Abstract
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) was passed in the 1970s to advance the United States’ energy independence through the encouragement of energy conservation, energy efficiency, small power production, and competition within the energy industry. Administered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it allows energy producers whose facilities qualify under its criteria to buy and sell electricity to larger-scale energy producers at rates set by state agencies. Today, PURPA and FERC’s accompanying regulations do not allow for facilities that run on nuclear fuel to qualify as “small power production facilities.” Though these facilities could still qualify as “cogeneration facilities,” the circumstances under which they could do so are more restrictive. This Article advocates for an amendment to PURPA that would allow certain nuclear facilities to qualify as “small power production facilities,” keeping in mind the potential for small-scale nuclear reactors to expand the potential applications of nuclear energy. Doing so would be in line with PURPA’s policy objectives and is an issue ripe for consideration given the federal government’s recent uptick in interest regarding nuclear energy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Nathan Wise,
The Case for Nuclear: How a Simple Amendment to PURPA Could Invigorate the Market for Advanced Nuclear and Help the United States Decarbonize Faster than Ever,
65
Nat. Res. J.
1
(2025).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol65/iss1/3
