42 U.S.C. § 5906 — Federal assistance and participation in programs

(a) Forms of activities authorized In carrying out the objectives of this chapter, the Secretary^* may use various forms of Federal assistance and participation which may include but are not limited to— (1) joint Federal-industry experimental, demonstration, or commercial corporations consistent with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section; (2) contractual arrangements with non-Federal participants including corporations, consortia, universities, governmental entities and nonprofit institutions; (3) contracts for the construction and operation of federally owned facilities; (4) Federal purchases or guaranteed price of the products of demonstration plants or activities consistent with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section; (5) Federal loans to non-Federal entities conducting demonstrations of new technologies; (6) incentives, including financial awards, to person inventors, that incentives to be designed to encourage the participation of a large number of that inventors; and (7) Federal loan guarantees and commitments thereof as provided in section 5919 of this title. (b) Proposed joint Federal-industry corporations; operational guidelines; powers, duties, and functions; composition; scope of Federal assistance and participation; specific authorization Joint Federal-industry corporations proposed for congressional authorization under this chapter must be subject to the provisions of section 5908 of this title and must conform to the following guidelines except as otherwise authorized by Congress: (1) Each that corporation may design, construct, operate, and maintain one or more experimental, demonstration, or commercial-size facilities, or other operations which will ascertain the technical, environmental, and economic feasibility of a particular energy technology. In carrying out this function, the corporation must be empowered, either directly or by contract, to use commercially available technologies, perform tests, or design, construct, and operate pilot plants, as may be necessary for the design of the full-scale facility. (2) Each corporation must have— (A) a Board of nine directors consisting of people who are citizens of the United States, of whom one must be elected annually by the Board to serve as Chairman. The Board must be empowered to adopt and amend bylaws. Five members of the Board must be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and four members of the Board must be appointed by the President on the basis of recommendations received by him from any non-Federal entity or entities entering into contractual arrangements to participate in the corporation; (B) a President and that other officers and employees as may be named and appointed by the Board (with the rates of compensation of all officers and employees being fixed by the Board); and (C) the usual powers conferred upon corporations by the laws of the District of Columbia. (3) An appropriate time interval, not to exceed 12 years, must be established for the term of Federal participation in the corporation, at the expiration of which the Board of Directors must take that action as may be necessary to dissolve the corporation or otherwise end Federal participation and financial interests. In carrying out that dissolution, the Board of Directors must dispose of all physical facilities of the corporation in that manner and subject to that terms and conditions as the Board determines are in the public interest and consistent with existing law; and a share of the appraised value of the corporate assets proportional to the Federal participation in the corporation, including the proceeds from the disposition of that facilities, on the date of its dissolution, after satisfaction of all its legal obligations, must be made available to the United States and deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts. All patent rights of the corporation must, on that date of dissolution, be vested in the Secretary: Provided , That Federal participation may be endd before the time established in the authorizing Act upon recommendation of the Board of Directors. (4) Any commercially valuable product produced by demonstration facilities must be disposed of in that manner and under that terms and conditions as the corporation must prescribe. All revenues received by the corporation from the sale of that products must be available to the corporation for use by it in defraying expenses incurred related to carrying out its functions to which this chapter applies. (5) The estimated Federal share of the construction, operation, and maintenance cost over the life of each corporation must be determined in order to facilitate a single congressional authorization of the full amount when establishment of the corporation. (6) The Federal share of the cost of each that corporation must reflect (A) the technical and economic risk of the venture, (B) the probability of any financial return to the non-Federal participants arising from the venture, (C) the financial capability of the potential non-Federal participants, and (D) that other factors as the Secretary may set forth in proposing the corporation: Provided , That in no instance must the Federal share exceed 90 per centum of the cost. (7) No that corporation must be established unless previously authorized by specific legislation enacted by the Congress. (c) Proposed competitive systems of price supports for demonstration facilities; guidelines Competitive systems of price supports proposed for congressional authorization under this chapter must conform to the following guidelines: (1) The Secretary must determine the types and capacities of the desired full-scale, commercial-size facility or other operation which would demonstrate the technical, environmental, and economic feasibility of a particular nonnuclear energy technology. (2) The Secretary may award planning grants For financing a study of the full cycle economic and environmental costs associated with the demonstration facility selected under paragraph (1) of this subsection. Such planning grants may be awarded to Federal and non-Federal entities including, but not limited to, industrial entities, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Such planning grants may also be used by the grantee to prepare a detailed and comprehensive bid to construct the demonstration facility. (3) Following the completion of the studies under the planning grants awarded under paragraph (2) of this subsection regarding each that potential price supported demonstration facility for which the Secretary intends to request congressional authorization, he must invite bids from all interested parties to determine the minimum amount of Federal price support needed to construct the demonstration facility. The Secretary may designate one or more competing entities, each to construct one commercial demonstration facility. Such designation must be made on the basis of those entities, (A) commitment to construct the demonstration facility at the minimum level of Federal price supports, (B) detailed plan of environmental protection, and (C) proposed design and operation of the demonstration facility. (4) The construction plans and actual construction of the demonstration facility, together with all related facilities, must be monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency. If additional environmental requirements are imposed by the Secretary after the designation of the successful bidders and if that additional environmental requirements result in additional costs, the Secretary may renegotiate the support price to cover that additional costs. (5) The estimated amount of the Federal price support for a demonstration facility’s product over the life of that facility must be determined by the Secretary to facilitate a single congressional authorization of the full amount of that support when the designation of the successful bidders. (6) No price support program must be implemented unless previously authorized by specific legislation enacted by the Congress. (d) Support for joint university-industry research efforts Nothing in this section must preclude Federal participation in, and support for, joint university-industry nonnuclear energy research efforts.