Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should support the expansion of domestic nuclear energy and advanced nuclear technology as a viable source of power in order to promote United States nuclear energy leadership and global energy independence.

IV 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 124 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should support the expansion of domestic nuclear energy and advanced nuclear technology as a viable source of power in order to promote United States nuclear energy leadership and global energy independence. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2023 Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. FEENSTRA, Ms. MACE, Mr. CLINE, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should support the expansion of do- mestic nuclear energy and advanced nuclear technology as a viable source of power in order to promote United States nuclear energy leadership and global energy inde- pendence. Whereas nuclear energy has generated one-fifth of the elec- tricity used in the United States since 1990; Whereas the Secretary of Energy has stated that, ‘‘nuclear energy is clean energy and it is vital to creating good- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HRES 124 IH paying jobs, supporting our energy transition, and saving our planet’’; Whereas the International Energy Agency determined that nuclear power forms the cornerstone of zero-carbon elec- tricity generation; Whereas conventional nuclear energy plants are highly reli- able and consistently operate, on average, over 92 percent of the time; Whereas the generation of electricity from nuclear energy is up to 2 times more reliable than the generation of elec- tricity from natural gas and coal, and up to 3.5 times more reliable than the generation of electricity from wind and solar; Whereas nuclear reactors produce substantially more energy relative to their land footprint than solar and wind projects, which require over 30 times and 100 times, re- spectfully, the land area for the same generating capac- ity; Whereas 482,000,000 metric tons of carbon emissions were avoided by using nuclear energy in 2021; Whereas, in 2019, 476,000,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions were not released into the atmosphere due to the utilization of nuclear energy in the United States, which is equivalent to removing 100,000,000 cars off the road; Whereas conversely, in 2014, Vermont’s Yankee Nuclear Plant closed and the State saw a 650,000-metric ton in- crease in carbon dioxide emissions within just 2 months; Whereas electricity demand throughout the United States is predicted to increase by approximately 34 percent by 2050; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HRES 124 IH Whereas, as of July 8, 2020, there are 28 States in which at least 1 commercial nuclear reactor operates; Whereas many States around the United States have enacted nuclear energy-related laws and are in the process of adopting policies and appropriating funding for the ex- pansion of nuclear energy in their State; Whereas nuclear energy facilities can repurpose retired fossil fuel power plants by using existing infrastructure and transitioning fossil fuel power plant workers that already understand the basics of operating the nuclear energy fa- cility; Whereas, in 2022, nuclear energy supported over 475,000 well-paying, sustainable, direct and indirect jobs through- out the American nuclear industry; Whereas building a conventional nuclear reactor employs up to 7,000 workers at peak construction; Whereas nuclear energy worker salaries are, on average, 50 percent higher than the salaries of employees that work in other electricity generation facilities; Whereas the United States nuclear energy industry spends roughly $11,000,000,000 annually on labor, which is ap- proximately $100,000,000 per reactor per year; Whereas, for every 100 jobs at a nuclear power plant in the United States, 66 other jobs are created in the local com- munity; Whereas nearly 1 in 4 nuclear energy workers are veterans; Whereas nuclear energy adds approximately $60,000,000,000 to the United States gross domestic product each year; Whereas, unlike most energy sources, nuclear power plants have up to 2 years of fuel stored securely on-site, which VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HRES 124 IH makes nuclear power plants hardened against fuel-related supply chain disruptions; Whereas a uranium pellet the size of a pencil eraser contains the same amount of energy as 17,000 cubic feet of nat- ural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal, or 149 gallons of oil; Whereas 5 uranium pellets generate enough electricity to power the average household annually, which compares to the same amount of electricity produced by 5 tons of coal; Whereas global uranium supply is vastly available and the United States can generate nuclear power at its current levels for more than a century with just the natural ura- nium ore deposits that have already been identified; Whereas nuclear power plants offer a level of protection against natural and adversarial threats that goes far be- yond the protective measures taken at most other Amer- ican energy generating facilities; Whereas nuclear power plants’ infrastructure and facilities are built to withstand extreme weather, as proven during past and recent hurricanes and freezing temperatures driven by polar vortex events; Whereas the safe operation of nuclear energy in the United States has resulted in no radiation-related deaths or long- term evacuation of surrounding communities; Whereas the utilization of conventional and advanced nuclear energy technologies will significantly reduce energy costs, although the initial investment burden of licensing and constructing any type of nuclear reactor will be substan- tial; Whereas the production of nuclear energy has become a much safer and more efficient process with the development VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HRES 124 IH and commercialization of innovative advanced nuclear re- actors; Whereas advanced nuclear reactors present uniquely innova- tive options for the sustainable generation of clean energy in the United States and around the world; Whereas a typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in the United States requires approximately one square mile of land to operate, however an advanced nuclear reactor re- quires about 3 times less land area compared to a con- ventional nuclear power plant, depending on the reactor type and the specific characteristics of the community; Whereas the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulates 31 re- search and test reactors; Whereas approximately 98 universities in the United States offer a nuclear engineering program and several univer- sities have expressed interest in advanced nuclear reac- tors as a power source for their campuses; Whereas more than 45 companies and research organizations across the