Pennsylvania Radiation Protection Act section 402.1: small modular reactor and microreactor fees

Pennsylvania's official compilation of the Radiation Protection Act adds section 402.1 for reactors the statute defines as a microreactor (100 MWe nameplate or less) or a small modular reactor (400 MWe nameplate or less). A person who already holds an NRC construction permit or operating license for such a reactor on a Pennsylvania site pays the Department $10,000 to $50,000 per site, plus two further bands of the same size for emergency-response planning and for nonagency equipment, planning, training, and exercises. The fee is per site regardless of reactor count. The compilation says those payments are deposited into the Radiation Protection Fund and the named emergency-response funds and are appropriated for the act's duties. The official act page says Act 37 of 2026 is effective in 60 days and does not print the calendar day. The fee does not grant the federal permit. Those megawatt definitions are the statute's, not SMRMap's inclusion rule.

Category: Laws, rules and executive directives
Status: In effect
Instrument: statute · Radiation Protection Act, Act of July 10, 1984, P.L. 688, No. 147, § 402.1
Issued by: Pennsylvania General Assembly
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Affects: State programme administration
Effective date: Not recorded
Expiry or completion: None recorded
Operative text: Pennsylvania Radiation Protection Act, official compilation (Act of July 10, 1984, P.L. 688, No. 147) (Official compilation and Act 37 law-information page opened 4 October 2026; calendar effective date not printed)
Last checked · next review: 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15

Legal and geographic scope

Official compilation of the Radiation Protection Act, plus the official Act 37 of 2026 law-information page. Section 402.1 charges a person who already holds an NRC construction permit or operating license for a microreactor or small modular reactor on a Pennsylvania site. The fee is per site, not per reactor, and the compilation appropriates the receiving funds for duties under the act. It does not grant the NRC permit. The act page prints an enactment date of July 20, 2026, and Effective 60 DAYS, without a calendar effective date.

Not approved or still pending

The act page prints Effective 60 DAYS and does not print a calendar day, so no effective date is stored and the 30-day payment clock is not dated. The fee applies only to a person who already holds an NRC construction permit or operating license; it does not grant that permit. No implementing fee regulation was opened. No project is linked. Governor, commission, and siting sources for Pennsylvania were not opened in this pass.

Dated lifecycle

20 Jul 2026 · actual · day · Amended — The official compilation's compiler note says section 402.1 was added July 20, 2026, P.L. 464, No. 37. The official act page says the act was enacted from HB 2017 on that date and prints Effective 60 DAYS. No calendar effective date is printed, so none is stored, and the section's 30-day payment clock is not converted into a day. (Pennsylvania Radiation Protection Act, official compilation (Act of July 10, 1984, P.L. 688, No. 147))

Definitions in this instrument

Microreactor (Radiation Protection Act, definitions, added by the Act of July 20, 2026, P.L. 464, No. 37): An advanced nuclear reactor with a rated nameplate capacity of 100 electrical megawatts or less that can be constructed and operated with similar reactors at a single site.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.
Small modular reactor (Radiation Protection Act, definitions, added by the Act of July 20, 2026, P.L. 464, No. 37): An advanced nuclear reactor with a rated nameplate capacity of 400 electrical megawatts or less that can be constructed and operated with similar reactors at a single site.
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

Pennsylvania Radiation Protection Act, official compilation (Act of July 10, 1984, P.L. 688, No. 147) (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
Pennsylvania Act No. 37 of 2026, official law-information page (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)