Alaska Chapter 4, SLA 2022: microreactor siting
Alaska's 2022 session law lets a defined microreactor be constructed on land the legislature has not designated, while the opened permit sentence still requires municipal approval or, in an unorganized borough, legislative approval before a permit is issued. The definition is a fission reactor of not more than 50 megawatts electric, tied to a federal definition that was not opened. It is not a permit and not a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. The current compiled code and the department's regulations were not opened.
- Category
- Laws, rules and executive directives
- Status
- In effect
- Instrument
- statute · Chapter 4, SLA 2022 (CSSB 177(RES))
- Issued by
- Alaska State Legislature
- Jurisdiction
- Alaska
- Affects
- Siting
- In effect from
- 22 Aug 2022 · actual · day
- Expiry or completion
- None recorded
- Operative text
- Alaska enrolled CSSB 177(RES), Chapter 4 SLA 2022 (Enrolled CSSB 177(RES) PDF, opened 4 October 2026)
- Last checked · next review
- 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15
Legal and geographic scope
Enrolled CSSB 177(RES) opened 4 October 2026, with the legislature's bill history recording it as Chapter 4, SLA 2022, signed into law on 24 May 2022 and effective 22 August 2022. The act amends the nuclear-facility siting statute. The opened permit sentence still says a permit may not be issued until the municipality with jurisdiction approves it or, in an unorganized borough, until the legislature approves it. A new subsection says that, notwithstanding the undesignated-land subsection, a person otherwise compliant with the chapter may construct a microreactor on land the legislature has not designated. Another new subsection says the study requirements of the existing section do not apply to the presence of microreactors. If the Department of Environmental Conservation is notified that a person has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license for a microreactor in the state, the department coordinates and submits the named agencies' comments in that federal licensing process. The act does not issue a state permit or a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
Not approved or still pending
The current Alaska Statutes compilation was not opened: the official statutes page returned a navigation shell and did not display AS 18.45. The pre-existing subsections cross-referenced by the act were not opened, so the notwithstanding clause is not restated as a description of that older text. Department of Environmental Conservation regulations were not opened. 42 U.S.C. 16271 was not opened. The Senate Journal records that enrolling corrected a manifest error by inserting the word 'the' after 'from' on page 2, line 4; the opened enrolled PDF already reads that way. No project is linked. The act does not approve a reactor.
Dated lifecycle
- 24 May 2022 · actual · day · Signed — The official bill history says signed into law 5/24, Chapter 4 SLA 22. The journal row that carries that sentence is dated 5 October 2022. The enrolled PDF's chapter-number field is blank, so the chapter number is taken from this history line. (Alaska Legislature bill history for SB 177)
- 22 Aug 2022 · actual · day · Took effect — The same bill history says the effective date of the law is 8/22/22. The enrolled PDF that was opened contains no effective-date section. (Alaska Legislature bill history for SB 177)
Definitions in this instrument
- microreactor (AS 18.45.900(9), as added by Chapter 4, SLA 2022): A nuclear utilization facility that is a nuclear fission reactor consistent with the definition of advanced nuclear reactor in 42 U.S.C. 16271, and capable of generating not more than 50 megawatts of electric energy. Section 16271 was not opened, so that federal definition is not restated.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.
Projects or designs named by the source
- None. Location in this jurisdiction does not make a project eligible for, or approved under, this measure.
Sources
- Alaska enrolled CSSB 177(RES), Chapter 4 SLA 2022 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
- Alaska Legislature bill history for SB 177 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
- Alaska Senate Journal, 5 October 2022, page 3020 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)