H.R. 4675 — Introduced in House

I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4675 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 17, 2023Mr. Donalds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to clarify the organization and duties of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Reform Act or the ACRS Reform Act. 2. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (in this Act referred to as the Commission) should take a more active approach in collaborating with the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (in this Act referred to as the Committee) for the purpose of modernizing and evaluating the scope of the Committee, in furtherance of the requirements set out in the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act along with role of the Committee in independently reviewing and resolving key application issues; (2) the Commission staff should improve its preparation for engagements with the Committee to better optimize the review of pending application topics; (3) the Commission and Committee staff should collaborate and review practices to identify best practices that lead to efficient and effective Committee reviews; (4) the Committee should focus its reviews on novel and safety-significant issues in its review process; (5) the Committee shouldn’t heavily focus on reviewing the aspects of reactor technologies that are well known and well understood; (6) the Committee should recognize and understand that the Commission staff time is valuable in ultimately streamlining, and approving, nuclear reactor applications; (7) the Committee should perform a budget review to Committee staff to ensure it’s appropriately staffed to ensure it can meet the anticipated future influx of applications; (8) the Committee should be modernized by improving the internal processes associated with the Committee independent review process; (9) the Committee should consider modifying its Membership Balance Plan to ensure adequate expertise and experience, while simultaneously ensuring increased member diversity, including but not limited to establishing certain term limits to carry forth this intention; (10) Congress recognizes that the Committee originally provided significant value in providing an independent review of each application, but after decades of accumulating experience and vast changes in nuclear technology, the Committee no longer serves the same role as it originally did; and (11) Congress understands the Committee has the potential to play a valuable role in the Commission licensing review process, but its purpose, processes, and practices need to be improved, economized, and modernized. 3. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Reform (a) Selection of ACRS Chairman Section 29 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2039) is amended by striking by the Committee as its Chairman in the third sentence and inserting as the Chairman of the Committee by a majority of the members of the Commission. (b) License applications (1) In general Section 182 b. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2232(b)) is amended by striking The Advisory Committee and inserting the following: (1) In general The Advisory Committee . (2) Limitation on review Section 182 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2232) is amended by inserting at the end of subsection b., as amended by paragraph (1), the following: (2) Limitation on review With respect to the applications described in paragraph (1), the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards may only review such applications that present a novel issue or an issue of significant safety concern, based on a risk-informed determination by the Committee. . (c) Fee recovery exemption Section 102(b)(1)(B) of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (42 U.S.C. 2215(b)(1)(B) is amended by adding at the end the following: (iv) Costs associated with any reviews conducted by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, established under section 29 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2039), including any direct or indirect costs relating to preparing for, or attending, meetings held by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. . (d) ACRS organization Section 29 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2039) is amended— (1) by striking There is hereby and inserting the following: (a) In general There is hereby ; (2) by adding at the end the following: (b) Prohibition on subcommittees The Committee established under subsection (a) may not form subcommittees. .