Across the United States, small communities host nuclear power plants within their borders, welcoming the plants as a source of tax revenue and employment. Then one day, whether due to expiring licenses or external factors, the nuclear plants shut down. In the wake of the shutdown, nuclear closure communities experience economic hardships as they are forced to cut their budgets and increase residents’ taxes to make up for this significant loss of revenue.
The ADVANCE Act, a recent piece of federal legislation that aimed to facilitate development of new nuclear power plants by streamlining the permitting process for next-generation reactors, could have eased these economic hardships. In its original draft, the ADVANCE Act contained a provision that would have funded economic development for and community engagement with nuclear closure communities. But in the final version of the ADVANCE Act that was signed into law on July 9, 2024, the nuclear closure communities provision was gone.
The ADVANCE Act was a recent installment in a pattern of federal legislation that fails to address nuclear closure communities’ needs. This Note examines past failed federal legislation to investigate why the ADVANCE Act may have lost its nuclear closure communities provision. This Note also discusses why nuclear closure communities deserve support, drawing parallels between the economic devastation that nuclear closure communities experience and the similar circumstances coal communities face in the aftermath of their respective power plants’ closures. Finally, this Note considers how shortcomings of past support programs can inform improvements for future nuclear closure community funding programs. Recommendations for future programs include permanent and noncompetitive federal grant programs, robust state support, and community advisory boards with oversight authority over the decommissioning process.
