To express the sense of the Senate on the need for domestic production of molybdenum-99.

1. Adds SEC. 3136. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF MOLYBDENUM-99 at the end of subtitle C of title XXXI

   Adds a section

   In S. 1390 · Placed on Calendar Senate

   The Secretary of Energy shall include in the budget justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the Department of Energy budget for a fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code) specific identification, as a budgetary line item, of the amounts required to meet the pension obligations of the Department of Energy for contractor employees at each facility of the Department of Energy operated using amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Energy for the National Nuclear Security Administration or for defense environmental cleanup.

   Inserted: SEC. 3136. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF MOLYBDENUM-99.

   Inserted: (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:

   Inserted: (1) There are fewer than five reactors around the world currently capable of producing molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and there are no such reactors in the United States that can provide a reliable supply of Mo-99 to meet domestic medical needs.

   Inserted: (2) Since November 2007, there have been major disruptions in the global availability of Mo-99, including at facilities in Canada and the Netherlands, which have led to shortages of Mo-99-based medical products in the United States and around the world.

   Inserted: (3) Ensuring a reliable, domestically produced supply of medical radioisotopes, including Mo-99, is of great importance to the public health of the United States.

   Inserted: (4) It is also a national security priority of the United States, and specifically of the Department of Energy, to encourage the production of low-enriched uranium-based radioisotopes in order to promote a more peaceful international nuclear order.

   Inserted: (5) The National Academy of Sciences has identified a need to establish a reliable capability in the United States for the production of Mo-99 and its derivatives for medical purposes using low-enriched uranium.

   Inserted: (6) There also exists a capable industrial base in the United States that can support the development of Mo-99 production facilities and can conduct the processing and distribution of radiopharmaceutical products for use in medical tests.

   Inserted: (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--

   Inserted: (1) radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, including Mo-99 and its derivatives, are essential components of medical tests that help diagnose and treat life-threatening diseases affecting millions of people in the United States each year; and

   Inserted: (2) the Secretary of Energy should continue and expand a program to ensure a reliable domestic source of Mo-99 and its derivatives for use in medical tests to help ensure the health security of the United States and promote peaceful nuclear industries through the use of low-enriched uranium.

   Original wording

   At the end of subtitle C of title XXXI, add the following:

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As printed