§2077a Interagency Review of Applications for the Transfer of United States Civil Nuclear Technology

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must send Congress a yearly report when the President files the budget. The report must say which authorizations were given to transfer U.S. civil nuclear technology to covered foreign countries in the past year and whether any agencies objected or asked for conditions. Not later than 90 days after November 25, 2015, and every five years after that, the Secretary, working with State, Commerce, Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, must decide which civil nuclear technologies need special protection and tell the appropriate congressional committees. For any technology on that protected list, the Secretary must notify those committees at least 14 days before approving a transfer and say if any consulted agency objected. The Secretary can waive the 14-day notice if an imminent radiological hazard exists, but then must, within 7 days, certify the hazard, explain the waiver, and provide the required notice and objection statement. The rules must be changed so the Director of National Intelligence is consulted before approval and can give the intelligence community’s view; those consultation results must be included in the reports. At least once a year the Secretary must report whether each covered foreign country and each end-user followed the terms of any authorizations, describe U.S. efforts to fix violations, evaluate results, list options the Secretary has, and spell out consequences for noncompliance. At the time of the President’s budget the Secretary must also report on all transfer applications to any country: how many applications, how long each was reviewed, which officer handled each authorization, how many were approved, and steps to speed reviews. The Director of National Intelligence must tell the Department of Energy and Congress within 30 days if there is credible intelligence that U.S. civil nuclear technology was diverted to a military program or to a country without authorization. The Secretary must issue guidance within 60 days after November 25, 2015 on civil penalties, debarment, and referrals for violations. The President must report within 180 days after November 25, 2015 and yearly on covered foreign countries’ efforts to stop transfers of “sensitive items” and whether those efforts are adequate. The Secretary may combine the annual reports into one. Definitions: “Appropriate congressional committees” means the listed defense, energy, foreign affairs, and intelligence committees in both the Senate and House; “covered foreign country” means an NPT-defined nuclear-weapon state except the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.