Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that it is unacceptable that the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation are outpacing the United States in expanding nuclear energy production and global nuclear market share.

Bill: 118-hres-1395
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Donalds, Byron [R-FL-19]
Introduced: 2024-07-30
Policy area: Energy
Latest action: action_date: 2024-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-07-30
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution urges the United States to take immediate action to secure global nuclear energy leadership, encourages the United States to promptly expand the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain to eliminate foreign adversarial dependence, and recommends that the United States quickly take appropriate actions to increase the number of new nuclear reactors domestically.</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1395 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 30, 2024 Mr. Donalds (for himself, Mr. Nehls , and Mr. Williams of New York ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce , and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that it is unacceptable that the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation are outpacing the United States in expanding nuclear energy production and global nuclear market share.

Whereas, on December 15, 1991, the People’s Republic of China connected the country’s first nuclear reactor to the power grid; Whereas, as of June 26, 2024, the People’s Republic of China has built and connected 56 nuclear reactors to the power grid; Whereas, on June 26, 1954, the Soviet Union connected the country’s first nuclear reactor to the power grid, which was the first nuclear power plant in the world to produce electricity; Whereas, as of June 26, 2024, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation have built and connected 36 nuclear reactors to the power grid; Whereas, on December 20, 1951, the United States connected the country’s first nuclear reactor to the power grid; Whereas, as of June 26, 2024, the United States has built 94 nuclear reactors that are currently connected to the power grid, in addition to the 37 nuclear reactors that were previously built and connected to the power grid but have ceased operation; Whereas, according to the World Nuclear Association, as of June 27, 2024,— (1) the People’s Republic of China is currently constructing 27 nuclear reactors totaling 28,971 MWe gross, plans on constructing 41 nuclear reactors totaling 44,660 MWe gross, and has proposed the construction of 158 nuclear reactors totaling 186,450 MWe gross; (2) the Russian Federation is currently constructing 4 nuclear reactors totaling 3,702 MWe gross, plans on constructing 14 nuclear reactors totaling 8,930 MWe gross, and has proposed the construction 36 nuclear reactors totaling 37,716 MWe gross; and (3) the United States is currently constructing 0 nuclear reactors, plans on constructing 0 nuclear reactors, and has proposed the construction of 13 nuclear reactors totaling 10,500 MWe gross; Whereas nearly 70 percent of all nuclear reactors under construction today are Russian or Chinese designs; Whereas nuclear reactors in the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation have been generally licensed and constructed in a more expeditious fashion than nuclear reactors in the United States; Whereas the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation seek global nuclear energy dominance; Whereas the Russian Federation currently controls nearly 2/3 of global nuclear reactor export projects; Whereas the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation undercut the United States nuclear export potential by offering preferential financing terms fully backed by state governments, among other government-to-government concessions, which are more attractive and tough to turn down; Whereas Russia’s state-owned nuclear enterprise, Rosatom, has publicly reported that it is currently engaged with more than 50 countries for over $200,000,000,000 worth of nuclear-related orders; Whereas Chinese officials have set a goal of selling 30 nuclear reactors overseas to Belt and Road partner countries by 2030; Whereas the United States was previously the dominant global supplier of civil nuclear technologies; Whereas the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation control a greater percentage of global uranium production than the United States; Whereas 46 percent of global uranium enrichment capacity is located in the Russian Federation; Whereas 10 percent of global uranium enrichment capacity is located in the People’s Republic of China; Whereas 8 percent of global uranium enrichment capacity is located in the United States; Whereas the People’s Republic of China is several years ahead of the United States in terms of its ability to deploy fourth-generation nuclear reactors at scale; Whereas, in December 2023, the People’s Republic of China commenced operation of the world’s first fourth-generation nuclear power plant; Whereas the People’s Republic of China has nearly tripled its nuclear capacity over the past 10 years, while it took the United States nearly 40 years to add approximately the same nuclear capacity that China added over the last decade; Whereas, as of May 2024, the Russian Federation operates the only floating nuclear power plant in the world, specifically to provide heat and power to an Arctic port town; Whereas, as of May 2024, the People’s Republic of China has multiple floating nuclear power plants under construction, specifically to provide electricity to remote islands and power oil rigs off the coast of China; Whereas the United States previously deployed the world’s first floating nuclear power station, which began operation in January 1967 and operated until 1976, however the United States currently has zero operational floating nuclear power plants and zero under construction; and Whereas the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation are outpacing the United States in expanding nuclear energy production and global nuclear market share: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) deems it to be unacceptable that the United States is no longer the world’s dominant nuclear energy player; (2) recognizes the real threat to United States global nuclear influence stemming from the ambitions of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to be the global nuclear energy leader; (3) encourages the United States to promptly expand the United States domestic nuclear fuel supply chain to eliminate foreign adversarial dependence; (4) recommends that the United States take appropriate actions, as quickly as possible, to increase the number of new nuclear reactors domestically; (5) acknowledges nuclear energy as an important tool to foster United States influence and soft power throughout the world; and (6) urges the United States to take immediate action to secure global nuclear energy leadership.