I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1710 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary prizes for 

achievements in designing and proposing nuclear energy used fuel alternatives. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 4, 2011 

Mr. BURGESS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary 

prizes for achievements in designing and proposing nuclear energy used fuel alternatives. 

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 Used Fuel 

5 Prize Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTERING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘ad2 ministering entity’’ means the entity with which the 

3 Secretary enters into an agreement under section 

4 4(c). 

5 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

6 means the Department of Energy. 

7 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Energy. 

9 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

10 The Congress finds the following: 

11 (1) The rising cost of energy has become a hin12 drance to American economic progress. 

13 (2) High and rising energy costs have become 

14 a burden upon the American family. 

15 (3) Nuclear energy can be a safe, efficient, 

16 clean, and affordable source of renewable energy and 

17 should be considered as part of the solution for long18 term American energy independence. 

19 (4) Used nuclear fuel is and has been safely 

20 stored on nuclear energy electricity producing reac21 tor sites for many years. 

22 (5) Those sites were originally not designed or 

23 built for such storage. 


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1 (6) By 2015, it is estimated that the United 

2 States will maintain 70,000 tons of high-level nu3 clear waste. 

4 (7) The country’s electricity needs are best 

5 served by allowing new nuclear reactors to be built, 

6 in many cases on existing reactor sites. 

7 (8) Removal of the used nuclear fuel from those 

8 sites can be safely done and would lead to more effi9 cient management of used fuel and lower costs. 

10 (9) Development of alternatives to current stor11 age facilities, including the Yucca Mountain long12 term storage facility, would also allow used nuclear 

13 fuel from decommissioned reactor sites to be moved 

14 and final clean up of those sites to take place. 

15 (10) Citizens and communities in the United 

16 States interested in developing alternatives to cur17 rent storage proposals, including the high-level 

18 Yucca Mountain storage facility, should be provided 

19 the incentive to move forward with these designs and 

20 plans. 

21 (11) Prize legislation has been a successful 

22 method used by the United States Government to 

23 solve some of our country’s most difficult problems, 

24 from space travel to vehicles with super efficiency. 


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1 (12) There is merit in and need for establishing 

2 a program of prize incentives to develop used nu3 clear fuel management plans. 

4 SEC. 4. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

6 program to competitively award cash prizes in conformity 

7 with this Act to advance the research, development, dem8 onstration, and commercial application of nuclear used 

9 fuel storage. 

10 (b) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COMPETI11 TORS.— 

12 (1) ADVERTISING.—The Secretary shall widely 

13 advertise prize competitions to encourage broad par14 ticipation in the program carried out under sub15 section (a), including individuals, universities, com16 munities, and large and small businesses. 

17 (2) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL REG18 ISTER NOTICE.—The Secretary shall announce each 

19 prize competition by publishing a notice in the Fed20 eral Register. This notice shall include essential ele21 ments of the competition such as the subject of the 

22 competition, the duration of the competition, the eli23 gibility requirements for participation in the com24 petition, the process for participants to register for 


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1 the competition, the amount of the prize, and the 

2 criteria for awarding the prize. 

3 (c) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITION.—The Sec4 retary may enter into an agreement with a private, non5 profit entity to administer the prize competitions, subject 

6 to the provisions of this Act. The administering entity 

7 shall perform the following functions: 

8 (1) Advertise the competition and its results. 

9 (2) Raise funds from private entities and indi10 viduals to pay for administrative costs and cash 

11 prizes. 

12 (3) Develop, in consultation with and subject to 

13 the final approval of the Secretary, criteria to select 

14 winners based upon the goal of safely and ade15 quately storing nuclear used fuel. 

16 (4) Determine, in consultation with and subject 

17 to the final approval of the Secretary, the appro18 priate amount of the awards. 

19 (5) Protect against the administering entity’s 

20 unauthorized use or disclosure of a registered par21 ticipant’s intellectual property, trade secrets, and 

22 confidential business information. Any information 

23 properly identified as trade secrets or confidential 

24 business information that is submitted by a particiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:59 May 05, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1710.IH H1710

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1 pant as part of a competitive program under this 

2 Act may be withheld from public disclosure. 

3 (6) Develop and promulgate sufficient rules to 

4 define the parameters of designing and proposing 

5 safe and secure nuclear energy used fuel storage 

6 with input from industry, citizens, and corporations 

7 familiar with such activities. 

