I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5387 

To require congressional approval for civilian nuclear cooperation under 

certain circumstances, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 10, 2019 

Mr. SHERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require congressional approval for civilian nuclear cooperation under certain circumstances, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing the Spread 

5 of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The statement by President Recep Tayyip 

9 Erdog ̆an of Turkey on September 4, 2019, that he 

10 ‘‘cannot accept’’ a state of affairs in which Turkey 


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1 has no missiles armed with nuclear warheads follows 

2 other concerning statements from senior officials 

3 that the Government of Turkey may pursue a nu4 clear-weapons capability, which runs counter to its 

5 obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation 

6 Treaty and the bipartisan United States objective of 

7 negotiating a weapons of mass destruction-free zone 

8 in the Middle East. 

9 (2) A United States civilian nuclear cooperation 

10 agreement with Turkey, signed in 2008 and up for 

11 automatic renewal in 2023, does not currently have 

12 to be submitted for congressional review, denying 

13 Congress the opportunity to insist upon a renewed 

14 agreement—a prohibition on Turkey’s enrichment of 

15 uranium or reprocessing of plutonium on its own 

16 territory in keeping with the strongest possible non17 proliferation ‘‘gold standard’’. 

18 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR CIVIL19 IAN NUCLEAR COOPERATION AGREEMENTS 

20 UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other re22 quirements under section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act 

23 of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2153), the President, concurrent with 

24 submitting a proposed civilian nuclear cooperation agree25 ment with a foreign country in accordance with the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Dec 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5387.IH H5387

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1 quirements of such section 123, and 60 days prior to the 

2 renewal of any pre-existing civilian nuclear cooperation 

3 agreement, shall submit to Congress a report— 

4 (1) declaring any credible evidence that the for5 eign country intends, conditionally or uncondition6 ally, to pursue a nuclear program that is not inher7 ently peaceful, including public statements to that 

8 effect by a senior leader of that foreign country; 

9 (2) citing any instance in which the foreign gov10 ernment has violated the Chemical Weapons Conven11 tion, the Biological Weapons Convention, or the Nu12 clear Nonproliferation Treaty, or otherwise violated 

13 international standards with respect to the develop14 ment, storage, deployment, or use of weapons of 

15 mass destruction; 

16 (3) stating whether or not the foreign govern17 ment has committed to not enrich uranium or re18 process plutonium on its own territory concurrent to 

19 a submitted proposed civilian nuclear cooperation 

20 agreement or a renewal of any pre-existing civilian 

21 nuclear cooperation agreement; and 

22 (4) stating whether or not the foreign govern23 ment has committed to sign and ratify the Addi24 tional Protocol to its International Atomic Energy 

25 Agency Safeguards Agreement. 


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1 (b) REQUIRED ACTIONS.—If a report submitted 

2 under subsection (a) describes any known instance set 

3 forth under paragraphs (1) and (2) of such subsection, 

4 then, notwithstanding any other requirements under sec5 tion 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 

6 2153), the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the 

7 foreign country in question, or the renewal of any pre8 existing agreement, may only enter into effect on or after 

9 the date on which both of the following conditions have 

10 been met: 

11 (1) The President has submitted a proposed 

12 agreement with the foreign country in accordance 

13 with the requirements of such section 123. 

14 (2) On or after the date of the submission of 

15 the proposed agreement under paragraph (1), a joint 

16 resolution stating that Congress approves such 

17 agreement has been enacted. 

18 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—The requirements under sub19 section (b) do not apply to any country that— 

20 (1) is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty 

21 Organization; and 

22 (2) is a Nuclear Weapon State as defined by 

23 the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. 

24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION.—The 

2 term ‘‘Biological Weapons Convention’’ means the 

3 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, 

4 Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and 

5 Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, done at 

6 Washington, London, and Moscow, April 10, 1972. 

7 (2) CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION.—The 

8 term ‘‘Chemical Weapons Convention’’ means the 

9 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, 

10 Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical Weap11 ons and on their Destruction, done at Paris, Janu12 ary 13, 1993. 

13 (3) NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY.— 

14 The term ‘‘Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty’’ means 

15 the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 

16 Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Mos17 cow, July 1, 1968. 

Æ 


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