§2065 Improving the reliability of domestic medical isotope supply

Summary

The Secretary must run a technology-neutral program to help produce molybdenum-99 (used in medicine) in the United States without using highly enriched uranium. The program will work with non-Federal partners and share costs as required by law. Projects will be judged by how quickly they can start, how much of U.S. demand they can meet, how cost-effective they are, and how much they cost. A U.S. reactor now using highly enriched uranium can still take part if no alternative fuel enriched to less than 20% U–235 can be used, the reactor operator promises to switch when a suitable fuel is available, and the operator gives a current report and schedule for conversion. The Secretary must make a program plan, update it each year with public workshops, and have the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee review progress every three years and suggest improvements. The Secretary must also support developing fuels, targets, and processes that do not use highly enriched uranium and support commercial operations that use them. The Secretary must set up a program to lease low-enriched uranium for irradiation to make molybdenum-99. Under leases, producers take ownership of the molybdenum-99 they create. The Department keeps responsibility for final disposal of spent fuel from leased uranium and will take title to waste when a producer has no disposal path. Producers must characterize, package, and transport waste properly before the Department accepts it. Leases must pay market cash for the uranium and cash equal to the net present value of the government’s disposal and program costs, using a discount rate no greater than the average interest rate on marketable Treasury securities. Lease funds may be used for program activities, subject to available appropriations. The Department may not trade uranium for disposal or other services. The Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must coordinate environmental reviews to avoid needless duplication. The take-back program must be in place no later than 3 years after January 2, 2013. Radioactive material permanently removed from a reactor and with no further use will be treated as low-level radioactive waste if it meets federal disposal rules.