Policy and licensing / Washington

Washington: SMR policy and licensing

Selected federal measures and selected state measures whose official text was opened. This is not a complete list of laws, rules or programmes for any jurisdiction. A state without a page here is not a finding that it has no policy, and these pages do not rate or prefer any state. Nothing here implies that a project is eligible for, or approved under, any measure.

Federal measures apply in Washington as everywhere in the United States and are listed once on the federal page. They are not counted here.

Laws, rules and executive directives

• Washington RCW 80.50: energy facility site certification · In effect
  RCW 80.50.010, 80.50.020, 80.50.060, 80.50.100 and 80.50.120 (official sections opened 4 October 2026) · Washington State Legislature · affects: Siting
  Washington chapter 80.50 RCW, in the sections opened on 4 October 2026, requires site certification before construction of an energy facility, and it defines an energy plant to include any fission nuclear power facility whose primary purpose is to produce and sell electricity. The governor approves or rejects the council's recommendation. Certification binds state and local permitting and does not replace a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. The opened text is not limited to small modular reactors.
  Not approved or pending: RCW 80.50.110, the council's rules, and the effective-date notes for 2026 chapter 244, 2025 chapter 261 and 2023 chapter 229 were not opened. No certification application or governor decision was opened. No project is linked. State certification does not approve a reactor under federal law.

Bills, proposed rules and consultations

• None recorded in this pilot.

Funding and support programmes

• None recorded in this pilot.

NRC permissions and applications for tracked projects located in Washington

Listed by project location only. The Washington measures above do not license reactors; the NRC does.

• None recorded.