Division C — Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations

“(d) Certifications on Plutonium Enterprise.—

“(1) Requirement.—Not later than 30 days after the date on which a covered project achieves a critical decision milestone, the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs shall jointly certify to the congressional defense committees that the operations, infrastructure, and workforce of such project are adequate to carry out the delivery and disposal of planned waste shipments relating to the plutonium enterprise, as outlined in the critical decision memoranda of the Department of Energy with respect to such project.

“(2) Failure to certify.—If the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs fail to make a certification under paragraph (1) by the date specified in such paragraph with respect to a covered project achieving a critical decision milestone, the Assistant Secretary and the Deputy Administrator shall jointly submit to the congressional defense committees, by not later than 30 days after such date, a plan to ensure that the operations, infrastructure, and workforce of such project will be adequate to carry out the delivery and disposal of planned waste shipments described in such paragraph.

“(e) Reports.—

“(1) Requirement.—Not later than March 1 of each year during the period beginning on the date on which the first covered project achieves critical decision 2 in the acquisition process and ending on the date on which the second project achieves critical decision 4 and begins operations, the Administrator for Nuclear Security shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the planned production goals of both covered projects during the first 10 years of the operation of the projects.

“(2) Elements.—Each report under paragraph (1) shall include—

“(A) the number of war reserve plutonium pits planned to be produced during each year, including the associated warhead type;

“(B) a description of risks and challenges to meeting the performance baseline for the covered projects, as approved in critical decision 2 in the acquisition process;

“(C) options available to the Administrator to balance scope, costs, and production requirements at the projects to decrease overall risk to the plutonium enterprise and enduring plutonium pit requirements; and

“(D) an explanation of any changes to the production goals or requirements as compared to the report submitted during the previous year.

“(f) Covered Project Defined.—In this subsection, the term ‘covered project’ means—

“(1) the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility, Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina (Project 21–D–511); or

“(2) the Plutonium Pit Production Project, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (Project 21–D–512).”

“SEC. 4718. IMPROVEMENTS TO COST ESTIMATES INFORMING ANALYSES OF ALTERNATIVES.

“(a) Requirement for Analyses of Alternatives.—The Administrator shall ensure that any cost estimate used in an analysis of alternatives for a project carried out using funds authorized by a DOE national security authorization is designed to fully satisfy the requirements outlined in the mission needs statement approved at critical decision 0 in the acquisition process, as set forth in Department of Energy Order 413.3B (relating to program management and project management for the acquisition of capital assets) or a successor order.

“(b) Use of Project Engineering and Design Funds.—In the case of a project the total estimated cost of which exceeds $500,000,000 and that has not reached critical decision 1 in the acquisition process, the Administrator may use funds authorized by a DOE national security authorization for project engineering and design to begin the development of a conceptual design to facilitate the development of a cost estimate for the project during the analysis of alternatives for the project if—

“(1) the Administrator—

“(A) determines that such use of funds would improve the quality of the cost estimate for the project; and

“(B) notifies the congressional defense committees of that determination; and

“(2) a period of 15 days has elapsed after the date on which such committees receive the notification.”

“Sec. 4718. Improvements to cost estimates informing analyses of alternatives.”.

“SEC. 4406A. OTHER PROGRAMS RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT.

“(a) Incremental Technology Development Program.—

“(1) Establishment.—The Secretary may establish a program, to be known as the ‘Incremental Technology Development Program’, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the defense environmental cleanup processes of the Office.

“(2) Focus.—

“(A) Improvements.—In carrying out the Incremental Technology Development Program, the Secretary shall focus on the continuous improvement of new or available technologies, including—

“(i) decontamination chemicals and techniques;

“(ii) remote sensing and wireless communication to reduce manpower and laboratory efforts;

“(iii) detection, assay, and certification instrumentation; and

“(iv) packaging materials, methods, and shipping systems.

“(B) Other areas.—The Secretary may include in the Incremental Technology Development Program mission-relevant development, demonstration, and deployment activities unrelated to the focus areas described in subparagraph (A).

“(3) Use of new and emerging technologies.—

“(A) Development and demonstration.—In carrying out the Incremental Technology Development Program, the Secretary shall ensure that site offices of the Office conduct technology development, demonstration, testing, permitting, and deployment of new and emerging technologies to establish a sound technical basis for the selection of technologies for defense environmental cleanup or infrastructure operations.

“(B) Collaboration required.—The Secretary shall collaborate, to the extent practicable, with the heads of other departments and agencies of the Federal Government, the National Laboratories, other Federal laboratories, appropriate State regulators and agencies, and the Department of Labor in the development, demonstration, testing, permitting, and deployment of new technologies under the Incremental Technology Development Program.

