II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4242 

To provide for the preservation and storage of uranium-233 to foster 

development of thorium molten-salt reactors, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 18 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 

Mr. TUBERVILLE (for himself and Mr. MARSHALL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the preservation and storage of uranium233 to foster development of thorium molten-salt reactors, 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 ‘‘Thorium Energy Secu5 rity Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Thorium molten-salt reactor technology was 

9 originally developed in the United States, primarily 


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1 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the State 

2 of Tennessee under the Molten-Salt Reactor Pro3 gram. 

4 (2) Before the cancellation of that program in 

5 1976, the technology developed at the Oak Ridge 

6 National Laboratory was moving steadily toward ef7 ficient utilization of the natural thorium energy re8 source, which exists in substantial amounts in many 

9 parts of the United States, and requires no isotopic 

10 enrichment. 

11 (3) The People’s Republic of China is known to 

12 be pursuing the development of molten-salt reactor 

13 technology based on a thorium fuel cycle. 

14 (4) Thorium itself is not fissile, but fertile, and 

15 requires fissile material to begin a nuclear chain re16 action. This largely accounts for its exclusion for nu17 clear weapons developments. 

18 (5) Uranium-233, derived from neutron absorp19 tion by natural thorium, is the ideal candidate for 

20 the fissile material to start a thorium reactor, and 

21 is the only fissile material candidate that can mini22 mize the production of long-lived transuranic ele23 ments like plutonium, which have proven a great 

24 challenge to the management of existing spent nu25 clear fuel. 


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1 (6) Geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel from 

2 conventional nuclear reactors continues to pose se3 vere political and technical challenges, and costs 

4 United States taxpayers more than $500,000,000 

5 annually in court-mandated payments to electrical 

6 utilities operating nuclear reactors. 

7 (7) The United States possesses the largest 

8 known inventory of separated uranium-233 in the 

9 world, aggregated at the Oak Ridge National Lab10 oratory. 

11 (8) Oak Ridge National Laboratory building 

12 3019 was designated in 1962 as the national reposi13 tory for uranium-233 storage, and its inventory 

14 eventually grew to about 450 kilograms of separated 

15 uranium-233, along with approximately 1,000 kilo16 grams of mixed fissile uranium from the Consoli17 dated Edison Uranium Solidification Program (com18 monly referred to as ‘‘CEUSP’’), divided into ap19 proximately 1,100 containers. 

20 (9) The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety 

21 Board issued Recommendation 97–1 (relating to 

22 safe storage of uranium-233) in 1997 because of the 

23 possibility of corrosion or other degradation around 

24 the storage of uranium-233 in a building that was 

25 built in 1943. 


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1 (10) In response, the Department of Energy 

2 published Decision Memorandum No. 2 in 2001 con3 cluding that no Department of Energy programs 

4 needed uranium-233 and directed that a contract be 

5 placed for disposition of the uranium-233 inventory 

6 and decommissioning of its storage facility. 

7 (11) The Department of Energy awarded a con8 tract for the irreversible downblending of uranium9 233 with uranium-238 and its geologic disposal in 

10 Nevada, which downblending would create a waste 

11 form that would pose radiological hazards for hun12 dreds of thousands of years, rather than to consider 

13 uranium-233 as a useful national asset. 

14 (12) All 1,000 kilograms of CEUSP uranium15 233-based material have been dispositioned (but not 

16 downblended) but those containers had little useful 

17 uranium-233 in them. The majority of separated 

18 and valuable uranium-233 remains uncontaminated 

19 by uranium-238 and suitable for thorium fuel cycle 

20 research and development. That remaining inventory 

21 constitutes the largest supply of uranium-233 known 

22 to exist in the world today. 

23 (13) The United States has significant domestic 

24 reserves of thorium in accessible high-grade deposits, 

25 which can provide thousands of years of clean enVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 May 21, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4242.IS S4242

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1 ergy if used efficiently in a liquid-fluoride reactor 

2 initially started with uranium-233. 

