[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3276 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3276

  To promote the production of molybdenum-99 in the United States for 
 medical isotope production, and to condition and phase out the export 
   of highly enriched uranium for the production of medical isotopes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 21, 2009

Mr. Markey of Massachusetts (for himself and Mr. Upton) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To promote the production of molybdenum-99 in the United States for 
 medical isotope production, and to condition and phase out the export 
   of highly enriched uranium for the production of medical isotopes.

    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 ``American Medical Isotopes Production 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Molybdenum-99 is a critical medical isotope whose decay 
        product technecium-99m is used in approximately two-thirds of 
        all diagnostic medical isotope procedures in the United States, 
        or 16 million medical procedures annually, including for the 
        detection of cancer, heart disease, and thyroid disease, 
        investigating the operation of the brain and kidney, imaging 
        stress fractures, and tracking cancer stages.
            (2) Molybdenum-99 has a half-life of 66 hours, and decays 
        at a rate of approximately one percent per hour after 
        production. As such, molybdenum-99 cannot be stockpiled. 
        Instead, molybdenum-99 production must be scheduled to meet the 
        projected demand and any interruption of the supply chain from 
        production, to processing, packaging, distribution, and use can 
        disrupt patient care.
            (3) There are no facilities within the United States that 
        are dedicated to the production of molybdenum-99 for medical 
        uses. The United States must import molybdenum-99 from foreign 
        production facilities, and is dependent upon the continued 
        operation of these foreign facilities for millions of critical 
        medical procedures annually.
            (4) Most reactors in the world which produce molybdenum-99 
        utilize highly enriched uranium, which can also be used in the 
        construction of nuclear weapons. In January 2009, the National 
        Academy of Sciences encouraged molybdenum-99 producers to 
        convert from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium, 
        and found that there are ``no technical reasons that adequate 
        quantities cannot be produced from LEU targets in the future'' 
        and that ``a 7-10 year phase-out period would likely allow 
        enough time for all current HEU-based producers to convert''.
            (5) The 51-year-old National Research Universal reactor in 
        Canada, which is responsible for producing approximately sixty 
        percent of United States demand for molybdenum-99 under normal 
        conditions, was shut down unexpectedly May 14, 2009, after the 
        discovery of a leak of radioactive water. It is unclear whether 
        the National Research Universal reactor will be able to resume 
        production of molybdenum-99.
            (6) The United States currently faces an acute shortage of 
        molybdenum-99 and its decay product technetium-99m due to 
        technical problems which have seriously interrupted operations 
        of foreign nuclear reactors producing molybdenum-99.
            (7) As a result of the critical shortage of molybdenum-99, 
        patient care in the United States is suffering. Medical 
        procedures requiring technetium-99 are being rationed or 
        delayed, and alternative treatments which are less effective, 
        more costly, and may result in increased radiation doses to 
        patients are being substituted in lieu of technetium-99.
            (8) The radioactive isotope molybdenum-99 and its decay 
        product technetium-99m are critical to the health care of 
        Americans, and the continued availability of these isotopes, in 
        a reliable and affordable manner, is in the interest of the 
        United States.
            (9) The United States should move expeditiously to ensure 
        that an adequate and reliable supply of molybdenum-99 can be 
        produced in the United States, without the use of highly 
        enriched uranium.
            (10) The United States should accelerate its efforts to 
        convert nuclear reactors worldwide away from the use of highly 
        enriched uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons, to low 
        enriched uranium. Converting nuclear reactors away from the use 
        of highly enriched uranium is a critically important element of 
        United States efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism, and 
        supports the goal announced in Prague by President Barack Obama 
        on April 5, 2009, to create ``a new international effort to 
        secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within 
        four years''.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE RELIABILITY OF DOMESTIC MEDICAL ISOTOPE SUPPLY.

    (a) Medical Isotope Development Projects.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Energy shall establish a 
        program to evaluate and support projects for the production in 
        the United States, without the use of highly enriched uranium, 
        of significant quantities of molybdenum-99 for medical uses.
            (2) Criteria.--Projects shall be judged against the 
        following primary criteria:
                    (A) The length of time necessary for the proposed 
                project to begin production of molybdenum-99 for 
                medical uses within the United States.
                    (B) The capability of the proposed project to 
                produce a significant percentage of United States 
                demand for molybdenum-99 for medical uses.
                    (C) The cost of the proposed project.
            (3) Exemption.--An existing reactor fueled with highly 
        enriched uranium shall not be disqualified from the program if 
        the Secretary of Energy determines that--
                    (A) there is no alternative nuclear reactor fuel, 
                enriched in the isotope U-235 to less than 20 percent, 
                that can be used in that reactor; and
                    (B) the reactor operator has provided assurances 
                that, whenever an alternative nuclear reactor fuel, 
                enriched in the isotope U-235 to less than 20 percent, 
                can be used in that reactor, it will use that 
                alternative in lieu of highly enriched uranium.
            (4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Secretary of Energy for carrying out 
        the program under paragraph (1) $163,000,000 for fiscal years 
        2010 through 2014.
    (b) Development Assistance.--The Secretary of Energy shall 
establish a program to provide assistance for--
            (1) the development of fuels, targets, and processes for 
        domestic molybdenum-99 production that do not use highly 
        enriched uranium; and
            (2) commercial operations using the fuels, targets, and 
        processes described in paragraph (1).
    (c) Uranium Lease and Take Back.--The Secretary of Energy shall 
establish a program to make low enriched uranium available, through 
lease contracts, for irradiation for the production of molybdenum-99 
for medical uses. The lease contracts shall provide for the Secretary 
to retain responsibility for the final disposition of radioactive waste 
created by the irradiation, processing, or purification of leased 
uranium.

