[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6796 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6796

  To establish and support advanced nuclear research and development 
programs and infrastructure at the Department of Energy, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2020

Mr. Weber of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
            the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish and support advanced nuclear research and development 
programs and infrastructure at the Department of Energy, 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 ``Nuclear Energy for the Future Act''.

SEC. 2. NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    Section 952 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16272) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Advanced Reactor Technologies Research and Development 
Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out a program 
        under which the Secretary shall conduct research relating to 
        the development of advanced nuclear energy technologies that 
        may offer improved safety, functionality, and affordability.
            ``(2) Requirements.--The program under this subsection 
        shall--
                    ``(A) support efforts to reduce long-term technical 
                barriers for advanced nuclear energy systems; and
                    ``(B) be carried out in consultation with the 
                Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure identification 
                of any relevant concerns.
            ``(3) Public-private partnerships.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In carrying out the program 
                under this subsection, the Secretary shall, to the 
                maximum extent practicable and consistent with national 
                security, make available nuclear energy research 
                infrastructure to industry partners in order to achieve 
                faster and cost-effective development of advanced 
                nuclear energy technologies toward commercial 
                readiness. The Secretary shall make available--
                            ``(i) experimental capabilities and testing 
                        facilities;
                            ``(ii) computational capabilities, 
                        modeling, and simulation tools;
                            ``(iii) access to existing datasets and 
                        data validation tools; and
                            ``(iv) land use and site information for 
                        demonstration facilities.
                    ``(B) Selection.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall 
                        select industry partners for awards on a 
                        competitive merit-reviewed basis.
                            ``(ii) Considerations.--In selecting 
                        industry partners under clause (i), the 
                        Secretary shall consider--
                                    ``(I) the information disclosed by 
                                the Department as described in 
                                subparagraph (A); and
                                    ``(II) any existing facilities the 
                                Department will provide for public-
                                private partnership activities.
                    ``(C) Term.--An award made to an industry partner 
                under this subsection shall be for a period of not more 
                than 5 years, subject to the availability of 
                appropriations, after which the award may be renewed, 
                subject to a rigorous merit review.
            ``(4) Definition of advanced nuclear energy.--In this 
        subsection, the term `advanced nuclear energy' means energy 
        provided by--
                    ``(A) a nuclear fission reactor, including a 
                prototype plant (as defined in sections 50.2 and 52.1 
                of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 
                regulations)), with significant improvements compared 
                to the most recent generation of fission reactors, 
                including improvements such as--
                            ``(i) additional inherent safety features;
                            ``(ii) lower waste yields;
                            ``(iii) improved fuel performance;
                            ``(iv) increased tolerance to loss of fuel 
                        cooling;
                            ``(v) enhanced reliability;
                            ``(vi) increased proliferation resistance;
                            ``(vii) increased thermal efficiency;
                            ``(viii) reduced consumption of cooling 
                        water;
                            ``(ix) the ability to integrate into 
                        electric applications and nonelectric 
                        applications;
                            ``(x) modular sizes to allow for deployment 
                        that corresponds with the demand for 
                        electricity; or
                            ``(xi) operational flexibility to respond 
                        to changes in demand for electricity and to 
                        complement integration with intermittent 
                        renewable energy; or
                    ``(B) a fusion reactor.''.

SEC. 3. VERSATILE NEUTRON SOURCE.

    Section 955(c) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
16275(c)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Versatile Neutron Source.--
            ``(1) In general.--In order to advance the research and 
        development of domestic advanced, affordable, secure, and clean 
        nuclear energy, the Secretary shall construct a versatile 
        reactor-based fast neutron source, which shall operate as a 
        national user facility. The Secretary shall consult with the 
        private sector, universities, National Laboratories, and 
        relevant Federal agencies to ensure that such facility is 
        capable of meeting Federal research needs for neutron 
        irradiation services.
            ``(2) Facility capabilities.--
                    ``(A) Capabilities.--The Secretary shall ensure 
                that the facility described in paragraph (1) will 
                provide, at a minimum, the following capabilities:
                            ``(i) Fast neutron spectrum irradiation 
                        capability.
                            ``(ii) Capacity for upgrades to accommodate 
                        new or expanded research needs.
                    ``(B) Considerations.--In carrying out subparagraph 
                (A), the Secretary shall consider the following:
                            ``(i) Capabilities that support 
                        experimental high-temperature testing.
                            ``(ii) Providing a source of fast neutrons, 
                        at a neutron flux higher than that at which 
                        existing research facilities operate, 
                        sufficient to enable research for an optimal 
                        base of prospective users.
                            ``(iii) Maximizing irradiation flexibility 
                        and irradiation volume to accommodate as many 
                        concurrent users as possible.
                            ``(iv) Capabilities for irradiation with 
                        neutrons of a lower energy spectrum.
                            ``(v) Multiple loops for fuels and 
                        materials testing of different coolants.
                            ``(vi) Additional pre-irradiation and post-
                        irradiation examination capabilities.
                            ``(vii) Lifetime operating costs and 
                        lifecycle costs.
            ``(3) Start of operations.--The Secretary shall, to the 
        maximum extent practicable, ensure that the start of full 
        operations of the facility described in paragraph (1) occurs 
        before December 31, 2026.
            ``(4) Reporting.--The Secretary shall include in the annual 
        budget request of the Department an explanation for any delay 
        in the process of the Department in completing the facility 
        described in paragraph (1) by the deadline described in 
        paragraph (3).
            ``(5) Coordination.--The Secretary shall leverage the best 
        practices for management, construction, and operation of 
        national user facilities from the Office of Science.
            ``(6) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for the Office 
        of Nuclear Energy to carry out to completion the construction 
        of the facility under this subsection--
                    ``(A) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2021;
                    ``(B) $550,000,000 for fiscal year 2022;
                    ``(C) $638,000,000 for fiscal year 2023;
                    ``(D) $765,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; and
                    ``(E) $763,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.''.

SEC. 4. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTATION COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM.

    Section 957 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16277) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Duplication.--The Secretary shall ensure the coordination of, 
and avoid unnecessary duplication of, the activities of the program 
under subsection (a) with the activities of--
            ``(1) other research entities of the Department, including 
        the National Laboratories, the Advanced Research Projects 
        Agency-Energy, and the Advanced Scientific Computing Research 
        program; and
            ``(2) industry.''.
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