NEI Urges Energy Dept. to Complete Nuclear Export Licensing Reforms

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Department of Energy today finalized its rulemaking on regulation 10 CFR 810 (Part 810), which governs the export of U.S. nuclear energy technology. Following is a statement from Daniel S. Lipman, the Nuclear Energy Institute's vice president for supplier and international programs.

"The Nuclear Energy Institute commends the Department of Energy for finalizing revisions to its export control regulations for nuclear energy technology under 10 CFR 810. We appreciate DOE's acceptance of some of the nuclear industry's recommendations which make the revised rule clearer and more focused.

"Finalizing these regulations was a necessary step to allow DOE to complete its initiative to improve the overall efficiency and transparency of its export license approval process. NEI urges DOE to complete these improvements promptly to facilitate improved U.S. export competiveness in the rapidly growing global market for peaceful nuclear energy technology.

"As a recent comparative analysis of nuclear export regimes has shown, the U.S. nuclear export licensing process is far more complex and takes significantly longer to complete than those of other leading nuclear supplier nations. These licensing impediments create a competitive disadvantage for U.S. commercial nuclear exporters, and thus compromise important national objectives. Last year, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report recommended that DOE reduce the competitive disadvantage by improving the efficiency and transparency of the Part 810 processes.

"U.S. nuclear energy exports support multiple U.S. interests including tens of thousands of American jobs; a healthy nuclear manufacturing base; U.S. leadership in nuclear energy technology; and U.S. influence on global nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation. To support these interests, NEI encourages DOE's timely completion of the current initiatives to make meaningful improvements in the efficiency of the Part 810 licensing process. NEI looks forward to working with the Energy Department to implement these reforms."

The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's policy organization. This news release and additional information about nuclear energy are available at www.nei.org.