[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2983 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2983

  To extend indemnification authority under section 170 of the Atomic 
              Energy Act of 1954, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 2, 2001

   Mrs. Wilson (for herself, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Norwood, Mrs. 
  Tauscher, Mr. Fossella, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Burr of North Carolina, Mr. 
  Weller, and Mr. Whitfield) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To extend indemnification authority under section 170 of the Atomic 
              Energy Act of 1954, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Price-Anderson Reauthorization Act 
of 2001''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF INDEMNIFICATION AUTHORITY.

    (a) Indemnification of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Licensees.--
Section 170 c. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Licenses'' and 
        inserting ``Licensees''; and
            (2) by striking ``August 1, 2002'' each place it appears 
        and inserting ``August 1, 2017''.
    (b) Indemnification of Department of Energy Contractors.--Section 
170 d.(1)(A) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(d)(1)(A)) 
is amended by striking ``August 1, 2002'' and inserting ``August 1, 
2017''.
    (c) Indemnification of Nonprofit Educational Institutions.--Section 
170 k. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(k)) is amended 
by striking ``August 1, 2002'' each place it appears and inserting 
``August 1, 2017''.

SEC. 3. MAXIMUM ASSESSMENT.

    Section 170 b.(1) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 
2210(b)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in the second proviso of the third sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``$63,000,000'' and inserting 
                ``$94,000,000''; and
                    (B) by striking ``$10,000,000 in any 1 year'' and 
                inserting ``$15,000,000 in any 1 year (subject to 
                adjustment for inflation under subsection t.)''; and
            (2) in subsection t.--
                    (A) by inserting ``total and annual'' after 
                ``amount of the maximum'';
                    (B) by striking ``the date of the enactment of the 
                Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988'' and inserting 
                ``July 1, 2001''; and
                    (C) by striking ``such date of enactment'' and 
                inserting ``July 1, 2001''.

SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY LIABILITY LIMIT.

    (a) Indemnification of Department of Energy Contractors.--Section 
170 d. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(d)) is amended 
by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
    ``(2) Indemnification agreements.--In an agreement of 
indemnification entered into under paragraph (1), the Secretary--
            ``(A) may require the contractor to provide and maintain 
        the financial protection of such a type and in such amounts as 
        the Secretary shall determine to be appropriate to cover public 
        liability arising out of or in connection with the contractual 
        activity; and
            ``(B) shall indemnify the persons indemnified against such 
        liability above the amount of the financial protection 
        required, in the amount of $10,000,000,000 (subject to 
        adjustment for inflation under subsection t.), in the 
        aggregate, for all persons indemnified in connection with the 
        contract and for each nuclear incident, including such legal 
        costs of the contractor as are approved by the Secretary.''.
    (b) Contract Amendments.--Section 170 d. of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(d)) is amended by striking paragraph (3) and 
inserting the following:
    ``(3) Contract amendments.--All agreements of indemnification under 
which the Department of Energy (or its predecessor agencies) may be 
required to indemnify any person under this section shall be deemed to 
be amended, on the date of enactment of the Price-Anderson 
Reauthorization Act of 2001, to reflect the amount of indemnity for 
public liability and any applicable financial protection required of 
the contractor under this subsection.''.
    (c) Liability Limit.--Section 170 e.(1)(B) of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(e)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``the maximum amount of financial 
        protection required under subsection b. or''; and
            (2) by striking ``paragraph (3) of subsection d., whichever 
        amount is more.'' and inserting ``paragraph (2) of subsection 
        d.''.

SEC. 5. INCIDENTS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Amount of Indemnification.--Section 170 d.(5) of the Atomic 
Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(d)(5)) is amended by striking 
``$100,000,000'' and inserting ``$500,000,000''.
    (b) Liability Limit.--Section 170 e.(4) of the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(e)(4)) is amended by striking ``$100,000,000'' and 
inserting ``$500,000,000''.

SEC. 6. REPORTS.

    Section 170 p. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(p)) 
is amended by striking ``August 1, 1998'' and inserting ``August 1, 
2013''.

SEC. 7. INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.

    Section 170 t. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(t)) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
            (2) by adding after paragraph (1) the following:
    ``(2) Adjustment.--The Secretary shall adjust the amount of 
indemnification provided under an agreement of indemnification under 
subsection d. not less than once during each 5-year period following 
July 1, 2001, in accordance with the aggregate percentage change in the 
Consumer Price Index since--
            ``(A) that date, in the case of the first adjustment under 
        this paragraph; or
            ``(B) the previous adjustment under this paragraph.''.

SEC. 8. PRICE-ANDERSON TREATMENT OF MODULAR REACTORS.

    Section 170 b. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210(b)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(5)(A) For purposes of this section only, the Commission shall 
consider a combination of facilities described in subparagraph (B) to 
be a single facility having a rated capacity of 100,000 electrical 
kilowatts or more.
    ``(B) A combination of facilities referred to in subparagraph (A) 
is 2 or more facilities located at a single site, each of which has a 
rated capacity of 100,000 electrical kilowatts or more but not more 
than 300,000 electrical kilowatts, with a combined rated capacity of 
not more than 950,000 electrical kilowatts.''.

SEC. 9. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by sections 3, 4, and 5 do not apply to a 
nuclear incident that occurs before the date of enactment of this Act.
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