3 (14) Recently (as of the date of the enactment 

4 of this Act), the Department of Energy has chosen 

5 to fund a series of advanced reactors that are all de6 pendent on initial inventories and regular resupplies 

7 of high-assay, low-enriched uranium. 

8 (15) There is no domestic source of high-assay, 

9 low-enriched uranium fuel, and there are no avail10 able estimates as to how long the development of a 

11 domestic supply of that fuel would take or how ex12 pensive such development would be. 

13 (16) The only viable source of high-assay, low14 enriched uranium fuel is through continuous import 

15 from sources in the Russian Federation. 

16 (17) The political situation with the Russian 

17 Federation as of the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act is sufficiently uncertain that it would be unwise 

19 for United States-funded advanced reactor develop20 ment to rely on high-assay, low-enriched uranium 

21 since the Russian Federation would be the primary 

22 source and can be expected to undercut any future 

23 United States production, resulting in a dependency 

24 on high-assay, low-enriched uranium from the Rus25 sian Federation. 


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1 (18) The United States has abandoned the de2 velopment of a geologic repository at Yucca Moun3 tain and is seeking a consenting community to allow 

4 interim storage of spent nuclear fuel, but valid con5 cerns persist that an interim storage facility will be6 come a permanent storage facility. 

7 (19) Without a closed fuel cycle, high-assay, 

8 low-enriched uranium-fueled reactors inevitably will 

9 produce long-lived wastes that presently have no dis10 position pathway. 

11 (20) The United States possesses enough ura12 nium-233 to support further research and develop13 ment as well as fuel the startup of several thorium 

14 reactors. Thorium reactors do not require additional 

15 fuel or high-assay, low-enriched uranium from the 

16 Russian Federation. 

17 (21) Continuing the irreversible destruction of 

18 uranium-233 precludes privately funded development 

19 of the thorium fuel cycle, which would have long 

20 term national and economic security implications. 

21 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

22 It is the sense of Congress that— 

23 (1) it is in the best economic and national secu24 rity interests of the United States to resume devel25 opment of thorium molten-salt reactors that can 


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1 minimize long-lived waste production, in consider2 ation of— 

3 (A) the pursuit by the People’s Republic of 

4 China of thorium molten-salt reactors and asso5 ciated cooperative research agreements with 

6 United States national laboratories; and 

7 (B) the present impasse around the geo8 logical disposal of nuclear waste; 

9 (2) that the development of thorium molten-salt 

10 reactors is consistent with section 1261 of the John 

11 S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 

12 Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 132 Stat. 

13 2060), which declared long-term strategic competi14 tion with the People’s Republic of China as ‘‘a prin15 cipal priority for the United States’’; and 

16 (3) to resume such development, it is necessary 

17 to relocate as much of the uranium-233 remaining 

18 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as possible to 

19 new secure storage. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES.— 

23 The term ‘‘congressional defense committees’’ has 

24 the meaning given that term in section 101(a) of 

25 title 10, United States Code. 


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1 (2) DOWNBLEND.—The term ‘‘downblend’’ 

2 means the process of adding a chemically identical 

3 isotope to an inventory of fissile material in order to 

4 degrade its nuclear value. 

5 (3) FISSILE MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘fissile ma6 terial’’ refers to uranium-233, uranium-235, pluto7 nium-239, or plutonium-241. 

8 (4) HIGH-ASSAY, LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM.— 

9 The term ‘‘high-assay, low-enriched uranium’’ (com10 monly referred to as ‘‘HALEU’’) means a mixture 

11 of uranium isotopes very nearly but not equaling or 

12 exceeding 20 percent of the isotope uranium-235. 

13 (5) TRANSURANIC ELEMENT.—The term 

14 ‘‘transuranic element’’ means an element with an 

15 atomic number greater than the atomic number of 

16 uranium (92), such as neptunium, plutonium, ameri17 cium, or curium. 

