[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3484 Introduced in House (IH)]
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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 developing collaborative
relationships with embarking civil nuclear nations, 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 ``Advanced Reactor Coordination Act''
or the ``ARC Act''.
SEC. 2. ADVANCED REACTOR COORDINATION AND RESOURCE CENTER.
(a) In General.--The President shall consider the feasibility of
leveraging existing activities or frameworks or, as necessary,
establishing a center, to be known as the ``Advanced Reactor
Coordination and Resource Center'' (referred to in this section as the
``Center''), for the purposes of--
(1) identifying qualified organizations and service
providers--
(A) for embarking civil nuclear nations;
(B) to develop and assemble documents, contracts,
and related items required to establish a civil nuclear
program; and
(C) to develop a standardized model for the
establishment of a civil nuclear program that can be
used by the International Atomic Energy Agency;
(2) coordinating with countries participating in the
Center--
(A) to identify funds to support payment for
services required to develop a civil nuclear program;
(B) to provide market analysis; and
(C) to create--
(i) project structure models;
(ii) models for electricity market
analysis;
(iii) models for nonelectric applications
market analysis; and
(iv) financial models;
(3) identifying and developing the safety, security,
safeguards, and nuclear governance required for a civil nuclear
program;
(4) supporting multinational regulatory standards to be
developed by countries with civil nuclear programs and
experience;
(5) developing and strengthening communications,
engagement, and consensus-building;
(6) carrying out any other major activities to support
export, financing, education, construction, training, and
education requirements relating to the establishment of a civil
nuclear program;
(7) developing mechanisms for how to fund and staff the
Center; and
(8) determining mechanisms for the selection of the
location or locations of the Center.
(b) Objective.--The President shall carry out subsection (a) with
the objective of establishing the Center if the President determines
that it is feasible to do so.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Advanced nuclear reactor.--The term ``advanced nuclear
reactor'' means--
(A) a nuclear fission reactor, including a
prototype plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 52.1
of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor
regulations)), with significant improvements compared
to reactors operating on October 19, 2016, including
improvements such as--
(i) additional inherent safety features;
(ii) lower waste yields;
(iii) improved fuel and material
performance;
(iv) increased tolerance to loss of fuel
cooling;
(v) enhanced reliability or improved
resilience;
(vi) increased proliferation resistance;
(vii) increased thermal efficiency;
(viii) reduced consumption of cooling water
and other environmental impacts;
(ix) the ability to integrate into electric
applications and nonelectric applications;
(x) modular sizes to allow for deployment
that corresponds with the demand for
electricity or process heat; and
(xi) operational flexibility to respond to
changes in demand for electricity or process
heat and to complement integration with
intermittent renewable energy or energy
storage;
(B) a fusion reactor; and
(C) a radioisotope power system that utilizes heat
from radioactive decay to generate energy.
(2) Civil nuclear.--The term ``civil nuclear'' means
activities relating to--
(A) nuclear plant construction;
(B) nuclear fuel services;
(C) nuclear energy financing;
(D) nuclear plant operations;
(E) nuclear plant regulation;
(F) nuclear medicine;
(G) nuclear safety;
(H) community engagement in areas in reasonable
proximity to nuclear sites;
(I) infrastructure support for nuclear energy;
(J) nuclear plant decommissioning;
(K) nuclear liability;
(L) safe storage and safe disposal of spent nuclear
fuel;
(M) environmental safeguards;
(N) nuclear nonproliferation and security; and
(O) technology related to the matters described in
subparagraphs (A) through (N).
(3) Embarking civil nuclear nation.--
(A) In general.--The term ``embarking civil nuclear
nation'' means a country that--
(i) does not have a civil nuclear energy
program;
(ii) is in the process of developing or
expanding a civil nuclear energy program,
including safeguards and a legal and regulatory
framework, for--
(I) nuclear safety;
(II) nuclear security;
(III) radioactive waste management;
(IV) civil nuclear energy;
(V) environmental safeguards;
(VI) community engagement in areas
in reasonable proximity to nuclear
sites;
(VII) nuclear liability; or
(VIII) advanced nuclear reactor
licensing;
(iii) is in the process of selecting,
developing, constructing, or utilizing advanced
light water reactors, advanced nuclear
reactors, or advanced civil nuclear
technologies; or
(iv) had an annual per capita gross
domestic product of not more than $28,000 in
2020.
(B) Exclusions.--The term ``embarking civil nuclear
nation'' does not include--
(i) the People's Republic of China;
(ii) the Russian Federation;
(iii) the Republic of Belarus;
(iv) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
(v) the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea;
(vi) the Republic of Cuba;
(vii) the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
(viii) the Syrian Arab Republic;
(ix) Burma; or
(x) any other country--
(I) the property or interests in
property of the government of which are
blocked pursuant to the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or
(II) the government of which the
Secretary of State has determined has
repeatedly provided support for acts of
international terrorism for purposes
of--
(aa) section 620A(a) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2371(a));
(bb) section 40(d) of the
Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2780(d));
(cc) section
1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50
U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); or
(dd) any other relevant
provision of law.
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