[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4242 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4242
To provide for the preservation and storage of uranium-233 to foster
development of thorium molten-salt reactors, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18 (legislative day, May 17), 2022
Mr. Tuberville (for himself and Mr. Marshall) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the preservation and storage of uranium-233 to foster
development of thorium molten-salt reactors, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Thorium Energy Security Act of
2022''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Thorium molten-salt reactor technology was originally
developed in the United States, primarily at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in the State of Tennessee under the Molten-
Salt Reactor Program.
(2) Before the cancellation of that program in 1976, the
technology developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was
moving steadily toward efficient utilization of the natural
thorium energy resource, which exists in substantial amounts in
many parts of the United States, and requires no isotopic
enrichment.
(3) The People's Republic of China is known to be pursuing
the development of molten-salt reactor technology based on a
thorium fuel cycle.
(4) Thorium itself is not fissile, but fertile, and
requires fissile material to begin a nuclear chain reaction.
This largely accounts for its exclusion for nuclear weapons
developments.
(5) Uranium-233, derived from neutron absorption by natural
thorium, is the ideal candidate for the fissile material to
start a thorium reactor, and is the only fissile material
candidate that can minimize the production of long-lived
transuranic elements like plutonium, which have proven a great
challenge to the management of existing spent nuclear fuel.
(6) Geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel from
conventional nuclear reactors continues to pose severe
political and technical challenges, and costs United States
taxpayers more than $500,000,000 annually in court-mandated
payments to electrical utilities operating nuclear reactors.
(7) The United States possesses the largest known inventory
of separated uranium-233 in the world, aggregated at the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory.
(8) Oak Ridge National Laboratory building 3019 was
designated in 1962 as the national repository for uranium-233
storage, and its inventory eventually grew to about 450
kilograms of separated uranium-233, along with approximately
1,000 kilograms of mixed fissile uranium from the Consolidated
Edison Uranium Solidification Program (commonly referred to as
``CEUSP''), divided into approximately 1,100 containers.
(9) The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board issued
Recommendation 97-1 (relating to safe storage of uranium-233)
in 1997 because of the possibility of corrosion or other
degradation around the storage of uranium-233 in a building
that was built in 1943.
(10) In response, the Department of Energy published
Decision Memorandum No. 2 in 2001 concluding that no Department
of Energy programs needed uranium-233 and directed that a
contract be placed for disposition of the uranium-233 inventory
and decommissioning of its storage facility.
(11) The Department of Energy awarded a contract for the
irreversible downblending of uranium-233 with uranium-238 and
its geologic disposal in Nevada, which downblending would
create a waste form that would pose radiological hazards for
hundreds of thousands of years, rather than to consider
uranium-233 as a useful national asset.
(12) All 1,000 kilograms of CEUSP uranium-233-based
material have been dispositioned (but not downblended) but
those containers had little useful uranium-233 in them. The
majority of separated and valuable uranium-233 remains
uncontaminated by uranium-238 and suitable for thorium fuel
cycle research and development. That remaining inventory
constitutes the largest supply of uranium-233 known to exist in
the world today.
(13) The United States has significant domestic reserves of
thorium in accessible high-grade deposits, which can provide
thousands of years of clean energy if used efficiently in a
liquid-fluoride reactor initially started with uranium-233.
(14) Recently (as of the date of the enactment of this
Act), the Department of Energy has chosen to fund a series of
advanced reactors that are all dependent on initial inventories
and regular resupplies of high-assay, low-enriched uranium.
(15) There is no domestic source of high-assay, low-
enriched uranium fuel, and there are no available estimates as
to how long the development of a domestic supply of that fuel
would take or how expensive such development would be.
(16) The only viable source of high-assay, low-enriched
uranium fuel is through continuous import from sources in the
Russian Federation.
(17) The political situation with the Russian Federation as
of the date of the enactment of this Act is sufficiently
uncertain that it would be unwise for United States-funded
advanced reactor development to rely on high-assay, low-
enriched uranium since the Russian Federation would be the
primary source and can be expected to undercut any future
United States production, resulting in a dependency on high-
assay, low-enriched uranium from the Russian Federation.
(18) The United States has abandoned the development of a
geologic repository at Yucca Mountain and is seeking a
consenting community to allow interim storage of spent nuclear
fuel, but valid concerns persist that an interim storage
facility will become a permanent storage facility.
(19) Without a closed fuel cycle, high-assay, low-enriched
uranium-fueled reactors inevitably will produce long-lived
wastes that presently have no disposition pathway.
(20) The United States possesses enough uranium-233 to
support further research and development as well as fuel the
startup of several thorium reactors. Thorium reactors do not
require additional fuel or high-assay, low-enriched uranium
from the Russian Federation.