“(4) Agreements to carry out projects.—

“(A) Authority.—In carrying out the Incremental Technology Development Program, the Secretary may enter into agreements with nongovernmental entities for technology development, demonstration, testing, permitting, and deployment projects to improve technologies in accordance with paragraph (2).

“(B) Selection.—The Secretary shall select projects under subparagraph (A) through a rigorous process that involves—

“(i) transparent and open competition; and

“(ii) a review process that, if practicable, is conducted in an independent manner consistent with Department guidance on selecting and funding public-private partnerships.

“(C) Cost-sharing.—The Federal share of the costs of the development, demonstration, testing, permitting, and deployment of new technologies carried out under this paragraph shall be not more than 70 percent.

“(D) Briefing.—Not later than 120 days before the date on which the Secretary enters into the first agreement under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the process of selecting and funding efforts within the Incremental Technology Development Program, including with respect to the plans of the Secretary to ensure a scientifically rigorous process that minimizes potential conflicts of interest.

“(b) High-Impact Technology Development Program.—

“(1) Establishment.—The Secretary shall establish a program, to be known as the ‘High-Impact Technology Development Program’, under which the Secretary shall enter into agreements with nongovernmental entities for projects that pursue technologies that, with respect to the mission—

“(A) holistically address difficult challenges;

“(B) hold the promise of breakthrough improvements; or

“(C) align existing or in-use technologies with difficult challenges.

“(2) Areas of focus.—The Secretary may include as areas of focus for a project carried out under the High-Impact Technology Development Program the following:

“(A) Developing and demonstrating improved methods for source and plume characterization and monitoring, with an emphasis on—

“(i) real-time field acquisition; and

“(ii) the use of indicator species analyses with advanced contaminant transport models to enable better understanding of contaminant migration.

“(B) Developing and determining the limits of performance for remediation technologies and integrated remedial systems that prevent migration of contaminants, including by producing associated guidance and design manuals for technologies that could be widely used across the complex.

“(C) Demonstrating advanced monitoring approaches that use multiple lines of evidence for monitoring long-term performance of—

“(i) remediation systems; and

“(ii) noninvasive near-field monitoring techniques.

“(D) Developing and demonstrating methods to characterize the physical and chemical attributes of waste that control behavior, with an emphasis on—

“(i) rapid and nondestructive examination and assay techniques; and

“(ii) methods to determine radio-nuclide, heavy metals, and organic constituents.

“(E) Demonstrating the technical basis for determining when enhanced or natural attenuation is an appropriate approach for remediation of complex sites.

“(F) Developing and demonstrating innovative methods to achieve real-time and, if practicable, in situ characterization data for tank waste and process streams that could be useful for all phases of the waste management program, including improving the accuracy and representativeness of characterization data for residual waste in tanks and ancillary equipment.

“(G) Adapting existing waste treatment technologies or demonstrating new waste treatment technologies at the pilot plant scale using real wastes or realistic surrogates—

“(i) to address engineering adaptations;

“(ii) to ensure compliance with waste treatment standards and other applicable requirements under Federal and State law and any existing agreements or consent decrees to which the Department is a party; and

“(iii) to enable successful deployment at full-scale and in support of operations.

“(H) Developing and demonstrating rapid testing protocols that—

“(i) are accepted by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department, and the scientific community;

“(ii) can be used to measure long-term waste form performance under realistic disposal environments;

“(iii) can determine whether a stabilized waste is suitable for disposal; and

“(iv) reduce the need for extensive, time-consuming, and costly analyses on every batch of waste prior to disposal.

“(I) Developing and demonstrating direct stabilization technologies to provide waste forms for disposing of elemental mercury.

“(J) Developing and demonstrating innovative and effective retrieval methods for removal of waste residual materials from tanks and ancillary equipment, including mobile retrieval equipment or methods capable of immediately removing waste from leaking tanks, and connecting pipelines.

“(3) Project selection.—

“(A) Selection.—The Secretary shall select projects to be carried out under the High-Impact Technology Development Program through a rigorous process that involves—

“(i) transparent and open competition; and

“(ii) a review process that, if practicable, is conducted in an independent manner consistent with Department guidance on selecting and funding public-private partnerships.

“(B) Briefing.—Not later than 120 days before the date on which the Secretary enters into the first agreement under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the process of selecting and funding efforts within the High-Impact Technology Development Program, including with respect to the plans of the Secretary to ensure a scientifically rigorous process that minimizes potential conflicts of interest.

