I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3448 

To establish an expedited schedule for the issuance of a Combined Construction and Operating License for nuclear reactors that meet certain conditions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2009 

Mr. PITTS (for himself, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. OLSON, Mr. 

CRENSHAW, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. FLEMING, and Mr. PAULSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish an expedited schedule for the issuance of a 

Combined Construction and Operating License for nuclear reactors that meet certain conditions, 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 ‘‘Streamline America’s 

5 Future Energy Nuclear Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall supersede, mitigate, detract 

3 from, or in anyway decrease the Nuclear Regulatory Com4 mission’s ability to maintain the highest possible levels of 

5 public health and safety standards, consistent with the 

6 provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. No authority 

7 granted by this Act shall be executed in a manner that 

8 jeopardizes, minimizes, reduces, or lessens public health 

9 and safety standards. 

10 SEC. 3. STREAMLINING COMBINED CONSTRUCTION AND 

11 OPERATING LICENSE. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Nuclear Regulatory Commis13 sion shall establish and implement an expedited procedure 

14 for issuing a Combined Construction and Operating Li15 cense. 

16 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—To qualify for the expedited 

17 procedure under this section, an applicant shall— 

18 (1) apply for construction of a reactor based on 

19 a design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Com20 mission; 

21 (2) construct the new reactor on or adjacent to 

22 a site where an operating nuclear power plant al23 ready exists; 

24 (3) not be subject to a Nuclear Regulatory 

25 Commission order to modify, suspend, or revoke a liVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:32 Aug 03, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3448.IH H3448

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1 cense under section 2.202 of title 10, Code of Fed2 eral Regulations; and 

3 (4) submit a complete Combined Construction 

4 and Operating License application that is docketed 

5 by the Commission. 

6 (c) EXPEDITED PROCEDURE.—With respect to a li7 cense for which the applicant has satisfied the require8 ments of subsection (b) and seeks fast track consideration, 

9 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall follow the fol10 lowing procedures: 

11 (1) Undertake an expedited environmental re12 view process and issue a draft Environmental Im13 pact Statement within 12 months after the applica14 tion is accepted for docketing. 

15 (2) Complete any public licensing hearings and 

16 related processes within 24 months of accepting for 

17 docketing the expedited Combined Construction and 

18 Operating License application. Such hearings shall 

19 begin with the issuance of a draft Environmental 

20 Impact Statement. 

21 (3) Complete the technical review process and 

22 issue the Safety Evaluation Report and the final En23 vironmental Impact Statement within 18 months 

24 after the application is accepted for docketing. 


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1 (4) Make a final decision on whether to issue 

2 the Combined Construction and Operating License 

3 within 25 months after docketing the application. 

4 (d) GOALS.—The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

5 shall present recommendations to Congress within 90 days 

6 of the date of enactment of this Act for procedures that 

7 would further facilitate the licensing of new nuclear reac8 tors in a timely manner. 

9 SEC. 4. REACTOR DESIGN CERTIFICATION. 

10 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall reduce by 

11 one half the time necessary to certify a reactor design and 

12 may include designs under consideration for certification 

13 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of the date of 

14 enactment of this Act. Such a schedule shall be presented 

15 to Congress within one year of date of enactment of this 

16 Act. 

17 SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY NEUTRAL PLANT DESIGN SPECIFICA18 TIONS. 

19 Within one year of date of enactment of this Act, the 

20 Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall outline to the Con21 gress an approach that will allow the Nuclear Regulatory 

22 Commission to develop technology-neutral guidelines for 

23 nuclear plant licensing in the future that would allow for 

24 the more seamless entry of new technologies into the mar25 ketplace. 


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1 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL FUNDING AND PERSONNEL RE2 SOURCES. 

3 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall 

5 transmit to the Congress a request for such additional 

6 funding and personnel resources as are necessary to carry 

7 out sections 2 through 5 without delaying consideration 

8 of applications for Combined Construction and Operating 

9 Licenses or reactor design certifications not subject to ex10 pedited procedures under this Act. 

11 SEC. 7. NATIONAL LABORATORY SUPPORT. 

12 Each national laboratory with expertise in the nuclear 

13 field shall, in coordination with the Nuclear Regulatory 

14 Commission, dedicate personnel to supporting either or 

15 both the expedited licensing procedures under section 3 

16 and the expedited design certification procedures under 

17 section 4. 

18 SEC. 8. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FUNDS. 

19 To both support the Nation’s effort to efficiently li20 cense new nuclear power plants and build the expertise 

21 and workforce necessary to regulate and operate those 

22 plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the De23 partment of Energy shall direct educational funding to 

24 programs to enhance or directly support the activities au25 thorized by this Act. 


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1 SEC. 9. NATIONAL NUCLEAR ENERGY COUNCIL. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 (1) The Secretary of Energy shall establish a 

4 National Nuclear Energy Council (in this section re5 ferred to as the ‘‘Council’’). 

6 (2) The Council shall be subject to the require7 ments of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

8 U.S.C. App.). 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The Council shall— 

10 (1) serve in an advisory capacity to the Sec11 retary of Energy regarding nuclear energy on mat12 ters submitted to the Council by the Secretary of 

13 Energy; 

14 (2) advise, inform, and make recommendations 

15 to the Secretary of Energy with respect to any mat16 ter relating to nuclear energy; 

17 (3) help nuclear energy related investors to 

18 navigate the Federal bureaucracy to efficiently bring 

19 their products and services to the marketplace; and 

20 (4) not participate in any research and develop21 ment or commercialization activities. 

22 (c) MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION.— 

23 (1) The members of the Council shall be ap24 pointed by the Secretary of Energy. 


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1 (2) The Council may establish such study and 

2 administrative committees as it considers appro3 priate. 

4 SEC. 10. NUCLEAR POWER 2010. 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated for the Nu6 clear Power 2010 $121,000,000 to accomplish its original 

7 mission of defining the plant permitting and design certifi8 cation process by September 30, 2010, at which date the 

9 program shall cease to exist. 

10 SEC. 11. NEXT GENERATION NUCLEAR POWER PLANT. 

11 The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regu12 latory Commission shall reevaluate the Next Generation 

13 Nuclear Power Plant schedule with the purpose of signifi14 cant acceleration. Within 180 days of the date of enact15 ment of this Act, program managers shall submit to the 

16 Congress a revised schedule, including funding require17 ments, that would allow for program completion as near 

18 as is possible to 2015 (halving the current schedule of pro19 gram completion in 2021). 

20 SEC. 12. URANIUM MINING ON FEDERAL LANDS. 

21 The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 

22 1976 shall not be used to arbitrarily prevent uranium min23 ing from taking place on Federal lands. The Federal Gov24 ernment shall not collect additional leasing fees, beyond 

25 that which are currently applicable, to mine uranium on 


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1 Federal lands. Any fees collected in association with com2 mercial uranium mining on Federal lands that should be 

3 applied for remediation purposes, shall only be applied to 

4 the remediation of sites that incurred damage as a result 

5 of commercial nuclear activities. Such fees shall not be ap6 plied to the remediation of any sites that incurred damage 

7 as a result of Government or Government-sponsored ac8 tivities. 

Æ 


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