Nuclear Energy Renewal Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 353 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2368 To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to support licensing and relicensing of certain nuclear facilities and nuclear energy research, demonstration, and development, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 31, 2019 Mr. COONS (for himself and Ms. MCSALLY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources DECEMBER 17, 2019 Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment and an amendment to the title [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to support licensing and relicensing of certain nuclear facilities and nuclear energy research, demonstration, and development, 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 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2368 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Energy Re- 2 newal Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. LIGHT WATER REACTOR SUSTAINABILITY PRO- 4 GRAM. 5 Section 621 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 6 Law 109–58; 119 Stat. 782) is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘Section’’ and inserting the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(a) AMENDMENT TO ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 10 1954.—Section’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(b) LIGHT WATER REACTOR SUSTAINABILITY PRO- 13 GRAM.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 15 provision of law, the Secretary shall expand the light 16 water reactor sustainability program of the Depart- 17 ment, to the maximum extent practicable— 18 ‘‘(A) to ensure the achievement of max- 19 imum benefits from existing nuclear generation; 20 ‘‘(B) to accommodate the increase in appli- 21 cations for nuclear power plant license renewals 22 expected as of the date of enactment of this 23 subsection; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(C) to enable the continued operation of 1 existing nuclear power plants through tech- 2 nology development; 3 ‘‘(D) to improve the performance and re- 4 duce the operation and maintenance costs of 5 nuclear power plants; and 6 ‘‘(E) to promote the use of high-perform- 7 ance computing to simulate nuclear reactor 8 processes. 9 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 10 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 11 retary to carry out the program under this sub- 12 section $60,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 13 through 2029.’’. 14 SEC. 3. INCREASING SUPPORT FOR ADVANCED NUCLEAR 15 TECHNOLOGIES. 16 (a) LICENSING BY NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMIS- 17 SION.—Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 18 U.S.C. 2133) is amended— 19 (1) in subsection d., in the second sentence, by 20 striking ‘‘any any’’ and inserting ‘‘any’’; and 21 (2) by inserting after subsection d. the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘e. ADVANCED NUCLEAR FACILITIES AND TECH- 24 NOLOGIES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ADVANCED NUCLEAR.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 2 term ‘advanced nuclear’ means, with respect to 3 a production facility, utilization facility, or tech- 4 nology, the use of a nuclear fission reactor, in- 5 cluding a prototype plant (as defined in section 6 50.2 of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 7 (or successor regulations)), that represents sig- 8 nificant improvements compared to the most re- 9 cent generation of nuclear fission reactors, in- 10 cluding improvements such as— 11 ‘‘(i) additional inherent safety fea- 12 tures; 13 ‘‘(ii) lower waste yields; 14 ‘‘(iii) improved fuel performance; 15 ‘‘(iv) increased tolerance to loss of 16 fuel cooling; 17 ‘‘(v) enhanced reliability; 18 ‘‘(vi) increased proliferation resist- 19 ance; 20 ‘‘(vii) increased thermal efficiency; 21 ‘‘(viii) reduced consumption of cooling 22 water; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(ix) the ability to integrate into elec- 1 tric applications and nonelectric applica- 2 tions; 3 ‘‘(x) modular sizes to allow for deploy- 4 ment that corresponds with the demand 5 for electricity; and 6 ‘‘(xi) operational flexibility to respond 7 to changes in demand for electricity and to 8 complement integration with intermittent 9 renewable energy. 10 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—In this subsection, the 11 term ‘advanced nuclear’ includes, with respect 12 to a production facility, utilization facility, or 13 technology, the use of a nuclear fusion reactor. 14 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Sec- 15 retary of Energy, in coordination with the Commis- 16 sion, shall establish and carry out a program— 17 ‘‘(A) to develop certification and licensing 18 criteria with respect to advanced nuclear pro- 19 duction facilities and utilization facilities, in- 20 cluding for international licensing harmoni- 21 zation; 22 ‘‘(B) to provide assistance to eligible appli- 23 cants with respect to the certification and li- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2368 RS censing of advanced nuclear production facili- 1 ties and utilization facilities; and 2 ‘‘(C) to establish such procedures as the 3 Secretary of Energy and the Commission deter- 4 mine to be appropriate for general public out- 5 reach relating to advanced nuclear technologies, 6 production facilities, and utilization facilities. 7 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 8 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 9 the program under this subsection $15,000,000 for 10 the period of fiscal years 2020 through 2029.’’. 11 SEC. 4. NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, 12 AND DEVELOPMENT. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 952 of the Energy Policy 14 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16272) is amended by adding at 15 the end the following: 16 ‘‘(e) ADVANCED REACTOR TECHNOLOGIES DEVEL- 17 OPMENT PROGRAM.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 19 out a program under which the Secretary shall con- 20 duct research relating to the development of innova- 21 tive nuclear reactor technologies that may offer im- 22 proved safety, functionality, and affordability by en- 23 hancing existing nuclear technologies. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The program under this 1 subsection shall— 2 ‘‘(A) support efforts to reduce long-term 3 technical barriers for advanced nuclear energy 4 systems; 5 ‘‘(B) identify potential regulatory issues 6 relating to advanced nuclear reactors; 7 ‘‘(C) be carried out in consultation with 8 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure 9 identification of any relevant concerns; 10 ‘‘(D) support international activities car- 11 ried out pursuant to— 12 ‘‘(i) the Generation IV International 13 Forum; or 14 ‘‘(ii) any other international collabo- 15 rative effort with respect to advanced nu- 16 clear reactor operations and safety; 17 ‘‘(E) support research and development re- 18 lating to enhancing the proliferation resistance 19 of nuclear technologies; and 20 ‘‘(F) support research and development 21 projects carried out by National Laboratories, 22 institutions of higher education, and other in- 23 dustry entities relating to nuclear technology, 24 including the development of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(i) codes and standards; 1 ‘‘(ii) sensors and instrumentation; 2 ‘‘(iii) probabilistic risk assessments 3 methods; and 4 ‘‘(iv) other technologies to support the 5 development of advanced nuclear reactor 6 systems. 7 ‘‘(3) AREAS OF FOCUS AND INCLUSIONS.—The 8 program under this subsection shall— 9 ‘‘(A) focus on research and development 10 activities relating to— 11 ‘‘(i) fast reactors; 12 ‘‘(ii) high-temperature, gas-cooled nu- 13 clear reactors; and 14 ‘‘(iii) molten salt reactors; and 15 ‘‘(B) with respect to the activities de- 16 scribed in clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph 17 (A), include research and development relating 18 to advanced fuels. 19 ‘‘(4) SUPERCRITICAL TRANSFORMATIONAL 20 ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 22 program under this subsection, the Secretary 23 shall develop and implement a public-private 24 cost-shared supercritical carbon dioxide (com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2368 RS monly known as ‘sCO2’) Brayton cycle subpro- 1 gram, including research and development of 2 supercritical carbon dioxide technologies. 3 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out the 4 subprogram under this paragraph, the Sec- 5 retary shall solicit and evaluate plans to encour- 6 age innovation, support technology advances, 7 and enhance the safety and performance of ad- 8 vanced nuclear reactor systems. 9 ‘‘(C) TECHNICAL REVIEW PANEL.—The 10 Secretary shall establish a technical review 11 panel for the subprogram under this paragraph, 12 which shall carry out consultation and collabo- 13 ration with appropriate industry entities— 14 ‘‘(i) to evaluate advanced nuclear re- 15 actor technologies; 16 ‘‘(ii) to identify research and develop- 17 ment opportunities; and 18 ‘‘(iii) to publish information regarding 19 cost-shared research and development in- 20 vestment decisions to facilitate commer- 21 cialization. 22 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 23 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 24 retary to carry out the program under this sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2368 RS section $120,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 1 through 2029. 2 ‘‘(f) FUEL CYCLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 3 PROGRAM.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 5 out a program under which the Secretary shall con- 6 duct research relating to— 7 ‘‘(A) consent-based interim storage; 8 ‘‘(B) transportation of nuclear waste; 9 ‘‘(C) potential alternative disposal options 10 for Department-managed— 11 ‘‘(i) spent nuclear fuel; and 12 ‘‘(ii) high-level radioactive waste; and 13 ‘‘(D) disposition alternatives for defense- 14 related nuclear waste. 15 ‘‘(2) AREAS OF FOCUS.—In carrying out this 16 subsection, the Secretary shall focus on activities re- 17 lating to— 18 ‘‘(A) relevant research and development; 19 and 20 ‘‘(B) integrated waste management, includ- 21 ing by conducting research and development ac- 22 tivities relating to the storage, transportation, 23 and disposal of used nuclear fuel and wastes 24 generated by existing and future fuel cycles. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2368 RS ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 1 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 2 retary to carry out the program under this sub- 3 section $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 4 through 2029. 5 ‘‘(g) MATERIAL RECOVERY AND WASTE FORM DE- 6 VELOPMENT.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 8 out a program under which the Secretary shall— 9 ‘‘(A) conduct research relating to advanced 10 nuclear material recovery and advanced nuclear 11 waste from development technologies to improve 12 fuel cycle performance with reductions in proc- 13 essing, waste generation, and potential for ma- 14 terial diversion; and 15 ‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 16 apply the technical expertise achieved through 17 that research to a broad range of programs and 18 activities, including activities relating to— 19 ‘‘(i) environmental remediation; 20 ‘‘(ii) national security; and 21 ‘‘(iii) subject to paragraph (2), civilian 22 nuclear applications. 23 ‘‘(2) CIVILIAN NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS.—Any 24 research carried out under this subsection relating 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2368 RS to civilian nuclear applications shall include research 1 relating to improving the economics and non- 2 proliferation attributes of recycling light water reac- 3 tor fuels and advanced reactor fuels. 4 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 5 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 6 retary to carry out the program under this sub- 7 section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 8 through 2029. 9 ‘‘(h) ADVANCED FUELS.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 11 out a program under which the Secretary shall con- 12 duct research relating to— 13 ‘‘(A) next-generation light water reactor 14 fuels that demonstrate enhanced— 15 ‘‘(i) performance; and 16 ‘‘(ii) accident tolerance; and 17 ‘‘(B) fuels that demonstrate enhanced— 18 ‘‘(i) proliferation resistance; and 19 ‘‘(ii) use of resources. 20 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the pro- 21 gram under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 22 ‘‘(A) focus on the development of accident- 23 tolerant fuel and cladding concepts that are ca- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2368.RS S2368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 2368 RS pable of achieving the objective of initiating 1 core reloads by calendar year 2025; 2 ‘‘(B)(i) develop modeling capabilities for 3 new fuel concepts; 4 ‘‘(ii) conduct studies regarding the means 5 by which those concepts would impact reactor 6 economics, the fuel cycle, operations, safety, 7 and the environment; and 8 ‘‘(iii) subject to paragraph (3), publish the 9 studies conducted under clause (ii); and 10 ‘‘(C) cooperate with institutions of higher 11 education through the Nuclear Energy Univer- 12 sity and Integrated Research Projects programs 13 of the Department. 14 ‘‘(3) SENSITIVE INFORMATION.—The Secretary 15 shall not publish any information under paragraph 16 (2)(B)(iii) that is detrimental to national security, 17 as determined by the Secretary. 18 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROP [Text truncated for display. 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