“(c) Environmental Management University Program.—

“(1) Establishment.—The Secretary shall establish a program, to be known as the ‘Environmental Management University Program’, to—

“(A) engage faculty, post-doctoral fellows or researchers, and graduate students of institutions of higher education on subjects relating to the mission to show a clear path for students for employment within the environmental management enterprise;

“(B) provide institutions of higher education and the Department access to advances in engineering and science;

“(C) clearly identify to institutions of higher education the tools necessary to enter into the environmental management field professionally; and

“(D) encourage current employees of the Department to pursue advanced degrees.

“(2) Areas of focus.—The Secretary may include as areas of focus for a grant made under the Environmental Management University Program the following:

“(A) The atomic- and molecular-scale chemistries of waste processing.

“(B) Contaminant immobilization in engineered and natural systems.

“(C) Developing innovative materials, with an emphasis on nanomaterials or biomaterials, that could enable sequestration of challenging hazardous or radioactive constituents such as technetium and iodine.

“(D) Elucidating and exploiting complex speciation and reactivity far from equilibrium.

“(E) Understanding and controlling chemical and physical processes at interfaces.

“(F) Harnessing physical and chemical processes to revolutionize separations.

“(G) Tailoring waste forms for contaminants in harsh chemical environments.

“(H) Predicting and understanding subsurface system behavior and response to perturbations.

“(3) Individual research grants.—In carrying out the Environmental Management University Program, the Secretary may make individual research grants to faculty, post-doctoral fellows or researchers, and graduate students of institutions of higher education for three-year research projects, with an option for an extension of one additional two-year period.

“(4) Grants for interdisciplinary collaborations.—In carrying out the Environmental Management University Program, the Secretary may make research grants for strategic partnerships among scientists, faculty, post-doctoral fellows or researchers, and graduate students of institutions of higher education for three-year research projects.

“(5) Hiring of undergraduates.—In carrying out the Environmental Management University Program, the Secretary may establish a summer internship program for undergraduates of institutions of higher education to work on projects relating to environmental management.

“(6) Workshops.—In carrying out the Environmental Management University Program, the Secretary may hold workshops with the Office of Environmental Management, the Office of Science, and members of academia and industry concerning environmental management challenges and solutions.

“(d) Definitions.—In this section:

“(1) The term ‘complex’ means all sites managed in whole or in part by the Office.

“(2) The term ‘Department’ means the Department of Energy.

“(3) The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).

“(4) The term ‘mission’ means the mission of the Office.

“(5) The term ‘National Laboratory’ has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).

“(6) The term ‘Office’ means the Office of Environmental Management of the Department.

“(7) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.”

“(5) Annual reports.—Not later than March 1, 2023, and annually thereafter through 2030, the Administrator for Nuclear Security shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report with respect to whether the updated plan under paragraph (3) is being implemented in a manner adequate to achieve the goal specified in paragraph (1).”

“Sec. 4306B. Acceleration of removal or security of fissile materials, radiological materials, and related equipment at vulnerable sites worldwide.”.

“(a) Annual Notification of Security Clearance Revocations.—At or about the time that the President’s budget is submitted to Congress under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, the Administrator shall notify the appropriate congressional committees of—

“(1) the number of covered employees whose security clearance was revoked during the year prior to the year in which the notification is made; and

“(2) for each employee counted under paragraph (1), the length of time such employee has been employed at the Administration, as the case may be, since such revocation.

“(b) Annual Notification of Terminations and Removals.—Not later than December 31 of each year, the Administrator shall notify the appropriate congressional committees of each instance in which the Administrator terminated the employment of a covered employee or removed and reassigned a covered employee for cause during that year.”

“(b) Plant-directed Research and Development.—

“(1) In general.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include, with respect to plant-directed research and development, the following:

“(A) A financial accounting of expenditures for such research and development, disaggregated by nuclear weapons production facility.

“(B) A breakdown of the percentage of research and development conducted by each such facility that is plant-directed research and development.

“(C) An explanation of how each such facility plans to increase the availability and utilization of funds for plant-directed research and development.

“(2) Plant-directed research and development defined.—In this subsection, the term ‘plant-directed research and development’ means research and development selected by the director of a nuclear weapons production facility.”

“(A) In general.—The owner or operator of a recreational vessel may choose a period of effectiveness of between 1 and 5 years for a certificate of documentation for a recreational vessel or the renewal thereof.”

; and

“543. Port Infrastructure Development Program 54301”.

“(e) Uses.—The results of activities conducted under subsection (b)(1) shall be used to inform—

“(1) the policy decisions of the United States related to domestic regulations; and

“(2) the position of the United States on matters before the International Maritime Organization.”

“(8) Long term charter.—The term ‘long term charter’ means any time charter of a product tank vessel to the United States Government that, together with options, occurs for a continuous period of more than 180 days.”