Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law on Monday legislation that promotes nuclear development in Pennsylvania by making it more affordable to build smaller, more efficient nuclear reactors.
House Bill 2017, now Act 37 of 2026, updates the Radiation Protection Act of 1984. It adds definitions for small modular reactors (SMRs) and micro reactors to reflect how they differ from traditional light-water reactors. It also creates a separate fee structure for these smaller reactors and directs the Environmental Quality Board to determine the fees.
SMRs and micro reactors require more, smaller sites with fewer reactors per site. This allows them to be built in areas with less access to existing power grids. They are often factory-built and transported to the site. Traditional light-water nuclear reactors have multiple reactors per site.
The fees are used to cover the costs of environmental monitoring, administrative oversight, and decommissioning. The Department of Environmental Protection previously levied fees on a per-site basis.
“Up-front capital needed to build new traditional reactors is prohibitively expensive, and this law meets the moment by recognizing small modular reactor development as the next important step in nuclear development and updating our current fee structure to make it more affordable for SMR developers to build here,” said state Rep. Jose Giral (D-Philadelphia), who sponsored the bill.