Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that establishing a regional nuclear fuel bank would assist international efforts to avoid a destabilizing arms race in the Middle East and would promote the peaceful use of nuclear power.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 511 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 511

Expressing the sense of the Senate that establishing a regional nuclear 
 fuel bank would assist international efforts to avoid a destabilizing 
  arms race in the Middle East and would promote the peaceful use of 
                             nuclear power.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 10, 2022

   Mr. Menendez (for himself and Mr. Graham) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate that establishing a regional nuclear 
 fuel bank would assist international efforts to avoid a destabilizing 
  arms race in the Middle East and would promote the peaceful use of 
                             nuclear power.

Whereas the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on October 17, 2019, 
        established and began operating a Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in 
        Oskemen, Kazakhstan;
Whereas the IAEA LEU Bank currently has physical stock of 90 metric tons of low 
        enriched uranium hexafluoride suitable to make fuel for nuclear power 
        reactors worldwide;
Whereas the IAEA Bank mission is to ensure member states of the IAEA are able to 
        obtain fuel for their reactors if there is a disruption in their 
        existing fuel supply arrangements and LEU cannot be obtained by any 
        other means;
Whereas a member state of the IAEA who wants to buy LEU from the fuel Bank must 
        be in compliance with all of their nuclear safeguard agreements and not 
        under investigation by the IAEA Board of Governors;
Whereas the establishment and operation of the IAEA LEU Bank is fully funded by 
        voluntary contributions;
Whereas these voluntary contributions have come from the United States, the 
        European Union, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and non-
        government actors such as the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI);
Whereas in April 2009, President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed the then 
        proposal to set up a global nuclear fuel repository, under strict 
        international controls;
Whereas, in an April 2005 statement at the IAEA, the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        said it will only pursue nuclear activities in the peaceful domain, and 
        the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had 
        issued a fatwa that the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear 
        weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        shall never acquire these weapons;
Whereas the provision of LEU fuel enables a state to forgo domestic uranium 
        enrichment and reprocessing for commercial nuclear reactors;
Whereas the UAE has successfully developed commercial nuclear power without a 
        domestic capability to enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel;
Whereas many states in the Middle East are seeking to establish commercial 
        nuclear power reactors to supply power to their electrical grid;
Whereas the development of uranium enrichment and reprocessing capabilities 
        increases the proliferation risk associated with nuclear technology, 
        materials, and weapons; and
Whereas Iran's nuclear program is leading other Middle East states to consider 
        how to match Iran's enrichment capabilities: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the establishment of a regional nuclear fuel bank, or a 
        rules modification and expansion of the existing LEU Bank, in 
        coordination with other international actors, should be part of 
        a comprehensive plan for confronting nuclear nonproliferation 
        in the Middle East;
            (2) the United States should implement a policy that 
        guarantees that any Middle East state that forgoes domestic 
        uranium enrichment and reprocessing will be able to purchase 
        fuel for their commercial nuclear reactors from an 
        international nuclear fuel bank;
            (3) in order to expand the existing IAEA LEU Bank or 
        establish a new regional nuclear fuel bank, the United States 
        should provide technical experience and funds and should 
        encourage others to make financial donations to such bank;
            (4) the United States should seek bilateral and 
        multilateral nuclear cooperation agreements with various Middle 
        Eastern states, including Iran, pursuant to section 123 of the 
        Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2153) (``123 agreements'') 
        that include the adoption of IAEA Additional Protocols for 
        verification of nuclear safeguards that include a commitment by 
        states to forgo domestic uranium enrichment and reprocessing of 
        spent fuel;
            (5) if Iran enters into and implements a nuclear agreement 
        in which it forgoes domestic uranium enrichment and 
        reprocessing of spent fuel, the United States should commit to 
        and provide sanctions relief beyond that agreed to in the Joint 
        Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed at Vienna on July 
        14, 2015, by Iran and by France, Germany, the Russian 
        Federation, the People's Republic of China, the European Union, 
        the United Kingdom, and the United States;
            (6) any such sanctions relief should include the 
        termination of certain United States ``primary'' sanctions, as 
        appropriate, but other United States sanctions should remain in 
        place until Iran verifiably ceases its malign activity, 
        including its support for terrorism, its human rights abuses, 
        its hostage-taking, and its destabilizing activities in the 
        region, and refrains from resuming such activities; and
            (7) any international agreement limiting Iran's nuclear 
        program and providing sanctions relief to which the United 
        States is a signatory should be submitted to the Senate for its 
        advice and consent to ratification pursuant to Article II of 
        the Constitution.
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