I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1760 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish and carry out a program 

to support the availability of HA–LEU for domestic commercial use, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Mr. FLORES (for himself and Mr. MCNERNEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish and carry 

out a program to support the availability of HA–LEU 

for domestic commercial use, 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 ‘‘Advanced Nuclear Fuel 

5 Availability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

8 and carry out, through the Office of Nuclear Energy, a 


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1 program to support the availability of HA–LEU for do2 mestic commercial use. 

3 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—In carrying out the pro4 gram under subsection (a), the Secretary— 

5 (1) may provide financial assistance to assist 

6 commercial entities to design and license transpor7 tation packages for HA–LEU, including canisters 

8 for metal, gas, and other HA–LEU compositions; 

9 (2) shall, to the extent practicable— 

10 (A) by January 1, 2022, have commercial 

11 entities submit such transportation package de12 signs to the Commission for certification by the 

13 Commission under part 71 of title 10, Code of 

14 Federal Regulations; and 

15 (B) encourage the Commission to have 

16 such transportation package designs so certified 

17 by the Commission by January 1, 2024; 

18 (3) not later than January 1, 2021, shall sub19 mit to Congress a report on the Department’s ura20 nium inventory that may be available to be proc21 essed to HA–LEU for purposes of such program, 

22 which may not include any uranium allocated by the 

23 Secretary for use in support of the atomic energy 

24 defense activities of the National Nuclear Security 

25 Administration; 


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1 (4) not later than 1 year after the date of en2 actment of this Act, and biennially thereafter 

3 through September 30, 2026, shall conduct a survey 

4 of stakeholders to estimate the quantity of HA–LEU 

5 necessary for domestic commercial use for each of 

6 the 5 subsequent years; 

7 (5) shall assess options available for the Sec8 retary to acquire HA–LEU for such program, in9 cluding an assessment, for each such option, of the 

10 cost and amount of time required; 

11 (6) shall establish a consortium, which may in12 clude entities involved in any stage of the nuclear 

13 fuel cycle, to partner with the Department to sup14 port the availability of HA–LEU for domestic com15 mercial use, including by— 

16 (A) providing information to the Secretary 

17 for purposes of surveys conducted under para18 graph (4); and 

19 (B) purchasing HA–LEU made available 

20 to members of the consortium by the Secretary 

21 under the program; 

22 (7) shall, prior to acquiring HA–LEU under 

23 paragraph (8), in coordination with the consortium 

24 established pursuant to paragraph (6), develop a 

25 schedule for cost recovery of HA–LEU made availVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.IH H1760

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1 able to members of the consortium pursuant to 

2 paragraph (8); 

3 (8) may, beginning not later than 3 years after 

4 the establishment of a consortium under paragraph 

5 (6), acquire HA–LEU, in order, to the extent prac6 ticable, to make such HA–LEU available to mem7 bers of the consortium beginning not later than Jan8 uary 1, 2026, in amounts that are consistent, to the 

9 extent practicable, with the quantities estimated 

10 under the surveys conducted under paragraph (4); 

11 and 

12 (9) shall develop, in consultation with the Com13 mission, criticality benchmark data to assist the 

14 Commission in— 

15 (A) the licensing and regulation of cat16 egory II spent nuclear material fuel fabrication 

17 and enrichment facilities under part 70 of title 

18 10, Code of Federal Regulations; and 

19 (B) certification of transportation pack20 ages under part 71 of title 10, Code of Federal 

21 Regulations. 

22 (c) APPLICABILITY OF USEC PRIVATIZATION ACT.— 

23 The requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 

24 3112(d)(2) of the USEC Privatization Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 2297h–10(d)(2)) shall apply to a sale or transfer of HA– 


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1 LEU by the Secretary to a member of the consortium 

2 under this section. 

3 (d) FUNDING.— 

4 (1) TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE DESIGN.— 

5 (A) COST SHARE.—The Secretary shall en6 sure that not less than 20 percent of the costs 

7 of design and license activities carried out pur8 suant to subsection (b)(1) are paid by a non9 Federal entity. 

10 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA11 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro12 priated to carry out subsection (b)(1)— 

13 (i) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2020; 

14 (ii) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; 

15 and 

16 (iii) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

17 (2) DOE ACQUISITION OF HA–LEU.—The Sec18 retary may not make commitments under this sec19 tion (including cooperative agreements (used in ac20 cordance with section 6305 of title 31, United States 

21 Code), purchase agreements, guarantees, leases, 

22 service contracts, or any other type of commitment) 

23 for the purchase or other acquisition of HA–LEU 

24 unless funds are specifically provided for such pur25 poses in advance in subsequent appropriations Acts, 


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1 and only to the extent that the full extent of antici2 pated costs stemming from such commitments is re3 corded as an obligation up front and in full at the 

4 time it is made. 

5 (3) OTHER COSTS.—Except as otherwise pro6 vided in this subsection, in carrying out this section, 

7 the Secretary shall use amounts otherwise author8 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary. 

9 (e) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to carry 

10 out the program under this section shall expire on Sep11 tember 30, 2034. 

12 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

13 Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a 

15 report that includes— 

16 (1) identification of updates to regulations, cer17 tifications, and other regulatory policies that the 

18 Commission determines are necessary in order for 

19 HA–LEU to be commercially available, including— 

20 (A) guidance for material control and ac21 countability of category II special nuclear mate22 rial; 

23 (B) certifications relating to transportation 

24 packaging for HA–LEU; and 


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1 (C) licensing of enrichment, conversion, 

2 and fuel fabrication facilities for HA–LEU, and 

3 associated physical security plans for such fa4 cilities; 

5 (2) a description of such updates; and 

6 (3) a timeline to complete such updates. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

10 means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

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

12 means Department of Energy. 

13 (3) HA–LEU.—The term ‘‘HA–LEU’’ means 

14 high-assay low-enriched uranium. 

15 (4) HIGH-ASSAY LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM.— 

16 The term ‘‘high-assay low-enriched uranium’’ means 

17 uranium having an assay greater than 5.0 percent 

18 and less than 20.0 percent enrichment of the ura19 nium-235 isotope. 

20 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of Energy. 

Æ 


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