I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5706 

To direct the Architect of the Capitol, using existing funding, to study 

the feasibility of retrofitting the Capitol Power Plant to incorporate 

an advanced nuclear reactor. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Mr. DONALDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Architect of the Capitol, using existing funding, 

to study the feasibility of retrofitting the Capitol Power 

Plant to incorporate an advanced nuclear reactor. 

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 ‘‘U.S. Capitol Power 

5 Plant Retrofit Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Capitol Power Plant was originally 

9 built in 1910 to provide electricity for the United 


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1 States Capitol Complex, and continued to provide 

2 electricity for the Complex until 1951. 

3 (2) In 1951, the Plant diverted its electricity 

4 responsibilities to a local utility, but instead utilized 

5 the Plant to provide steam and chilled water for 

6 building heating and cooling systems throughout the 

7 Complex. 

8 (3) In 2018, the Architect of the Capitol com9 peted installation of a new combined heat and power 

10 natural gas-fired co-generation system, which has a 

11 natural gas-fired turbine that has the potential to 

12 generate 7.5 MWe and be paired with a heat recov13 ery steam generator to produce steam. 

14 (4) The electricity that the Plant generates 

15 today is used to power certain internal operations in 

16 the Complex and to supply some of the demands of 

17 the chilled water system. 

18 (5) On average, two-thirds of electricity for the 

19 chilled water needs of the Complex is supplied by the 

20 Plant, with the rest of the required electricity pur21 chased from a local utility. 

22 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con23 gress that— 

24 (1) the Architect of the Capitol should be en25 couraged to collaborate with the Nuclear Regulatory 


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1 Commission and the Department of Energy to deter2 mine the feasibility of retrofitting the Capitol Power 

3 Plant to incorporate an advanced nuclear reactor; 

4 (2) the Architect of the Capitol should recog5 nize the inherent benefits that an advanced nuclear 

6 power plant can provide, including zero-emissions 

7 steam and chilled water production, grid resiliency, 

8 and energy independence; and 

9 (3) Congress understands that evaluating the 

10 feasibility of retrofitting the Capitol Power Plant to 

11 incorporate an advanced nuclear reactor will ulti12 mately assist with improving public support for ad13 vanced nuclear energy. 

14 SEC. 3. STUDY OF FEASIBILITY OF RETROFITTING CAPITOL 

15 POWER PLANT TO INCORPORATE ADVANCED 

16 NUCLEAR REACTOR. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Architect of the 

19 Capitol shall begin consultation with the Nuclear Regu20 latory Commission and the Department of Energy about 

21 developing and conducting a study of the feasibility of ret22 rofitting the Capitol Power Plant to incorporate an ad23 vanced nuclear reactor. 

24 (b) SPECIFICS OF STUDY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The feasibility study con2 ducted under this section shall include, at a min3 imum, a general description of the background and 

4 objective of the feasibility study, and may also in5 clude any of the following: 

6 (A) Organizational responsibilities for the 

7 preparation of the study preparation. 

8 (B) Potential project stakeholders. 

9 (C) An analysis of the following: 

10 (i) The demand for electricity in the 

11 region of the Capitol Power Plant. 

12 (ii) The transmission capacity and 

13 transmission facilities and systems in such 

14 region. 

15 (iii) The structure of the market for 

16 electricity. 

17 (iv) How the construction and oper18 ation of the advanced nuclear reactor at 

19 the Plant would affect the issues described 

20 in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). 

21 (v) The potential for the advanced nu22 clear reactor to produce electricity to not 

23 only provide power for the Capitol Complex 

24 but to produce chilled water and steam. 


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1 (vi) Whether the piping capacity of 

2 the Plant is sufficient to produce and dis3 tribute heat through the Capitol Complex. 

4 (vii) Site analysis, including prelimi5 nary site layout and site preparation and 

6 potential effects of the advanced nuclear 

7 reactor and supporting facilities on the ap8 plicable region, including population dis9 tribution and current uses of land and 

10 water. 

