I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1646 
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the United States 
Executive Director at the World Bank and other international financial 
institutions to support assistance for nuclear energy, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 8, 2021 
Mr. MCHENRY (for himself and Mr. HILL) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the 
United States Executive Director at the World Bank 
and other international financial institutions to support 
assistance for nuclear energy, 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 ‘‘International Nuclear 
Energy Financing Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
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(1) Nuclear power provides clean energy with 
greater reliability than wind or solar energy, and 
with comparable life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. 
(2) According to W. Gyude Moore, the former 
Minister of Public Works for Liberia, ‘‘Obstacles to 
the financing of nuclear power in emerging econo-
mies work to prevent countries like my own from in-
dustrializing our economies and building climate-re-
silient infrastructure. This is especially bad timing 
as the next generation of nuclear technologies, in-
cluding small modular reactors and microreactors, 
are especially suitable to emerging markets. Such re-
strictions are an example of climate injustice, not a 
reaction against it.’’. 
(3) The People’s Republic of China and the 
Russian Federation have sought to export nuclear 
reactors to Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and 
South Asia using technologies which, according to a 
2017 study by Columbia University’s Center on 
Global Energy Policy, are associated with higher 
safety risk than American and Japanese reactor de-
signs. 
(4) In a 2019 letter to congressional leaders, 38 
national security experts emphasized the importance 
of nuclear energy finance to counter Chinese and 
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Russian ambitions, writing: ‘‘In the nuclear energy 
sector, the initial supply of a reactor typically leads 
to the supplier’s involvement throughout the hun-
dred-year life of the nuclear program, enabling long- 
term influence on nuclear safety, security and non-
proliferation, as well as the ability to advance energy 
security and broader foreign policy interests.’’. 
(5) As Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General 
of the International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote in 
Climate Change and Nuclear Power 2020, ‘‘Nuclear 
power, currently being generated in 30 countries, is 
already reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 
two gigatons per year. That is the equivalent of tak-
ing more than 400 million cars off the road—every 
year.’’. He continued, ‘‘Nuclear power now provides 
about 10 percent of the world’s electricity, but it 
contributes almost 30 percent of all low carbon elec-
tricity. Nuclear power will be essential for achieving 
the low carbon future which world leaders have 
agreed to strive for.’’. 
SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION SUP-
PORT FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY. 
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the 
United States Executive Director at the International 
Bank for Reconstruction and Development and, as the 
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Secretary deems appropriate, the United States Executive 
Director at any other international financial institution 
(as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of the International Fi-
nancial Institutions Act), to use the voice, vote, and influ-
ence of the United States at the institution to support fi-
nancial assistance for the generation and distribution of 
nuclear energy, consistent with the national security inter-
ests of the United States. 
SEC. 4. WAIVER AUTHORITY. 
The Secretary of the Treasury may waive the require-
ment of section 3 on a case-by-base basis upon notifying 
the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the Senate that the waiver is in the national interest of 
the United States, with a detailed explanation of the rea-
sons therefor. 
SEC. 5. PROGRESS REPORT. 
The Chairman of the National Advisory Council on 
International Monetary and Financial Policies shall in-
clude in the annual report required by section 1701 of the 
International Financial Institutions Act a discussion of 
any progress made in promoting international financial in-
stitution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of such Act) 
assistance for nuclear energy. 
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SEC. 6. SUNSET. 
This Act shall have no force or effect after the date 
that is 10 years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
Æ 
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