Nuclear Energy for the Future Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6796 To establish and support advanced nuclear research and development pro- grams and infrastructure at the Department of Energy, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2020 Mr. WEBER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To establish and support advanced nuclear research and de- velopment programs and infrastructure at the Depart- ment of Energy, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Energy for 4 the Future Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 6 Section 952 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 7 U.S.C. 16272) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6796 IH ‘‘(e) ADVANCED REACTOR TECHNOLOGIES RE- 1 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 3 out a program under which the Secretary shall con- 4 duct research relating to the development of ad- 5 vanced nuclear energy technologies that may offer 6 improved safety, functionality, and affordability. 7 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The program under this 8 subsection shall— 9 ‘‘(A) support efforts to reduce long-term 10 technical barriers for advanced nuclear energy 11 systems; and 12 ‘‘(B) be carried out in consultation with 13 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure 14 identification of any relevant concerns. 15 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 17 program under this subsection, the Secretary 18 shall, to the maximum extent practicable and 19 consistent with national security, make avail- 20 able nuclear energy research infrastructure to 21 industry partners in order to achieve faster and 22 cost-effective development of advanced nuclear 23 energy technologies toward commercial readi- 24 ness. The Secretary shall make available— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6796 IH ‘‘(i) experimental capabilities and test- 1 ing facilities; 2 ‘‘(ii) computational capabilities, mod- 3 eling, and simulation tools; 4 ‘‘(iii) access to existing datasets and 5 data validation tools; and 6 ‘‘(iv) land use and site information for 7 demonstration facilities. 8 ‘‘(B) SELECTION.— 9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 10 shall select industry partners for awards 11 on a competitive merit-reviewed basis. 12 ‘‘(ii) CONSIDERATIONS.—In selecting 13 industry partners under clause (i), the Sec- 14 retary shall consider— 15 ‘‘(I) the information disclosed by 16 the Department as described in sub- 17 paragraph (A); and 18 ‘‘(II) any existing facilities the 19 Department will provide for public- 20 private partnership activities. 21 ‘‘(C) TERM.—An award made to an indus- 22 try partner under this subsection shall be for a 23 period of not more than 5 years, subject to the 24 availability of appropriations, after which the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6796 IH award may be renewed, subject to a rigorous 1 merit review. 2 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION OF ADVANCED NUCLEAR EN- 3 ERGY.—In this subsection, the term ‘advanced nu- 4 clear energy’ means energy provided by— 5 ‘‘(A) a nuclear fission reactor, including a 6 prototype plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 7 52.1 of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 8 (or successor regulations)), with significant im- 9 provements compared to the most recent gen- 10 eration of fission reactors, including improve- 11 ments such as— 12 ‘‘(i) additional inherent safety fea- 13 tures; 14 ‘‘(ii) lower waste yields; 15 ‘‘(iii) improved fuel performance; 16 ‘‘(iv) increased tolerance to loss of 17 fuel cooling; 18 ‘‘(v) enhanced reliability; 19 ‘‘(vi) increased proliferation resist- 20 ance; 21 ‘‘(vii) increased thermal efficiency; 22 ‘‘(viii) reduced consumption of cooling 23 water; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6796 IH ‘‘(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; or 6 ‘‘(xi) operational flexibility to respond 7 to changes in demand for electricity and to 8 complement integration with intermittent 9 renewable energy; or 10 ‘‘(B) a fusion reactor.’’. 11 SEC. 3. VERSATILE NEUTRON SOURCE. 12 Section 955(c) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 13 U.S.C. 16275(c)) is amended to read as follows: 14 ‘‘(c) VERSATILE NEUTRON SOURCE.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to advance the re- 16 search and development of domestic advanced, af- 17 fordable, secure, and clean nuclear energy, the Sec- 18 retary shall construct a versatile reactor-based fast 19 neutron source, which shall operate as a national 20 user facility. The Secretary shall consult with the 21 private sector, universities, National Laboratories, 22 and relevant Federal agencies to ensure that such 23 facility is capable of meeting Federal research needs 24 for neutron irradiation services. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6796 IH ‘‘(2) FACILITY CAPABILITIES.— 1 ‘‘(A) CAPABILITIES.—The Secretary shall 2 ensure that the facility described in paragraph 3 (1) will provide, at a minimum, the following 4 capabilities: 5 ‘‘(i) Fast neutron spectrum irradia- 6 tion capability. 7 ‘‘(ii) Capacity for upgrades to accom- 8 modate new or expanded research needs. 9 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out 10 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall consider 11 the following: 12 ‘‘(i) Capabilities that support experi- 13 mental high-temperature testing. 14 ‘‘(ii) Providing a source of fast neu- 15 trons, at a neutron flux higher than that 16 at which existing research facilities oper- 17 ate, sufficient to enable research for an op- 18 timal base of prospective users. 19 ‘‘(iii) Maximizing irradiation flexibility 20 and irradiation volume to accommodate as 21 many concurrent users as possible. 22 ‘‘(iv) Capabilities for irradiation with 23 neutrons of a lower energy spectrum. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6796 IH ‘‘(v) Multiple loops for fuels and ma- 1 terials testing of different coolants. 2 ‘‘(vi) Additional pre-irradiation and 3 post-irradiation examination capabilities. 4 ‘‘(vii) Lifetime operating costs and 5 lifecycle costs. 6 ‘‘(3) START OF OPERATIONS.—The Secretary 7 shall, to the maximum extent practicable, ensure 8 that the start of full operations of the facility de- 9 scribed in paragraph (1) occurs before December 31, 10 2026. 11 ‘‘(4) REPORTING.—The Secretary shall include 12 in the annual budget request of the Department an 13 explanation for any delay in the process of the De- 14 partment in completing the facility described in 15 paragraph (1) by the deadline described in para- 16 graph (3). 17 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall le- 18 verage the best practices for management, construc- 19 tion, and operation of national user facilities from 20 the Office of Science. 21 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 23 retary for the Office of Nuclear Energy to carry out 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6796 IH to completion the construction of the facility under 1 this subsection— 2 ‘‘(A) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; 3 ‘‘(B) $550,000,000 for fiscal year 2022; 4 ‘‘(C) $638,000,000 for fiscal year 2023; 5 ‘‘(D) $765,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 6 and 7 ‘‘(E) $763,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.’’. 8 SEC. 4. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTATION COLLABO- 9 RATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM. 10 Section 957 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 11 U.S.C. 16277) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(d) DUPLICATION.—The Secretary shall ensure the 14 coordination of, and avoid unnecessary duplication of, the 15 activities of the program under subsection (a) with the ac- 16 tivities of— 17 ‘‘(1) other research entities of the Department, 18 including the National Laboratories, the Advanced 19 Research Projects Agency–Energy, and the Ad- 20 vanced Scientific Computing Research program; and 21 ‘‘(2) industry.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6796.IH H6796 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS