[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1135 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1135

 To provide for the reenrichment of certain depleted uranium owned by 
 the Department of Energy, and for the sale or barter of the resulting 
              reenriched uranium, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 26, 2011

Mr. McConnell (for himself and Mr. Paul) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the reenrichment of certain depleted uranium owned by 
 the Department of Energy, and for the sale or barter of the resulting 
              reenriched uranium, 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 ``Energy and Revenue Enrichment Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Energy.
            (2) Enrichment plant.--The term ``enrichment plant'' means 
        a uranium enrichment plant owned by the Department of Energy 
        with respect to which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has 
        made a determination of compliance under section 1701(b)(2) of 
        the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2297f(b)(2)).
            (3) Qualified operator.--The term ``qualified operator'' 
        means a company that has experience in operating an enrichment 
        plant under Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorization and has 
        the ability and workforce to enrich the depleted uranium that 
        is owned by the Department of Energy.
            (4) Reenrichment.--The term ``reenrichment'' means 
        increasing the weight percent of U-235 in uranium in order to 
        make the uranium usable.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 3. REENRICHMENT CONTRACT.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Requirement.--The Secretary shall enter into a contract 
        with a qualified operator for a 24 month pilot program for the 
        reenrichment at an enrichment plant of the depleted uranium 
        described in section 2(3) that the Secretary finds economically 
        viable. The Secretary shall seek to maximize the financial 
        return to the Federal Government in negotiating the terms of 
        such contract.
            (2) Amount of enrichment.--The Secretary shall, during each 
        year of the pilot program under this subsection, conduct 
        uranium reenrichment under such program in an amount (measured 
        in separative work units) equal to approximately 25 percent of 
        the aggregate uranium enrichment conducted in the United States 
        during calendar year 2010.
            (3) Economic viability.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
        uranium shall be considered economically viable if the cost to 
        the United States of the reenrichment thereof, including the 
        costs of the contract entered into under paragraph (1), are 
        less than the revenue anticipated from the sale of the 
        reenriched uranium.
    (b) Commencement of Reenrichment Activities.--Reenrichment 
activities under the contract entered into under subsection (a) shall 
commence as soon as possible, but no later than June 1, 2012.
    (c) Sale of Reenriched Uranium.--The Secretary may from time to 
time sell the reenriched uranium generated pursuant to the contract 
entered into under subsection (a).
    (d) Allocation and Use of Proceeds.--Any funds received by the 
Secretary from the sale of reenriched uranium generated pursuant to the 
contract entered into under subsection (a) shall be allocated as 
follows:
            (1) First, such funds shall be available to the Secretary, 
        without further appropriation and without fiscal year 
        limitation, to carry out this section, including amounts 
        required to be paid under the contract entered into under 
        subsection (a).
            (2) Any amounts not required for the purposes described in 
        paragraph (1) shall be transferred to the Uranium Enrichment 
        Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund established in section 
        1801 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2297g), to be 
        available for use, without further appropriation and without 
        fiscal year limitation.

SEC. 4. DEPLETED URANIUM.

    (a) Title and Responsibility for Disposition.--The Secretary shall 
assume title to, and responsibility for the disposition of, all 
depleted uranium generated pursuant to the contract entered into under 
section 3(a).
    (b) Funding for Reenrichment.--To provide funding for payments 
under the contract entered into under section 3(a), the Secretary may--
            (1) assume title to, and responsibility for the disposition 
        of, depleted uranium in addition to the depleted uranium 
        specified in subsection (a); and
            (2) transfer to the qualified operator title to uranium 
        generated as a result of the reenrichment pursuant to the 
        contract entered into under section 3(a).

SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL URANIUM SALES.

    (a) Initial Period.--Notwithstanding section 3112(d) of the USEC 
Privatization Act (42 U.S.C. 2297h-10(d)), during the 24 month pilot 
program and the subsequent 24 months after that program is complete, 
the Secretary may not during any calendar year sell an amount of 
uranium that exceeds 15 percent of the United States' domestic uranium 
supply for that year.
    (b) Subsequent Period.--After the expiration of the 48 month period 
described in subsection (a), the Secretary may not during any calendar 
year sell an amount of uranium that exceeds 10 percent of the United 
States' domestic uranium supply for that year, except to the extent 
that the Secretary determines that such sales will have no significant 
effect on uranium markets.
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