[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 138 (Wednesday, July 20, 1994)]
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From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-17502]


  Federal Register / Vol. 59, No. 138 / Wednesday, July 20, 1994 /
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[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 20, 1994]


                                                   VOL. 59, NO. 138

                                           Wednesday, July 20, 1994

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171

RIN: 3150-AF03

 

Revision of Fee Schedules; 100% Fee Recovery, FY 1994

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the 
licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and 
licensees. The amendments are necessary to implement Public Law 101-
508, enacted November 5, 1990, which mandates that the NRC recover 
approximately 100 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 
1994 less amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF). The 
amount to be recovered for FY 1994 is approximately $513 million.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 19, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Copies of comments received and the agency workpapers that 
support these final changes to 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 may be examined 
at the NRC Public Document Room at 2120 L Street, NW. (Lower Level), 
Washington, DC 20555.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: C. James Holloway, Jr., Office of the 
Controller, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, 
Telephone 301-415-6213.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background.
II. Responses to Comments.
III. Final Action--Changes Included In The Final Rule.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis.
V. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion.
VI. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement.
VII. Regulatory Analysis.
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
IX. Backfit Analysis.

I. Background

    Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 
(OBRA-90), enacted November 5, 1990, requires that the NRC recover 
approximately 100 percent of its budget authority less the amount 
appropriated from the Department of Energy (DOE) administered NWF for 
FYs 1991 through 1995 by assessing fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to 
extend the NRC's 100 percent fee recovery requirement through 1998.
    The NRC assesses two types of fees to recover its budget authority. 
First, license and inspection fees, established in 10 CFR Part 170 
under the authority of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act 
(IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701, recover the NRC's costs of providing 
individually identifiable services to specific applicants and 
licensees. The services provided by the NRC for which these fees are 
assessed include the review of applications for the issuance of new 
licenses or approvals, amendments to or renewal of licenses or 
approvals, and inspections of licensed activities. Second, annual fees, 
established in 10 CFR Part 171 under the authority of OBRA-90, recover 
generic and other regulatory costs not recovered through 10 CFR Part 
170 fees.
    Subsequent to enactment of OBRA-90, the NRC published six final fee 
rules after evaluation of public comments. On July 10, 1991 (56 FR 
31472), the NRC published a final rule in the Federal Register that 
established the Part 170 professional hourly rate and the materials 
licensing and inspection fees, as well as the Part 171 annual fees, to 
be assessed to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY 1991 budget. 
In addition to establishing the FY 1991 fees, the final rule 
established the underlying basis and methodology for determining both 
the 10 CFR Part 170 hourly rate and fees and the 10 CFR Part 171 annual 
fees. The FY 1991 rule was challenged in Federal court by several 
parties. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 
rendered its decision on those challenges on March 16, 1993, in Allied-
Signal v. NRC, remanding two issues to the NRC for further 
consideration (988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The court decision was 
also extended to cover the FY 1992 fee rule by court order dated April 
30, 1993.
    On April 17, 1992 (57 FR 13625), the NRC published in the Federal 
Register two limited changes to 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171. The limited 
changes became effective May 18, 1992. The limited change to 10 CFR 
Part 170 allowed the NRC to bill quarterly for those license fees that 
were previously billed every six months. The limited change to 10 CFR 
Part 171 lowered in some cases the maximum annual fee of $1,800 
assessed a materials licensee who qualifies as a small entity under the 
NRC's size standards. A lower tier small entity fee of $400 per 
licensed category was established for small business and non-profit 
organizations with gross annual receipts of less than $250,000 and 
small governmental jurisdictions with a population of less than 20,000.
    On July 23, 1992 (57 FR 32691), and July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666), 
the NRC published final rules in the Federal Register that established 
the licensing, inspection, and annual fees necessary for the NRC to 
recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority for FY 1992 
and FY 1993 respectively. The basic methodology used in the FY 1992 and 
FY 1993 final rules was unchanged from that used to calculate the 10 
CFR Part 170 professional hourly rate, the specific materials licensing 
and inspection fees in 10 CFR Part 170, and the 10 CFR Part 171 annual 
fees in the final rule published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31472). The 
methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was changed in FY 
1993 in response to the judicial decision mentioned earlier. This 
change was explained in detail in the FY 1993 final rule published July 
20, 1993 (58 FR 38669-72). In brief, the NRC created two groups--large 
waste generators and small waste generators. Licensees within each 
group are charged a uniform flat fee.
    On March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12539), the NRC reinstated the annual fee 
exemption for nonprofit educational institutions after notice and 
comment. In response to the March 16, 1993, judicial decision, the 
exemption had been eliminated in the final rule published by NRC on 
July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666).
    The American College of Nuclear Physicians and the Society of 
Nuclear Medicine filed a Petition for Rulemaking which included a 
request that the Commission exempt medical licensees from fees for 
services provided in nonprofit institutions. The Commission denied that 
request on March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12555).
    Section 2903(c) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 required the NRC 
to undertake a broad review of its annual fee policies under Section 
6101(c) of OBRA-90, solicit public comment on the need for policy 
changes, and recommend changes in existing law to the Congress that the 
NRC found were needed to prevent the placement of an unfair burden on 
certain NRC licensees. To comply with the Energy Policy Act 
requirements, the NRC reviewed more than 500 public comments submitted 
in response to the request for comment published in the Federal 
Register on April 19, 1993 (58 FR 21116), and sent its report to 
Congress on February 23, 1994. A copy of this report has been placed in 
the Public Document Room.
    On May 10, 1994 (59 FR 24065), the NRC published its proposed rule 
for FY 1994 establishing the licensing, inspection, and annual fees 
necessary for the NRC to recover approximately 100 percent of its 
budget authority for FY 1994, less the appropriation received from the 
NWF. The basic approach, policies, and methodology used in the proposed 
rule were unchanged from those used to calculate the 10 CFR part 170 
professional hourly rate, the specific materials licensing and 
inspection fees in 10 CFR part 170, and the 10 CFR part 171 annual fees 
set forth in the final rules published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31477), 
July 23, 1992 (57 FR 322691), and July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666), with the 
following exceptions: (1) The Commission has reinstated the annual fee 
exemption for nonprofit educational institutions; and (2) in this final 
rule, the NRC has directly assigned additional effort to the reactor 
and materials programs for the Office of Investigations, the Office of 
Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the 
Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. Resources for these activities had 
previously been included in overhead, but are now assigned directly to 
the class of licensees that they support. Because this direct 
assignment results in a reduction of overhead costs allocated to each 
FTE, the cost per FTE is about 3 percent less than it would have been 
without the additional direct assignment.
    On May 19, 1994 (59 FR 26097) the NRC amended its fee regulations 
in 10 CFR part 171 to establish revised FY 1991 and FY 1992 surcharges 
for NRC licensees. The revised surcharges reflect the revised method of 
allocating low-level waste (LLW) costs adopted by the Commission in the 
FY 1993 final fee rule published July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666). Refunds/
credits totalling $2.2 million will be given to certain NRC materials 
licensees as a result of the revised surcharges for FY 1991 and FY 
1992.

II. Responses to Comments

    The NRC received thirty-three comments on the proposed rule. 
Although the comment period ended on June 9, 1994, the NRC has reviewed 
and evaluated all comments received. Copies of all comment letters 
received are available for inspection in the NRC Public Document room, 
2120 L Street, NW (lower level) Washington, DC.
    Many of the comments were similar in nature. For evaluation 
purposes, these comments have been grouped, as appropriate, and 
addressed as single issues in this final rule. The comments are as 
follows:

