With the fiscal year 2024 inching ever closer, the specter of a partial government shutdown looms large. This impasse, if it indeed proceeds, would mark the first partial government shutdown since the 36-day stretch that began in late December 2018 and ended on January 25, 2019. Notably, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was exempt from this earlier bout of shutdown because its FY 2019 budget had been duly enacted beforehand.
However, such an exemption for the upcoming potential shutdown appears less certain. At the time of this writing, Congress is yet to pass any of the annual appropriation bills for FY 2024, and this includes the appropriation bill meant for the NRC.
From an overview perspective, the impacts of a government shutdown on regulatory bodies such as the NRC are multifaceted and broad. A shutdown could hamper safety inspections and enforcement activities, delay licensing decisions and introduce uncertainty into the regulatory environment, among other things. On the other hand, it’s also notable that during shutdowns, entities like NRC often prioritize core safety functions, which can minimize some (but certainly not all) potential impacts.
Understanding how a shutdown may evolve and what factors could influence its effects is obviously of vital importance to legal professionals in the industry, who must prepare for and navigate such scenarios. Analyzing the various potential outcomes of a shutdown, and understanding how they may impact regulatory body operations can help professionals stay ahead of the curve and mitigate potential disruptions or regulatory hurdles.
More specifics from this discussion can be found at the original analysis presented by Morgan Lewis at Up & Atom.