[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5157 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5157
To require the Secretary of Energy to study new technologies and
opportunities for recycling spent nuclear fuel, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 24, 2024
Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Heinrich) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to study new technologies and
opportunities for recycling spent nuclear fuel, 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 ``Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel
Recycling Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. STUDY ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO RECYCLE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory''
has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
(2) Nuclear waste.--The term ``nuclear waste'' means spent
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, as defined in
section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.
10101).
(3) Recycling.--The term ``recycling'' means the recovery
of valuable radionuclides, including fissile materials, from
nuclear waste, and any subsequent processes, such as enrichment
and fuel fabrication, necessary for reuse in nuclear reactors
or other commercial applications.
(4) Spent nuclear fuel.--The term ``spent nuclear fuel''
has the meaning given in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy
Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101).
(b) Study.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall seek to
enter into an agreement with the National Academies of
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to assemble an independent
committee of experts to author the study described in this
subsection.
(2) Individuals not to be included.--The independent
committee of experts shall not include any of the same
individuals who authored the report, ``Merits and Viability of
Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the
Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors (2023)'', but those
same individuals may advise the independent committee of
experts.
(3) Independent committee of experts.--The independent
committee of experts shall consist of subject matter experts
from stakeholders, such as the Office of Nuclear Energy of the
Department of Energy, the National Laboratories, academia,
industry, and other relevant stakeholder groups, as determined
by the Secretary--
(A) to analyze the practicability, potential
benefits, costs, and risks, including proliferation, of
using dedicated recycling facilities to convert spent
nuclear fuel, including spent high-assay low-enriched
uranium fuel, into useable nuclear fuels, such as those
for--
(i) commercial light water reactors;
(ii) advanced nuclear reactors; and
(iii) medical, space-based, advanced-
battery, and other non-reactor applications, as
determined by the Secretary;
(B) to--
(i) analyze the practicability, potential
benefits, costs, and risks of recycling spent
nuclear fuel, which is taken from temporary
storage sites throughout the United States, and
using it as fuel or input for advanced
reactors, existing reactors, or commercial
applications;
(ii) compare such practicability, potential
benefits, costs, and risks of recycling spent
nuclear fuel with the practicability, potential
benefits, costs, and risks of the once-through
fuel cycle, including temporary and permanent
storage requirements; and
(iii) analyze the practicability, potential
benefits, costs, and risks of aqueous (such as
PUREX and its derivatives) recycling processes
with the practicability, potential benefits,
costs, and risk of non-aqueous (such as pyro-
electrochemistry) recycling processes;
(C) to analyze the technical and economic
feasibility of utilizing nuclear waste processing to
extract certain isotopes needed for domestic and
international use, including medical, industrial,
space-based power source, and advanced-battery
applications;
(D) to analyze the practicability, potential
benefits, costs, risks, and potential approaches for
coupling or collocating recycling facilities with other
pertinent facilities, such as advanced reactors (that
can use the recycled fuel), interim storage, and fuel-
fabrication facilities, including--
(i) relevant analyses, such as capital and
operating cost estimates, public-private
partnerships to encourage investment,
infrastructure requirements, timeline to full-
scale commercial deployment, and distinguishing
characteristics or requirements of such
facilities;
(ii) input from interested private
technology developers and relevant assumptions
regarding cost; and
(iii) comparison with the practicability,
potential benefits, costs, and risks of the
once-through fuel cycle, including temporary
and permanent storage requirements;
(E) to identify parties, including individuals,
communities, businesses, and local and Tribal
governments, that are impacted economically, or through
health, safety, or environmental risks, by the current
practice of indefinite temporary storage of spent
nuclear fuel, and assess potential risks and benefits
for these parties should spent nuclear fuel be removed
from their sites for the purposes of nuclear waste
recycling;
(F) to assess different approaches for siting and
sizing nuclear waste recycling facilities, including a
centralized national facility, regional facilities, on-
site facilities where spent nuclear fuel is currently
stored, and on-site facilities where newly recycled
fuel can be used by an on-site reactor, and recommend
one or more approaches that consider environmental,
transportation, infrastructure, capital, and other
risks;
(G) to identify tracking and accountability methods
for new recycled fuel and radioactive waste streams for
byproducts of the recycling process;
(H) to--
(i) identify any regulatory gaps related to
nuclear waste management and recycling,
including accuracy and consistency of relevant
definitions for radioactive waste (including
``high-level radioactive waste'', ``spent
nuclear fuel'', ``low-level radioactive
waste'', ``reprocessing'', ``recycling'', and
``vitrification'') and classifications of
radioactive waste that exist in Federal law on
the date of enactment of this Act;
(ii) compare such definitions to those used
by other nations that manage radioactive waste;
and
(iii) make recommendations for modernizing
such definitions; and
(I) to evaluate--
(i) potential Federal and State-level
policy changes to support development and
deployment of recycling and waste-utilizing
reactor technologies; and
(ii) impacts of spent nuclear fuel
recycling on requirements for domestic nuclear
waste storage.
(c) Report.--Not later than 12 months after the date on which the
agreement described under subsection (b) is entered, the Secretary of
Energy shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives, the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, a report that
complies with each of the following:
(1) Describes the results of the study.
(2) Is released to the public.
(3) Totals not more than 120 pages (excluding Front Matter,
References, and Appendices) written and formatted to facilitate
review by a nonspecialist readership, including the following
sections:
(A) A Front Matter section that includes a cover
page with identifying information, tables of contents,
figures, and tables.
(B) An Executive Summary section.
(C) An Introductory section that includes a
historical overview that also explains why recycling is
not performed in the United States today, such as
economic, political, or technological obstacles.
(D) Results and Findings sections that summarize
the results and findings of the study described in
subsection (b).
(E) A Key Remaining Challenges and Barriers section
that identifies key technical and nontechnical (such as
economic) challenges and barriers that need to be
addressed to enable scale-up and commercial adoption of
spent nuclear fuel recycling, with preference given to
secure, proliferation resistant, environmentally safe,
and economical recycling methods.
(F) A Policy Recommendations section that--
(i) lists policy recommendations to address
remaining technical and nontechnical (such as
economic) challenges and barriers to enable
scale-up and commercial adoption of spent
nuclear fuel recycling, including with
government support;
(ii) contrasts the potential benefits and
risks of each policy; and
(iii) compares benefits to current or past
policies.
(G) An Other section in which other relevant
information may be added.
(H) A References section.
(I) An Appendices section.
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