A. Fee Legislation

    1. Comment. Several commenters noted that NRC had completed its 
report on fee policy mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and had 
sent a report to Congress with legislative recommendations. They 
expressed their agreement with the legislative recommendation in the 
report that OBRA-90 be amended to relax the requirement to recover 100 
percent of its budget and remove certain costs from the fee base, 
thereby eliminating many of the burdens they deem to be inequitable. 
They urged the NRC to work with Congress to modify OBRA-90 to make the 
assessment of fees more equitable across the board.
    Response. The need for legislation is beyond the scope of this 
rulemaking proceeding. The NRC will continue to work with Congress on 
fee issues.
    2. Comment. Several commenters stated that it is very important for 
the NRC to control its internal costs in order for the nuclear industry 
to be successful in reducing overall program costs. One commenter 
suggested that the NRC consider staff reductions and other management 
improvements to reduce budget needs based on a decline in the number of 
materials licensees.
    Another commenter commended the NRC on its willingness and ability 
to hold the line on, and indeed reduce, its recoverable budget for FY 
1994. While noting that the proposed FY 1994 annual fees for power 
reactors are lower than those assessed in FY 1993, commenters from 
utility licensees or their representatives believe that further 
reductions are possible, especially in the areas where power reactor 
licensees are required to unfairly subsidize cost recovery for 
activities that benefit all licensees or for activities that are 
unrelated to the power reactor class of licensees. While encouraged by 
the recent recommendations for legislative changes made by the NRC to 
Congress in the report required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, 
commenters recommended that NRC consider the following actions it can 
take now without waiting for legislative changes:
    (1) Reduce costs by eliminating or deferring lower priority 
research and generic rulemaking activity;
    (2) Reduce the amount to be collected under part 171 by increasing 
part 170 licensing and inspection fees;
    (3) Raise the lower tier small entity fee; and
    (4) Use an annual escalation, e.g., CPI or some equivalent index, 
of small entity fee limits which have stayed at $400 and $1,800 since 
they were set two years ago.
    Response. The NRC is working to improve the internal efficiency and 
effectiveness of its program as a means of controlling operating costs 
and, therefore, keeping fees billed to licensees as low as practicable. 
Economies have been achieved through the elimination of the NRC's 
uranium recovery field office in Denver, Colorado and consolidating the 
agency's two smallest regional offices--Regions IV and V. The NRC is 
tightening its financial operations by increasing the effectiveness and 
efficiency of its program financing. As a result of these efforts, the 
NRC proposed and Congress approved a $12.7 million recision (reduction) 
to the original appropriation enacted for FY 1994. Therefore, the total 
amount to be recovered from fees from all classes of licensees in FY 
1994 is about $6 million less than the amount to be recovered in FY 
1993.
    The Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO) requires that the NRC 
conduct a biennial review of fees and other charges imposed by the 
Agency for its services and revise these charges to reflect the costs 
incurred in providing those services. The 10 CFR Part 170 licensing and 
inspection fees were increased significantly for some materials 
licenses in FY 1993 as a result of the first CFO biennial review. The 
10 CFR Part 170 fees for FY 1995 will be revised to reflect the results 
of the second CFO review.
    On April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business Administration 
(SBA) issued a final rule changing its size standards. This rule 
increased the receipts-based SBA size standards due to inflation. The 
NRC is considering proposing amendments to the NRC size standards that 
would reflect the SBA action. Any amendments to the NRC size standards 
will be submitted to SBA for approval and published in the Federal 
Register for public notice and comment as required by the Small 
Business Credit and Business Opportunity Enhancement Act of 1992 (Pub. 
L. 102-366). The NRC will reexamine the annual fees assessed for small 
entities once the NRC completes its evaluation of the NRC size 
standards, which is expected to be done in FY 1995.
    The NRC in this final FY 1994 fee rule is continuing a maximum 
annual fee of $1,800 and $400 per licensed category, respectively, for 
those licensees who can qualify as small entities under NRC size 
standards. The impact of the fees for FY 1994 on small entities has 
been evaluated in the Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (see Appendix A 
of this final rule). The small entity subsidy in this final fee rule 
has been calculated on that basis.

B. Fee Methodology

1. Hourly Rate
    Comment. Several commenters indicated that the hourly rate of $133 
is excessive and cannot be justified. These commenters noted that the 
rate is considerably higher than the typical industry charge-out rate 
for direct employees and equals or exceeds the hourly charges for 
senior consultants at major national consulting organizations. Other 
commenters supported the proposed removal of costs for the Office of 
Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on 
Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste from 
overhead and their direct assignment to the reactor and materials 
programs. Commenters stated that this is an improvement in that it 
better defines the beneficiaries of certain regulatory activities and 
more equitably allocates the fees for services provided.
    Response. As indicated in previous final rules, the NRC 
professional hourly rate is established to recover approximately 100 
percent of the agency's Congressionally approved budget, less the 
appropriation from the NWF, as required by OBRA-90. Both the method and 
budgeted costs used by the NRC in the development of the hourly rate of 
$133 for FY 1994 are discussed in detail in Part III, Section-by-
Section Analysis, for Sec. 170.20 of the proposed rule (59 FR 24069; 
May 10, 1994) and the same section of this final rule. For example, 
Table II shows the direct FTEs (full time equivalents) by major program 
for FY 1994 and Table III shows the budgeted costs (salaries and 
benefits, administrative support, travel and other G&A contractual 
support) that must be recovered through fees assessed for the hours 
expended by the direct FTEs. As indicated in the proposed rule and 
supported by the commenters, the NRC has directly assigned additional 
effort to the reactor and materials programs for the Office of 
Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on 
Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. 
Resources for these activities had previously been included in overhead 
but are now directly assigned to the class of licensees they support. 
This change results in the increase in the hourly rate being less than 
it would have been otherwise. Given the increase in the costs to be 
recovered through the hourly rate, including increases in the cost of 
doing business (e.g., inflation), it is necessary to increase the 1994 
hourly rate by less than one percent to recover 100 percent of the 
budget as required by OBRA-90. The specific details regarding the 
budget for FY 1994 are documented in the NRC's publication ``Budget 
Estimates, Fiscal Year 1994'' (NUREG-1100, Volume 9). Copies of NUREG-
1100, Vol. 9 may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, 
U.S. Government Printing Office, Mail Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-
9328. Copies are also available from the National Technical Information 
Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. A copy is also 
available for inspection and copying for a fee in the NRC Public 
Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW (Lower Level), Washington, DC 20555-
0001.
2. Fees Based on Other Factors
    Comment. As in FYs 1991-1993, commenters indicated that NRC should 
assess fees based on the amount or type of material possessed, the 
number of radioactive sources, the sales generated by the licensed 
location, the competitive condition of certain markets and the effect 
of fees on domestic and foreign competition.
    Response. The issues of basing fees on the amount of material 
possessed, the frequency of use of the material, the size of the 
facilities, and market competitive positions, was addressed by the NRC 
in previous rules and in the Regulatory Flexibility Analysis in 
Appendix A to the final rule published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31511-
31513). The NRC did not adopt that approach because it would require 
licensees to submit large amounts of new data and would require 
additional NRC staff to evaluate the data submitted and to develop and 
administer even more complex fee schedules. The NRC continues to 
believe that uniformly allocating the generic and other regulatory 
costs to the specific licensee within a class to determine the amount 
of the annual fee is a fair, equitable, and practical way to recover 
those costs and that establishing reduced annual fees based on gross 
receipts (size) is the most appropriate approach to minimize the impact 
on small entities. Therefore, NRC finds no basis for altering its 
approach at this time. This approach was upheld by the D.C. Circuit in 
its March 16, 1993, decision in Allied-Signal.
3. High-Level Waste
    Comment. One commenter stated that the Department of Energy (DOE) 
should pay, through user fees, for NRC's costs related to DOE's high-
level waste (HLW) activities at Yucca Mountain.
    Response. All of NRC's direct costs related to the disposal of 
civilian high-level waste in DOE's geologic repository are paid for 
with funds appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF). For FY 1994, 
the budgeted amount appropriated to the NRC from the NWF is about $22 
million. The amount appropriated from the NWF is subtracted from the 
total NRC appropriation, and is therefore not included in the fee base. 
This is shown in Table I. Thus, no NRC fees are assessed to recover the 
direct HLW costs.

C. Specific Fee Issues--Part 170

1. Fees for Special Projects.
    Comment. Several commenters supported the proposed change in 10 CFR 
part 170 special project fees whereby the definition would be revised 
to indicate that 10 CFR part 170 fees will not be assessed for certain 
reports submitted to the NRC. Rather, commenters point out these costs 
are more appropriately assessed as 10 CFR part 171 annual fees because 
the related activities are in support of generic efforts such as 
development of regulatory guidance applicable to a class of licensees. 
One commenter, while supporting the proposed change, stated that the 
terms ``alternate method'', ``reanalysis'', and ``unreviewed safety 
issue'' are imprecise and should be further defined or explained. 
Another commenter requested that the NRC reinstate a fee ceiling for 
topical report reviews. The commenter indicated that a fee ceiling 
would encourage the submittal of topical reports and contribute to the 
advance of the state-of-the-art in the nuclear industry and resultant 
improvement in nuclear plant safety.
    Response. The NRC has revised the definition of special projects as 
provided in Sec. 170.3 of the regulations to indicate that 10 CFR part 
170 fees will not be assessed for certain requests/reports. Based on a 
commenter's suggestion, the terms ``alternate method'', ``reanalysis'', 
and ``unreviewed safety issue'' have been further explained in section 
IV, Section-by-Section Analysis.
    The NRC indicated in the FY 1991 final fee rule that it had decided 
to eliminate the ceiling for topical report reviews based on the 100 
percent recovery requirement and congressional guidance that each 
licensee or applicant pay the full costs of all identifiable regulatory 
services received from the NRC. Further, the NRC costs for topical 
reports reviews vary significantly depending on the particular topical 
report reviewed. This makes it impractical to establish an equitable 
ceiling or flat fee (56 FR 31478; July 10, 1991). Recently, the 
Commission revisited this issue as part of its review of fee policy 
that was required by EPA-92. The policy of assessing 10 CFR part 170 
fees, without a ceiling, for the review and approval of topical reports 
was reconfirmed. For these reasons, the NRC is not establishing a fee 
ceiling for topical reports in this final rule.
2. Fees for Reciprocity
    Comment. The NRC charges Agreement State licensees who provide 
services in non-Agreement States, ``reciprocity fees''. A few 
commenters indicated that they were opposed to the fees for 
reciprocity, particularly the proposed fees for revisions to 
information submitted on the NRC Form-241 filed by 10 CFR 150.20 
general licensees. They stated that fees are an unnecessary burden and 
suggested that the NRC reconsider its decision to increase the current 
fees and add additional charges for reciprocity licensees. They stated 
that these costs would have to be included in proposals for work in 
non-Agreement States and that, as small firms, they could not absorb 
such costs and remain competitive with larger firms offering similar 
services. One commenter suggested that the fee for revisions to NRC 
Form 241 be established at $25 to $50 per revision rather than $200 as 
proposed. Commenters questioned whether the establishment of the 
reciprocity fees is an effort to restrict survey activities to the 
home-State of the company because the additional costs do not make it 
feasible to even consider bidding for projects out of the state. 
Commenters claimed that this allows larger, wealthier companies the 
opportunity to bid for and secure out-of-state work. Other commenters 
supported the reciprocity fees, including the proposed fees for 
revisions. They encouraged NRC to assess fees for services provided 
specific classes of licensees and to reduce the costs classified as 
overhead.
    Response. The NRC is adopting the approach contained in the 
proposed rule as this is consistent with the Congressional mandate 
that, to the extent practicable, a class of licensees bear the costs of 
providing regulatory services to them. Other approaches suggested by 
commenters would have the effect of shifting the costs of reviewing 
revisions to Form 241 to other classes of licensees. Agreement State 
licensees requesting reciprocity for activities conducted in non-
Agreement States or in offshore waters are subject to 10 CFR 150.20. 
The first time within a calendar year that an Agreement State licensee 
conducts activities in non-Agreement States or in offshore waters, it 
must file a completed NRC Form 241. Revisions to the initial NRC Form 
241 are filed for review and authorization when persons using the 10 
CFR part 150.20 general license either add locations of work, use 
different radioactive material or perform additional work activities in 
a non-Agreement State. Information submitted to the NRC by the 10 CFR 
150.20 general licensee that clarifies or deletes specific locations or 
work sites, work site contacts, or dates of work is considered by the 
NRC to be a clarification, not a revision. Changes in the equipment to 
be used under the 10 CFR 150.20 general license do not require a 
revision if there is no change in (1) activity to be conducted, (2) the 
radioactive material to be used, and (3) if the Agreement State license 
authorizes the new equipment.
    The fee of $700 for the initial filing of Form-241 is the same as 
that assessed in FY 1993. The fee of $200 for revisions to the Form-241 
has been added to this final rule. The reciprocity fees established by 
the NRC are not intended to restrict companies from doing work in non-
Agreement States. The fees will allow the NRC to recover the costs it 
expends in reviewing initial applications and revisions filed by 10 CFR 
part 150.20 general licensees. That is, the fee is intended to recover 
the cost of identifiable services to a specific applicant in accordance 
with OBRA-90 and the IOAA. Fee Category 16 of 10 CFR part 170.31 has 
been revised to add a fee of $200 for each revision filed by Agreement 
State licensees. The revision fee will be due at the time the applicant 
files a revision to information submitted on the initial Form-241 with 
the NRC.
3. Fees for Irradiators
    Comment. One commenter indicated that underwater irradiators should 
not be placed, for fee purposes, in fee Categories 3F and 3G, the same 
category as ``panoramic'' or ``cell'' type irradiators, because the 
amount of regulation pertaining to unshielded source irradiators is 
much greater than that which applies to underwater irradiators. The 
commenter believes the license should be classified as Category 3E, a 
self-shielded irradiator. The commenter states that the relative 
complexity of the two designs dictates that this be the case. 
Therefore, licensing, inspection, and other NRC activities dealing with 
underwater irradiators must consume much less time and effort compared 
to their ``cell'' or ``panoramic'' counterparts.
    Response. The Commission will continue to place underwater 
irradiators in fee Categories 3F and 3G. Although the sources are not 
removed from their shielding for irradiator purposes, underwater 
irradiators are not self-shielded as are the small irradiators in fee 
Category 3E. The underwater irradiators are large irradiators and 
possession limits of thousands of curies are authorized in the license. 
As a result, more regulatory effort is required to regulate underwater 
irradiators than is required to regulate the small irridiators in fee 
Category 3E. For example, the provisions of 10 CFR part 36 apply the 
same requirements to both the underwater irradiators where the source 
is not exposed for irradiation and the exposed source irradiators. The 
average cost of conducting license reviews and performing inspection of 
the underwater irradiators where the source remains shielded during 
irradiation are similar to the costs for irradiators where the source 
is exposed during irradiation.