(21) Continuing the irreversible destruction of uranium-233
precludes privately funded development of the thorium fuel
cycle, which would have long term national and economic
security implications.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) it is in the best economic and national security
interests of the United States to resume development of thorium
molten-salt reactors that can minimize long-lived waste
production, in consideration of--
(A) the pursuit by the People's Republic of China
of thorium molten-salt reactors and associated
cooperative research agreements with United States
national laboratories; and
(B) the present impasse around the geological
disposal of nuclear waste;
(2) that the development of thorium molten-salt reactors is
consistent with section 1261 of the John S. McCain National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115-
232; 132 Stat. 2060), which declared long-term strategic
competition with the People's Republic of China as ``a
principal priority for the United States''; and
(3) to resume such development, it is necessary to relocate
as much of the uranium-233 remaining at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory as possible to new secure storage.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Congressional defense committees.--The term
``congressional defense committees'' has the meaning given that
term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.
(2) Downblend.--The term ``downblend'' means the process of
adding a chemically identical isotope to an inventory of
fissile material in order to degrade its nuclear value.
(3) Fissile material.--The term ``fissile material'' refers
to uranium-233, uranium-235, plutonium-239, or plutonium-241.
(4) High-assay, low-enriched uranium.--The term ``high-
assay, low-enriched uranium'' (commonly referred to as
``HALEU'') means a mixture of uranium isotopes very nearly but
not equaling or exceeding 20 percent of the isotope uranium-
235.
(5) Transuranic element.--The term ``transuranic element''
means an element with an atomic number greater than the atomic
number of uranium (92), such as neptunium, plutonium,
americium, or curium.
SEC. 5. PRESERVATION OF URANIUM-233 TO FOSTER DEVELOPMENT OF THORIUM
MOLTEN-SALT REACTORS.
The Secretary of Energy shall preserve uranium-233 inventories that
have not been contaminated with uranium-238, with the goal of fostering
development of thorium molten-salt reactors by United States industry.
SEC. 6. STORAGE OF URANIUM-233.
(a) Report on Long-Term Storage of Uranium-233.--Not later than 120
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Energy, in consultation with the heads of other relevant agencies,
shall submit to Congress a report identifying a suitable location for,
or a location that can be modified for, secure long-term storage of
uranium-233.
(b) Report on Interim Storage of Uranium-233.--Not later than 120
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief of
Engineers shall submit to Congress a report identifying a suitable
location for secure interim storage of uranium-233.
(c) Report on Construction of Uranium-233 Storage Facility at
Redstone Arsenal.--Not later than 240 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Chief of Engineers shall submit to Congress
a report on the costs of constructing a permanent, secure storage
facility for uranium-233 at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, that is also
suitable for chemical processing of uranium-233 pursuant to a public-
private partnership with thorium reactor developers.
(d) Funding.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, amounts
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for the U233
Disposition Program for fiscal year 2022 or 2023 shall be made
available for the transfer of the inventory of uranium-233 to the
interim or permanent storage facilities identified under this section.
SEC. 7. INTERAGENCY COOPERATION ON PRESERVATION AND TRANSFER OF
URANIUM-233.
The Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Army (including the
head of the Army Reactor Office), the Secretary of Transportation, the
Tennessee Valley Authority, and other relevant agencies shall--
(1) work together to preserve uranium-233 inventories and
expedite transfers of uranium-233 to interim and permanent
storage facilities; and
(2) in expediting such transfers, seek the assistance of
appropriate industrial entities.
SEC. 8. REPORT ON USE OF THORIUM REACTORS BY PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator
for Nuclear Security, shall submit to Congress a report that--
(1) evaluates the progress the People's Republic of China
has made in the development of thorium-based reactors;
(2) describes the extent to which that progress was based
on United States technology;
(3) details the actions the Department of Energy took in
transferring uranium-233 technology to the People's Republic of
China; and
(4) assesses the likelihood that the People's Republic of
China may employ thorium reactors in its future navy plans.
SEC. 9. REPORT ON MEDICAL MARKET FOR ISOTOPES OF URANIUM-233.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, after
consultation with institutions of higher education and private industry
conducting medical research and the public, shall submit to Congress a
report that estimates the medical market value, during the 10-year
period after the date of the enactment of this Act, of actinium,
bismuth, and other grandchildren isotopes of uranium-233 that can be
harvested without downblending and destroying the uranium-233 source
material.
SEC. 10. REPORT ON COSTS TO UNITED STATES NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, after
consultation with relevant industry groups and nuclear regulatory
agencies, shall submit to Congress a report that estimates, for the 10-
year period after the date of the enactment of this Act, the costs to
the United States nuclear enterprise with respect to--
(1) disposition of uranium-233;
(2) payments to nuclear facilities to store nuclear waste;
and
(3) restarting the manufacturing the United States of high-
assay, low-enriched uranium.
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