; (2) existing programs within the Department of Energy to explore various enrichment technologies are not advancing on a pace to rectify such inability with any apparent urgency; and (3) without clear statutory guidance to the contrary, bureaucratic inertia will prevail and continue to drag out the to domestically produce unencumbered enriched uranium for another decade or longer with little demonstrable progress toward restoring a scalable domestic uranium enrichment capability. (b) In general Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall conduct an assessment to evaluate at least 2, but not more than 4, geographically disparate possible locations in the United States that would be best suited to host a modular, scalable facility for the domestic enrichment of unencumbered uranium, including highly-enriched uranium suitable for defense applications. (c) Environmental documentation Once a location has been selected pursuant to subsection (d)(2), the Secretary shall issue a notice of intent to prepare an environmental document in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ). (d) Report required Not later than 150 days after commencing the assessment required by subsection (b), the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report outlining the results of such assessment, including— (1) an initial cost assessment for the construction at least one facility; and (2) a statement declaring a preferred location or locations from among the locations evaluated pursuant to subsection (b). (e) Congressional defense committees defined In this section, the term congressional defense committees means— (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.