Avoid Our Adversaries and Buy American Nuclear Act



<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3485 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3485

    To establish an international initiative to support the global 
   deployment of civil nuclear technologies, 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 establish an international initiative to support the global 
   deployment of civil nuclear technologies, 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 ``Avoid Our Adversaries and Buy 
American Nuclear Act''.

SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL CIVIL NUCLEAR PROGRAM SUPPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the 
Secretary, shall launch an international initiative (referred to in 
this section as the ``initiative'') to provide financial assistance to, 
and facilitate the building of technical capacities by, in accordance 
with this section, embarking civil nuclear nations for activities 
relating to the development of civil nuclear energy programs.
    (b) Financial Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the initiative, the 
        Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary, may 
        award grants of financial assistance to embarking civil nuclear 
        nations in accordance with this subsection--
                    (A) for activities relating to the development of 
                civil nuclear energy programs; and
                    (B) to facilitate the building of technical 
                capacities for those activities.
            (2) Amount.--The amount of a grant of financial assistance 
        under paragraph (1) shall be not more than $5,500,000.
            (3) Limitations.--The Secretary of State, in coordination 
        with the Secretary, may award--
                    (A) not more than 1 grant of financial assistance 
                under paragraph (1) to any 1 embarking civil nuclear 
                nation each fiscal year; and
                    (B) not more than a total of 5 grants of financial 
                assistance under paragraph (1) to any 1 embarking civil 
                nuclear nation.
    (c) Senior Advisors.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the initiative, the 
        Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary, may 
        provide financial assistance to an embarking civil nuclear 
        nation for the purpose of contracting with a U.S. nuclear 
        energy company to hire 1 or more senior advisors to assist the 
        embarking civil nuclear nation in establishing a civil nuclear 
        program.
            (2) Requirement.--A senior advisor described in paragraph 
        (1) shall have relevant experience and qualifications to advise 
        the embarking civil nuclear nation on, and facilitate on behalf 
        of the embarking civil nuclear nation, 1 or more of the 
        following activities:
                    (A) The development of financing relationships.
                    (B) The development of a standardized financing and 
                project management framework for the construction of 
                nuclear power plants.
                    (C) The development of a standardized licensing 
                framework for--
                            (i) light water civil nuclear technologies; 
                        and
                            (ii) non-light water civil nuclear 
                        technologies and advanced nuclear reactors.
                    (D) The identification of qualified organizations 
                and service providers.
                    (E) The identification of funds to support payment 
                for services required to develop a civil nuclear 
                program.
                    (F) Market analysis.
                    (G) The identification of the safety, security, 
                safeguards, and nuclear governance required for a civil 
                nuclear program.
                    (H) Risk allocation, risk management, and nuclear 
                liability.
                    (I) Technical assessments of nuclear reactors and 
                technologies.
                    (J) The identification of actions necessary to 
                participate in a global nuclear liability regime based 
                on the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for 
                Nuclear Damage, with Annex, done at Vienna September 
                12, 1997 (TIAS 15-415).
                    (K) Stakeholder engagement.
                    (L) Management of spent nuclear fuel and nuclear 
                waste.
                    (M) Any other major activities to support the 
                establishment of a civil nuclear program, such as the 
                establishment of export, financing, construction, 
                training, operations, and education requirements.
            (3) Clarification.--Financial assistance under this 
        subsection may be provided to an embarking civil nuclear nation 
        in addition to any financial assistance provided to that 
        embarking civil nuclear nation under subsection (b).
    (d) Limitation on Assistance to Embarking Civil Nuclear Nations.--
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Offices of the Inspectors General for the Department of State and the 
Department of Energy shall coordinate--
            (1) to establish and submit to the appropriate committees 
        of Congress a joint strategic plan to conduct comprehensive 
        oversight of activities authorized under this section to 
        prevent fraud, waste, and abuse; and
            (2) to engage in independent and effective oversight of 
        activities authorized under this section through joint or 
        individual audits, inspections, investigations, or evaluations.
    (e) 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.
            (4) Spent nuclear fuel.--The term ``spent nuclear fuel'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Nuclear 
        Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101).
            (5) U.S. nuclear energy company.--The term ``U.S. nuclear 
        energy company'' means a company that--
                    (A) is organized under the laws of, or otherwise 
                subject to the jurisdiction of, the United States; and
                    (B) is involved in the nuclear energy industry.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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