11 (viii) Environmental analysis of con12 structing and operating the advanced nu13 clear reactor, including— 

14 (I) a comparison of similar char15 acteristics in the applicable region; 

16 and 

17 (II) an overview of environmental 

18 protection requirements in the region. 

19 (ix) How to approach the licensing 

20 process and authorization for the siting, 

21 construction, and operation of the ad22 vanced nuclear reactor. 

23 (x) Potential contractual approaches, 

24 procurement plans, project schedules, 


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1 project management, and risk management 

2 plans. 

3 (xi) Organizational requirements and 

4 responsibilities for each phase of retro5 fitting the Plant with an advanced nuclear 

6 reactor, including requirements and re7 sponsibilities relating to human resources 

8 and training, workforce logistics and staff9 ing requirements, and maintenance of the 

10 advanced nuclear reactor. 

11 (xii) Economic feasibility of retro12 fitting the Plant with an advanced nuclear 

13 reactor, including a cost-benefit analysis. 

14 (xiii) Plans for emergency prepared15 ness and coordination, including on-site 

16 emergency planning and coordination with 

17 off-site emergency response organizations. 

18 (xiv) Co-generation opportunities 

19 which may arise after the Plant is retro20 fitted with an advanced nuclear reactor. 

21 (xv) Safety and performance analysis, 

22 including— 

23 (I) fuel cycle evaluation and im24 pact assessment; 


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1 (II) radioactive and conventional 

2 waste management assessment; and 

3 (III) interim waste storage and 

4 related issues. 

5 (xvi) Decommissioning analysis for 

6 the advanced nuclear reactor, including the 

7 cost of decommissioning the advanced nu8 clear reactor, and the environmental im9 pact of decommissioning the advanced nu10 clear reactor. 

11 (2) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—The Architect 

12 of the Capitol may incorporate in the study the fol13 lowing additional considerations: 

14 (A) How retrofitting the Capitol Power 

15 Plant would affect other Federal and District of 

16 Columbia laws, including the Clean Air Act, 

17 and what would be needed in terms of regu18 latory clarity and licensing to retrofit the Plant 

19 with an advanced nuclear reactor. 

20 (B) Economic considerations relating to 

21 how the retrofitted power plant compares with 

22 the current combined heat and power natural 

23 gas-fired co-generation system, as well as how 

24 the retrofitted Plant compares with Plant when 

25 it was powered by coal and an analysis of how 


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1 much retrofitting the plant with an advanced 

2 nuclear reactor would save the Federal Govern3 ment and the American taxpayer annually. 

4 (C) How such feasibility would impact the 

5 utility energy service contract between the Ar6 chitect of the Capitol and the local utility, in7 cluding potential Federal funding opportunities 

8 to pay off the utility energy service contract be9 fore the May 2037 anticipated timeline. 

10 (D) How local power outages currently af11 fect the Plant, and how the power outage im12 pacts could be alleviated from retrofitting the 

13 Plant with an advanced nuclear reactor. 

14 (E) The potential for the retrofitted Plant 

15 to once again provide electricity, along with 

16 steam and chilled water, to the Capitol Com17 plex, and how this would benefit the Complex in 

18 terms of grid security and protection against 

19 cyberattacks and digital data infiltration ef20 forts. 

21 (F) How retrofitting the Plant to incor22 porate an advanced nuclear reactor would fit 

23 within the ‘‘Greening the Capitol Initiative’’, 

24 which was created in March 2007 to ‘‘provide 


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1 an environmentally responsible and healthy 

2 working environment for employees’’. 

3 (G) How the retrofitted Plant can take ad4 vantage of the high-energy waste heat and 

5 other biproducts of operating an advanced nu6 clear reactor. 

7 (H) The extent to which there is an oppor8 tunity to keep the existing combined heat and 

9 power natural gas-fired co-generation system 

10 infrastructure, and the extent to which there is 

11 a possibility for the advanced nuclear reactor to 

12 provide electricity, chilled water, and steam (or 

13 any combination thereof). 

