II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 640 

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, 

and enhancing the public availability of nuclear safety information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Mr. AKAKA (for himself and Mr. CARPER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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, and enhancing the public availability of nuclear safety information. 

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; and 

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

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

9 means the Convention on Nuclear Safety, done at 

10 Vienna September 20, 1994, and ratified by the 

11 United States April 11, 1999. 

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

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

14 the Convention. 

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

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

17 of the Convention. 

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

19 that has formally joined the Convention through 

20 ratification or other means. 

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

22 report’’ means a report as described under Article 

23 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; and 

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 SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN. 

11 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in cooperation 

13 with the heads of other relevant United States Govern14 ment agencies, shall submit to the appropriate congres15 sional committees the United States Government’s stra16 tegic plan and prioritized goals for international nuclear 

17 safety cooperation for operating power reactors. 

18 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

19 (a) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC

20 PLAN.— 

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

22 after the issuance of each of the first two summary 

23 reports of the Convention issued after the date of 

24 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 

25 cooperation with the heads of other relevant United 

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1 States Government agencies, shall submit to the ap2 propriate congressional committees a report that— 

3 (A) describes the status of implementing 

4 the strategic plan and achieving the goals set 

5 forth in section 5; and 

6 (B) enumerates the most significant con7 cerns of the United States Government regard8 ing worldwide nuclear safety and describes the 

9 extent to which the strategic plan addresses 

10 these concerns. 

11 (2) FORM.—The report required under para12 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

13 but may contain a classified annex. 

14 (b) REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO FUR15 THER INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY.—Not later 

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

17 summary reports of the Convention issued after the date 

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

19 serving as the delegate to the meetings of the Convention 

20 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

21 a report providing the status of achieving the actions set 

22 forth in section 4. 

Æ 

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