Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel Recycling Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9197 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9197

   To require the Secretary of Energy to study new technologies and
            opportunities for recycling spent nuclear fuel.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 8, 2026

Mr. Moore of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. Peters) introduced the
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To require the Secretary of Energy to study new technologies and
            opportunities for recycling spent nuclear fuel.

    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 ``Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel
Recycling Act''.

SEC. 2. STUDY ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO RECYCLE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory''
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
            (2) Nuclear waste.--The term ``nuclear waste'' means spent
        nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste (as defined in
        section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.
        10101)).
            (3) Recycling.--The term ``recycling'' means the recovery
        of valuable radionuclides, including fissile materials, from
        nuclear waste, and any subsequent processes, such as enrichment
        and fuel fabrication, necessary for reuse in nuclear reactors
        or other commercial applications.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
        of Energy.
            (5) Spent nuclear fuel.--The term ``spent nuclear fuel''
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Nuclear
        Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101).
    (b) Study.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for
Nuclear Energy, shall carry out a study--
            (1) to analyze the practicability, potential benefits,
        costs, and risks, including proliferation, of using dedicated
        recycling facilities to convert spent nuclear fuel, including
        spent high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, into useable
        nuclear fuels, such as those for--
                    (A) commercial light water reactors;
                    (B) advanced nuclear reactors; and
                    (C) medical, space-based, advanced-battery, and
                other non-reactor applications, as determined by the
                Secretary;
            (2)(A) to analyze the practicability, potential benefits,
        costs, and risks of recycling spent nuclear fuel, which is
        taken from temporary storage sites throughout the United
        States, and using it as fuel or input for advanced nuclear
        reactors, existing reactors, or commercial applications;
            (B) to compare such practicability, potential benefits,
        costs, and risks of recycling spent nuclear fuel with the
        practicability, potential benefits, costs, and risks of the
        once-through fuel cycle, including temporary and permanent
        storage requirements; and
            (C) to analyze the practicability, potential benefits,
        costs, and risks of aqueous (such as PUREX and the derivatives
        of PUREX) recycling processes with the practicability,
        potential benefits, costs, and risk of non-aqueous (such as
        pyro-electrochemistry) recycling processes;
            (3) to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of
        utilizing nuclear waste processing to extract certain isotopes
        needed for domestic and international use, including medical,
        industrial, space-based power source, and advanced-battery
        applications;
            (4) to analyze the practicability, potential benefits,
        costs, risks, and potential approaches for coupling or
        collocating recycling facilities with other pertinent
        facilities, such as advanced nuclear reactors (that can use the
        recycled fuel), interim storage, and fuel-fabrication
        facilities, including through--
                    (A) relevant analyses, such as capital and
                operating cost estimates, public-private partnerships
                to encourage investment, infrastructure requirements,
                timeline to full-scale commercial deployment, and
                distinguishing characteristics or requirements of such
                facilities;
                    (B) input from interested private technology
                developers and relevant assumptions regarding cost; and
                    (C) comparison with the practicability, potential
                benefits, costs, and risks of the once-through fuel
                cycle, including temporary and permanent storage
                requirements;
            (5) to identify parties, including individuals,
        communities, businesses, and local and Tribal governments, that
        are impacted economically, or through health, safety, or
        environmental risks, by the current practice of indefinite
        temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, and assess potential
        risks and benefits for those parties should spent nuclear fuel
        be removed from their sites for the purposes of nuclear waste
        recycling;
            (6) to assess different approaches for siting and sizing
        nuclear waste recycling facilities, including a centralized
        national facility, regional facilities, on-site facilities
        where spent nuclear fuel is currently stored, and on-site
        facilities where newly recycled fuel can be used by an on-site
        reactor, and recommend one or more approaches that consider
        environmental, transportation, infrastructure, capital, and
        other risks;
            (7) to identify tracking and accountability methods for new
        recycled fuel and radioactive waste streams for byproducts of
        the recycling process;
            (8)(A) to identify any regulatory gaps related to nuclear
        waste management and recycling, including accuracy and
        consistency of relevant definitions for radioactive waste
        (including ``high-level radioactive waste'', ``spent nuclear
        fuel'', ``low-level radioactive waste'', ``reprocessing'',
        ``recycling'', and ``vitrification'') and classifications of
        radioactive waste that exist in Federal law on the date of
        enactment of this Act;
            (B) to compare such definitions to those used by other
        nations that manage radioactive waste; and
            (C) to make recommendations for modernizing such
        definitions; and
            (9) to evaluate--
                    (A) potential Federal and State-level policy
                changes to support development and deployment of
                recycling and waste-utilizing reactor technologies; and
                    (B) impacts of spent nuclear fuel recycling on
                requirements for domestic nuclear waste storage.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for
Nuclear Energy, shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives, the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, a report that
complies with each of the following:
            (1) Describes the results of the study carried out under
        subsection (b).
            (2) Is released to the public.
            (3) Totals not more than 120 pages (excluding Front Matter,
        References, and Appendices) written and formatted to facilitate
        review by a nonspecialist readership, including the following
        sections:
                    (A) A Front Matter section that includes a cover
                page with identifying information, tables of contents,
                figures, and tables.
                    (B) An Executive Summary section.
                    (C) An Introductory section that includes a
                historical overview that also explains why recycling is
                not performed in the United States today, such as
                economic, political, or technological obstacles.
                    (D) Results and Findings sections that summarize
                the results and findings of the study carried out under
                subsection (b).
                    (E) A Key Remaining Challenges and Barriers section
                that identifies key technical and nontechnical (such as
                economic) challenges and barriers that need to be
                addressed to enable scale-up and commercial adoption of
                spent nuclear fuel recycling, with preference given to
                secure, proliferation resistant, environmentally safe,
                and economical recycling methods.
                    (F) A Policy Recommendations section that--
                            (i) lists policy recommendations to address
                        remaining technical and nontechnical (such as
                        economic) challenges and barriers to enable
                        scale-up and commercial adoption of spent
                        nuclear fuel recycling, including with
                        government support;
                            (ii) contrasts the potential benefits and
                        risks of each policy; and
                            (iii) compares benefits to current or past
                        policies.
                    (G) An Other section in which other relevant
                information may be added.
                    (H) A References section.
                    (I) An Appendices section.
                                 <all>