SB 996

This bill allows small modular reactor (SMR) energy facilities to be sited and operated in Oregon without meeting the state's current requirement that a licensed repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal must exist before nuclear power plants can be built. The bill specifically defines SMRs as advanced nuclear reactors with a capacity of 300 megawatts or less that are factory-fabricated and can be combined at a single site, and exempts these facilities from existing Oregon statutes (ORS 469.595 and 469.599) that have effectively prohibited nuclear power development in the state since the 1980s. By removing this prerequisite for waste disposal infrastructure, the bill would enable the development of SMR nuclear power facilities in Oregon even though no permanent federal repository for high-level nuclear waste currently exists in the United States.