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Policy and licensing / Washington

Washington RCW 80.50: energy facility site certification

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.

Category
Laws, rules and executive directives
Status
In effect
Instrument
statute · RCW 80.50.010, 80.50.020, 80.50.060, 80.50.100 and 80.50.120 (official sections opened 4 October 2026)
Issued by
Washington State Legislature
Jurisdiction
Washington
Affects
Siting
Effective date
Not recorded
Expiry or completion
None recorded
Operative text
Revised Code of Washington 80.50.060 (Official sections opened 4 October 2026)
Last checked · next review
2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15

Legal and geographic scope

Official sections of chapter 80.50 RCW opened 4 October 2026. Section 80.50.020(14)(a) treats any fission nuclear power facility whose primary purpose is to produce and sell electricity as an energy plant. The same definition section also covers stated nonnuclear plants, and subsection (13) excludes facilities operated by and for the armed services for military purposes, or by other federal authority for the national defense, from the chapter's energy-facility definition. Section 80.50.060 applies the chapter to new construction of energy facilities and says that construction may not be undertaken, except as the chapter otherwise provides, without certification. Reconstruction or enlargement is covered where the increase meets the capacities or dimensions in sections 80.50.020(14) and 80.50.020(29). Some other facilities, including fusion energy facilities, may choose certification; that option is separate from the fission energy-plant rule. Section 80.50.100 says the council reports a recommendation to the governor, and that within 60 days the governor approves and executes the draft certification, rejects the application, or directs reconsideration. After reconsideration the governor approves and executes, or rejects, within 60 days. A rejection is final as to that application and does not bar a later application for the same site on changed conditions or new information. Section 80.50.120 says a certification binds the state and its political subdivisions on approval of the site and on construction and operation, and that issuance is in lieu of state and local permits. The note opened on the section 80.50.010 page says 2022 chapter 183 takes effect 30 June 2022. Section 80.50.060's history line also cites 2026 chapter 244, 2025 chapter 261 and 2023 chapter 229, which were not opened.

Not approved or still 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.

Dated lifecycle

Definitions in this instrument

Projects or designs named by the source

Sources