[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 113 (Monday, July 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S3753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6569. Mr. COTTON submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the appropriate place in subtitle B of title XV, insert 
     the following:

     SEC. ____. PROGRAM FOR DEPLOYMENT OF TRANSPORTABLE NUCLEAR 
                   MICROREACTOR IN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY OF THE 
                   UNITED STATES INDO-PACIFIC COMMAND.

       (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
     carry out a program for the deployment, operation, and 
     evaluation of a transportable nuclear microreactor in the 
     area of responsibility of the United States Indo-Pacific 
     Command, which shall be known as the Operational Energy 
     Deployable Nuclear Power Program (referred to in this section 
     as the ``Program'').
       (b) Leadership and Coordination.--
       (1) Executive agent.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
     designate the Secretary of a military department as the 
     executive agent of the Department of Defense for carrying out 
     the Program and ensuring budget accountability for such 
     program (referred to in this section as the ``executive 
     agent'').
       (2) Coordination.--In carrying out the Program, the 
     executive agent shall coordinate with--
       (A) the Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command, 
     who shall be responsible for validating operational 
     requirements under the Program, the demonstration of 
     technologies to be deployed under the Program, and the 
     operational use of such technologies; and
       (B) as appropriate, the Secretary of Energy and the 
     Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for the 
     purpose of ensuring the deployment and operation of any 
     nuclear microreactor under the Program is carried out in a 
     manner that is safe, secure, and in compliance with 
     applicable requirements of the Department of Energy and the 
     Nuclear Regulatory Commission, respectively.
       (c) Objectives.--The objective of the Program shall be to 
     deploy and operate, by not later than January 1, 2030, a 
     transportable nuclear microreactor in support of distributed 
     and expeditionary operations in contested logistics 
     environments within the area of responsibility of the United 
     States Indo-Pacific Command, with a priority for deployment 
     in such an environment within the Western Pacific area.
       (d) Required Activities.--The activities of the Program 
     shall include the following:
       (1) The validation of operational requirements of the 
     United States Indo-Pacific Command with respect to the 
     transportable nuclear microreactor to be deployed under the 
     Program, and the integration of such nuclear microreactor 
     with expeditionary and dispersed power architectures in the 
     area of responsibility of such Command.
       (2) The development and implementation of a plan for the 
     test and evaluation of such nuclear microreactor, including 
     with respect to sustainment, safety, cybersecurity, and 
     physical security requirements.
       (3) The conduct of joint operational demonstrations with 
     the United States Indo-Pacific Command in connection with not 
     fewer than one major exercise within the area of 
     responsibility of such Command, to evaluate the deployment, 
     integration, sustainment, survivability, and operational use 
     of such nuclear microreactor under realistic conditions.
       (e) Budget Mechanism.--Beginning in fiscal year 2028, the 
     Secretary of Defense shall establish a dedicated program 
     element, or equivalent budget mechanism, for the Program, 
     including to support the transition of technologies under the 
     Program from demonstration to operational capability.
       (f) Nuclear Microreactor Defined.--In this section, the 
     term ``nuclear microreactor'' means a nuclear reactor with a 
     rated electric generating capacity of not greater than 50 
     megawatts.
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