D. Specific Fee Issues--Part 171

1. Exemption From Fees for State-Owned Reactors.
    Comment. Several commenters supported the proposed exemption from 
annual fees for State-owned research reactors. These commenters 
indicated that the reactors are used primarily for educational training 
and academic research purposes and contribute significantly to the 
national research effort and thereby provide significant externalized 
benefits to society.
    Response. The NRC, in this final rule, will amend both 
Secs. 170.11(a) and 171.11(a)(2) to provide that State-owned research 
reactors used primarily for educational training and academic research 
purposes will be exempt from fees. The proposed rule would have amended 
only 10 CFR part 171. The NRC believes that both of these changes are 
consistent with the legislative intent of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 
that government-owned research reactors be exempt from fees if they 
meet the technical design criteria of the exemption and are used 
primarily for educational training and academic research purposes.
2. Annual Fee for Uranium Recovery Facilities
    Comment. While supporting the NRC's proposed first-time assessment 
of a $1.5 million annual fee to the Department of Energy (DOE) for 
Uranium Mill Tailing Control Act (UMTCA) activities, several commenters 
strongly objected to the proposed annual fees for uranium recovery 
licensees. They agree that the NRC should be reimbursed by the 
collection of reasonable fees commensurate with services provided but 
indicated that the proposed fees are not equitable or reasonable and 
have not been implemented in a fair and equitable manner. They believe 
that the Class I fees for mill licensees are entirely disproportionate 
to the degree of NRC's involvement with the uranium recovery sites. 
Commenters indicated that the large increases in fees for FY 1994 
(approximately $36,000 per mill) demonstrate again the inconsistent and 
fluctuating nature of the NRC fee system. These licensees asserted that 
they have no means of anticipating or budgeting for the fees and 
therefore large increases are unacceptable. One commenter stated that 
the NRC's argument that the fees have increased because the initial 
licensing of Envirocare's 11.e(2) facility is complete is irrelevant 
and without merit because Envirocare's license is a Class 4D byproduct 
disposal facility and not a uranium recovery license. Commenters note 
that while the amount to be recovered from uranium recovery licenses 
was $465,000 for FY 1993, the amount to be recovered for FY 1994 
increased to $2.1 million--a 350 percent increase. Commenters state 
that regulatory services to the industry have not increased from FY 
1993 to FY 1994. Commenters find this situation particularly troubling 
as they believe the costs for uranium recovery facilities should have 
decreased with the closure of the Uranium Recovery Field Office (URFO) 
in Denver, Colorado, which was described by NRC ``as a cost reduction 
measure to uranium recovery licensees''.
    One commenter argues that the annual fee of $8,700 for a Category 
4D license is not justified when one considers the fee of $94,300 for a 
mill license, a difference of $85,600. The commenter states that this 
disparity is so great that it cannot be explained as anything short of 
arbitrary and capricious. The commenter asserted that to be equitable, 
Category 4D licenses should be assessed the same fees as a mill in fee 
Category 2.A.(1), Class I, because commercial byproduct disposal sites 
are analogous to uranium recovery tailings impoundments and essentially 
require the same regulatory oversight.
    One commenter was concerned that the new fees collected from DOE 
will not be used to decrease the fees placed on other uranium recovery 
licensees.
    Response. Contrary to the commenter's claim, the total budget 
authority to be recovered through fees from Title II uranium recovery 
licensees has decreased over the past two years. The following table 
shows the NRC budget authority for Title II uranium recovery licensees 
for FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Dollars in thousands    
            Title II facilities            -----------------------------
                                            FY 1992   FY 1993    FY 1994
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Budget Authority....................    $3,668    $3,065    $2,839
Less 10 CFR Part 170 Fees.................    -1,700    -2,600    -2,200
                                           -----------------------------
    Total Annual Fees.....................     1,968       465       639
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As shown above, the NRC total budget authority for commercial 
uranium recovery licensees has steadily decreased from $3,668,000 in FY 
1992 to $2,839,000 in FY 1994, a 23 percent decrease since FY 1992. 
However, because of the relatively large collection of 10 CFR Part 170 
fees in FY 1993 as a result of the NRC licensing review efforts 
associated with the Envirocare license application, the FY 1993 amount 
of $465,000 to be collected through annual fees is $174,000 less than 
the FY 1994 annual fee amount of $639,000. In FY 1993, the NRC 
estimated that approximately $2.6 million would be collected from 10 
CFR 170 fees, including fees for the major review work for the 
Envirocare 11.e(2) license. The Envirocare license was issued on 
November 19, 1993. Therefore, the 10 CFR Part 170 fees estimated to be 
collected in FY 1994 have decreased.
    Another reason for the increase in FY 1994 annual fees for 
commercial uranium recovery licensees is a reduction in the number of 
licensees. In FY 1993 there were 14 uranium recovery licensees subject 
to annual fees, compared with 12 licensees in FY 1994. This is a 
decrease of 2 licensees (or 14 percent). Because costs are allocated to 
a class of licensees, any terminations that occur within the class will 
raise the annual fees for the remaining licensees within that class in 
order for the NRC to collect approximately 100 percent of its budget in 
fees. The generic and other regulatory costs allocated to a class of 
licensees under 10 CFR Part 171 are not dependent on the number of 
licensees in a class.
    While the total amount of annual fees to be recovered from all 
uranium recovery licensees, commercial (Title II) and DOE (Title I) is 
$2.1 million in FY 1994, $1.5 million of this amount is for DOE Uranium 
Mill Tailing Control Act (UMTRCA) activities. The $1.5 million related 
to DOE UMTRCA activities is being paid by DOE in FY 1994, leaving the 
$0.6 million to be paid by the commercial Title II facilities. The 
budget for DOE UMTRCA activities does not affect commercial uranium 
recovery license fees in FY 1994, nor did it affect their fees prior to 
FY 1994. As noted by the commenters, DOE is being assessed a $1.5 
million annual fee in FY 1994 (10 CFR 171.16(d), fee Category 18b). For 
FYs 1991-1993, the costs for DOE UMTRCA activities were assessed to 
operating power reactors as a surcharge because DOE was not an NRC 
licensee (10 CFR 171.15(c)(2)). In FY 1994, the costs for UMTRCA 
activities were moved from the power reactor class of licensees to the 
uranium recovery class because as of September 21, 1993, DOE became a 
general licensee of the NRC (10 CFR 40.27) because post-reclamation 
closure of the Spook, Wyoming site had been achieved. As a result, DOE 
will be billed for the costs ($1.5 million in FY 1994) associated with 
NRC's UMTRCA review and all activities associated with the facilities 
assigned to DOE under UMTRCA.
    The statement made by a commenter that fees collected from DOE will 
not be used to decrease NRC's license fees is not correct. The $1.5 
million to be collected from DOE will not be assessed to operating 
power reactors who have paid these costs since FY 1991. Therefore, the 
fees for operating power reactors will decrease as a result of the 
reallocation of costs.
    Based on the comments regarding the annual fee for licenses 
authorizing the disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct material, the NRC has 
reexamined its allocation of the budget for Title II uranium recovery 
activities. Based on this reexamination and the comments received, the 
NRC has concluded that the part of the budgeted costs for the uranium 
recovery class of licensees should be allocated to licenses that 
authorize receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct material, because 
some of these budgeted resources are used to regulate these licensees. 
Thus, the $639,000 to be recovered in annual fees will be recovered 
from fee category 2.A.(2) Class I facilities, Class II facilities and 
Other facilities, plus licenses authorizing disposal of 11e.(2) 
byproduct material. Additionally, the Commission has determined that 
for licenses issued for the primary purpose of disposal of 11e.(2) 
byproduct material (e.g., the license issued to Envirocare in FY 1994) 
the annual fee should be 90 percent of the fee for a Class I mill. This 
is based on a determination that an estimated 90 percent of the budget 
for regulating Class I mills is related to the mill tailings and the 
remaining 10 percent to the processing of the ore. Therefore, since 
essentially the same regulations apply to the mill tailings generated 
by a Class I mill and the 11e.(2) byproduct material received by a 
licensee whose primary purpose is to dispose of 11e.(2) byproduct 
material, the annual fee for a licensee whose primary purpose is the 
disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct material should be the same as that 
portion (90 percent) of the annual fee for a Class I facility that is 
related to the mill tailings. The annual fee for non-operating mills 
that accept 11e.(2) byproduct material for disposal in tailings piles 
created by mill operations will not be changed, because such disposal 
is incidental to the existing tailings that were generated prior to 
elimination of the mill's authority to operate and the Commission's 
policy is not to assess an annual fee to non-operating facilities. As a 
result of the above changes the base annual fee for a Class I facility 
will be reduced from $94,300 to $74,500 for FY 1994. The annual fee for 
licenses with the primary purpose of disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct 
material will be $67,000.
3. Annual Fee for Fuel Facilities
    a. Comment. Two commenters objected to the proposed 
reclassification of General Atomics' (GA) special nuclear material 
license from one subclass to another. Commenters indicated that such a 
reclassification, with the attendant increase in annual fees, would 
have the further effect of forcing GA to shut down the manufacture of a 
limited number of TRIGA research reactor fuel elements, thereby 
eliminating any U.S. source for this type of reactor fuel. Commenters 
argued that the licensee is not a ``fuel facility'' in the same sense 
as other fee Category 1.A.(1) licensees, in that all of the licensees 
in fee Category 1.A.(1) are large suppliers of light water reactor fuel 
to the commercial power industry or the U.S. Navy. Commenters stated 
that reclassifying the license is inconsistent with the NRC's stated 
underlying basis of charging a class of licensees for NRC costs 
attributable to that class of licensees particularly when one 
considers, for comparison purposes, the special nuclear material (SNM) 
throughput, facility size, employment numbers, complexity of processes, 
chemical/physical forms of SNM, and number of process steps. Commenters 
therefore concluded that the GA license should not be reclassified.
    General Atomics, whose license is to be reclassified, commented 
that after three years of being classified as a fee Category 1.A.(2) 
licensee, there is no justification for suddenly reclassifying the 
license as a fee Category 1.A.(1) fuel facility, because there has been 
no change of any kind in the activities or licensing status since 1991 
that would warrant reclassification of the facility. GA also contends 
that it is unfair to reclassify the license after the beginning of the 
fiscal year and to impose more than an eight-fold increase in the fee 
associated with the new category without the licensee having the 
opportunity to take licensing action to avoid the fee. GA states that 
when the initial rule for 100 percent recovery was published in FY 
1991, the NRC recognized that many licensees might wish to avoid or 
minimize the fees by terminating or modifying their licenses, and for 
that reason provided a 30-day period before the effective date of the 
rule for a licensee to file a request to terminate the license or 
request a possession-only license and thereby avoid paying the annual 
fee. GA also stated that imposition of the proposed fee would force 
them to significantly raise its unit fuel prices to recover the eight-
fold fee increase and that many of its customers for research reactor 
fuel are typically low-budget research facilities such as university 
research reactors, many of which are operated by nonprofit educational 
institutions.
    Response. The NRC established fuel facilities as a separate class 
of licensees in FY 1991. Within the class, there are four subclasses of 
licensees described in 10 CFR 171.16(d): high-enriched uranium (HEU) 
fuel fabrication, low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel fabrication, all 
other materials licenses authorizing critical quantities of special 
nuclear material, and UF6 converters. One of the questions raised 
by the commenters is whether GA license SNM-696 should be placed in the 
LEU fuel fabrication facility subclass (fee category 1.A.(1)) or the 
other facility subclass authorizing critical quantities of special 
nuclear material (fee category 1.A.(2)). Fee Category 1.A.(1) of 10 CFR 
171.16(d) is intended to cover those licenses that authorize the 
possession and use of uranium 235 or plutonium for fuel fabrication 
activities. In the proposed rule for FY 1994, the NRC concluded that 
license SNM-696, held by GA, would be reclassified from fee Category 
1.A.(2) (all other materials licenses authorizing critical quantities 
of special nuclear material) to fee Category 1.A.(1) (a low-enriched 
fuel fabrication facility). This reclassification is based on the fact 
that (1) the license authorizes the possession and use of uranium 235 
for fuel fabrication activities and (2) GA manufactures TRIGA research 
reactor fuel elements using low-enriched fuel. As a result, the proper 
classification for license SNM-696 is fee category 1.A.(1) (low-
enriched fuel fabrication). In the past, this license was improperly 
categorized by NRC and as a result, General Atomics was assessed 
substantially lower fees over the past three years than it should have 
been. Rather than continue using an incorrect fee classification for 
this license, now that the NRC is aware of its administrative error, 
this final rule places the license in its proper fee category. The NRC 
recently addressed a similar classification issue in response to a 
Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) request that their LEU fuel fabrication 
facility be reclassified from fee category 1.A.(1) (LEU facility) to 
fee category 1.A.(2) (all other materials licenses authorizing critical 
quantities of special nuclear material). On January 7, 1994, the NRC 
denied this request for reasons similar to those stated above for the 
General Atomics license.
    The other question raised by the commenter is whether the fee for 
the GA license should be the same as the other LEU fuel fabrication 
licenses because their fuel and process is different. That is, would 
assessing GA the same fee as other LEU fuel fabrication licensees 
represent a disproportionate allocation of costs to GA. B&W has also 
raised similar questions relative to their LEU facility. The NRC is 
considering B&W's request for a partial exemption from annual fees 
