Economic Recovery for Nuclear-Affected Communities Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Economic Recovery for Nuclear-Affected Communities Act targets local governments containing stranded spent fuel or a civilian nuclear plant that has been or is being decommissioned. Its findings describe plant closures as losses of major employers and local tax bases and describe on-site waste as an obstacle to redevelopment.
The bill retargets the Internal Revenue Code's first-time homebuyer credit to principal residences purchased in a nuclear-affected community after enactment. It removes several existing limitations and administrative subsections but does not state a new credit amount in the bill text.
Within 180 days, the Economic Development Administration must create a prize competition for proposals that give affected communities alternatives for former nuclear facilities, generating sites, and waste sites. An expert advisory board of at least nine members helps design the competition and pilot. The winning proposal receives $500,000, and EDA may use another $500,000 to develop a pilot based on that proposal. EDA must report the winner to Congress within 60 days.
EDA must also create a noncompetitive grant program within 120 days. One route pays $15 per kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored at an eligible plant. A second route supports a community that experienced, or was projected to experience during the specified 2015 through 2025 window, at least a 20 percent overall tax-revenue decline plus a qualifying plant-related decline. Subject to appropriations, tax-loss aid lasts eight years, declining from 80 percent of the qualifying loss in year one to 10 percent in year eight, with a $10 million annual cap.
The bill authorizes $110 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2031 and $120 million annually for fiscal years 2032 through 2036, totaling $1.26 billion if fully appropriated. Funds may not offset another federal program. A community may receive only one grant per calendar year and may not use both grant routes in the same year.
Who Benefits and How
Nuclear-affected local governments receive annual spent-fuel or tax-loss grants that replace revenue and fund economic recovery. First-time homebuyers receive a tax credit for qualifying homes, while property owners and local tax bases may benefit from increased housing demand. Economic-development proposal teams may receive the $500,000 prize, and the winning community gains a federally supported pilot. Residents and local public services benefit when grants offset closure-related fiscal losses.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal tax and EDA accounts bear credit, prize, pilot, and grant costs if Congress appropriates the authorized money. Communities must document nuclear status, spent-fuel quantities, tax-revenue losses, and grant eligibility, and the one-grant rule restricts overlapping aid. EDA administrators must establish both programs, select an advisory board, review submissions, calculate declining awards, and report to Congress. IRS staff must implement the homebuyer-credit changes. Proposal teams bear application costs without assurance of winning.
Key Provisions
- Defines nuclear-affected communities and stranded nuclear waste.
- Retargets the first-time homebuyer credit to qualifying community residences.
- Establishes a $500,000 economic-development prize within 180 days.
- Creates an expert advisory board and a winning-proposal pilot.
- Requires annual grants equal to $15 per kilogram of stored spent fuel.
- Provides declining eight-year grants for qualifying local tax losses.
- Caps tax-loss assistance at $10 million per year.
- Restricts each community to one grant route per calendar year.
- Authorizes up to $1.26 billion through fiscal year 2036.
- Prohibits use of the authorization to offset another federal program.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Supports communities hosting stranded nuclear waste or decommissioning civilian nuclear plants through a retargeted first-time-homebuyer credit, a $500,000 economic-development prize and pilot, annual spent-fuel grants, declining tax-loss grants, and up to $1.26 billion in authorized funding through fiscal year 2036.
Key Policy Areas
Nuclear-Affected Communities, Economic Development Grants, First-Time Homebuyer Credit, Nuclear Plant Decommissioning, Stranded Nuclear Waste, Local Tax Revenue Recovery
Primary Purpose
Supports communities hosting stranded nuclear waste or decommissioning civilian nuclear plants through a retargeted first-time-homebuyer credit, a $500,000 economic-development prize and pilot, annual spent-fuel grants, declining tax-loss grants, and up to $1.26 billion in authorized funding through fiscal year 2036.
