United States, The energy and water funding bill that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved on 24 July earmarks $3 million for the start of design work on small modular demonstration reactors in fiscal 2003, marking the third year in a row that the panel has expressed its interest in small reactors.

“The committee remains interested in the potential use and application of small modular reactors for the remote communities that otherwise must rely on shipments of relatively expensive and environmentally undesirable fuels for their electric power,” lawmakers said in the bill report.