[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 640 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 640

     To underscore the importance of international nuclear safety 
 cooperation for operating power reactors, encouraging the efforts of 
  the Convention on Nuclear Safety, supporting progress in improving 
nuclear safety, and enhancing the public availability of nuclear safety 
                              information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2011

 Mr. Akaka (for himself and Mr. Carper) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To underscore the importance of international nuclear safety 
 cooperation for operating power reactors, encouraging the efforts of 
  the Convention on Nuclear Safety, supporting progress in improving 
nuclear safety, and enhancing the public availability of nuclear safety 
                              information.

    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 ``Furthering International Nuclear 
Safety Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To recognize the paramount importance of international 
        nuclear safety cooperation for operating power reactors.
            (2) To further the efforts of the Convention on Nuclear 
        Safety as a vital international forum on nuclear safety.
            (3) To support progress in improving nuclear safety for 
        countries that currently have or are considering the 
        development of a civilian nuclear power program.
            (4) To enhance the public availability of nuclear safety 
        information.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Environment and Public Works 
                of the Senate;
                    (C) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
                    (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives;
                    (E) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
                House of Representatives; and
                    (F) the Committee on Oversight and Government 
                Reform of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Convention.--The term ``Convention'' means the 
        Convention on Nuclear Safety, done at Vienna September 20, 
        1994, and ratified by the United States April 11, 1999.
            (3) Meeting.--The term ``meeting'' means a meeting as 
        described under Article 20, 21, or 23 of the Convention.
            (4) National report.--The term ``national report'' means a 
        report as described under Article 5 of the Convention.
            (5) Party.--The term ``party'' means a nation that has 
        formally joined the Convention through ratification or other 
        means.
            (6) Summary report.--The term ``summary report'' means a 
        report as described under Article 25 of the Convention.

SEC. 4. UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO FURTHER INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY.

    The President shall instruct the United States official serving as 
the delegate to the meetings of the Convention on Nuclear Safety 
pursuant to Article 24 of the Convention to use the voice, vote, and 
influence of the United States, while recognizing that these efforts by 
parties are voluntary, to encourage, where appropriate--
            (1) parties to more systematically assess where and how 
        they have made progress in improving safety, including where 
        applicable through the incorporation of performance metric 
        tools;
            (2) parties to increase the number of national reports they 
        make available to the public by posting them to a publicly 
        available Internet Web site of the International Atomic Energy 
        Agency (IAEA);
            (3) parties to expand public dissemination of written 
        answers to questions raised by other parties about national 
        reports by posting the information to a publicly available 
        Internet Web site of the IAEA;
            (4) the IAEA to further its support of the Convention, upon 
        request by a party and where funding is available, by--
                    (A) providing assistance to parties preparing 
                national reports;
                    (B) providing additional assistance to help prepare 
                for and support meetings, including language 
                translation services; and
                    (C) providing additional technical support to 
                improve the safety of civilian nuclear power programs; 
                and
            (5) all countries that currently have or are considering 
        the establishment of a civilian nuclear power program to 
        formally join the Convention.

SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of State, in cooperation with the heads of other 
relevant United States Government agencies, shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees the United States Government's 
strategic plan and prioritized goals for international nuclear safety 
cooperation for operating power reactors.

SEC. 6. REPORTS.

    (a) Report on Implementation of Strategic Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the issuance 
        of each of the first two summary reports of the Convention 
        issued after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
        Secretary of State, in cooperation with the heads of other 
        relevant United States Government agencies, shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report that--
                    (A) describes the status of implementing the 
                strategic plan and achieving the goals set forth in 
                section 5; and
                    (B) enumerates the most significant concerns of the 
                United States Government regarding worldwide nuclear 
                safety and describes the extent to which the strategic 
                plan addresses these concerns.
            (2) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
        annex.
    (b) Report on United States Efforts To Further International 
Nuclear Safety.--Not later than 180 days after the issuance of each of 
the first two summary reports of the Convention issued after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the United States official serving as the 
delegate to the meetings of the Convention shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report providing the status of 
achieving the actions set forth in section 4.
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