United States have advanced nuclear energy projects underway; Whereas many advanced nuclear reactors, in comparison to conventional nuclear reactors, can operate at much high- er temperatures without water, have built in safety fea- tures (such as automatic shutoff mechanisms), can oper- ate autonomously without disruption for several years at a time, and have a naturally enhanced resistance to nu- clear proliferation; Whereas low-emission heat and steam from advanced nuclear reactors can supply reliable, clean energy for hard-to- decarbonize sectors, such as the industrial sector and chemical production sector; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HRES 124 IH Whereas the total amount of spent nuclear fuel produced over the tenure of the United States nuclear energy industry could fit within the bounds of a football field at a depth of less than 10 yards; Whereas spent nuclear fuel can— (1) be safely stored in a deep geological repository; (2) be repurposed and recycled using innovative technology; and (3) potentially be safely stored underground using techniques such as deep borehole drilling; Whereas certain advanced nuclear reactors have the capa- bility to use spent nuclear fuel from another nuclear reac- tor as a fuel source; Whereas recycling spent nuclear fuel could significantly re- duce the burden of storing spent nuclear fuel, which would make the nuclear fuel cycle more sustainable and further reduce the already-low carbon footprint of nuclear energy; Whereas 96 percent of spent nuclear fuel content is reusable energy, and recycling spent nuclear fuel can cut the use of natural uranium resources by 25 percent, reduce the volume of high-level waste slated for disposal by 75 per- cent, and reduce the waste’s toxicity by approximately 90 percent; Whereas spent nuclear fuel can be reprocessed up to 3 cycles; Whereas, by 2050, energy produced by advanced nuclear re- actors may account for a significant amount of the clean energy generated in the United States, with certain esti- mates predicting that up to 50 percent of total United States electricity generation could come from conven- tional and advanced nuclear energy sources; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HRES 124 IH Whereas the offsite component fabrication and modular man- ufacturing process for advanced nuclear reactors will like- ly lead to cheaper and faster installation, reduced regu- latory burdens, and ultimately a streamlined commercial deployment of advanced nuclear reactors; Whereas advanced nuclear reactors offer seamless integration to complement other renewables within microgrids, bal- ancing out variations in generation over time to reliably meet demand in the United States; Whereas, in the aftermath of a natural disaster when power outages persist, an easily transportable advanced nuclear reactor could provide electricity or heat for essential serv- ices, such as hospitals, airports, communications centers, government offices, and water purification facilities, in- stead of diesel generators, thereby producing a cleaner and more efficient source of power that can last up to 20 years without refueling; Whereas nuclear medicine, including the use of medical radio- active isotopes, can be used to diagnose and treat dif- ferent diseases with pinpoint precision, which will ulti- mately save American lives; Whereas radioactivity used for medical diagnostics and treat- ments is elementally the same as that used for nuclear power; Whereas medical isotopes are made in nuclear reactors; Whereas, with advances in nuclear science and technology, and new approaches to the medical application of radio- isotope technology, outcomes for cancer patients have im- proved tremendously; Whereas nuclear power plants produce a vital resource in the global fight against COVID–19: Cobalt–60, which has VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HRES 124 IH sterilized billions of pieces of medical equipment in hos- pitals on the front lines of the pandemic; Whereas nuclear radiation is used to treat food and kill bac- teria, insects, and parasites that cause illness; Whereas the Armed Forces have intentions to utilize ad- vanced nuclear reactors at United States military bases, both domestically and internationally, because of ad- vanced nuclear reactor’s ability to generate clean elec- tricity consistently and reliably in locations that experi- ence severe weather patterns; Whereas the Armed Forces are currently using diesel for gen- erators in these remote locations to provide electricity, such as in Alaska, which require refueling approximately every 72 hours; Whereas, since 1954, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has maintained and operated more than 100 naval nu- clear reactors, serviced and supplied by thousands of American workers, to power United States aircraft car- riers, submarines, and other military vessels; Whereas advanced nuclear propulsion provides an alternative clean energy source to power commercial ships to cut emissions and remove the costly refueling infrastructure needs for liquid-based energy carriers; Whereas floating nuclear barges are being designed and de- veloped to supply energy to remote locations and areas impacted by a natural disaster; Whereas the advantages of using advanced nuclear propulsion include long intervals between refueling, faster transit speeds, production of heat or cooling for cargo, reduced draft allowing increased cargo capacity, eliminating the need to transport huge quantities of engine fuel, and re- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR124.IH HR124 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HRES 124 IH ducing the probability of environmental damage from fuel leakages; Whereas nuclear thermal propulsion and nuclear electric pro- pulsion vehicles are to be made at one-third to one-half the size of comparable chemical propulsion vehicles, which would increase travel speeds and cut costs of space missions; Whereas nuclear thermal propulsion can be used to transport astronauts and cargo to Mars in 4 to 5 months, rapidly decreasing long term radiation exposure in space, as op- posed to 7 to 9 months using traditional chemical fuels; Whereas the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and private companies are creating technologies that use advanced nuclear radioisotopes to channel heat into electricity, even in temperatures below -280o F on the lunar surface, for both manned and unmanned mis- sions to Earth’s satellites, the Earth’s Moon, Mars, and deep space; Whereas NASA and the Department of Defense have pro- grams in place to put a lunar nuclear reactor on the moon in the early 2030s to supply electricity for Artemis missions, since the lunar night is roughly 14 days and solar panels would not be able to generate power from the sun and energy storage is too large and costly; Whereas advanced lunar nuclear react [Text truncated for display. 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