Policy Domains
Section 6 spent-fuel and tax-loss grants
Identified Gains
- Local governments storing spent nuclear fuel
- Communities losing nuclear-plant tax revenue
- Local public-service programs
- Residents relying on local public services
- Economic-development projects in affected communities
- Local taxpayers facing closure-related shortfalls
Identified Costs
- Federal economic-development grant accounts
- EDA grant administrators
- Community grant-application staff
- Local tax-revenue analysts
- Spent-fuel inventory staff
- Communities choosing between grant routes
Sections 2 and 3 findings and definitions
Identified Gains
- Local governments hosting stranded nuclear waste
- School districts near decommissioning plants
- Special districts near decommissioning plants
- Residents of nuclear-affected communities
- Economic planners in former plant communities
Identified Costs
- EDA nuclear-status determination staff
- Local officials documenting facility status
- Plant owners providing waste information
- Communities outside the statutory definition
Section 4 first-time homebuyer tax incentive
Identified Gains
- First-time homebuyers in nuclear-affected communities
- Home sellers in nuclear-affected communities
- Residential real-estate brokers in eligible communities
- Local property-tax bases
- Mortgage lenders serving eligible homebuyers
Identified Costs
- Federal individual-income-tax accounts
- IRS homebuyer-credit administrators
- Homebuyers documenting eligible locations
- Real-estate closing staff verifying community status
Section 5 prize competition and pilot
Identified Gains
- Winning nuclear-redevelopment proposal team
- Community selected for the pilot project
- Nuclear-site redevelopment organizations
- Higher-education economic-development researchers
- National Laboratory technical experts
Identified Costs
- EDA prize-administration staff
- EDA pilot-development staff
- Advisory board members
- Unsuccessful prize applicants
- Congressional-reporting staff
Section 7 funding authorization and grant limits
Identified Gains
- Nuclear-community economic recovery programs
- Eligible nuclear-affected local governments
- First-time homebuyer incentive administration
- Redevelopment prize programs
- Other federal programs protected from offsets
Identified Costs
- Federal economic-development appropriations accounts
- Congressional economic-development appropriators
- EDA budget-administration staff
- Communities limited to one annual grant
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and …
Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in …
Introduced in House
Mr. Lawler introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Advisory board members, EDA budget-administration staff, EDA grant administrators
Positive-direction: Other federal programs protected from offsets
Negative-direction: EDA budget-administration staff, EDA grant administrators, EDA pilot-development staff, EDA prize-administration staff, Federal economic-development appropriations accounts, Federal economic-development grant accounts, Federal individual-income-tax accounts, IRS homebuyer-credit administrators
Community grant-application staff, Eligible nuclear-affected local governments, Local governments storing spent nuclear fuel
Positive-direction: Eligible nuclear-affected local governments, Local governments storing spent nuclear fuel, Local property-tax bases, Local public-service programs
Negative-direction: Local tax-revenue analysts
Nuclear-community economic recovery programs, Nuclear-site redevelopment organizations, Redevelopment prize programs
Positive-direction: Nuclear-community economic recovery programs, Nuclear-site redevelopment organizations, Redevelopment prize programs, Winning nuclear-redevelopment proposal team
Negative-direction: Unsuccessful prize applicants
Communities limited to one annual grant, Communities losing nuclear-plant tax revenue, Community selected for the pilot project
First-time homebuyers in nuclear-affected communities, Home sellers in nuclear-affected communities, Residential real-estate brokers in eligible communities
Local taxpayers facing closure-related shortfalls
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "facility"
- → Decommissioned or decommissioning civilian nuclear power plant
- "community"
- → Unit of local government containing stranded waste or an eligible civilian nuclear plant
- "administrator"
- → Economic Development Administration Administrator
- "buyer"
- → First-time homebuyer purchasing a principal residence in a nuclear-affected community
- "community"
- → Nuclear-affected local government
- "administrator"
- → Internal Revenue Service
- "winner"
- → Prize recipient whose proposal informs the pilot
- "advisor"
- → Member of the expert advisory board
- "applicant"
- → Team proposing an alternative use for an affected site
- "administrator"
- → Economic Development Administration Administrator
- "funder"
- → Congressional appropriator
- "applicant"
- → Local government documenting tax-revenue loss
- "recipient"
- → Eligible nuclear-affected community
- "administrator"
- → Economic Development Administration Administrator
- "recipient"
- → Nuclear-affected community
- "appropriator"
- → Congress
- "administrator"
- → Economic Development Administration
- "protected_program"
- → Other federal program protected from offsets
Note: {'scope_ids': ['nuclear_impact_grants', 'nuclear_recovery_authorization'], 'description': 'A community may qualify under either the spent-fuel formula or the tax-loss formula, but it may receive only one grant per calendar year and cannot receive both types in the same year.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A civilian nuclear power plant that has been decommissioned or is in the process of being decommissioned.
Eight years of appropriated aid for a qualifying historic or projected local tax-revenue decline, capped at $10 million annually and reduced from 80 percent to 10 percent of the eligible loss.
Nuclear waste or spent fuel stored in dry casks or spent-fuel pools at an eligible civilian nuclear plant site.
A county, city, town, village, school district, special district, or other local unit determined to contain stranded nuclear waste or an eligible civilian nuclear plant.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
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