[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 330 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 330

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2003

   Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico (for herself, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Burr, Mr. 
  Fossella, Mr. Norwood, Mrs. Tauscher, Mr. Wamp, 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 Amendments Act of 
2003''.

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 ``December 31, 2004'' 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 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2210) is 
amended--
            (1) in the second proviso of the third sentence of 
        subsection b.(1)--
                    (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.(1)--
                    (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, 2002''; and
                    (C) by striking ``such date of enactment'' and 
                inserting ``July 1, 2002''.

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) In an agreement of indemnification entered into under 
paragraph (1), the Secretary--
            ``(A) may require the contractor to provide and maintain 
        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 further amended by striking paragraph 
(3) and inserting the following:
    ``(3) 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 Amendments Act of 2003, 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) 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, 2002, 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. 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:
    ``(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 1,300,000 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 the enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 10. CIVIL PENALTIES.

    (a) Repeal of Automatic Remission.--Section 234A b.(2) of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2282a(b)(2)) is amended by 
striking the last sentence.
    (b) Limitation for Not-For-Profit Institutions.--Subsection d. of 
section 234A of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2282a(d)) is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``d.(1) Notwithstanding subsection a., in the case of any not-for-
profit contractor, subcontractor, or supplier, the total amount of 
civil penalties paid under subsection a. may not exceed the total 
amount of fees paid within any one-year period (as determined by the 
Secretary) under the contract under which the violation occurs.
    ``(2) For purposes of this section, the term `not-for-profit' means 
that no part of the net earnings of the contractor, subcontractor, or 
supplier inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit of any natural 
person or for-profit artificial person.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall not 
apply to any violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 occurring under 
a contract entered into before the date of enactment of this section.
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