of 2023, which would enhance United States civil nuclear leadership, support the licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, strengthen the domestic nuclear energy fuel cycle and supply chain, and improve the regulation of nuclear energy, and the Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023, which takes substantial steps toward onshoring nuclear fuel production. 

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