SEC. 4. EXPORTS.

    Section 134 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2160d(b)) 
is amended by striking subsections b. and c. and inserting in lieu 
thereof the following:
    ``b. Effective 7 years after the date of enactment of the American 
Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009, the Commission may not issue a 
license for the export of highly enriched uranium from the United 
States.
    ``c. The period referred to in subsection (b) may be extended for 
no more than three years if, no earlier than 6 years after the date of 
enactment of the Act, the Secretary of Energy certifies to the 
appropriate Congressional committees that--
            ``(1) there is insufficient global supply of molybdenum-99 
        produced without the use of highly enriched uranium available 
        to satisfy the domestic United States market, and
            ``(2) the export of United States-origin highly enriched 
        uranium for the purposes of medical isotope production is the 
        most effective temporary means to increase the supply of 
        molybdenum-99 to the domestic United States market.''.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON DISPOSITION OF EXPORTS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after consulting 
with other relevant agencies, shall submit to the Congress a report 
detailing the current disposition of previous United States exports of 
highly enriched uranium, including--
            (1) their location;
            (2) whether they are irradiated;
            (3) whether they have been used for the purpose stated in 
        their export license;
            (4) whether they have been used for an alternative purpose 
        and, if so, whether such alternative purpose has been 
        explicitly approved by the Commission;
            (5) the year of export, and reimportation, if applicable;
            (6) their current physical and chemical forms; and
            (7) whether they are being stored in a manner which 
        adequately protects against theft and unauthorized access.

SEC. 6. DOMESTIC MEDICAL ISOTOPE PRODUCTION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 10 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:
    ``Sec. 112. Domestic Medical Isotope Production.  a. The Commission 
may issue a license, or grant an amendment to an existing license, for 
the use in the United States of highly enriched uranium as a target for 
medical isotope production in a nuclear reactor, only if, in addition 
to any other requirement of this Act--
            ``(1) the Commission determines that--
                    ``(A) there is no alternative medical isotope 
                production target, enriched in the isotope U-235 to 
                less than 20 percent, that can be used in that reactor; 
                and
                    ``(B) the proposed recipient of the medical isotope 
                production target has provided assurances that, 
                whenever an alternative medical isotope production 
                target can be used in that reactor, it will use that 
                alternative in lieu of highly enriched uranium; and
            ``(2) the Secretary of Energy has certified that the United 
        States Government is actively supporting the development of an 
        alternative medical isotope production target that can be used 
        in that reactor.
    ``b. As used in this section--
            ``(1) the term `alternative medical isotope production 
        target' means a nuclear reactor target which is enriched to 
        less than 20 percent of the isotope U-235; and
            ``(2) a target `can be used' in a nuclear research or test 
        reactor if--
                    ``(A) the target has been qualified by the Reduced 
                Enrichment Research and Test Reactor Program of the 
                Department of Energy; and
                    ``(B) use of the target will permit the large 
                majority of ongoing and planned experiments and isotope 
                production to be conducted in the reactor without a 
                large percentage increase in the total cost of 
                operating the reactor.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954 is amended by inserting the following new item after the 
item relating to section 111:

``Sec. 112. Domestic medical isotope production.''.

SEC. 7. ANNUAL DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REPORTS.

    The Secretary of Energy shall report to Congress no later than one 
year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 
for 5 years, on Department of Energy actions to support the production 
in the United States, without the use of highly enriched uranium, of 
molybdenum-99 for medical uses. These reports shall include the 
following:
            (1) For medical isotope development projects--
                    (A) the names of any recipients of Department of 
                Energy support under section 3 of this Act;
                    (B) the amount of Department of Energy funding 
                committed to each project;
                    (C) the milestones expected to be reached for each 
                project during the year for which support is provided;
                    (D) how each project is expected to support the 
                increased production of molybdenum-99 for medical uses;
                    (E) the findings of the evaluation of projects 
                under section 3(a)(2) of this Act; and
                    (F) the ultimate use of any Department of Energy 
                funds used to support projects under section 3 of this 
                Act.
            (2) A description of actions taken in the previous year by 
        the Secretary of Energy to ensure the safe disposition of 
        radioactive waste from used molybdenum-99 targets.

SEC. 8. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES REPORT.

    The Secretary of Energy shall enter into an arrangement with the 
National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the state of 
molybdenum-99 production and utilization, to be provided to the 
Congress not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this 
Act. This report shall include the following:
            (1) For molybdenum-99 production--
                    (A) a list of all facilities in the world producing 
                molybdenum-99 for medical uses, including an indication 
                of whether these facilities use highly enriched uranium 
                in any way;
                    (B) a review of international production of 
                molybdenum-99 over the previous 5 years, including--
                            (i) whether any new production was brought 
                        online;
                            (ii) whether any facilities halted 
                        production unexpectedly; and
                            (iii) whether any facilities used for 
                        production were decommissioned or otherwise 
                        permanently removed from service; and
                    (C) an assessment of progress made in the previous 
                5 years toward establishing domestic production of 
                molybdenum-99 for medical uses.
            (2) An assessment of the progress made by the Department of 
        Energy and others to eliminate all worldwide use of highly 
        enriched uranium in reactor fuel, reactor targets, and medical 
        isotope production facilities.

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act the following definitions apply:
            (1) Highly enriched uranium.--The term ``highly enriched 
        uranium'' means uranium enriched to 20 percent or greater in 
        the isotope U-235.
            (2) Low enriched uranium.--The term ``low enriched 
        uranium'' means uranium enriched to less than 20 percent in the 
        isotope U-235.
            (3) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate Congressional committees'' means the House 
        Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on 
        Energy and Natural Resources.
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