42 U.S.C. § 2160 — Subsequent arrangements

(a) Before entering a proposed later arrangement under a cooperation agreement, the Secretary^* of Energy must get the Secretary of State's concurrence and consult the Commission^* and Secretary of Defense. This does not apply to an agreement arranged under sections 2121(c), 2164(b), or 2164(c). The Secretary of State^* leads policy negotiations about storing or disposing of irradiated fuel and about approvals for transfers that require prior approval. The Secretary of Energy must publish notice in the Federal Register, together with a written finding that the arrangement will not harm the common defense and security^*. The arrangement cannot take effect until 15 days after publication. If the Secretary of State must prepare a Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement under paragraph (2), notice cannot be published until the Secretary of Energy receives that statement or the time allowed under subsection (c) expires, whichever comes first. (a)(2) If the Secretary of State, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Defense, or Commission believes the arrangement might significantly contribute to proliferation, the Secretary of State, after consulting the relevant official or Commission, must prepare an unclassified Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement. It must address whether safeguards and other controls are adequate and whether the agreement's peaceful-use assurances will ensure that assistance under the arrangement is not used for a military or nuclear-explosive purpose. This section does not define the quoted term "subsequent arrangements" beyond listing these arrangements made by a United States agency or department concerning cooperation with a nation or group of nations, excluding purely private or domestic arrangements: (A) contracts to furnish nuclear materials or equipment; (B) approvals, when an agreement requires prior approval, for a recipient's transfer of source or special nuclear material, a production or utilization facility, or nuclear technology; (C) authorization to distribute nuclear materials or equipment under this chapter when the procedures in sections 2141(b), 2155, or 2139(b) do not apply; (D) physical-security arrangements; (E) arrangements to store or dispose of irradiated fuel; (F) arrangements for safeguards on nuclear materials or equipment; and (G) any other arrangement the President finds important for preventing proliferation. (a)(3) The United States must timely consider every request for prior approval, when this chapter requires it, to reprocess material proposed for export, previously exported and covered by the cooperation agreement, or special nuclear material made using that material or a transferred facility. It must also timely consider changing irradiated fuel elements containing that material. To the greatest extent feasible, it must expedite consideration when the cooperation agreement or another United States international agreement sets the terms and conditions and that agreement is subject to congressional review procedures comparable to section 2153. (a)(4) All other statutory approval requirements for an arrangement covered by this subsection continue to apply. Any other prior-approval requirements or conditions for entering the arrangement must also be satisfied before it takes effect under paragraph (1). (b) For special nuclear material exported by the United States, or produced using United States-exported nuclear materials, equipment, or sensitive nuclear technology: (1) The Secretary of Energy may not enter into a later arrangement to retransfer the material to a third country for reprocessing, to reprocess it, or to retransfer more than 500 grams of plutonium produced by that reprocessing until the Secretary gives the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee a report explaining the reasons. Fifteen days of continuous session must then pass, as defined in section 2159(g). If the President finds an emergency caused by unforeseen circumstances requiring immediate action, the period is 15 calendar days. (2) The Secretary may not enter into a subsequent arrangement for reprocessing in a facility that had not processed power-reactor fuel assemblies or been covered by a later arrangement for that purpose before March 10, 1978, or retransfer to a non-nuclear-weapon state more than 500 grams of plutonium from that reprocessing, unless the Secretary and Secretary of State judge that the action will not significantly increase the existing proliferation risk. They must give foremost consideration to whether conditions will give the United States timely warning of diversion well before that state could turn the material into a nuclear explosive device. (3) For reprocessing in a facility that did process power-reactor fuel assemblies or was covered by such an arrangement before March 10, 1978, or for retransfer to a non-nuclear-weapon state of more than 500 grams of resulting plutonium, the Secretary must try to ensure conditions comparable to those the Secretary and Secretary of State consider sufficient under paragraph (2). (c) Within 90 days after March 10, 1978, the Secretary of Energy must establish orderly, fast procedures, with needed administrative actions and interagency memoranda, agreed to by the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Commerce and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The procedures must give clear instructions, deadlines and responsible officials; create an interagency coordinator; provide predetermined ways to resolve disagreements and appeals; require frequent coordinator meetings; and use similar administrative tools. When practicable, an applicant should receive at the start all information needed by every agency. Potentially controversial requests must be identified quickly so policy decisions or diplomatic consultations can begin. The agencies must promptly establish needed standards and criteria, including what assurances or evidence are required. If the Secretary of State intends to prepare a Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement, the Secretary must say so in the response to the Department of Energy and must prepare it within 60 days after receiving the proposed arrangement. The Secretary of Energy may not enter the arrangement during that time. The President may waive the 60-day deadline at the Secretary of State's request only after notifying the two specified congressional committees and giving the reason. Processing an arrangement proposed and filed by March 10, 1978, cannot be delayed while these procedures are developed. (d) This section does not permanently or unconditionally prohibit reprocessing foreign-owned spent fuel supplied by the United States. It does not prevent full United States participation in the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation under section 3224 of title 22, limit the United States presentation or consideration of any fuel cycle or other participation in that evaluation, or prejudice open and objective consideration of its results. (e) Despite section 7172(d), the Secretary of Energy, not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has sole jurisdiction within the Department of Energy over matters arising from the Secretary's functions under this section. (f)(1) For a later arrangement about storing or disposing of irradiated fuel that directly or indirectly commits the United States to store or otherwise dispose of foreign spent nuclear fuel in the United States, the Secretary may not enter it unless: (A)(i) the commitment was submitted to Congress for 60 days of continuous session and referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, and Congress did not adopt a concurrent resolution opposing it during that period; or (ii) the President submitted a detailed general plan for the storage or disposal to Congress for 60 days of continuous session, referred it to those committees, and Congress did not disapprove it during that period by concurrent resolution. The commitment must be subject to an effective plan. A plan is considered under section 2159 procedures. (B) The Secretary complied with subsection (a); and (C) the Secretary complied, or the arrangement will comply, with sections 2074 and 2075 and all other applicable law. (f)(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to limited quantities if the President finds that an emergency requires the United States commitment, immediate action is in the national interest, and the President promptly notifies the House Foreign Affairs and Science, Space, and Technology Committees and Senate Foreign Relations and Energy and Natural Resources Committees with a detailed explanation. (f)(3) A presidential plan must discuss in detail, and provide supporting documents for, policy goals, technical description, geographic information, costs and reasons, legal and regulatory issues, environmental effects, and related international agreements, arrangements, or understandings. (f)(4) Here, "foreign spent nuclear fuel" means fuel irradiated in a nuclear power reactor outside the United States and operated by any foreign legal entity, governmental or nongovernmental, regardless of ownership or control and regardless of the fuel's or reactor's origin or licensing. It does not include fuel irradiated in a research reactor.