I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9351 
To require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to distribute an optional 
and anonymous survey to certain Commission employees to ultimately 
find solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Commis-
sion, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 22, 2022 
Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Ms. MACE, and Mr. POSEY) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to distribute 
an optional and anonymous survey to certain Commission 
employees to ultimately find solutions to improve the 
efficiency and effectiveness of the Commission, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission Survey Act’’ or the ‘‘NRC Survey Act’’. 
SEC. 2. NRC SURVEY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Commission is an independent agency 
created by Congress in 1974 to ensure the safe use 
of radioactive materials and nuclear power for bene-
ficial civilian purposes while protecting people and 
the environment. 
(2) The mission of the Commission is to regu-
late the national civilian use of nuclear byproducts, 
nuclear sources, and special nuclear materials to en-
sure adequate protection of public health and safety, 
to promote the common defense and security, and to 
protect the environment. 
(3) Before commercial nuclear technology can 
be deployed in the United States, it must be ap-
proved by the Commission. 
(4) Historically, the Commission has been a 
thorough, methodical, and conservative agency and 
is considered to be the gold standard in the world 
with respect to regulating nuclear power. 
(5) The Commission is a technically competent 
agency that seeks strategies to successfully mod-
ernize its approach to license the next generation of 
nuclear reactors. 
(6) Current licensing procedures through the 
Commission are very prescriptive and based pri-
marily on conventional pressurized water reactor de-
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signs that have the potential to restrict nuclear inno-
vation. 
(7) The existing design, licensing, and delivery 
processes for new reactor projects are extremely ex-
pensive and have lengthy timelines compared to such 
design, licensing, and delivery processes in other 
countries. 
(8) The Commission reports directly to Con-
gress each year and is an independent agency that 
is not a part of the executive branch. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that Congress— 
(1) recognizes the need for the Commission to 
maintain public trust by keeping the nuclear indus-
try safe while also recognizing the need for increased 
efficiency to license nuclear reactors in the United 
States; 
(2) understands that asking for continued 
transparency from the Commission relating to the 
development and licensing of nuclear reactors is im-
portant for Congress and the American public; 
(3) stresses the need for the Commission to 
modernize its regulatory regime to facilitate efficient 
licensing of innovative next-generation nuclear tech-
nology; and 
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(4) believes that unnecessarily long licensing re-
views raise significant barriers to investment, reduce 
customer interest in advanced reactors, and threaten 
the long-term deployment potential of nuclear reac-
tors for the next generation. 
(c) NRC EMPLOYEE SURVEY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the inspector gen-
eral shall draft and distribute an optional and anon-
ymous survey, in accordance with paragraphs (3) 
and (4), to covered employees. 
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the 
date of distributing the survey to covered employees 
pursuant to paragraph (1), the inspector general 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a report containing— 
(A) an unbiased cumulative summary of 
the responses to each question of such survey; 
(B) a document that contains every indi-
vidual response to each question of such survey; 
and 
(C) any other information the inspector 
general determines necessary or appropriate. 
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(3) CONTENTS OF SURVEY.—The survey draft-
ed and distributed under paragraph (1) shall inquire 
about the following: 
(A) Any enhancements that can be made 
to existing licensing frameworks utilized by the 
Commission to increase the efficiency, timeli-
ness, and predictability of engagements between 
the Commission and licensees. 
(B) How the Commission could improve 
the process of preparing for and learning about 
the technical details of each proposed nuclear 
reactor in a licensing application. 
(C) How the Commission could improve 
outreach to stakeholders, including any rec-
ommendations with respect to changing the ex-
isting policies of the Commission relating to 
public engagement. 
(D) Whether the Commission implemented 
a risk-informed and performance-based ap-
proach to reviewing licensing applications and, 
if implemented, how the Commission has imple-
mented such approach to reviewing licensing 
applications. 
(E) Examples of laws or regulations relat-
ing to nuclear energy that— 
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(i) may be unnecessary, irrelevant, or 
duplicative; 
(ii) need to be revised for modern ad-
vanced reactors; and 
(iii) negatively affects the effectiveness 
and efficiency of the Commission. 
(F) How the Commission could maximize 
the efficiency of licensing reactors that are 
similar to reactors that are already licensed by 
the Commission. 
(G) How efficient the Commission would 
be in reviewing licensing applications if the 
Commission reviewed licensing applications 
through a holistic approach instead of a chap-
ter-by-chapter approach. 
