Policy and licensing / Virginia
Virginia § 56-585.1:15: Phase I small modular nuclear facility development-cost recovery
Virginia approved Chapter 836 on 17 April 2024. It allows a Phase I utility to seek recovery of development costs for a small modular nuclear facility, using a 500-megawatt definition that is separate from the Phase II section. Annual recovery is capped at $25 million and overall recovery at $125 million excluding the site. The act expires on 1 July 2034 and does not approve a reactor.
- Category
- Laws, rules and executive directives
- Status
- In effect
- Instrument
- statute · Va. Code § 56-585.1:15 (2024 Acts, c. 836)
- Issued by
- Virginia General Assembly
- Jurisdiction
- Virginia
- Affects
- Utility cost recovery
- Effective date
- Not recorded
- Expiry or completion
- 2034-07-01 — Chapter 836, enactment clause 2, says the provisions of the act expire on 1 July 2034. The current code header repeats that date. The expiry has not occurred.
- Operative text
- Virginia 2024 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 836 (2024 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 836)
- Last checked · next review
- 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15
Legal and geographic scope
Current Code of Virginia, effective until 1 July 2034. A Phase I utility, defined from its 1 July 1999 rate-case status, may ask the State Corporation Commission to review project development costs for a potential small modular nuclear facility before a certificate, no earlier than 1 July 2024. Approved costs may be recovered through a rate-adjustment clause beginning with filings from 1 July 2025. The annual revenue requirement may not exceed $25 million, and recovered project development costs may not exceed $125 million excluding site acquisition. A clause may not be implemented before 1 January 2026. The facility may serve customers in the Commonwealth or West Virginia, with Virginia's share limited to the share of energy and capacity assigned to Virginia customers. This is cost recovery, not a reactor approval.
Not approved or still pending
No Commission order approving a rate-adjustment clause or a facility was opened. The earliest implementation date of 1 January 2026 is not evidence that a clause exists. The chapter does not state a separate day on which it took effect. No project is named.
Dated lifecycle
- 17 Apr 2024 · actual · day · Signed — Chapter 836 states that it was approved on 17 April 2024. It lets a Phase I utility seek recovery of small modular nuclear facility development costs, capped at $25 million a year and $125 million overall excluding the site. It does not approve a reactor. (Virginia 2024 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 836)
Definitions in this instrument
- Small modular nuclear facility (§ 56-585.1:15(A)): A nuclear reactor that has a rated electric generating capacity of not more than 500 megawatts that is capable of being constructed and operated either alone or in combination with one or more similar reactors at a single site.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.
Related instruments
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
- Virginia 2024 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 836 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
- Code of Virginia § 56-585.1:15 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)