[Pages S4842-S4843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3101. Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. Heinrich) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2296, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2026 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 F of title X, insert 
     the following:

     SEC. 10__. 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

[[Page S4843]]

     term in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 
     U.S.C. 10101).
       (b) Study.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall assemble an 
     independent committee of experts to carry out the study 
     described in this subsection.
       (2) Individuals not to be included.--The independent 
     committee of experts assembled under paragraph (1) shall not 
     include any of the same individuals who authored the report 
     of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and 
     Medicine entitled ``Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear 
     Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of 
     Advanced Nuclear Reactors'' and dated 2023, but those same 
     individuals may advise the independent committee of experts.
       (3) Independent committee of experts.--The independent 
     committee of experts assembled under paragraph (1) shall--
       (A) consist of subject matter experts from stakeholders, 
     such as the Office of Nuclear Energy of the Department of 
     Energy, the National Laboratories, academia, industry, and 
     other relevant stakeholder groups, as determined by the 
     Secretary; and
       (B) carry out a study--
       (i) 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--

       (I) commercial light water reactors;
       (II) advanced nuclear reactors; and
       (III) medical, space-based, advanced-battery, and other 
     non-reactor applications, as determined by the Secretary;

       (ii)(I) 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;
       (II) 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
       (III) 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;
       (iii) 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;
       (iv) 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--

       (I) 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;
       (II) input from interested private technology developers 
     and relevant assumptions regarding cost; and
       (III) comparison with the practicability, potential 
     benefits, costs, and risks of the once-through fuel cycle, 
     including temporary and permanent storage requirements;

       (v) 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;
       (vi) 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;
       (vii) to identify tracking and accountability methods for 
     new recycled fuel and radioactive waste streams for 
     byproducts of the recycling process;
       (viii)(I) 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;
       (II) to compare such definitions to those used by other 
     nations that manage radioactive waste; and
       (III) to make recommendations for modernizing such 
     definitions; and
       (ix) to evaluate--

       (I) potential Federal and State-level policy changes to 
     support development and deployment of recycling and waste-
     utilizing reactor technologies; and
       (II) impacts of spent nuclear fuel recycling on 
     requirements for domestic nuclear waste storage.

       (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which 
     the agreement described under subsection (b) is entered, the 
     Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
     and Transportation of the Senate, 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.
       (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 described in 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.
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