14 (I) The role of thermal combustion re15 sources and infrastructure in the Plant’s exist16 ing operational capacity, and what the role of 

17 such resources and infrastructure would be if 

18 the Plant was retrofitted with an advanced nu19 clear reactor. 

20 (J) How to incorporate a consent-based, 

21 community-focused approach for conducting 

22 this feasibility study, including sharing the facts 

23 with surrounding businesses, residents, and the 

24 general public, including tourists and other in25 dividuals that visit the Capitol Complex for 


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1 business purposes, and how to alleviate con2 cerns relating to the feasibility of retrofitting 

3 the Plant with an advanced nuclear reactor. 

4 (K) Whether energy savings performance 

5 contracts available to the Architect of the Cap6 itol, and which are currently used mostly for 

7 building improvements, can be utilized to ret8 rofit the Plant with an advanced nuclear reac9 tor. 

10 (L) Whether the Plant can continue oper11 ations during the process of retrofitting the 

12 plant with an advanced nuclear reactor, and re13 lated concerns. 

14 (M) How to secure the Plant from sabo15 tage and other forms of attack, including phys16 ical and cyber attack. 

17 (N) How to ensure that the emergency 

18 planning zone surrounding the advanced nu19 clear reactor, as required under regulations of 

20 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is small 

21 enough to ensure the safety of the Plant. 

22 (c) PUBLIC SESSIONS.—During the course of con23 ducting the feasibility study under this section, the Archi24 tect of the Capitol, in conjunction with the Department 

25 of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, shall 


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1 hold at least two in-person public sessions to give members 

2 of the public the opportunity to learn about the study, and 

3 shall provide the public with notice of such sessions to the 

4 greatest extent possible. 

5 (d) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—The Architect of 

6 the Capitol shall complete the feasibility study under this 

7 section not later than 2 years after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act. 

9 (e) ADVANCED NUCLEAR REACTOR DEFINED.—The 

10 term ‘‘advanced nuclear reactor’’ means— 

11 (1) a nuclear fission reactor, including a proto12 type plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 52.1 of 

13 title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 

14 regulations)), with significant improvements com15 pared to reactors operating on October 19, 2016, in16 cluding improvements such as— 

17 (A) additional inherent safety features, in18 cluding features designed to prevent the release 

19 of radioactive material; 

20 (B) lower waste yields; 

21 (C) improved fuel and material perform22 ance; 

23 (D) increased tolerance to loss of fuel cool24 ing; 


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1 (E) enhanced reliability or improved resil2 ience; 

3 (F) increased proliferation resistance; 

4 (G) increased thermal efficiency; 

5 (H) reduced consumption of cooling water 

6 and other environmental impacts; 

7 (I) the ability to integrate into electric ap8 plications and nonelectric applications; 

9 (J) modular sizes to allow for deployment 

10 that corresponds with the demand for electricity 

11 or process heat; and 

12 (K) operational flexibility to respond to 

13 changes in demand for electricity or process 

14 heat and to complement integration with inter15 mittent renewable energy or energy storage; 

16 (2) a fusion reactor; and 

17 (3) a radioisotope power system that utilizes 

18 heat from radioactive decay to generate energy. 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

20 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after com21 pleting the feasibility study under section 3, the Architect 

22 of the Capitol shall submit a report to the appropriate con23 gressional committees that outlines the findings of the fea24 sibility study, along with the Architect’s final determina25 tion as to the whether it is feasible to retrofit the current 


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1 Capitol Power Plant to encompass an advanced nuclear 

2 reactor. 

3 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

4 DEFINED.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit5 tees’’ means— 

6 (1) the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

7 and the Committee on House Administration of the 

8 House of Representatives; and 

9 (2) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re10 sources, the Committee on Environment and Public 

11 Works, and the Committee on Rules and Adminis12 tration of the Senate. 

13 SEC. 5. USE OF EXISTING FUNDS. 

14 The Architect of the Capitol shall carry out this Act 

15 using funds appropriated for the Office of the Architect 

16 of the Capitol prior to the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act which remain unobligated as of such date. 

Æ 


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