II 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4084 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 1, 2016 
Received 
AN ACT 
To enable civilian research and development of advanced 
nuclear energy technologies by private and public institu-
tions and to expand theoretical and practical knowledge 
of nuclear physics, chemistry, and materials science. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Energy Inno-
vation Capabilities Act’’. 
SEC. 2. NUCLEAR ENERGY. 
Section 951 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16271) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 951. NUCLEAR ENERGY. 
‘‘(a) MISSION.—The Secretary shall conduct pro-
grams of civilian nuclear research, development, dem-
onstration, and commercial application, including activi-
ties in this subtitle. Such programs shall take into consid-
eration the following objectives: 
‘‘(1) Providing research infrastructure to pro-
mote scientific progress and enable users from aca-
demia, the National Laboratories, and the private 
sector to make scientific discoveries relevant for nu-
clear, chemical, and materials science engineering. 
‘‘(2) Maintaining National Laboratory and uni-
versity nuclear energy research and development 
programs, including their infrastructure. 
‘‘(3) Providing the technical means to reduce 
the likelihood of nuclear weapons proliferation and 
increasing confidence margins for public safety of 
nuclear energy systems. 
‘‘(4) Reducing the environmental impact of nu-
clear energy related activities. 
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‘‘(5) Supporting technology transfer from the 
National Laboratories to the private sector. 
‘‘(6) Enabling the private sector to partner with 
the National Laboratories to demonstrate novel reac-
tor concepts for the purpose of resolving technical 
uncertainty associated with the aforementioned ob-
jectives in this subsection. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this subtitle: 
‘‘(1) ADVANCED FISSION REACTOR.—The term 
‘advanced fission reactor’ means a nuclear fission re-
actor with significant improvements over the most 
recent generation of nuclear reactors, which may in-
clude inherent safety features, lower waste yields, 
greater fuel utilization, superior reliability, resist-
ance to proliferation, and increased thermal effi-
ciency. 
‘‘(2) FAST NEUTRON.—The term ‘fast neutron’ 
means a neutron with kinetic energy above 100 
kiloelectron volts. 
‘‘(3) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘Na-
tional Laboratory’ has the meaning given that term 
in paragraph (3) of section 2, except that with re-
spect to subparagraphs (G), (H), and (N) of such 
paragraph, for purposes of this subtitle the term in-
cludes only the civilian activities thereof. 
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‘‘(4) NEUTRON FLUX.—The term ‘neutron flux’ 
means the intensity of neutron radiation measured 
as a rate of flow of neutrons applied over an area. 
‘‘(5) NEUTRON
SOURCE.—The term ‘neutron 
source’ means a research machine that provides neu-
tron irradiation services for research on materials 
sciences and nuclear physics as well as testing of ad-
vanced materials, nuclear fuels, and other related 
components for reactor systems. 
‘‘(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that nuclear energy, through fission or fusion, 
represents the highest energy density of any known attain-
able source and yields zero air emissions. This energy 
source is of national importance to scientific progress, na-
tional security, electricity generation, heat generation for 
industrial applications, and space exploration. Considering 
the inherent complexity and regulatory burden associated 
with this area of science, the Department should focus its 
civilian nuclear research and development activities to-
wards programs that enable the private sector, National 
Laboratories, and universities to carry out such experi-
ments as are necessary to promote scientific progress and 
enhance practical knowledge of nuclear engineering.’’. 
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SEC. 3. NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH PROGRAMS. 
Section 952 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16272) is amended— 
(1) by striking subsection (c); and 
(2) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 
subsections (c) and (d), respectively. 
SEC. 4. ADVANCED FUEL CYCLE INITIATIVE. 
Section 953(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16273(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘, acting 
through the Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, 
Science and Technology,’’. 
SEC. 5. UNIVERSITY NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 
SUPPORT. 
Section 954(d)(4) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
(42 U.S.C. 16274(d)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘as part 
of a taking into consideration effort that emphasizes’’ and 
inserting ‘‘that emphasize’’. 
SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CIVILIAN NUCLEAR IN-
FRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES. 
Section 955 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16275) is amended— 
(1) by striking subsections (c) and (d); and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) VERSATILE NEUTRON SOURCE.— 
‘‘(1) MISSION NEED.—Not later than December 
31, 2016, the Secretary shall determine the mission 
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need for a versatile reactor-based fast neutron 
source, which shall operate as a national user facil-
ity. During this process, the Secretary shall consult 
with the private sector, universities, National Lab-
oratories, and relevant Federal agencies to ensure 
that this user facility will meet the research needs 
of the largest possible majority of prospective users. 
‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—Upon the determina-
tion of mission need made under paragraph (1), the 
Secretary shall, as expeditiously as possible, provide 
to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a 
detailed plan for the establishment of the user facil-
ity. 
‘‘(3) FACILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) CAPABILITIES.—The Secretary shall 
ensure that this user facility will provide, at a 
minimum, the following capabilities: 
‘‘(i) Fast neutron spectrum irradia-
tion capability. 
‘‘(ii) Capacity for upgrades to accom-
modate new or expanded research needs. 
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‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out 
the plan provided under paragraph (2), the Sec-
retary shall consider the following: 
‘‘(i) Capabilities that support experi-
mental high-temperature testing. 
‘‘(ii) Providing a source of fast neu-
trons at a neutron flux, higher than that 
at which current research facilities operate, 
sufficient to enable research for an optimal 
base of prospective users. 
‘‘(iii) Maximizing irradiation flexibility 
and irradiation volume to accommodate as 
many concurrent users as possible. 
‘‘(iv) Capabilities for irradiation with 
neutrons of a lower energy spectrum. 
‘‘(v) Multiple loops for fuels and ma-
terials testing in different coolants. 
‘‘(vi) Additional pre-irradiation and 
post-irradiation examination capabilities. 
‘‘(vii) Lifetime operating costs and 
lifecycle costs. 
‘‘(4) REPORTING PROGRESS.—The Department 
shall, in its annual budget requests, provide an ex-
planation for any delay in its progress and otherwise 
make every effort to complete construction and ap-
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prove the start of operations for this facility by De-
cember 31, 2025. 
‘‘(5) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall le-
verage the best practices for management, construc-
tion, and operation of national user facilities from 
the Office of Science.’’. 
SEC. 7. SECURITY OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES. 
Section 956 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16276) is amended by striking ‘‘, acting through 
the Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and 
Technology,’’. 
SEC. 8. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTATION AND SUP-
PORTIVE RESEARCH. 
Section 957 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16277) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 957. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTATION AND SUP-
PORTIVE RESEARCH. 
‘‘(a) MODELING AND SIMULATION.—The Secretary 
shall carry out a program to enhance the Nation’s capa-
bilities to develop new reactor technologies through high- 
performance computation modeling and simulation tech-
niques. This program shall coordinate with relevant Fed-
eral agencies through the National Strategic Computing 
Initiative created under Executive Order No. 13702 (July 
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29, 2015) while taking into account the following objec-
tives: 
‘‘(1) Utilizing expertise from the private sector, 
universities, and National Laboratories to develop 
computational software and capabilities that pro-
spective users may access to accelerate research and 
development of advanced fission reactor systems, nu-
clear fusion systems, and reactor systems for space 
exploration. 
‘‘(2) Developing computational tools to simulate 
and predict nuclear phenomena that may be vali-
dated through physical experimentation. 
‘‘(3) Increasing the utility of the Department’s 
research infrastructure by coordinating with the Ad-
vanced Scientific Computing Research program 
within the Office of Science. 
‘‘(4) Leveraging experience from the Energy In-
novation Hub for Modeling and Simulation. 
‘‘(5) Ensuring that new experimental and com-
putational tools are accessible to relevant research 
communities. 
‘‘(b) SUPPORTIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES.—The Sec-
retary shall consider support for additional research activi-
ties to maximize the utility of its research facilities, includ-
ing physical processes to simulate degradation of materials 
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