[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6252 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6252
To direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to submit a report and
conduct a rulemaking on facilitating efficient, timely environmental
reviews of nuclear reactor applications, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 6, 2023
Mr. Weber of Texas (for himself, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Pfluger, and Mr.
Latta) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to submit a report and
conduct a rulemaking on facilitating efficient, timely environmental
reviews of nuclear reactor applications, 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 ``Modernize Nuclear Reactor
Environmental Reviews Act''.
SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF EFFICIENT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (in this section
referred to as the ``Commission'') shall submit to the Committee on
Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Energy
and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on the efforts of
the Commission to facilitate efficient, timely environmental reviews of
nuclear reactor applications, including through expanded use of
categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and generic
environmental impact statements.
(b) Report.--In completing the report under subsection (a), the
Commission shall--
(1) describe the actions the Commission will take to
implement the amendments to the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) made by section 321 of the
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023;
(2) consider--
(A) using through adoption, incorporation by
reference, or other appropriate means, categorical
exclusions, environmental assessments, and
environmental impact statements prepared by other
Federal agencies to streamline environmental reviews of
nuclear reactor applications by the Commission;
(B) using categorical exclusions, environmental
assessments, and environmental impact statements
prepared by the Commission to streamline environmental
reviews of nuclear reactor applications by the
Commission;
(C) using mitigated findings of no significant
impact in environmental reviews of nuclear reactor
applications by the Commission to reduce the impact of
a proposed action to a level that is not significant;
(D) the extent to which the Commission may rely on
prior studies or analyses prepared by Federal, State,
and local governmental permitting agencies to
streamline environmental reviews of nuclear reactor
applications by the Commission;
(E) opportunities to coordinate the development of
environmental assessments and environmental impact
statements with other Federal agencies to avoid
duplicative environmental reviews and to streamline
environmental reviews of nuclear reactor applications
by the Commission;
(F) opportunities to streamline formal and informal
consultations and coordination with other Federal,
State, and local governmental permitting agencies
during environmental reviews of nuclear reactor
applications by the Commission;
(G) opportunities to streamline the Commission's
analyses of alternatives, including the Commission's
analysis of alternative sites, in environmental reviews
of nuclear reactor applications by the Commission;
(H) establishing new categorical exclusions that
could be applied to actions relating to new nuclear
reactors applications;
(I) amending section 51.20(b) of title 10, Code of
Federal Regulations, to allow the Commission to
determine on a case-specific basis whether an
environmental assessment (rather than an environmental
impact statement or supplemental environmental impact
statement) is appropriate for a particular nuclear
reactor application, including in proceedings in which
the Commission relies upon a generic environmental
impact statement for advanced nuclear reactors;
(J) authorizing the use of an applicant's
environmental impact statement as the Commission's
draft environmental impact statement, consistent with
section 107(f) of the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336a(f));
(K) opportunities to adopt online and digital
technologies, including technologies that would allow
applicants and cooperating agencies to upload documents
and coordinate with the Commission to edit documents in
real time, that would streamline communications
between--
(i) the Commission and applicants; and
(ii) the Commission and other relevant
cooperating agencies;
(L) in addition to implementing measures under
subsection (c), potential revisions to part 51 of title
10, Code of Federal Regulations, and relevant
Commission guidance documents, to--
(i) facilitate efficient environmental
reviews of nuclear reactor applications;
(ii) assist decision-making about relevant
environmental issues;
(iii) maintain openness with the public;
(iv) meet obligations under the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.); and
(v) reduce burdens on licensees,
applicants, and the Commission; and
(3) include a schedule for promulgating the rule required
under subsection (c).
(c) Rulemaking.--Not later than 2 years after the submission of the
report under subsection (a), the Commission shall promulgate a final
rule implementing, to the maximum extent practicable, measures
considered by the Commission under subsection (b)(2) that are necessary
to streamline the Commission's review of nuclear reactor applications.
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