8 (d) FUNDING SOURCES.—Prizes under this Act may 

9 consist of Federal appropriated funds, funds provided by 

10 the administering entity, or funds raised through grants 

11 or donations. The Secretary may accept funds from other 

12 Federal agencies for such cash prizes and, notwith13 standing section 3302(b) of title 31, United States Code, 

14 may use such funds for the cash prize program. Other 

15 than publication of the names of prize sponsors, the Sec16 retary may not give any special consideration to any pri17 vate sector entity or individual in return for a donation 

18 to the Secretary or administering entity. 

19 (e) ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES.—The Secretary 

20 may not publish a notice required by subsection (b)(2) 

21 until all the funds needed to pay out the announced 

22 amount of the prize have been appropriated to the Depart23 ment or the Department has received from the admin24 istering entity a written commitment to provide all nec25 essary funds. 


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1 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY. 

2 To be eligible to win a prize under this Act, an indi3 vidual or entity— 

4 (1) shall notify the administering entity of in5 tent to submit ideas and intent to collect the prize 

6 upon selection; 

7 (2) shall comply with all the requirements stat8 ed in the Federal Register notice required under sec9 tion 4(b)(2); 

10 (3) in the case of a private entity, shall be in11 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi12 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in13 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

14 shall be a citizen of the United States; 

15 (4) shall not be a Federal entity, a Federal em16 ployee acting within the scope of his or her employ17 ment, or an employee of a national laboratory acting 

18 within the scope of employment; 

19 (5) shall not use Federal funding or other Fed20 eral resources to compete for the prize; 

21 (6) shall not be an entity acting on behalf of 

22 any foreign government or agent acting on behalf of 

23 a current federally filed proposal for a spent nuclear 

24 fuel storage facility or repository; and 

25 (7) shall present a proposal to the admin26 istering entity to remove used nuclear fuel for such 


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1 period of time as shall be necessary prior to the de2 velopment of advanced fuel cycle facilities and a 

3 final repository for used fuel waste as may be ulti4 mately in need of disposal. 

5 SEC. 6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. 

6 The Federal Government shall not, by virtue of offer7 ing or awarding a prize under this Act, be entitled to any 

8 intellectual property rights derived as a consequence of, 

9 or in direct relation to, the participation by a registered 

10 participant in a competition authorized by this Act. This 

11 section shall not be construed to prevent the Federal Gov12 ernment from negotiating a license for the use of intellec13 tual property developed for a prize competition under this 

14 Act. The Federal Government may seek assurances that 

15 technologies for which prizes are awarded under this Act 

16 are offered for commercialization in the event an award 

17 recipient does not take, or is not expected to take within 

18 a reasonable time, effective steps to achieve practical ap19 plication of the technology. 

20 SEC. 7. WAIVER OF LIABILITY. 

21 The Secretary may require registered participants to 

22 waive claims against the Federal Government and the ad23 ministering entity (except claims for willful misconduct) 

24 for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, 

25 or profits arising from the registered participants’ particiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:59 May 05, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1710.IH H1710

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1 pation in a competition under this Act. The Secretary 

2 shall give notice of any waiver required under this section 

3 in the notice required by section 4(b)(2). The Secretary 

4 may not require a registered participant to waive claims 

5 against the administering entity arising out of the unau6 thorized use or disclosure by the administering entity of 

7 the registered participant’s intellectual property, trade se8 crets, or confidential business information. 

9 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 (a) AWARDS.—There are authorized to be appro11 priated to the Secretary for the period encompassing fiscal 

12 years 2012 through 2023 for carrying out this Act— 

13 (1) $10,000,000 each for two awards, and Fed14 eral contracting opportunities; and 

15 (2) $2,000,000 for two additional awards to 

16 support continued actions to develop the successful 

17 entities. 

18 (b) TREATMENT OF AWARDS.—Amounts received 

19 pursuant to an award under this Act may not be taxed 

20 by any Federal, State, or local authority. 

21 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—In addition to the amounts 

22 authorized under subsection (a), there are authorized to 

23 be appropriated to the Secretary for each of fiscal years 

24 2012 through 2023 $2,000,000 for the administrative 

25 costs of carrying out this Act. 


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1 (d) CARRYOVER OF FUNDS.—Funds appropriated for 

2 prize awards under this Act shall remain available until 

3 expended and may be transferred, reprogrammed, or ex4 pended for other purposes only after the expiration of 11 

5 fiscal years after the fiscal year for which the funds were 

6 originally appropriated. No provision in this Act permits 

7 obligation or payment of funds in violation of section 1341 

8 of title 31, United States Code. 

Æ 


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