[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 26, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S2457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petition or memorial was laid before the Senate and was 
referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-159. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Tennessee urging the United States Congress to 
     mandate, and provide an adequate budget for, the Department 
     of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish 
     rules for manufacturing, siting, and licensing of small 
     modular reactors and liquid core molten salt reactors to be 
     built and operated in the United States by private industry 
     for the production of energy and medical isotopes; to the 
     Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

                     House Joint Resolution No. 507

       Whereas, Tennessee has many finite natural energy 
     resources; and
       Whereas, world energy demand and usage are expected to 
     increase; and
       Whereas, is vital to the country's energy future to provide 
     abundant base-load power and peaking energy-on-demand power 
     affordably; and
       Whereas, extending Tennessee's current energy boom will 
     require the creation of a long-term energy plan and the 
     development of clean and affordable energy technologies such 
     as liquid core molten salt reactors and small modular 
     reactors; and
       Whereas, the United States of America possesses a nearly 
     inexhaustible supply of thorium and uranium (more than a 
     billion years' supply of energy) that dramatically exceeds 
     all known potential energy reserves; and
       Whereas, the elements thorium and uranium have the 
     practical potential to provide unlimited energy resources for 
     Tennesseans and Americans on demand in the near future and to 
     provide many other tangible benefits; and
       Whereas, better utilization of thorium and uranium in 
     specially designed reactors such as molten salt reactors, 
     including liquid fluoride thorium reactors, can provide 
     energy security from other nations by utilizing Tennessee 
     coal and a reactor's nuclear heat energy to produce an 
     abundance of synthetic liquid transportation fuels. These 
     synthetic fuels can be produced for many future generations 
     of Tennesseans in a safe, affordable, and most 
     environmentally friendly manner; and
       Whereas, the efficient use of thorium or uranium in a 
     specially designed molten salt reactor allows for greatly 
     increased environmentally friendly energy production that 
     improves the economics of many recycling technologies and 
     raises the standard of living; and
       Whereas, it is incumbent upon this body to be forward-
     thinking in addressing the future energy challenges for the 
     next generation of Tennesseans; and
       Whereas, Tennessee is uniquely capable to commercialize 
     small modular reactors, liquid core molten salt reactors, and 
     integral fast reactors with its research and development 
     assets of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where such 
     technology was first developed, and other private companies 
     and nonprofit organizations that specialize in nuclear 
     technology development in Tennessee; and
       Whereas, the academic, scientific, manufacturing, and 
     business communities in Tennessee have some of the best 
     talent and research and development records in the world. 
     Development of this groundbreaking and economic game-changing 
     technology would serve Tennessee's and America's economics 
     better than current federal efforts to develop this 
     technology in partnership with China; and
       Whereas, advanced technology using thorium and uranium can 
     affordably provide medical isotopes of materials for medical 
     uses such as treating cancer and HIV/AIDS, diagnostic 
     procedures, and improved health care; and
       Whereas, S.99, the ``American Medical Isotopes Production 
     Act of 2011,'' was signed into law by President Barack Obama 
     on January 2, 2013, and mandates a reliable domestic supply 
     of molybdenum-99 for medical imaging and diagnostics; and
       Whereas, molybdenum-99 is used in more than sixteen million 
     medical procedures annually in the United States; and
       Whereas, no domestic supply of molybdenum-99 currently 
     exists, and present suppliers use old reactors that result in 
     frequent supply disruptions; and
       Whereas, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, charged with 
     licensing nuclear reactors, is not well-funded for 
     establishing procedures for new, advanced reactor designs 
     based on different architectures from today's fleet of light 
     water reactors; and
       Whereas, small modular reactors and liquid core molten salt 
     reactors represent a business opportunity that Tennessee's 
     manufacturing base is well-suited to exploit. This could 
     potentially result in creating forty thousand manufacturing 
     jobs in total within Tennessee, because these jobs have the 
     ability to complement Tennessee's coal industry, oil 
     industry, and natural gas hydraulic fracturing industry by 
     increasing jobs in those industries: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives of the One Hundred 
     Ninth General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, the Senate 
     Concurring, That the General Assembly supports the creation 
     of a long-term energy plan that addresses the long-term 
     energy needs of the state; and be it further
       Resolved, That the General Assembly encourages and supports 
     the research and development of liquid-core-molten-salt-
     reactor and small-modular-reactor technologies as a long-term 
     solution to Tennessee's energy needs; and be it further
       Resolved, That the General Assembly urges the Congress of 
     the United States to mandate, and provide an adequate budget 
     for, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory 
     Commission to establish rules for manufacturing, siting, and 
     licensing of small modular reactors and liquid core molten 
     salt reactors to be built and operated in the United States 
     by private industry for the production of energy and medical 
     isotopes; and be it further
       Resolved, That the General Assembly supports investing in, 
     acquiring grants for, implementing programs for, encouraging 
     Tennessee institutions of higher learning to conduct research 
     into, and attracting companies for the development of future 
     technologies that will provide greater energy resources more 
     affordably, abundantly, and in a more environmentally 
     friendly manner than is being done at present; and be it 
     further
       Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives 
     transmit certified copies of this resolution to the President 
     of the United States, the Secretary of the United States 
     Department of Energy, the Commissioners of the Nuclear 
     Regulatory Commission, the Speaker and Clerk of the United 
     States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore 
     and Secretary of the United States Senate, and each member of 
     the Tennessee Congressional delegation.

                          ____________________