Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2291 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a tax credit for production of electricity using nuclear power. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a tax credit for production of electricity using nuclear power. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zero-Emission Nuclear 4 Power Production Credit Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. ZERO-EMISSION NUCLEAR POWER PRODUCTION 6 CREDIT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub- 8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2291 IS 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 1 section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 45U. ZERO-EMISSION NUCLEAR POWER PRODUCTION 3 CREDIT. 4 ‘‘(a) AMOUNT OF CREDIT.—For purposes of section 5 38, the zero-emission nuclear power production credit for 6 any taxable year is an amount equal to the amount by 7 which— 8 ‘‘(1) the product of— 9 ‘‘(A) 1.5 cents, multiplied by 10 ‘‘(B) the kilowatt hours of electricity— 11 ‘‘(i) produced by the taxpayer at a 12 qualified nuclear power facility, and 13 ‘‘(ii) sold by the taxpayer to an unre- 14 lated person during the taxable year, ex- 15 ceeds 16 ‘‘(2) the reduction amount for such taxable 17 year. 18 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.— 19 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED NUCLEAR POWER FACILITY.— 20 For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified nu- 21 clear power facility’ means any nuclear facility— 22 ‘‘(A) which is owned by the taxpayer and 23 which uses nuclear energy to produce elec- 24 tricity, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2291 IS ‘‘(B) which is not described in section 1 168(i)(10), and 2 ‘‘(C) which is not an advanced nuclear 3 power facility, as defined in subsection (d)(1) of 4 section 45J, or which has not received an allo- 5 cation under subsection (b) of such section. 6 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION AMOUNT.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 8 section, the term ‘reduction amount’ means, 9 with respect to any qualified nuclear power fa- 10 cility for any taxable year, the amount equal to 11 the lesser of— 12 ‘‘(i) the amount determined under 13 subsection (a)(1), or 14 ‘‘(ii) the amount equal to 80 percent 15 of the excess of— 16 ‘‘(I) subject to subparagraph (B), 17 the gross receipts from any electricity 18 produced by such facility and sold to 19 an unrelated person during such tax- 20 able year, over 21 ‘‘(II) the amount equal to the 22 product of— 23 ‘‘(aa) 2.5 cents, multiplied 24 by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2291 IS ‘‘(bb) the amount deter- 1 mined under subsection 2 (a)(1)(B). 3 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN RE- 4 CEIPTS.— 5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The amount de- 6 termined under subparagraph (A)(ii)(I) 7 shall include any amount received by the 8 taxpayer during the taxable year with re- 9 spect to the qualified nuclear power facility 10 from a zero-emission credit program unless 11 the amount received by the taxpayer is 12 subject to reduction— 13 ‘‘(I) by the full amount of the 14 credit determined under this section, 15 or 16 ‘‘(II) by any lesser amount if 17 such amount entirely offsets the 18 amount received from a zero-emission 19 credit program. 20 ‘‘(ii) ZERO-EMISSION CREDIT PRO- 21 GRAM.—For purposes of this subpara- 22 graph, the term ‘zero-emission credit pro- 23 gram’ means any State or local govern- 24 ment program that provides payments to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2291 IS qualified nuclear power facility for, in 1 whole or in part, the zero-emission, zero- 2 carbon, or air quality attributes of any 3 portion of the electricity produced by such 4 facility. 5 ‘‘(3) ELECTRICITY.—For purposes of this sec- 6 tion (with the exception of subsection (d)(3)), the 7 term ‘electricity’ means the energy produced by a 8 qualified nuclear power facility from the conversion 9 of nuclear fuel into electric power. 10 ‘‘(c) ELECTION FOR DIRECT PAYMENT.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a taxpayer 12 making an election (at such time and in such man- 13 ner as the Secretary may provide) under this sub- 14 section with respect to any portion of the credit 15 which would (without regard to this subsection) be 16 determined under subsection (a) with respect to such 17 taxpayer, such taxpayer shall be treated as making 18 a payment against the tax imposed by subtitle A for 19 the taxable year equal to the amount of such por- 20 tion. 21 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—The payment described in para- 22 graph (1) shall be treated as made on the later of 23 the due date of the return of tax for the taxable year 24 or the date on which such return is filed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2291 IS ‘‘(3) EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME.—Gross 1 income of the taxpayer shall be determined without 2 regard to this subsection. 3 ‘‘(4) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Solely for 4 purposes of section 38, in the case of a taxpayer 5 making an election under this subsection, the credit 6 determined under subsection (a) shall be reduced by 7 the amount of the portion of such credit with respect 8 to which the taxpayer makes such election. 9 ‘‘(5) EXCLUSION OF TAX-EXEMPT ENTITIES.— 10 This subsection shall not apply to any entity de- 11 scribed in section 168(h)(2). 12 ‘‘(d) OTHER RULES.— 13 ‘‘(1) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of 14 calendar years beginning after 2021, the 1.5 cent 15 amount in subsection (a)(1)(A) and the 2.5 cent 16 amount in subsection (b)(2)(A)(ii)(II)(aa) shall each 17 be adjusted by multiplying such amount by the infla- 18 tion adjustment factor (as determined under section 19 45(e)(2), as applied by substituting ‘calendar year 20 2020’ for ‘calendar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) 21 thereof) for the calendar year in which the sale oc- 22 curs. If any amount as increased under the pre- 23 ceding sentence is not a multiple of 0.1 cent, such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2291 IS amount shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 1 0.1 cent. 2 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES.—Rules similar to the 3 rules of paragraphs (1), (3), (4), and (5) of section 4 45(e) shall apply for purposes of this section. 5 ‘‘(3) PHASEOUT OF CREDIT.—If the Secretary, 6 in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the 7 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 8 Agency, determines that the annual greenhouse gas 9 emissions from electricity production in the United 10 States for a calendar year are equal to or less than 11 50 percent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions 12 from electricity production in the United States for 13 calendar year 2020, the amount of the credit deter- 14 mined under the subsection (a) shall be reduced by 15 an amount equal to the product of— 16 ‘‘(A) the amount of credit determined 17 under the subsection (a), as determined before 18 application of this paragraph, multiplied by 19 ‘‘(B) an amount (expressed as a percent- 20 age) equal to twice the percentage amount that 21 the percentage determined by the Secretary 22 pursuant to this paragraph exceeds 50 percent. 23 ‘‘(4) ULTIMATE PURCHASER.—For purposes of 24 this section, electricity produced by the taxpayer will 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2291 IS be treated as sold to an unrelated person if the ulti- 1 mate purchaser of such electricity is unrelated to 2 such taxpayer. 3 ‘‘(e) RECAPTURE.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta- 5 tion with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary 6 of Labor, shall, by regulations, provide for recap- 7 turing the benefit of any credit allowable under sub- 8 section (a) for any taxable year if the Secretary de- 9 termines that— 10 ‘‘(A) any contractor or subcontractor has 11 failed to pay a laborer or mechanic employed by 12 the contractor or subcontractor in the perform- 13 ance of any construction, repair, alteration, or 14 maintenance with respect to the qualified nu- 15 clear power facility during such taxable year 16 wages at rates not less than the rates prevailing 17 on projects of a similar character in the locality 18 as determined by the Secretary of Labor in ac- 19 cordance with subchapter IV of chapter 31 of 20 title 40, United States Code, 21 ‘‘(B) any such contractor or subcontractor 22 has failed to make the records required under 23 paragraph (2) available to the Secretary for the 24 purposes described in such paragraph, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2291 IS ‘‘(C) any contractor or subcontractor has 1 failed to satisfy the requirements under sub- 2 section (f) during such taxable year. 3 ‘‘(2) INVESTIGATION.