ARC Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3484 To institute a focal point for advanced reactor deployment within the U.S. Government that’s responsible for developing collaborative relationships with embarking civil nuclear nations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. DONALDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To institute a focal point for advanced reactor deployment within the U.S. Government that’s responsible for devel- oping collaborative relationships with embarking civil nu- clear nations, 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 ‘‘Advanced Reactor Co- 4 ordination Act’’ or the ‘‘ARC Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3484 IH SEC. 2. ADVANCED REACTOR COORDINATION AND RE- 1 SOURCE CENTER. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall consider the 3 feasibility of leveraging existing activities or frameworks 4 or, as necessary, establishing a center, to be known as the 5 ‘‘Advanced Reactor Coordination and Resource Center’’ 6 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Center’’), for the pur- 7 poses of— 8 (1) identifying qualified organizations and serv- 9 ice providers— 10 (A) for embarking civil nuclear nations; 11 (B) to develop and assemble documents, 12 contracts, and related items required to estab- 13 lish a civil nuclear program; and 14 (C) to develop a standardized model for 15 the establishment of a civil nuclear program 16 that can be used by the International Atomic 17 Energy Agency; 18 (2) coordinating with countries participating in 19 the Center— 20 (A) to identify funds to support payment 21 for services required to develop a civil nuclear 22 program; 23 (B) to provide market analysis; and 24 (C) to create— 25 (i) project structure models; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3484 IH (ii) models for electricity market anal- 1 ysis; 2 (iii) models for nonelectric applica- 3 tions market analysis; and 4 (iv) financial models; 5 (3) identifying and developing the safety, secu- 6 rity, safeguards, and nuclear governance required 7 for a civil nuclear program; 8 (4) supporting multinational regulatory stand- 9 ards to be developed by countries with civil nuclear 10 programs and experience; 11 (5) developing and strengthening communica- 12 tions, engagement, and consensus-building; 13 (6) carrying out any other major activities to 14 support export, financing, education, construction, 15 training, and education requirements relating to the 16 establishment of a civil nuclear program; 17 (7) developing mechanisms for how to fund and 18 staff the Center; and 19 (8) determining mechanisms for the selection of 20 the location or locations of the Center. 21 (b) OBJECTIVE.—The President shall carry out sub- 22 section (a) with the objective of establishing the Center 23 if the President determines that it is feasible to do so. 24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3484 IH (1) ADVANCED NUCLEAR REACTOR.—The term 1 ‘‘advanced nuclear reactor’’ means— 2 (A) a nuclear fission reactor, including a 3 prototype plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 4 52.1 of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 5 (or successor regulations)), with significant im- 6 provements compared to reactors operating on 7 October 19, 2016, including improvements such 8 as— 9 (i) additional inherent safety features; 10 (ii) lower waste yields; 11 (iii) improved fuel and material per- 12 formance; 13 (iv) increased tolerance to loss of fuel 14 cooling; 15 (v) enhanced reliability or improved 16 resilience; 17 (vi) increased proliferation resistance; 18 (vii) increased thermal efficiency; 19 (viii) reduced consumption of cooling 20 water and other environmental impacts; 21 (ix) the ability to integrate into elec- 22 tric applications and nonelectric applica- 23 tions; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3484 IH (x) modular sizes to allow for deploy- 1 ment that corresponds with the demand 2 for electricity or process heat; and 3 (xi) operational flexibility to respond 4 to changes in demand for electricity or 5 process heat and to complement integra- 6 tion with intermittent renewable energy or 7 energy storage; 8 (B) a fusion reactor; and 9 (C) a radioisotope power system that uti- 10 lizes heat from radioactive decay to generate 11 energy. 12 (2) CIVIL NUCLEAR.—The term ‘‘civil nuclear’’ 13 means activities relating to— 14 (A) nuclear plant construction; 15 (B) nuclear fuel services; 16 (C) nuclear energy financing; 17 (D) nuclear plant operations; 18 (E) nuclear plant regulation; 19 (F) nuclear medicine; 20 (G) nuclear safety; 21 (H) community engagement in areas in 22 reasonable proximity to nuclear sites; 23 (I) infrastructure support for nuclear en- 24 ergy; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3484 IH (J) nuclear plant decommissioning; 1 (K) nuclear liability; 2 (L) safe storage and safe disposal of spent 3 nuclear fuel; 4 (M) environmental safeguards; 5 (N) nuclear nonproliferation and security; 6 and 7 (O) technology related to the matters de- 8 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (N). 9 (3) EMBARKING CIVIL NUCLEAR NATION.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘embarking 11 civil nuclear nation’’ means a country that— 12 (i) does not have a civil nuclear en- 13 ergy program; 14 (ii) is in the process of developing or 15 expanding a civil nuclear energy program, 16 including safeguards and a legal and regu- 17 latory framework, for— 18 (I) nuclear safety; 19 (II) nuclear security; 20 (III) radioactive waste manage- 21 ment; 22 (IV) civil nuclear energy; 23 (V) environmental safeguards; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3484 IH (VI) community engagement in 1 areas in reasonable proximity to nu- 2 clear sites; 3 (VII) nuclear liability; or 4 (VIII) advanced nuclear reactor 5 licensing; 6 (iii) is in the process of selecting, de- 7 veloping, constructing, or utilizing ad- 8 vanced light water reactors, advanced nu- 9 clear reactors, or advanced civil nuclear 10 technologies; or 11 (iv) had an annual per capita gross 12 domestic product of not more than 13 $28,000 in 2020. 14 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘embarking 15 civil nuclear nation’’ does not include— 16 (i) the People’s Republic of China; 17 (ii) the Russian Federation; 18 (iii) the Republic of Belarus; 19 (iv) the Islamic Republic of Iran; 20 (v) the Democratic People’s Republic 21 of Korea; 22 (vi) the Republic of Cuba; 23 (vii) the Bolivarian Republic of Ven- 24 ezuela; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3484 IH (viii) the Syrian Arab Republic; 1 (ix) Burma; or 2 (x) any other country— 3 (I) the property or interests in 4 property of the government of which 5 are blocked pursuant to the Inter- 6 national Emergency Economic Powers 7 Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 8 (II) the government of which the 9 Secretary of State has determined has 10 repeatedly provided support for acts 11 of international terrorism for purposes 12 of— 13 (aa) section 620A(a) of the 14 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 15 (22 U.S.C. 2371(a)); 16 (bb) section 40(d) of the 17 Arms Export Control Act (22 18 U.S.C. 2780(d)); 19 (cc) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) 20 of the Export Control Reform 21 Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 22 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3484 IH (dd) any other relevant pro- 1 vision of law. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3484.IH H3484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB