I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1326 

To underscore the importance of international nuclear safety cooperation 

for operating power reactors, encouraging the efforts of the Convention 

on Nuclear Safety, supporting progress in improving nuclear safety, 

enhancing the public availability of nuclear safety information, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2011 

Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To underscore the importance of international nuclear safety 

cooperation for operating power reactors, encouraging 

the efforts of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, supporting progress in improving nuclear safety, enhancing 

the public availability of nuclear safety information, 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 ‘‘Furthering Inter5 national Nuclear Safety Act of 2011’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

2 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 

3 (1) To recognize the paramount importance of 

4 international nuclear safety cooperation for oper5 ating power reactors. 

6 (2) To further the efforts of the Convention on 

7 Nuclear Safety as a vital international forum on nu8 clear safety. 

9 (3) To support progress in improving nuclear 

10 safety for countries that currently have or are con11 sidering the development of a civilian nuclear power 

12 program. 

13 (4) To enhance the public availability of nuclear 

14 safety information. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT18 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com19 mittees’’ means— 

20 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

21 the Senate; 

22 (B) the Committee on Environment and 

23 Public Works of the Senate; 

24 (C) the Committee on Homeland Security 

25 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

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1 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

2 the House of Representatives; 

3 (E) the Committee on Energy and Com4 merce of the House of Representatives; 

5 (F) the Committee on Oversight and Gov6 ernment Reform of the House of Representa7 tives; and 

8 (G) the Committee on Natural Resources 

9 of the House of Representatives. 

10 (2) CONVENTION.—The term ‘‘Convention’’ 

11 means the Convention on Nuclear Safety, done at 

12 Vienna September 20, 1994, and ratified by the 

13 United States April 11, 1999. 

14 (3) MEETING.—The term ‘‘meeting’’ means a 

15 meeting as described under Article 20, 21, or 23 of 

16 the Convention. 

17 (4) NATIONAL REPORT.—The term ‘‘national 

18 report’’ means a report as described under Article 5 

19 of the Convention. 

20 (5) PARTY.—The term ‘‘party’’ means a nation 

21 that has formally joined the Convention through 

22 ratification or other means. 

23 (6) SUMMARY REPORT.—The term ‘‘summary 

24 report’’ means a report as described under Article 

25 25 of the Convention. 

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1 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO FURTHER INTER2 NATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY. 

3 The President shall instruct the United States official 

4 serving as the delegate to the meetings of the Convention 

5 on Nuclear Safety pursuant to Article 24 of the Conven6 tion to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 

7 States, while recognizing that these efforts by parties are 

8 voluntary, to encourage, where appropriate— 

9 (1) parties to more systematically assess where 

10 and how they have made progress in improving safe11 ty, including where applicable through the incorpora12 tion of performance metric tools; 

13 (2) parties to increase the number of national 

14 reports they make available to the public by posting 

15 them to a publicly available Internet Web site of the 

16 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); 

17 (3) parties to expand public dissemination of 

18 written answers to questions raised by other parties 

19 about national reports by posting the information to 

20 a publicly available Internet Web site of the IAEA; 

21 (4) the IAEA to further its support of the Con22 vention, upon request by a party and where funding 

23 is available, by— 

24 (A) providing assistance to parties pre25 paring national reports; 

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1 (B) providing additional assistance to help 

2 prepare for and support meetings, including 

3 language translation services; and 

4 (C) providing additional technical support 

5 to improve the safety of civilian nuclear power 

6 programs; 

7 (5) all countries that currently have or are con8 sidering the establishment of a civilian nuclear 

9 power program to formally join the Convention; 

10 (6) parties to create standard practices for pro11 viding accurate and timely information regarding 

12 nuclear accidents and to cooperate on the develop13 ment of emergency response plans, and to post this 

14 information to a publicly available Internet Web site 

15 of the IAEA; and 

16 (7) parties to expand cooperation on prediction 

17 and analysis capability for earthquakes, tsunamis, 

18 and on radiation as it is transported away from nu19 clear sites, and to post this information to a publicly 

20 available Internet Web site of the IAEA. 

21 SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in cooperation 

24 with the heads of other relevant United States Govern25 ment agencies, shall submit to the appropriate congresmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 sional committees the United States Government’s stra2 tegic plan and prioritized goals for international nuclear 

3 safety cooperation for operating power reactors. 

4 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

5 (a) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC

6 PLAN.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

8 after the issuance of each of the first two summary 

9 reports of the Convention that are issued after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

11 State, in cooperation with the heads of other rel12 evant United States Government agencies, shall sub13 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

14 report that— 

15 (A) describes the status of implementing 

16 the strategic plan and achieving the goals speci17 fied in section 5; and 

18 (B) enumerates the most significant con19 cerns of the United States Government regard20 ing worldwide nuclear safety and describes the 

21 extent to which the strategic plan addresses 

22 these concerns. 

23 (2) FORM.—The report required under para24 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

25 but may contain a classified annex. 

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1 (b) REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO FUR2 THER INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY.—Not later 

3 than 180 days after the issuance of each of the first two 

4 summary reports of the Convention issued after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act, the United States official 

6 serving as the delegate to the meetings of the Convention 

7 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

8 a report providing the status of achieving the actions set 

9 forth in section 4. 

Æ 

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