under 10 CFR 171.11(d). This request is currently under review. Some of 
the comments received concerning the GA fuel facility are similar to 
the arguments presented by B&W for an exemption. GA states that 
``Reclassifying GA as a Category 1.A.(1) licensee is inconsistent with 
the NRC's stated underlying basis of `charging a class of licensees for 
NRC costs attributable to that class of licensees.' It asserts that by 
any measure of comparison, e.g., SNM * * * complexity of processes, 
chemical/physical forms of SNM, number of process steps, etc., GA's 
licensed activities are nowhere close to being in the same class as the 
licensees listed in Category 1.A.(1). GA's * * * licensed processes are 
simple small batch-wise operations, there are no processes involving 
solutions or powders (the fuel is a uranium-zirconium metal alloy), * * 
*''
    The NRC believes that consideration of GA's comment as a request 
for an exemption under 10 CFR 171.11(d) is appropriate and supported by 
Allied-Signal v. NRC. The Court there indicated that they saw no reason 
to require the Commission to address rare situations in the rule 
itself, especially since 10 CFR Part 171 provides for exemptions in 
unusual circumstances. Therefore, the NRC intends to treat the unusual 
circumstances discussed in GA's comments as an exemption request, which 
it will address in the near future. The Commission notes, however, that 
the exemption determination will not be based on factors associated 
with size, ability to pay, or other economic factors. As stated in the 
decision to reinstate the exemption from annual fees for non-profit 
educational institutions, ability to pay is not a basis for an 
exemption (59 FR 12539). The NRC also addressed these issues in the 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis in Appendix A to the final rule 
published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31511). The Commission indicated these 
generally are not factors it will consider in setting fees and finds no 
basis for altering its approach at this time.
    Given the questions raised by B&W, GA, and other fuel facilities 
regarding exemptions from fees and proper fee category classification, 
the NRC plans to reexamine the fuel facility subclass categorizations. 
Any restructuring that results from this reexamination will be included 
in the proposed FY 1995 fee rule for notice and comment.
    The NRC adopts General Atomics' suggestion that the NRC consider a 
waiver of the FY 1994 annual fees if, within the 30-day period after 
the NRC acts on their exemption request, it notifies the NRC in 
writing, in accordance with 10 CFR 70.38, that it wishes to relinquish 
the portion of their license permitting fabrication of fuel elements or 
to obtain a POL. In order to be considered for the waiver of the FY 
1994 annual fee, General Atomics must permanently cease fuel 
fabrication activities within the 30-day period after NRC acts on the 
exemption request.
    With respect to the argument that reclassifying the license is 
inconsistent with the NRC's stated underlying basis of ``charging a 
class of licensees for NRC costs attributable to that class of 
licensees'', costs for providing an identifiable service related to a 
specific application, license or approval are recovered under the fee 
regulations in 10 CFR Part 170. For generic and other regulatory costs 
not recovered under 10 CFR 170, the NRC, in compliance with the 
requirements of OBRA-90, has allocated these costs to major classes of 
licensees. The law permits, and the NRC has established, a schedule of 
annual charges in 10 CFR Part 171 that assesses different annual 
charges to different licensees or classes of licensees. To the extent 
practicable, and where necessary for a more fair and equitable 
allocation of costs, a major class of licensees is divided into 
subclasses. Within a class or subclass of licensees, the costs are 
uniformly allocated to each licensee in the class or subclass based on 
the premise that there is no significant difference in the generic and 
other regulatory services provided to each licensee within a class or 
subclass. This approach and principle are used for all classes of 
licensees (57 FR 32693; July 23, 1992). The Commission has carefully 
reviewed the costs allocated to the LEU fuel fabrication subclass and 
concluded that the budgeted costs have been properly assigned to those 
licensees within the subclass.
    b. Comment. Commenters also objected to the increases in annual 
fees for Category 1.A.(1) (low-enriched fuel facilities) and Category 
1.A.(2), (other materials licenses authorizing critical quantities of 
special nuclear material). Commenters indicated that the base fee for 
low-enriched fuel facilities has increased from about $700,000 in FY 
1991 to $1.4 million in FY 1994, while Category 1.A.(2) increased from 
about $175,000 to $304,000 (including surcharge). These increases, 
commenters claimed, place an undue hardship on the profitable operation 
of these facilities and are grossly out of proportion to any warranted 
increase in the effort expended by the NRC in regulating these classes 
of licensees. One commenter stated that the NRC's practice of 
retroactively revising annual fees causes major corporate budgeting 
problems, especially when large increases between the originally 
invoiced quarterly payments and actual annual fees are the result.
    Response. The amount of the NRC's fees are based on the budget 
authority for a class of licensees and do not consider impact on a 
company's profitability. The NRC budgeted costs for this class of 
licensees have increased because the NRC budgeted and the Congress 
appropriated greater resources to regulate the safety and safeguards of 
fuel facilities. Under the 100 percent recovery statute of OBRA-90, 
charging this class of licensees fees that fail to recover the full 
budgeted amount, would mean that other licensees must pay additional 
fees which provide no benefit to them. NRC promulgates its final rules 
as early as it can subject to certain time-sensitive constraints: the 
NRC must receive a Congressionally approved budget, calculate the 
numerous fees in question, issue a proposed rule for comment, evaluate 
the comments, and issue a final fee rule.
    c. Comment. One commenter, Allied-Signal (A-S), believed that the 
costs allocated to the UF6 conversion subclass should be divided 
equally between two licensees rather than one, even though the second 
licensee has a possession only license (POL). A-S argued that the NRC 
has not provided a rational basis for exempting that licensee from the 
annual fee. A-S noted the NRC's policy that it is the existence of a 
license, not operations, that determines allocation of costs for 
recovery through the annual fee. A-S believes that a licensee that has 
a license to operate but does not do so is no different from a licensee 
that has operated, stops doing so, and holds a POL. A-S believes that, 
in each case, the NRC's regulations are equally applicable and the 
licensee benefits from them. A-S pointed out that it is the only entity 
in the U.S. engaging in UF6 conversion operations and although it 
has attempted to pass the cost of fees on to its customers, it has not 
been able to do so on a broad-scale basis. A-S claimed that the 
proposed fee would raise its costs by 6 cents per pound and that 
winning bids from Canadian and European UF6 converters are decided 
by as little as 1 cent per pound of UF6.
    A-S also argued that the UF6 conversion license should be 
removed from the fuel facility class of licensees and included in the 
uranium recovery class because the operations of the UF6 converter 
are more similar to those of a uranium mill than to a fuel facility. 
Additionally, there is now only one UF6 converter in the U.S. and 
a subcategory of one does not accurately reflect the relevant amount of 
NRC's resources devoted to the license and for that reason is 
inappropriate. Therefore, according to Allied-Signal, the annual fee is 
not fairly and equitably allocated as required by OBRA-90, and does not 
bear a reasonable relationship to the cost of providing regulatory 
services, also required by the statute. A-S, therefore, believes the 
resulting fee for UF6 converters is disproportionately higher than 
that charged to licensees in the uranium recovery category and 
disproportionately close to what is assessed to operating reactors.
    Response. The NRC has a long-standing policy of not assessing 
annual fees to those licensees who have indicated to the NRC that they 
wish to amend their license to permanently withdraw authority to 
operate and have been issued a possession only license (POL) (51 FR 
33228; September 18, 1986). In FY 1991, the NRC reconsidered and 
reaffirmed its policy that licensees with POLs would not be subject to 
the annual fees when it initially established fees to recover 100 
percent of its budget authority under OBRA-90 (56 FR 14873; April 12, 
1991). Recently, the Commission revisited this issue as part of its fee 
policy review required by EPA-92, and affirmed its decision to continue 
the policy of not assessing annual fees to licensees when the license 
is amended to authorize possession only or decommissioning. This is 
consistent with the concept that those who benefit from a license that 
authorizes operation or use of material should pay annual fees. 
Therefore, consistent with agency policy included in the past fee 
rules, and the FY 1994 proposed fee rule, the NRC will not assess FY 
1994 annual fees to Sequoyah Fuels Corporation, previously a UF6 
converter but now is not authorized to operate as a UF6 converter.
    However, the NRC recognizes that its fee rule including this policy 
could result in a disproportionate allocation of costs to a licensee in 
unusual situations. Exemptions for such unusual circumstances are 
provided for in 10 CFR 171.11(d) and are supported by Allied-Signal v. 
NRC. The NRC concludes that the issues raised by Allied-Signal 
regarding a disproportionate allocation of the budgeted costs to them, 
as a result of the elimination of Sequoyah Fuels from the fee base, 
falls within the confines of an unusual situation. Therefore, the NRC 
will consider Allied-Signal's comments regarding NRC's allocation of 
costs to them as an exemption request under 10 CFR 171.11(d). The 
Commission will issue a decision on this exemption request in the near 
future.
    As indicated in the response in item 3(a), the NRC recognized that 
there will be adverse impacts on licensees as a result of implementing 
OBRA-90. The NRC has concluded after notice and comment rulemaking that 
it would not be appropriate to consider licensees' ability to pass 
through costs in establishing its fee schedules, an approach now 
recommended by Allied-Signal. As stated in the decision to reinstate 
the exemption from annual fees for nonprofit educational institutions, 
ability to pay is not a basis for an exemption (59 FR 12539). No one 
sought judicial review of that decision.
    The Commission disagrees with Allied-Signal's suggestion that it be 
placed in the uranium recovery fee category rather than that reserved 
for fuel facilities, where it is currently located. The NRC includes 
the regulatory costs for UF6 conversion facilities in the fuel 
facility class of licensees. In developing the FY 1994 annual fees the 
NRC followed the established budget structure. This permitted the NRC 
to more readily identify and allocate generic and other regulatory 
costs to a class of licensees, and allowed the NRC to explain and to 
show the origin of these costs upon public examination of the record.
    Although the UF6 conversion facilities are included in the 
same class as fuel fabrication facilities for budgeting purposes, the 
annual fee is based on the NRC's costs attributable to the UF6 
conversion facility subclass of licensees. For example, generic safety 
and safeguards and other regulatory costs are included in the budgeted 
costs for the fuel facilities class of licensees. However, none of the 
safeguards costs are included in the annual fee for the UF6 
conversion facility subclass since none of these costs are attributable 
to this subclass. Thus, the costs included in the annual fee for the 
UF6 subclass of licensees are those budgeted costs attributable to 
the subclass. These costs, and the resulting annual fee, would be the 
same independent of where they are included in the budget. Therefore, 
even if the UF6 conversion facilities are more akin to uranium 
recovery facilities, the budgeted costs attributable to them result in 
a different annual fee.
    The NRC further notes that the NRC's costs of promulgating 
regulations for a type of licensee do not necessarily decrease when the 
number of licenses in a class goes down. Whether a class of licensees 
is comprised of one licensee or one hundred, generic safety concerns 
may well remain the same, and the same research and regulations are 
necessary. This is what distinguishes the annual fee from the 10 CFR 
Part 170 fees, which are charged to recapture costs for specific 
services such as inspections and license amendments. By its very nature 
the annual fee is levied to recover the costs of providing services, 
such as the development of new regulations, that cannot be attributed 
to a specific licensee.
    The NRC does recognize the strain this policy unavoidably places on 
licensees who become, as Allied-Signal has, the single licensee in 
their class or subclass. The NRC will be reviewing this problem along 
with others associated with classification of fuel facilities. Any 
changes resulting from this review will be included in the FY 1995 
proposed rule for notice and public comment.
4. Fees for Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations
    Comment. One commenter, while noting that the willingness and 
ability of the NRC to hold the line on, and indeed reduce, the 
recoverable budget for FY 1994 is commendable, questioned the increase 
in fees from $136,200 to $363,500 for Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installations. As a minimum, the commenter believes NRC should identify 
the additional resources to be expended in this area.
    Response. The reasons for the increased fees for independent spent 
fuel storage licensees are two-fold. First, the budgeted amount 
necessary to regulate spent fuel activities which is recovered through 
10 CFR Part 170 and 171 fees increased to provide regulatory oversight 
for the increased number of facilities and to accomplish necessary 
rulemaking activities for spent fuel facilities. Additionally, as the 
licensing of these facilities are completed, the amount of fees from 10 
CFR Part 170 decreased resulting in an increased amount of the budget 
that must be recovered from 10 CFR Part 171.
5. Proration of Annual Fees
    Comment. Several commenters concurred with the proposed proration 
provisions and permitting a waiver of annual fees for those who either 
filed for termination of their license prior to October 1, 1993, or 
permanently ceased licensed activities by September 30, 1993 but had 
not yet received necessary NRC approvals before the end of the fiscal 
year.
    Response. The NRC has amended 10 CFR 171.17 to revise the proration 
provision for reactors and add a proration provision for materials 
licenses. The proration provisions are effective for FY 1994. The NRC 
proposed to prorate the annual fees for materials licenses upgraded or 
downgraded during the fiscal year. However, based on lack of sufficient 
data at this time on upgrades and downgrades of licenses and the 
administrative burden to implement this part of the proposed proration 
provision for FY 1994, the NRC will prorate the annual fees only for 
those licenses for which a termination request or a request for a POL 
has been filed during the fiscal year and for new licenses issued 
during the fiscal year. This issue will be revisited in a future 
rulemaking.

