Washington SB 5821: Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy.

Bill Text

AN  ACT  Relating  to  integrating  advanced  nuclear  energy  into  the 1
state  energy  strategy;  adding  a  new  section  to chapter 43.21F  RCW; 2
and creating a new section.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  (1) The legislature finds that:5
(a) Washington has established ambitious decarbonization policies 6
to shape energy consumption in the state, including:7
(i)  Economy-wide  greenhouse  gas  emission  limits  that  reach  95 8
percent below 1990 levels by 2050, per chapter 70A.45 RCW; and9
(ii)  Specific  requirements  that  electricity  sales  to  retail 10
electric customers be entirely from renewable or nonemitting sources, 11
beginning in 2045, per chapter 19.405 RCW;12
(b) Overall in-state energy demand is expected to grow in coming 13
years.  Rapidly  occurring  advances  in  computing,  data  storage,  and 14
artificial   intelligence,   increases   in   electrification   among 15
transportation  and  the  built  environment,  decarbonization  public 16
policies  including  the  Washington  clean  energy  transformation  act, 17
pressure  on  existing  energy  sources,  and  more  are  expected  to 18
contribute substantially to growing energy demand and necessitate the 19
build-out  of  new  sources  of  reliable,  stable,  and  affordable  clean 20
power;21
S-3509.1
SENATE BILL 5821
State of Washington69th Legislature2026 Regular Session
By Senators  Braun,  Shewmake,  Boehnke,  Christian,  Conway,  Dozier, 
Gildon, Holy, Nobles, Riccelli, Salomon, Short, Warnick, Wellman, and 
J. Wilson
Prefiled 12/03/25.   Read first time 01/12/26.   Referred to Committee 
on Environment, Energy & Technology.
p. 1SB 5821

(c) Washington's most recent electric utility fuel mix disclosure 1
report  indicates  that  approximately  19  percent  of  electricity 2
currently supplied to Washington customers is generated from emitting 3
resources  that  must  be  supplanted  to  achieve  the  clean  energy 4
transformation   act's   requirement   that   retail   electricity   be 5
greenhouse  gas  neutral  by  2030  and  entirely  nonemitting  by  2045. 6
Advanced  nuclear  power  technologies  offer  a  particularly  efficient 7
pathway   to   replace   these   emitting   resources   because   nuclear 8
generation  operates  at  a  significantly  higher  capacity  factor  than 9
wind or solar resources, thereby producing substantially more clean, 10
firm energy per unit of installed capacity. As a result, the addition 11
of advanced fission nuclear power can reduce the total number of new 12
generating  facilities,  transmission  interconnections,  and  land  area 13
otherwise required to meet Washington's decarbonization goals, which 14
will  speed  siting,  while  also  providing  stable,  dispatchable  output 15
necessary to ensure system reliability during periods of peak winter 16
energy  demand,  prolonged  low-wind  conditions,  or  reduced  sunlight. 17
Integrating advanced nuclear power into Washington's energy portfolio 18
can  therefore  help  the  state  to  achieve  its  decarbonization  goals 19
more  rapidly,  at  lower  systemwide  cost,  and  with  greater  long-term 20
reliability than would be feasible if the state were to rely solely 21
on  additional  variable  renewable  resources  to  replace  the  emitting 22
generation identified in the 2023 fuel mix report;23
(d)  Under  current  federal  and  state  policy  and  tax  incentive 24
structures,  fission  nuclear  power  technologies  are  increasingly 25
likely  to  be  economically  viable  and  technically  and  operationally 26
feasible options to build to meet the growing energy demand and the 27
state's  required  transition  to  cleaner  energy.  The  feasibility  of 28
adding  new  fission  nuclear  power  sources  into  the  state's  clean 29
energy portfolio is furthered substantially by recent advancements in 30
nuclear power technologies, including the maturation of small modular 31
reactor  proposals,  new  reactor  design  innovations,  and  spent  fuel 32
solutions;33
(e)  Washington  has  a  robust  infrastructure  of  support  for 34
advanced  nuclear  systems  including,  but  not  limited  to,  a  highly 35
talented workforce in the Tri-Cities region, waste disposal policies 36
and programs, academic and research systems, interconnection, public 37
and private utility knowledge, and more;38
(f) The current state energy strategy, which was last updated in 39
2020, relies on a number of assumptions that already appear outdated 40
p. 2SB 5821

and  unlikely  to  transpire  as  envisioned.  These  outdated  assumptions 1
include forecasts that large volumes of wind and solar generation in 2
Wyoming  and  Montana  would  be  developed  in  coming  years,  and  that 3
sufficient  new  long  distance  transmission  would  be  built  to 4
accommodate  the  import  of  large  volumes  of  electricity  from  other 5
states  into  Washington.  By  contrast,  the  2021  state  en