18 SEC. 5. PRESERVATION OF URANIUM-233 TO FOSTER DE19 VELOPMENT OF THORIUM MOLTEN-SALT RE20 ACTORS. 

21 The Secretary of Energy shall preserve uranium-233 

22 inventories that have not been contaminated with ura23 nium-238, with the goal of fostering development of tho24 rium molten-salt reactors by United States industry. 


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1 SEC. 6. STORAGE OF URANIUM-233. 

2 (a) REPORT ON LONG-TERM STORAGE OF URANIUM3 233.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact4 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation 

5 with the heads of other relevant agencies, shall submit to 

6 Congress a report identifying a suitable location for, or 

7 a location that can be modified for, secure long-term stor8 age of uranium-233. 

9 (b) REPORT ON INTERIM STORAGE OF URANIUM10 233.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, the Chief of Engineers shall submit to 

12 Congress a report identifying a suitable location for secure 

13 interim storage of uranium-233. 

14 (c) REPORT ON CONSTRUCTION OF URANIUM-233 

15 STORAGE FACILITY AT REDSTONE ARSENAL.—Not later 

16 than 240 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

17 the Chief of Engineers shall submit to Congress a report 

18 on the costs of constructing a permanent, secure storage 

19 facility for uranium-233 at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 

20 that is also suitable for chemical processing of uranium21 233 pursuant to a public-private partnership with thorium 

22 reactor developers. 

23 (d) FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

24 of law, amounts authorized to be appropriated or other25 wise made available for the U233 Disposition Program for 

26 fiscal year 2022 or 2023 shall be made available for the 


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1 transfer of the inventory of uranium-233 to the interim 

2 or permanent storage facilities identified under this sec3 tion. 

4 SEC. 7. INTERAGENCY COOPERATION ON PRESERVATION 

5 AND TRANSFER OF URANIUM-233. 

6 The Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Army 

7 (including the head of the Army Reactor Office), the Sec8 retary of Transportation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, 

9 and other relevant agencies shall— 

10 (1) work together to preserve uranium-233 in11 ventories and expedite transfers of uranium-233 to 

12 interim and permanent storage facilities; and 

13 (2) in expediting such transfers, seek the assist14 ance of appropriate industrial entities. 

15 SEC. 8. REPORT ON USE OF THORIUM REACTORS BY PEO16 PLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. 

17 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

19 States, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the 

20 Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator for Nuclear 

21 Security, shall submit to Congress a report that— 

22 (1) evaluates the progress the People’s Republic 

23 of China has made in the development of thorium24 based reactors; 


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1 (2) describes the extent to which that progress 

2 was based on United States technology; 

3 (3) details the actions the Department of En4 ergy took in transferring uranium-233 technology to 

5 the People’s Republic of China; and 

6 (4) assesses the likelihood that the People’s Re7 public of China may employ thorium reactors in its 

8 future navy plans. 

9 SEC. 9. REPORT ON MEDICAL MARKET FOR ISOTOPES OF 

10 URANIUM-233. 

11 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act, the Director of the Congressional Budget 

13 Office, after consultation with institutions of higher edu14 cation and private industry conducting medical research 

15 and the public, shall submit to Congress a report that esti16 mates the medical market value, during the 10-year period 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, of actinium, 

18 bismuth, and other grandchildren isotopes of uranium-233 

19 that can be harvested without downblending and destroy20 ing the uranium-233 source material. 

21 SEC. 10. REPORT ON COSTS TO UNITED STATES NUCLEAR 

22 ENTERPRISE. 

23 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act, the Director of the Congressional Budget 

25 Office, after consultation with relevant industry groups 


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1 and nuclear regulatory agencies, shall submit to Congress 

2 a report that estimates, for the 10-year period after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the costs to the United 

4 States nuclear enterprise with respect to— 

5 (1) disposition of uranium-233; 

6 (2) payments to nuclear facilities to store nu7 clear waste; and 

8 (3) restarting the manufacturing the United 

9 States of high-assay, low-enriched uranium. 

Æ 


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