I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1007 

To amend the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act to assist 

small businesses that seek to engage in the research, development, and 

deployment of advanced nuclear reactors by delaying onerous licensing 

fees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2023 

Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. NEHLS, 

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Ms. MACE) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization 

Act to assist small businesses that seek to engage in 

the research, development, and deployment of advanced 

nuclear reactors by delaying onerous licensing fees, 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 ‘‘Nuclear Assistance for 

5 America’s Small Businesses Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102(b) of the Nuclear En3 ergy Innovation and Modernization Act (Public Law 115– 

4 439; 132 Stat. 5565) is amended by adding at the end 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(4) SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(A) PRE-APPLICATION FEES.—Beginning 

8 1 year after the date of enactment of this para9 graph, the Commission shall, upon request by 

10 an eligible owner, delay collection of up to 50 

11 percent of fees that are assessed for activities 

12 relating to a covered application before the date 

13 on which such covered application is docketed. 

14 ‘‘(B) POST-APPLICATION FEES.—The 

15 Commission shall, upon request by an eligible 

16 owner, delay collection of up to 35 percent of 

17 fees that are assessed during— 

18 ‘‘(i) the period that begins on the date 

19 that a covered application for a construc20 tion permit is docketed and ends on the 

21 date that the applicable operating license is 

22 issued; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the period that begins on the 

24 date a covered application for a combined 

25 license is docketed and ends on the date 

26 that the finding required under section 


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1 52.103(g) of title 10, Code of Federal Reg2 ulations (or any successor regulations) for 

3 the combined license is made; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) any appropriate period of time 

5 that begins on the date a covered applica6 tion is docketed, as determined by the 

7 Commission, under the framework devel8 oped in accordance with section 103(a)(4). 

9 ‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF DELAYED FEES.— 

10 ‘‘(i) DEFAULT COLLECTION PLAN.— 

11 For any fees the collection of which is de12 layed pursuant to subparagraph (A) or 

13 (B), the Commission shall collect, from the 

14 applicable eligible owner, 10 percent of the 

15 amount of such delayed fees— 

16 ‘‘(I)(aa) on the date that the 

17 Commission— 

18 ‘‘(AA) issues the applicable 

19 operating license; or 

20 ‘‘(BB) makes a finding re21 quired under section 52.103(g) of 

22 title 10, Code of Federal Regula23 tions (or any successor regula24 tions), for a combined license; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) for fees assessed for any 

2 period described in subparagraph 

3 (B)(iii), not later than 1 day after the 

4 date that the period ends; and 

5 ‘‘(II) annually thereafter for a 

6 period of 10 years. 

7 ‘‘(ii) FAILURE TO SUBMIT A COVERED

8 APPLICATION.— 

9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 

10 subclause (II), in the event an eligible 

11 owner does not submit a covered ap12 plication within 5 years after the date 

13 such eligible owner provides a formal 

14 response to the RIS–20–02, the Com15 mission shall collect, from such eligi16 ble owner, 25 percent of any fees the 

17 collection of which is delayed pursuant 

18 to subparagraph (A) beginning on a 

19 date the Commission determines ap20 propriate and annually thereafter for 

21 a period of 4 years. 

22 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—If an eligible 

23 owner described in subclause (I) sub24 mits an applicable covered application 

25 within the 4-year period described in 


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1 subclause (I), the Commission shall 

2 collect, from such eligible owner, any 

3 fees the collection of which is delayed 

4 pursuant to subparagraph (A) in ac5 cordance with clause (i). 

6 ‘‘(iii) DENIED APPLICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 

8 subclause (II), in the event that a cov9 ered application submitted by an eligi10 ble owner is docketed and then denied 

11 by the Commission, the Commission 

12 shall collect, from such eligible owner, 

13 25 percent of any fees the collection 

14 of which is delayed pursuant to sub15 paragraph (A) or (B) beginning on 

16 the date that is 1 year after the date 

17 such denial is issued. 

18 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—If an eligible 

19 owner described in subclause (I) sub20 mits or resubmits a covered applica21 tion within 1 year of the original de22 nial is issued, the Commission shall 

23 collect, from such eligible owner, any 

24 fees the collection of which is delayed 


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1 pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) 

2 in accordance with clause (i). 

3 ‘‘(iv) WITHDRAWN OR TEMPORARILY

4 SUSPENDED COVERED APPLICATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(I) WITHDRAWN COVERED AP6 PLICATIONS.—In the event a covered 

7 application submitted by an eligible 

8 owner is docketed and then such cov9 ered application is withdrawn by such 

10 eligible owner, the Commission shall 

11 collect, from such eligible owner, 25 

12 percent of any fees the collection of 

13 which is delayed pursuant to subpara14 graph (A) or (B) beginning on a date 

15 that is 1 year after the date such cov16 ered application is withdrawn. 

17 ‘‘(II) TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

18 COVERED APPLICATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(aa) DELAY COLLEC20 TION.—In the event a covered 

21 application submitted by an eligi22 ble owner is docketed and then 

23 such covered application is tem24 porarily suspended from review 

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1 mission shall delay collection of 

2 any fees assessed prior to the 

3 temporary suspension until the 

4 sooner of— 

5 ‘‘(AA) such eligible 

6 owner resumes review of the 

7 covered application; or 

8 ‘‘(BB) a period of 3 

9 years. 

10 ‘‘(bb) COLLECTION.—In the 

11 event that a covered application 

12 is temporarily suspended, as de13 scribed in item (aa), and an eligi14 ble owner has not resumed review 

15 of such covered application before 

16 the end the 3 year period de17 scribed in item (aa)(BB), the 

18 Commission shall collect, from 

19 such eligible owner, 25 percent of 

20 any fees the collection of which is 

21 delayed pursuant to item (aa) be22 ginning on the date that is 3 

23 years after the date the eligible 

24 owner temporarily suspends a 

25 covered application. 


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1 ‘‘(cc) EXCEPTION.—If an el2 igible owner described in item 

3 (bb) resumes review of a covered 

4 application within 3 years after 

5 the date such covered application 

6 is temporarily suspended, the 

7 Commission shall collect, from 

8 such eligible owner, any fees the 

9 collection of which is delayed pur10 suant to item (aa), in accordance 

11 with item (bb). 

12 ‘‘(D) EXCLUDED ACTIVITY FROM COST-RE13 COVERY REQUIREMENT.—Any fees the collec14 tion of which is delayed pursuant to this para15 graph shall be considered an excluded activity 

16 under paragraph (1)(B). 

17 ‘‘(E) REPORT.—Not later than December 

18 31, 2029, the Commission shall prepare and 

19 submit a report to the appropriate committees 

20 describing the views of the Commission on the 

21 continued appropriateness and necessity of pro22 viding eligible owners with the ability to defer 

23 the collection of the fees in accordance with this 

24 paragraph. 

25 ‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(i) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES.— 

2 The term ‘appropriate committees’ 

3 means— 

4 ‘‘(I) the Committee on Appro5 priations and the Committee on En6 ergy and Commerce of the House of 

7 Representatives; and 

8 ‘‘(II) the Committee on Appro9 priations and the Committee on Envi10 ronment and Public Works of the 

11 Senate. 

12 ‘‘(ii) COMBINED LICENSE.—The term 

13 ‘combined license’ has the meaning given 

14 such term in section 52.1 of title 10, Code 

15 of Federal Regulations (or any successor 

16 regulations). 

17 ‘‘(iii) CONSTRUCTION PERMIT.—The 

18 term ‘construction permit’ means a con19 struction permit described in and issued 

20 under part 50 of title 10, Code of Federal 

21 Regulations (or any successor regulations). 

22 ‘‘(iv) COVERED APPLICATION.—The 

23 term ‘covered application’ means an appli24 cation, to be submitted to the Commission, 

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1 cense, or a combined license, for an ad2 vanced nuclear reactor. 

3 ‘‘(v) ELIGIBLE OWNER.—The term 

4 ‘eligible owner’ means an owner of a small 

5 business that— 

6 ‘‘(I) seeks to engage in the re7 search, development, and deployment 

8 of an advanced nuclear reactor; and 

9 ‘‘(II) has submitted a response to 

10 the RIS–20–02. 

11 ‘‘(vi) OPERATING LICENSE.—The 

12 term ‘operating license’ means an oper13 ating license described in and issued under 

14 part 50 of title 10, Code of Federal Regu15 lations (or any successor regulations). 

16 ‘‘(vii) RIS–20–02.—The term ‘RIS– 

17 20–02’ means the NRC Regulatory Issue 

18 Summary 2020–02 published by the Nu19 clear Regulatory Commission on August 

20 31, 2020. 

21 ‘‘(viii) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term 

22 ‘small business’ means a small business 

23 concern that is assigned a North American 

24 Industry Classification System code of 

25 221113.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 102(b)(1)(B) of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Mod3 ernization Act (Public Law 115–439; 132 Stat. 5565) is 

4 amended by adding at the end following: 

5 ‘‘(iv) Any fees the collection of which 

6 is delayed pursuant to paragraph (4).’’. 

Æ 


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