E. Other Issues

1. Impact of Fees on Licensees
    Comment. Several commenters expressed concern about the impact of 
fees, particularly on the practice of nuclear medicine. Some commenters 
indicated that the increase in annual fees may indirectly limit access 
to critical radiological care, particularly for small, rural, medical 
practices. They suggest that the fees be reduced or that NRC freeze the 
annual license fee for a five-year period in order for them to stay in 
business.
    Response. The NRC is concerned about the impact of its fees but has 
concluded that significant changes can only come about through the 
enactment of legislation. The Commission is satisfied that the fee 
schedule being promulgated for FY 1994 satisfies all statutory 
obligations. The Commission recently considered the effect of fees on 
the medical community and decided that it would not provide the 
significant fee relief requested by the medical commenters (59 FR 
12555; March 17, 1994).
2. Deferral of Fees for Standardized Plants and Early Site Reviews
    Comment. One commenter urged NRC to reestablish the NRC's previous 
fee deferral policy for review of standardized plant designs and early 
site reviews indicating that fee deferral for review of the 
standardized designs is essential to encourage the development of such 
designs.
    Response. The Commission decided in the FY 1991 final fee rule that 
the costs for standardized reactor design reviews, whether for domestic 
or foreign applicants, should be assessed under 10 CFR Part 170 to 
those filing an application with the NRC for approval or certification 
of a standardized design (56 FR 31478; July 10, 1991). Recently, the 
Commission revisited this issue as part of its review of fee policy 
required by the EPA-92 and reconfirmed its FY 1991 decision. The NRC 
continues to believe the costs of these reviews should be assessed to 
advanced reactor applicants. The NRC finds no compelling justification 
for singling out these classes of applications for special treatment 
and shifting additional costs to operating power reactors or other NRC 
licensees.
3. Revise 10 CFR 171.13 Notice
    Comment. One commenter pointed out that 10 CFR 171.13 states that 
the NRC will publish a notice concerning the annual fee in the Federal 
Register during the first quarter of each fiscal year and that for the 
past four years the NRC has not met the requirement stated in the 
regulation. The commenter suggests that the NRC publish the proposed 
annual fee and professional hourly rate as early as possible within 
NRC's fiscal year to facilitate licensees' budget and planning 
processes.
    Response. The NRC agrees with the commenter and acknowledges the 
realities of the situation that the proposed rule has been published 
during the third quarter of each of the past four fiscal years. The 
intent of the NRC is to publish the proposed rule as quickly as is 
practicable but realizes and agrees that it is unlikely that 
publication will occur during the first quarter of the fiscal year. To 
permit appropriate notice and comments, however, 10 CFR 171.13 will not 
be revised in this final rule but will be revised in a future 
rulemaking.

III. Final Action--Changes Included in the Final Rule

    The NRC is amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fees for 
FY 1994. OBRA-90 requires that the NRC recover approximately 100 
percent of its FY 1994 budget authority, including the budget authority 
for its Office of the Inspector General, less the appropriations 
received from the NWF, by assessing licensing, inspection, and annual 
fees.
    For FY 1994, the NRC's budget authority was originally $547.7 
million. The Commission, in its effort to streamline operations, 
proposed a $12.7 million rescission to its original appropriation for 
FY 1994. Congress approved this NRC-proposed reduction. This resulted 
in a revised budget authority of $535.0 million. Approximately $22.0 
million of the revised budget was appropriated from the NWF. Therefore, 
OBRA-90 requires that the NRC collect approximately $513.0 million in 
FY 1994 through 10 CFR part 170 licensing and inspection fees and 10 
CFR part 171 annual fees. This amount to be recovered for FY 1994 is 
about $6 million less than the total amount to be recovered for FY 
1993. The NRC estimates that approximately $120.1 million will be 
recovered in FY 1994 from the fees assessed under 10 CFR part 170. The 
remaining $392.9 million will be recovered through the 10 CFR part 171 
annual fees established for FY 1994.
    The NRC has not changed the basic approach, policies, or 
methodology for calculating the 10 CFR part 170 professional hourly 
rate, the specific materials licensing and inspection fees in 10 CFR 
part 170, and the 10 CFR part 171 annual fees set forth in the final 
rules published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31472), July 23, 1992 (57 FR 
32691), and July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666), with the following exceptions: 
(1) The Commission has reinstated the annual fee exemption for 
nonprofit educational institutions and (2) in this final rule, the NRC 
has directly assigned additional effort to the reactor and materials 
programs for the Office of Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, 
the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory 
Committee on Nuclear Waste. Resources for these activities had 
previously been included in overhead but are now assigned directly to 
the class of licenses that they support. As a result of this direct 
assignment, the cost per direct FTE is about 3 percent less than it 
would have been without the additional direct assignment.
    Under this final rule, fees for most materials and fuel cycle 
licensees will increase because--
    (1) The NRC professional rate has increased slightly from $132/hr 
to $133/hr;
    (2) The NRC has directly assigned additional effort to the reactor 
and materials programs for the Office of Investigations, the Office of 
Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the 
Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. Resources for these activities had 
previously been included in overhead, but are now assigned directly to 
the class of licensees that they support;
    (3) The number of licenses in some classes has decreased as 
compared to FY 1993 due to license termination or consolidation, 
resulting in fewer licensees to pay for the costs of regulatory 
activities not recovered under 10 CFR Part 170; and
    (4) The budget for some classes of licensees has increased.
    The NRC contemplates that any fees to be collected as a result of 
this final rule will be assessed on an expedited basis to ensure 
collection of the required fees by September 30, 1994, as stipulated in 
OBRA-90. Therefore, as in FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993, the fees will 
become effective 30 days after publication of the final rule. The NRC 
will send a bill for the amount of the annual fee to the licensee or 
certificate, registration, or approval holder upon publication of the 
final rule. Payment is due on the effective date of the FY 1994 rule.

A. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170: Fees for Facilities, Materials, 
Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services

    Five amendments have been made to Part 170. These amendments do not 
change the underlying basis for the regulation--that fees be assessed 
to applicants, persons, and licensees for specific identifiable 
services rendered. The revisions also comply with the guidance in the 
Conference Committee Report on OBRA-90 that fees assessed under the 
Independent Offices Appropriation Act (IOAA) recover the full cost to 
the NRC of all identifiable regulatory services each applicant or 
licensee receives.
    First, the agency-wide professional hourly rate, which is used to 
determine the Part 170 fees, is increased from $132 per hour to $133 
per hour ($231,216 per direct FTE). The rate is based on the FY 1994 
direct FTEs and that portion of the FY 1994 budget that does not 
constitute direct program support (contractual services costs) and is 
not recovered through the appropriation from the NWF. As indicated 
earlier, the decrease in the FY 1994 budget as compared to the FY 1993 
budget is primarily for direct program support, which is not included 
in the hourly rate. Thus, the reduction in the budget has limited 
impact on the hourly rate but will show up as a direct reduction to the 
amount allocated to the various classes of licensees.
    Second, the current Part 170 licensing and inspection fees in 
Secs. 170.21 and 170.31 for all applicants and licensees are revised to 
reflect the very small increase in the hourly rate.
    Third, the definition of special projects as provided in Sec. 170.3 
of the regulations is revised as a result of (1) the NRC's experience 
in implementing the 100 percent fee recovery program during the past 
three years and (2) the NRC's most recent fee policy review, required 
by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The NRC believes that the costs for 
some requests or reports being filed with NRC are more appropriately 
captured in the 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees rather than assessing 
specific fees under 10 CFR Part 170. These reports, although submitted 
by a specific organization, support NRC's development of generic 
guidance and regulations (e.g., rules, regulatory guides, and policy 
statements), and resolution of safety issues applicable to a class of 
licensees, such as those addressed in generic letters. Therefore, the 
applicable definition in Sec. 170.3 and the footnotes in Secs. 170.21 
and 170.31 are revised to indicate that 10 CFR Part 170 fees will not 
be assessed for requests/reports which have been submitted to the NRC:
    (1) In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not 
result in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of 
an alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the 
Generic Letter or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;
    (2) In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director 
level or above) to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or 
environmental issue, or to assist the NRC in developing a rule, 
regulatory guide, policy statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or
    (3) As a means of exchanging information between industry 
organizations and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic 
regulatory improvements or efforts.
    The terms ``alternate method'', ``reanalysis'' and ``unreviewed 
safety issue'' are explained in more detail in Section IV, Section-By-
Section Analysis.
    Fourth, Sec. 170.11(a) is amended to establish an exemption from 
fees for State-owned research reactors if they meet the technical 
design criteria for the exemption and are research reactors used 
primarily for educational training and academic research purposes.
    Fifth, Fee Category 2 is amended by establishing two additional fee 
categories, 2.A.(2) and 2.A.(3), which cover licenses authorizing 
receipt and disposal of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material as defined 
by the Atomic Energy Act. The current 2.A. category has been amended to 
read 2.A.(1). The current 4.D. fee category has been eliminated. This 
action recognizes that: (1) Source material licenses are issued to 
cover these licensed activities and therefore they are more 
appropriately placed in the source material category; and (2) that a 
further distinction should be made between those licenses whose primary 
purpose is to authorize receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) material 
requiring the establishment of a new tailings pile and those licenses 
authorizing the receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) material incidental to 
tailings piles created by mill operations.
    In addition, Category 16 of Sec. 170.31, reciprocity, is amended to 
include a fee to recover the NRC's costs of reviewing revisions to the 
initial NRC Form 241 filed by 10 CFR 150.20 general licensees. 
Agreement State licensees requesting reciprocity for activities 
conducted in non-Agreement States or in offshore waters are subject to 
10 CFR 150.20. The first time within a calendar year that an Agreement 
State licensee conducts activities in non-Agreement States or in 
offshore waters, it must file a completed NRC Form 241. Revisions to 
the initial NRC Form 241 are filed for review and authorization when 
persons using the 10 CFR Part 150.20 general license either add 
locations of work, use different radioactive material or perform 
additional work activities in a non-Agreement State.

B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: Annual Fees for Reactor Operating 
Licenses, and Fuel Cycle Licenses and Materials Licenses, Including 
Holders of Certificates of Compliance, Registrations, and Quality 
Assurance Program Approvals and Government Agencies Licensed by NRC

