42 U.S.C. § 2204a: Fission product contracts

Summary

The Commission can sign contracts to sell or give fission products from its reactors for as long as it thinks is needed. It can do this without following some federal finance rules. If the Commission ends a contract early, it must pay any cancellation costs set out in the contract. Any money appropriated to the Commission now or later can be used to pay those costs. Before making a new deal or changing one, the Commission must send the plan and background papers to the Energy Committees (the congressional energy committees named in section 2014). The Commission must then wait 45 days while Congress is in session. Days when either House is out for more than three days do not count. The Energy Committees can waive all or part of the 45-day wait by a written resolution.

Title 42, §2204a

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Authority to enter into contracts

Without regard to section 1341, 1342, and 1349–1351 and subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, the Commission is authorized to enter into contracts for such periods of time as the Commission may deem necessary or desirable, for the purpose of making available fission products from Commission reactors, with or without charge for commercial application.

(b)Cancellation

Any contract entered into by the Commission pursuant to this section shall be subject to termination by the Commission upon payment of cancellation costs as provided in such contract, and any appropriation presently or hereafter made available to the Commission shall be available for payment of such costs which may arise from termination as the contract may provide.

(c)Submission to Energy Committees

Before the Commission enters into any arrangement or amendment thereto under the authority of this section, the basis for the proposed arrangement or amendment thereto which the Commission proposes to execute (with necessary background and explanatory data) shall be submitted to the Energy Committees (as defined by section 2014 of this title), and a period of forty-five days shall elapse while Congress is in session in computing such forty-five days, there shall be excluded the days on which either House is not in session because of adjournment of more than three days: Provided, however, That the Energy Committees, after having received the basis for the proposed arrangement or amendment thereto, may by resolution in writing waive the conditions of, or all or any portion of, such forty-five-day period.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Commission, referred to in text, probably means the Atomic Energy Commission in view of the fact that this section was enacted as part of the act authorizing appropriations for the Atomic Energy Commission. Codification In subsec. (a), “section 1341, 1342, and 1349–1351 and subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31” substituted for “section 3679 of the Revised Statutes, as amended [31 U.S.C. 665]” on authority of Pub. L. 97–258, § 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of which enacted Title 31, Money and Finance. Section was not enacted as part of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–437 substituted “Energy Committees (as defined by section 2014 of this title)” for “Joint Committee” after “submitted to the” and “Energy Committees” for “Joint Committee” after “That the”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Atomic Energy Commission abolished and functions transferred by section 5814 and 5841 of this title. See, also, notes set out under those sections.

§2204a Fission Product Contracts