—Upon receipt of a com- 4 plaint or its own initiative, the Secretary, in con- 5 sultation with the Secretary of Energy and the Sec- 6 retary of Labor, shall request and review the payroll 7 records of contractors and subcontractors engaged in 8 the performance of any construction, repair, alter- 9 ation, or maintenance with respect to a qualified nu- 10 clear power facility, and interview individuals em- 11 ployed by such contractors and subcontractors, to 12 determine whether the requirements of paragraph 13 (1)(A) and (1)(C) have been met. 14 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT.— 15 With respect to the administration and enforcement 16 of the standards in paragraph (1)(A) and (1)(C), 17 the Secretary of Labor shall have the authority and 18 functions set forth in Reorganization Plan Num- 19 bered 14 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1267; 5 U.S.C. App.) 20 and section 3145 of title 40, United States Code. 21 ‘‘(f) USE OF QUALIFIED APPRENTICES.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All contractors and sub- 23 contractors engaged in the performance of construc- 24 tion, repair, alteration, or maintenance with respect 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2291 IS to the qualified nuclear power facility shall, subject 1 to paragraph (2), ensure that not less than 15 per- 2 cent of the total labor hours of such work be per- 3 formed by qualified apprentices. 4 ‘‘(2) APPRENTICE-TO-JOURNEYWORKER 5 RATIO.—The requirement under paragraph (1) shall 6 be subject to any applicable requirements for ap- 7 prentice-to-journeyworker ratios of the Department 8 of Labor or the applicable State apprenticeship 9 agency. 10 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION.—Each contractor and 11 subcontractor who employs 4 or more individuals to 12 perform construction, repair, alteration, or mainte- 13 nance with respect to the qualified nuclear power fa- 14 cility shall employ 1 or more qualified apprentices to 15 perform such work. 16 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding any other 17 provision in this subsection, this section shall not 18 apply in the case of a taxpayer who— 19 ‘‘(A) demonstrates a lack of availability of 20 qualified apprentices in the geographic area of 21 the construction, repair, alteration, or mainte- 22 nance; and 23 ‘‘(B) makes a good faith effort, and its 24 contractors and subcontractors make a good 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2291 IS faith effort, to comply with the requirements of 1 this subsection. 2 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 3 ‘‘(A) LABOR HOURS.—The term ‘labor 4 hours’— 5 ‘‘(i) means the total number of hours 6 devoted to the performance of construction, 7 repair, alteration, or maintenance by em- 8 ployees of the contractor or subcontractor; 9 and 10 ‘‘(ii) excludes any hours worked by— 11 ‘‘(I) foremen; 12 ‘‘(II) superintendents; 13 ‘‘(III) owners; or 14 ‘‘(IV) persons employed in a 15 bona fide executive, administrative, or 16 professional capacity (within the 17 meaning of those terms in part 541 of 18 title 29, Code of Federal Regulations). 19 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED APPRENTICE.—The term 20 ‘qualified apprentice’ means an individual who 21 is an employee of the contractor or subcon- 22 tractor and who is participating in a registered 23 apprenticeship program, as defined in section 24 3131(e)(3)(B). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2291 IS ‘‘(g) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 1 taxable years beginning after December 31, 2031.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 3 (1) Section 38(b) of the Internal Revenue Code 4 of 1986 is amended— 5 (A) in paragraph (32), by striking ‘‘plus’’ 6 at the end, 7 (B) in paragraph (33), by striking the pe- 8 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following new 10 paragraph: 11 ‘‘(34) the zero-emission nuclear power produc- 12 tion credit determined under section 45U(a).’’. 13 (2) The table of sections for subpart D of part 14 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 15 amended by adding at the end the following new 16 item: 17 ‘‘Sec. 45U. Zero-emission nuclear power production credit.’’. (c) REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 2025, the 18 Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 19 Congress a report with respect to the credits allowed for 20 qualified nuclear power facilities under section 45U of the 21 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by subsection 22 (a)), which shall include— 23 (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the 24 credits allowed under such section in regards to en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2291.IS S2291 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 2291 IS suring grid reli [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]