(H) How providing clear expectations and 
targets for achievable review milestones for po-
tential applicants would affect the process of re-
viewing and approving licensing applications. 
(I) Suggestions for Congress to revise or 
clarify any terms and definitions relating to nu-
clear energy that— 
(i) are used within the scope of em-
ployment for covered employees; 
(ii) may be outdated; 
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(iii) have inconsistencies in term 
usage or definitions across different laws 
and regulations; or 
(iv) with respect to terms and defini-
tions relating to nuclear energy in laws 
and regulations, used within the scope of 
employment for covered employees. 
(J) Any term, and the corresponding defi-
nition, relating to nuclear energy and nuclear 
waste matters in laws and regulations, that are 
used within the scope of employment for cov-
ered employees, that— 
(i) may be outdated and in need of re-
vision; 
(ii) have— 
(I) inconsistencies in the defini-
tion of such term across different laws 
and regulations; or 
(II) inconsistencies in the defini-
tion of such term across different 
agencies; and 
(iii) may affect potential innovation in 
the nuclear industry due to the inconsist-
encies described in clause (ii) in the defini-
tion of such term. 
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(K) Suggestions to Congress to clarify any 
inconsistencies 
described 
in 
paragraph 
(3)(J)(ii). 
(L) Whether covered employees feel a 
sense of urgency when reviewing a licensing ap-
plication. 
(M) Whether covered employees believe 
that the lack of efficient licensing is hampering 
nuclear innovation and dissuading American 
companies from getting involved in the nuclear 
industry. 
(N) Whether covered employees believe 
that the Commission is capable of approving 
potentially hundreds of new licensing applica-
tions, including licensing applications for fission 
reactors and fusion reactors, in a timely man-
ner over the course of the upcoming decades. 
(O) Suggestions to redefine the overall 
mission statement and mandate of the Commis-
sion so that such mission statement and man-
date reflects the goals of maintaining safety 
and promoting nuclear innovation. 
(P) Challenges a covered employee faces on 
a daily basis within the scope of employment of 
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such covered employee and how Congress could 
alleviate such challenges. 
(Q) How the current funding structure of 
the Commission affects the ability of the Com-
mission to— 
(i) engage in rulemaking or licensing 
review; 
(ii) educate covered employees; and 
(iii) conduct research to support risk- 
informed and performance-based regula-
tions. 
(R) How the current funding structure of 
the Commission may inhibit private companies 
from— 
(i) rapidly acquiring licenses for new 
nuclear reactors; and 
(ii) suggesting improvements to the 
Commission, if any, to such funding struc-
ture. 
(S) Any obstacles imposed by the Commis-
sion that— 
(i) negatively affect American nuclear 
competitiveness; and 
(ii) should be removed. 
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(T) How the Commission could improve 
the resolution of disagreements between appli-
cants and covered employees. 
(U) Recommendations on improving com-
munication between the Commission and appli-
cants with respect to providing an early and 
predictable timeline and estimated costs of the 
licensing 
application 
process, 
including 
preapplication review and application review. 
(V) Whether the Advisory Committee on 
Reactor Safeguards (established under section 
29 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2039)) is effectively and efficiently re-
viewing safety studies and licensing applica-
tions, or whether the role of the Advisory Com-
mittee on Reactor Safeguards— 
(i) is unnecessary and redundant with 
the existing review process by the Commis-
sion; and 
(ii) ultimately impedes nuclear innova-
tion. 
(W) How the Commission is using artifi-
cial intelligence, whether the functions of the 
Commission could be improved if the Commis-
sion adopted an AI-friendly culture, and what 
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organizational challenges the Commission would 
face in adopting and using a broader range of 
artificial intelligence. 
(X) How digitizing old data and informa-
tion may improve the overall efficiency of the 
Commission, the steps taken to digitize such 
data and information, and any challenges the 
Commission is facing or will face in digitizing 
such data and information. 
(Y) Challenges the Commission faces with 
relying on data from safety and performance 
data simulations of proposed nuclear reactors 
during the application review. 
(Z) How effective the Commission is at 
communicating to applicants, potential appli-
cants, and nuclear stakeholders about changes 
made to the regulatory process. 
(AA) Whether any new requirements or 
processes implemented following the nuclear ac-
cident in Fukushima may have inadvertently 
changed the culture and safety precautions of 
the Commission in a negative manner, including 
any unnecessary and burdensome regulations 
that were promulgated due to such nuclear acci-
dent. 
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