IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1760 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources AN ACT To require the Secretary of Energy to establish and carry out a program to support the availability of HA–LEU for domestic commercial use, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 1760 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Nuclear Fuel 2 Availability Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. PROGRAM. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 5 and carry out, through the Office of Nuclear Energy, a 6 program to support the availability of HA–LEU for do- 7 mestic commercial use. 8 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—In carrying out the pro- 9 gram under subsection (a), the Secretary— 10 (1) may provide financial assistance to assist 11 commercial entities to design and license transpor- 12 tation packages for HA–LEU, including canisters 13 for metal, gas, and other HA–LEU compositions; 14 (2) shall, to the extent practicable— 15 (A) by January 1, 2022, have commercial 16 entities submit such transportation package de- 17 signs to the Commission for certification by the 18 Commission under part 71 of title 10, Code of 19 Federal Regulations; and 20 (B) encourage the Commission to have 21 such transportation package designs so certified 22 by the Commission by January 1, 2024; 23 (3) not later than January 1, 2021, shall sub- 24 mit to Congress a report on the Department’s ura- 25 nium inventory that may be available to be proc- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 1760 RFS essed to HA–LEU for purposes of such program, 1 which may not include any uranium allocated by the 2 Secretary for use in support of the atomic energy 3 defense activities of the National Nuclear Security 4 Administration; 5 (4) not later than 1 year after the date of en- 6 actment of this Act, and biennially thereafter 7 through September 30, 2026, shall conduct a survey 8 of stakeholders to estimate the quantity of HA–LEU 9 necessary for domestic commercial use for each of 10 the 5 subsequent years; 11 (5) shall assess options available for the Sec- 12 retary to acquire HA–LEU for such program, in- 13 cluding an assessment, for each such option, of the 14 cost and amount of time required; 15 (6) shall establish a consortium, which may in- 16 clude entities involved in any stage of the nuclear 17 fuel cycle, to partner with the Department to sup- 18 port the availability of HA–LEU for domestic com- 19 mercial use, including by— 20 (A) providing information to the Secretary 21 for purposes of surveys conducted under para- 22 graph (4); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 1760 RFS (B) purchasing HA–LEU made available 1 to members of the consortium by the Secretary 2 under the program; 3 (7) shall, prior to acquiring HA–LEU under 4 paragraph (8), in coordination with the consortium 5 established pursuant to paragraph (6), develop a 6 schedule for cost recovery of HA–LEU made avail- 7 able to members of the consortium pursuant to 8 paragraph (8); 9 (8) may, beginning not later than 3 years after 10 the establishment of a consortium under paragraph 11 (6), acquire HA–LEU, in order, to the extent prac- 12 ticable, to make such HA–LEU available to mem- 13 bers of the consortium beginning not later than Jan- 14 uary 1, 2026, in amounts that are consistent, to the 15 extent practicable, with the quantities estimated 16 under the surveys conducted under paragraph (4); 17 and 18 (9) shall develop, in consultation with the Com- 19 mission, criticality benchmark data to assist the 20 Commission in— 21 (A) the licensing and regulation of cat- 22 egory II spent nuclear material fuel fabrication 23 and enrichment facilities under part 70 of title 24 10, Code of Federal Regulations; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 1760 RFS (B) certification of transportation pack- 1 ages under part 71 of title 10, Code of Federal 2 Regulations. 3 (c) APPLICABILITY OF USEC PRIVATIZATION ACT.— 4 The requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 5 3112(d)(2) of the USEC Privatization Act (42 U.S.C. 6 2297h–10(d)(2)) shall apply to a sale or transfer of HA– 7 LEU by the Secretary to a member of the consortium 8 under this section. 9 (d) FUNDING.— 10 (1) TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE DESIGN.— 11 (A) COST SHARE.—The Secretary shall en- 12 sure that not less than 20 percent of the costs 13 of design and license activities carried out pur- 14 suant to subsection (b)(1) are paid by a non- 15 Federal entity. 16 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 17 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro- 18 priated to carry out subsection (b)(1)— 19 (i) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2020; 20 (ii) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; 21 and 22 (iii) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2022. 23 (2) DOE ACQUISITION OF HA–LEU.—The Sec- 24 retary may not make commitments under this sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 1760 RFS tion (including cooperative agreements (used in ac- 1 cordance with section 6305 of title 31, United States 2 Code), purchase agreements, guarantees, leases, 3 service contracts, or any other type of commitment) 4 for the purchase or other acquisition of HA–LEU 5 unless funds are specifically provided for such pur- 6 poses in advance in subsequent appropriations Acts, 7 and only to the extent that the full extent of antici- 8 pated costs stemming from such commitments is re- 9 corded as an obligation up front and in full at the 10 time it is made. 11 (3) OTHER COSTS.—Except as otherwise pro- 12 vided in this subsection, in carrying out this section, 13 the Secretary shall use amounts otherwise author- 14 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary. 15 (e) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to carry 16 out the program under this section shall expire on Sep- 17 tember 30, 2034. 18 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 19 Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 20 of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a 21 report that includes— 22 (1) identification of updates to regulations, cer- 23 tifications, and other regulatory policies that the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 1760 RFS Commission determines are necessary in order for 1 HA–LEU to be commercially available, including— 2 (A) guidance for material control and ac- 3 countability of category II special nuclear mate- 4 rial; 5 (B) certifications relating to transportation 6 packaging for HA–LEU; and 7 (C) licensing of enrichment, conversion, 8 and fuel fabrication facilities for HA–LEU, and 9 associated physical security plans for such fa- 10 cilities; 11 (2) a description of such updates; and 12 (3) a timeline to complete such updates. 13 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 16 means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 17 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 18 means Department of Energy. 19 (3) HA–LEU.—The term ‘‘HA–LEU’’ means 20 high-assay low-enriched uranium. 21 (4) HIGH-ASSAY LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM.— 22 The term ‘‘high-assay low-enriched uranium’’ means 23 uranium having an assay greater than 5.0 percent 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 1760 RFS and less than 20.0 percent enrichment of the ura- 1 nium-235 isotope. 2 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 the Secretary of Energy. 4 Passed the House of Representatives September 9, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS