[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4675 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4675
To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to clarify the organization and
duties of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 17, 2023
Mr. Donalds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to clarify the organization and
duties of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, 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 ``Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards Reform Act'' or the ``ACRS Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (in this Act referred
to as the ``Commission'') should take a more active approach in
collaborating with the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on
Reactor Safeguards (in this Act referred to as the
``Committee'') for the purpose of modernizing and evaluating
the scope of the Committee, in furtherance of the requirements
set out in the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act
along with role of the Committee in independently reviewing and
resolving key application issues;
(2) the Commission staff should improve its preparation for
engagements with the Committee to better optimize the review of
pending application topics;
(3) the Commission and Committee staff should collaborate
and review practices to identify best practices that lead to
efficient and effective Committee reviews;
(4) the Committee should focus its reviews on novel and
safety-significant issues in its review process;
(5) the Committee shouldn't heavily focus on reviewing the
aspects of reactor technologies that are well known and well
understood;
(6) the Committee should recognize and understand that the
Commission staff time is valuable in ultimately streamlining,
and approving, nuclear reactor applications;
(7) the Committee should perform a budget review to
Committee staff to ensure it's appropriately staffed to ensure
it can meet the anticipated future influx of applications;
(8) the Committee should be modernized by improving the
internal processes associated with the Committee independent
review process;
(9) the Committee should consider modifying its Membership
Balance Plan to ensure adequate expertise and experience, while
simultaneously ensuring increased member diversity, including
but not limited to establishing certain term limits to carry
forth this intention;
(10) Congress recognizes that the Committee originally
provided significant value in providing an independent review
of each application, but after decades of accumulating
experience and vast changes in nuclear technology, the
Committee no longer serves the same role as it originally did;
and
(11) Congress understands the Committee has the potential
to play a valuable role in the Commission licensing review
process, but its purpose, processes, and practices need to be
improved, economized, and modernized.
SEC. 3. ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS REFORM.
(a) Selection of ACRS Chairman.--Section 29 of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2039) is amended by striking ``by the Committee
as its Chairman'' in the third sentence and inserting ``as the Chairman
of the Committee by a majority of the members of the Commission''.
(b) License Applications.--
(1) In general.--Section 182 b. of the Atomic Energy Act of
1954 (42 U.S.C. 2232(b)) is amended by striking ``The Advisory
Committee'' and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--The Advisory Committee''.
(2) Limitation on review.--Section 182 of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2232) is amended by inserting at the end
of subsection b., as amended by paragraph (1), the following:
``(2) Limitation on review.--With respect to the
applications described in paragraph (1), the Advisory Committee
on Reactor Safeguards may only review such applications that
present a novel issue or an issue of significant safety
concern, based on a risk-informed determination by the
Committee.''.
(c) Fee Recovery Exemption.--Section 102(b)(1)(B) of the Nuclear
Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (42 U.S.C. 2215(b)(1)(B) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(iv) Costs associated with any reviews
conducted by the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards, established under section 29 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2039),
including any direct or indirect costs relating
to preparing for, or attending, meetings held
by the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards.''.
(d) ACRS Organization.--Section 29 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954
(42 U.S.C. 2039) is amended--
(1) by striking ``There is hereby'' and inserting the
following:
``(a) In General.--There is hereby'';
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Prohibition on Subcommittees.--The Committee established
under subsection (a) may not form subcommittees.''.
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