IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1760 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Nuclear Fuel 

3 Availability Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROGRAM. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

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

7 program to support the availability of HA–LEU for do8 mestic commercial use. 

9 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—In carrying out the pro10 gram under subsection (a), the Secretary— 

11 (1) may provide financial assistance to assist 

12 commercial entities to design and license transpor13 tation packages for HA–LEU, including canisters 

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

15 (2) shall, to the extent practicable— 

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

17 entities submit such transportation package de18 signs to the Commission for certification by the 

19 Commission under part 71 of title 10, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations; and 

21 (B) encourage the Commission to have 

22 such transportation package designs so certified 

23 by the Commission by January 1, 2024; 

24 (3) not later than January 1, 2021, shall sub25 mit to Congress a report on the Department’s ura26 nium inventory that may be available to be procVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760

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1 essed to HA–LEU for purposes of such program, 

2 which may not include any uranium allocated by the 

3 Secretary for use in support of the atomic energy 

4 defense activities of the National Nuclear Security 

5 Administration; 

6 (4) not later than 1 year after the date of en7 actment of this Act, and biennially thereafter 

8 through September 30, 2026, shall conduct a survey 

9 of stakeholders to estimate the quantity of HA–LEU 

10 necessary for domestic commercial use for each of 

11 the 5 subsequent years; 

12 (5) shall assess options available for the Sec13 retary to acquire HA–LEU for such program, in14 cluding an assessment, for each such option, of the 

15 cost and amount of time required; 

16 (6) shall establish a consortium, which may in17 clude entities involved in any stage of the nuclear 

18 fuel cycle, to partner with the Department to sup19 port the availability of HA–LEU for domestic com20 mercial use, including by— 

21 (A) providing information to the Secretary 

22 for purposes of surveys conducted under para23 graph (4); and 


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1 (B) purchasing HA–LEU made available 

2 to members of the consortium by the Secretary 

3 under the program; 

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

5 paragraph (8), in coordination with the consortium 

6 established pursuant to paragraph (6), develop a 

7 schedule for cost recovery of HA–LEU made avail8 able to members of the consortium pursuant to 

9 paragraph (8); 

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

11 the establishment of a consortium under paragraph 

12 (6), acquire HA–LEU, in order, to the extent prac13 ticable, to make such HA–LEU available to mem14 bers of the consortium beginning not later than Jan15 uary 1, 2026, in amounts that are consistent, to the 

16 extent practicable, with the quantities estimated 

17 under the surveys conducted under paragraph (4); 

18 and 

19 (9) shall develop, in consultation with the Com20 mission, criticality benchmark data to assist the 

21 Commission in— 

22 (A) the licensing and regulation of cat23 egory II spent nuclear material fuel fabrication 

24 and enrichment facilities under part 70 of title 

25 10, Code of Federal Regulations; and 


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1 (B) certification of transportation pack2 ages under part 71 of title 10, Code of Federal 

3 Regulations. 

4 (c) APPLICABILITY OF USEC PRIVATIZATION ACT.— 

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

6 3112(d)(2) of the USEC Privatization Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 2297h–10(d)(2)) shall apply to a sale or transfer of HA– 

8 LEU by the Secretary to a member of the consortium 

9 under this section. 

10 (d) FUNDING.— 

11 (1) TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE DESIGN.— 

12 (A) COST SHARE.—The Secretary shall en13 sure that not less than 20 percent of the costs 

14 of design and license activities carried out pur15 suant to subsection (b)(1) are paid by a non16 Federal entity. 

17 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA18 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro19 priated to carry out subsection (b)(1)— 

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

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

22 and 

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

24 (2) DOE ACQUISITION OF HA–LEU.—The Sec25 retary may not make commitments under this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1760.RFS H1760

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1 tion (including cooperative agreements (used in ac2 cordance with section 6305 of title 31, United States 

3 Code), purchase agreements, guarantees, leases, 

4 service contracts, or any other type of commitment) 

5 for the purchase or other acquisition of HA–LEU 

6 unless funds are specifically provided for such pur7 poses in advance in subsequent appropriations Acts, 

8 and only to the extent that the full extent of antici9 pated costs stemming from such commitments is re10 corded as an obligation up front and in full at the 

11 time it is made. 

12 (3) OTHER COSTS.—Except as otherwise pro13 vided in this subsection, in carrying out this section, 

14 the Secretary shall use amounts otherwise author15 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary. 

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

17 out the program under this section shall expire on Sep18 tember 30, 2034. 

19 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

20 Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 

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

22 report that includes— 

23 (1) identification of updates to regulations, cer24 tifications, and other regulatory policies that the 


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1 Commission determines are necessary in order for 

2 HA–LEU to be commercially available, including— 

3 (A) guidance for material control and ac4 countability of category II special nuclear mate5 rial; 

6 (B) certifications relating to transportation 

7 packaging for HA–LEU; and 

8 (C) licensing of enrichment, conversion, 

9 and fuel fabrication facilities for HA–LEU, and 

10 associated physical security plans for such fa11 cilities; 

12 (2) a description of such updates; and 

13 (3) a timeline to complete such updates. 

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

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

17 means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

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

19 means Department of Energy. 

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

21 high-assay low-enriched uranium. 

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

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

24 uranium having an assay greater than 5.0 percent 


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1 and less than 20.0 percent enrichment of the ura2 nium-235 isotope. 

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

4 the Secretary of Energy. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 9, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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