ARC Act

Subjects: Energy


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3484 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3484

 To institute a focal point for advanced reactor deployment within the 
    U.S. Government that's responsible for developing collaborative 
   relationships with embarking civil nuclear nations, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 2023

 Mr. Donalds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To institute a focal point for advanced reactor deployment within the 
    U.S. Government that's responsible for developing collaborative 
   relationships with embarking civil nuclear nations, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Advanced Reactor Coordination Act'' 
or the ``ARC Act''.

SEC. 2. ADVANCED REACTOR COORDINATION AND RESOURCE CENTER.

    (a) In General.--The President shall consider the feasibility of 
leveraging existing activities or frameworks or, as necessary, 
establishing a center, to be known as the ``Advanced Reactor 
Coordination and Resource Center'' (referred to in this section as the 
``Center''), for the purposes of--
            (1) identifying qualified organizations and service 
        providers--
                    (A) for embarking civil nuclear nations;
                    (B) to develop and assemble documents, contracts, 
                and related items required to establish a civil nuclear 
                program; and
                    (C) to develop a standardized model for the 
                establishment of a civil nuclear program that can be 
                used by the International Atomic Energy Agency;
            (2) coordinating with countries participating in the 
        Center--
                    (A) to identify funds to support payment for 
                services required to develop a civil nuclear program;
                    (B) to provide market analysis; and
                    (C) to create--
                            (i) project structure models;
                            (ii) models for electricity market 
                        analysis;
                            (iii) models for nonelectric applications 
                        market analysis; and
                            (iv) financial models;
            (3) identifying and developing the safety, security, 
        safeguards, and nuclear governance required for a civil nuclear 
        program;
            (4) supporting multinational regulatory standards to be 
        developed by countries with civil nuclear programs and 
        experience;
            (5) developing and strengthening communications, 
        engagement, and consensus-building;
            (6) carrying out any other major activities to support 
        export, financing, education, construction, training, and 
        education requirements relating to the establishment of a civil 
        nuclear program;
            (7) developing mechanisms for how to fund and staff the 
        Center; and
            (8) determining mechanisms for the selection of the 
        location or locations of the Center.
    (b) Objective.--The President shall carry out subsection (a) with 
the objective of establishing the Center if the President determines 
that it is feasible to do so.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Advanced nuclear reactor.--The term ``advanced nuclear 
        reactor'' means--
                    (A) a nuclear fission reactor, including a 
                prototype plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 52.1 
                of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 
                regulations)), with significant improvements compared 
                to reactors operating on October 19, 2016, including 
                improvements such as--
                            (i) additional inherent safety features;
                            (ii) lower waste yields;
                            (iii) improved fuel and material 
                        performance;
                            (iv) increased tolerance to loss of fuel 
                        cooling;
                            (v) enhanced reliability or improved 
                        resilience;
                            (vi) increased proliferation resistance;
                            (vii) increased thermal efficiency;
                            (viii) reduced consumption of cooling water 
                        and other environmental impacts;
                            (ix) the ability to integrate into electric 
                        applications and nonelectric applications;
                            (x) modular sizes to allow for deployment 
                        that corresponds with the demand for 
                        electricity or process heat; and
                            (xi) operational flexibility to respond to 
                        changes in demand for electricity or process 
                        heat and to complement integration with 
                        intermittent renewable energy or energy 
                        storage;
                    (B) a fusion reactor; and
                    (C) a radioisotope power system that utilizes heat 
                from radioactive decay to generate energy.
            (2) Civil nuclear.--The term ``civil nuclear'' means 
        activities relating to--
                    (A) nuclear plant construction;
                    (B) nuclear fuel services;
                    (C) nuclear energy financing;
                    (D) nuclear plant operations;
                    (E) nuclear plant regulation;
                    (F) nuclear medicine;
                    (G) nuclear safety;
                    (H) community engagement in areas in reasonable 
                proximity to nuclear sites;
                    (I) infrastructure support for nuclear energy;
                    (J) nuclear plant decommissioning;
                    (K) nuclear liability;
                    (L) safe storage and safe disposal of spent nuclear 
                fuel;
                    (M) environmental safeguards;
                    (N) nuclear nonproliferation and security; and
                    (O) technology related to the matters described in 
                subparagraphs (A) through (N).
            (3) Embarking civil nuclear nation.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``embarking civil nuclear 
                nation'' means a country that--
                            (i) does not have a civil nuclear energy 
                        program;
                            (ii) is in the process of developing or 
                        expanding a civil nuclear energy program, 
                        including safeguards and a legal and regulatory 
                        framework, for--
                                    (I) nuclear safety;
                                    (II) nuclear security;
                                    (III) radioactive waste management;
                                    (IV) civil nuclear energy;
                                    (V) environmental safeguards;
                                    (VI) community engagement in areas 
                                in reasonable proximity to nuclear 
                                sites;
                                    (VII) nuclear liability; or
                                    (VIII) advanced nuclear reactor 
                                licensing;
                            (iii) is in the process of selecting, 
                        developing, constructing, or utilizing advanced 
                        light water reactors, advanced nuclear 
                        reactors, or advanced civil nuclear 
                        technologies; or
                            (iv) had an annual per capita gross 
                        domestic product of not more than $28,000 in 
                        2020.
                    (B) Exclusions.--The term ``embarking civil nuclear 
                nation'' does not include--
                            (i) the People's Republic of China;
                            (ii) the Russian Federation;
                            (iii) the Republic of Belarus;
                            (iv) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
                            (v) the Democratic People's Republic of 
                        Korea;
                            (vi) the Republic of Cuba;
                            (vii) the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
                            (viii) the Syrian Arab Republic;
                            (ix) Burma; or
                            (x) any other country--
                                    (I) the property or interests in 
                                property of the government of which are 
                                blocked pursuant to the International 
                                Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
                                U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or
                                    (II) the government of which the 
                                Secretary of State has determined has 
                                repeatedly provided support for acts of 
                                international terrorism for purposes 
                                of--
                                            (aa) section 620A(a) of the 
                                        Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
                                        (22 U.S.C. 2371(a));
                                            (bb) section 40(d) of the 
                                        Arms Export Control Act (22 
                                        U.S.C. 2780(d));
                                            (cc) section 
                                        1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export 
                                        Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 
                                        U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); or
                                            (dd) any other relevant 
                                        provision of law.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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