    Six amendments have been made to 10 CFR Part 171. First, 
Sec. 171.11(a)(2) is amended to provide that State-owned research 
reactors used primarily for educational training and academic research 
purposes will be exempt from the annual fee. The NRC believes that this 
change is consistent with the legislative intent of the Energy Policy 
Act of 1992 that government-owned research reactors be exempt from 
annual fees if they meet the technical design criteria for the 
exemption and are used primarily for educational training and academic 
research purposes.
    Second, Secs. 171.15 and 171.16 are amended to revise the annual 
fees for FY 1994 to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY 1994 
budget authority, less fees collected under 10 CFR Part 170 and funds 
appropriated from the NWF.
    Third, fee Category 2 of Sec. 171.16(d) is amended by establishing 
two new fee categories, 2.A.(3) and 2.A.(4), relating to the disposal 
of 11e.(2) byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act. The 
current fee Category 4.D. has been eliminated. This action recognizes 
that (1) part of the budgeted costs for the uranium recovery class of 
licensees should be allocated to source material licenses that 
authorize receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) material because some of 
these budgeted resources are used to regulate these licensees and (2) a 
further distinction should be made between those licenses whose primary 
purpose is to authorize receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct 
material requiring the establishment of a new mill tailings pile and 
those non-operating mills that accept 11e.(2) byproduct material for 
disposal incidental to tailings piles created by mill operations.
    In addition, fee Category 18 of Sec. 171.16(d) is amended to assess 
fees to the Department of Energy (DOE) for its general license in 10 
CFR 40.27. The general license fulfills a requirement of the Uranium 
Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA) (Public Law 95-
604) that the perpetual custodian of reclaimed uranium mill tailings 
piles be licensed by the NRC. The general license provided for in the 
regulation covers only post-reclamation closure custody and site 
surveillance. Based on NRC's acceptance of DOE's Long Term Surveillance 
Plan for the Spook, Wyoming, site on September 21, 1993, the site is 
now subject to the general license in 10 CFR 40.27. Because DOE now 
holds an NRC license, it is subject to annual fees. The NRC had 
previously indicated its intent to bill DOE for UMTRCA costs once post-
closure was achieved and the sites were licensed by the Government (56 
FR 31481; July 10, 1991). As a result, DOE will be billed for the costs 
associated with NRC's UMTRCA review of all activities associated with 
the facilities assigned to DOE under UMTRCA. As with other licensees, 
the annual fee for this class of licensees (DOE UMTRCA facilities) will 
recover the generic and other regulatory costs not recovered through 10 
CFR Part 170 fees. Because DOE, as a Federal agency, cannot be assessed 
Part 170 fees under the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 1952 
(IOAA), the result is that NRC will assess annual fees to DOE for the 
total costs of DOE UMTRCA activities.
    Fourth, 10 CFR 171.17 is amended to add a proration provision for 
materials licenses and to revise the proration provision for reactors. 
The annual fee for materials licensees is prorated based on 
applications filed after October 1 of the fiscal year to terminate a 
license or obtain a POL. Those materials licensees who file 
applications between October 1 and March 31 of the fiscal year to 
terminate the license or obtain a POL will be assessed one-half the 
annual fee stated in Sec. 171.16(d) for the affected fee category(ies). 
Those materials licensees filing applications on or after April 1 of 
the fiscal year to terminate a license or obtain a POL will be assessed 
the full annual fee for that fiscal year. Those licensees who file for 
termination or POL must also permanently cease operations of relevant 
licensed activities during the periods mentioned for the fees to be 
reduced. Similarly, materials licensees who were issued new licenses 
during the fiscal year will be charged a prorated annual fee based on 
the date of issuance of the new license. New materials licenses issued 
during the period October 1 through March 31 will be assessed one-half 
of the annual fee stated in Sec. 171.16(d) for the applicable fee 
category(ies) for that fiscal year. New licenses issued on or after 
April 1 will not be assessed an annual fee for that fiscal year.
    The proration provision in Sec. 171.17 applicable to reactors is 
amended to provide that, for licensees who have requested an amendment 
to withdraw operating authority permanently during the FY, the annual 
fee will be prorated based on the number of days during the FY the 
operating license was in effect before either the possession only 
license was issued or the license was terminated.
    Fifth, Footnote 1 of 10 CFR 171.16(d) is amended to provide for a 
waiver of the FY 1994 annual fees for those materials licensees, and 
holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals who either filed 
for termination of their licenses or approvals or filed for possession 
only/storage licenses prior to October 1, 1993, and permanently ceased 
licensed activities entirely by September 30, 1993. All other licensees 
and approval holders who held a license or approval on October 1, 1993, 
are subject to FY 1994 annual fees. This change is in recognition of 
the fact that since the final FY 1993 rule was published in July 1993, 
licensees have continued to file requests for termination of their 
licenses or certificates with the NRC. Other licensees have either 
called or written to the NRC since the FY 1993 final rule became 
effective requesting further clarification and information concerning 
the annual fees assessed. The NRC is responding to these requests as 
quickly as possible. However, the NRC was unable to respond and take 
action on all of the requests before the end of the fiscal year on 
September 30, 1993. Similar situations existed after the FY 1991 and FY 
1992 rules were published, and in those cases NRC provided an exemption 
from the requirement that the annual fee is waived only where a license 
is terminated before October 1 of each fiscal year.
    Sixth, Sec. 171.19 is amended to credit the quarterly partial 
payments already made by certain licensees in FY 1994 either toward 
their total annual fee to be assessed or to make refunds, if necessary.
    The 10 CFR part 171 annual fees have been determined using the same 
method used to determine the FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 annual fees. 
The amounts to be collected through annual fees in the amendments to 10 
CFR part 171 are based on the increased professional hourly rate. The 
amendments to 10 CFR part 171 do not change the underlying basis for 10 
CFR part 171; that is, charging a class of licensees for NRC costs 
attributable to that class of licensees. The changes are consistent 
with the Congressional guidance in the Conference Committee Report on 
OBRA-90, which states that the ``conferees contemplate that the NRC 
will continue to allocate generic costs that are attributable to a 
given class of licensee to such class'' and the ``conferees intend that 
the NRC assess the annual charge under the principle that licensees who 
require the greatest expenditures of the agency's resources should pay 
the greatest annual fee'' (136 Cong. Rec., at H12692-93).
    During the past three years, many licensees have indicated that 
although they held a valid NRC license authorizing the possession and 
use of special nuclear, source, or byproduct material, they were in 
fact either not using the material to conduct operations or had 
disposed of the material and no longer needed the license. In 
responding to licensees about this matter, the NRC has stated that 
annual fees are assessed based on whether a licensee holds a valid NRC 
license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive material. 
Whether or not a licensee is actually conducting operations using the 
material is a matter of licensee discretion. The NRC cannot control 
whether a licensee elects to possess and use radioactive material once 
it receives a license from the NRC. Therefore, the NRC reemphasizes 
once again that annual fees will be assessed based on whether a 
licensee holds a valid license with the NRC that authorizes possession 
and use of radioactive material. To remove any uncertainties regarding 
agency policy on this issue, the NRC amended 10 CFR 171.16, footnotes 1 
and 7 on July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666).

C. FY 1994 Budgeted Costs

    The FY 1994 budgeted costs, by major activity, that will be 
recovered through 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 fees are shown in Table I. 

          Table I.-- Recovery of NRC's FY 1994 Budget Authority         
                          [Dollars in millions]                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Estimated
                       Recovery method                           amount 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nuclear Waste Fund...........................................      $22.0
Part 170 (license and inspection fees).......................      120.1
Other receipts...............................................         .1
Part 171 (annual fees):                                                 
  Power Reactors.............................................      302.1
  Nonpower Reactors..........................................         .4
  Fuel Facilities............................................       16.8
  Spent Fuel Storage.........................................        2.2
  Uranium Recovery...........................................        2.1
  Transportation.............................................        4.0
  Material Users.............................................    \1\38.6
                                                              ----------
      Subtotal Part 171......................................      366.2
Costs remaining to be recovered not identified above.........       26.6
                                                              ==========
      Total..................................................     535.0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Includes $6.3 million that will not be recovered from small materials
  licensees because of the reduced small entity fees.                   

    The $26.6 million identified for those activities which are not 
identified as either 10 CFR parts 170 or 171 or the NWF in Table I are 
distributed among the classes of licensees as follows:

$24.4 million to operating power reactors;
$.7 million to fuel facilities; and
$1.5 million to other materials licensees.

    In addition, approximately $6.3 million must be collected as a 
result of continuing the $1,800 maximum fee for small entities and the 
lower tier small entity fee of $400 for certain licensees. In order for 
the NRC to recover 100 percent of its FY 1994 budget authority in 
accordance with OBRA-90, the NRC will recover $5.3 million of the $6.3 
million from operating power reactors and the remaining $1.0 million 
from other nonreactor entities that do not meet NRC small entity size 
standards.
    This distribution results in an additional charge (surcharge) of 
approximately $273,000 per operating power reactor; $55,770 for each 
HEU, LEU, UF6, and each other fuel facility license; $1,670 for 
each materials license in a category that generates a significant 
amount of low level waste; and $170 for other materials licenses. When 
added to the base annual fee of approximately $2.8 million per reactor, 
this will result in an annual fee of approximately $3.1 million per 
operating power reactor. The total fuel facility annual fee will be 
between approximately $1.2 million and $3.2 million. The total annual 
fee for materials licenses will vary depending on the fee category(ies) 
assigned to the license.
    The additional charges not directly or solely attributable to a 
specific class of NRC licensees and costs not recovered from all NRC 
licensees on the basis of previous Commission policy decisions will be 
recovered from the designated classes of licensees previously 
identified. A further discussion and breakdown of the specific costs by 
major classes of licensees are shown in section IV of this final rule.

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis

    The following analysis of those sections that are affected under 
this final rule provides additional explanatory information. All 
references are to title 10, chapter I, Code of Federal Regulations.
Part 170
Section 170.3  Definitions
    This section is amended to revise the definition of special 
projects. This change is based on NRC's experience during the past 
three years in implementing the 100 percent fee recovery program and 
the fee policy review required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The 
NRC believes that the costs for some requests or reports being filed 
with NRC are more appropriately captured in the 10 CFR part 171 annual 
fees instead of assessing specific fees under 10 CFR part 170. 
Therefore, the definition in Sec. 170.3, as well as the footnotes in 
Secs. 170.21 and 170.31, are amended to indicate that 10 CFR part 170 
fees will not be assessed for requests/reports which have been 
submitted to the NRC:
    1. In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not 
result in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of 
an alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the 
Generic Letter, or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;
    2. In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director 
level or above) to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or 
environmental issue, or to assist the NRC in developing a rule, 
regulatory guide, policy statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or
    3. As a means of exchanging information between industry 
organizations and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic 
regulatory improvements or efforts.
    The terms ``alternate method'', ``reanalysis'', and ``unreviewed 
safety issue'' as used in item 1 are further explained as follows:
    ``Alternate method'' is a method that deviates significantly (i.e., 
more than necessary for plant-specific or generic program development) 
from the method proposed in the Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin;
    ``Reanalysis'' is an analysis of an alternate method but not a 
review of changes to a method which is consistent with that proposed by 
the Generic Letter or Bulletin. These types of ``consistent'' changes 
could be revisions submitted pursuant to an NRC staff request for 
additional information or modification, or changes necessary for plant-
specific or generic implementation; and
    ``Unreviewed safety issue'' is a safety issue unrelated to the 
safety issue identified in the generic communication that arises from 
proposal of an alternate method and will require reanalysis by the NRC 
staff.
Section 170.11  Exemptions
    Paragraph (a)(9) of this section is established to provide an 
exemption from fees for State-owned research reactors that meet certain 
technical design criteria and are used primarily for educational 
training and academic research purposes. Currently, Federal agencies 
are exempt from payment of 10 CFR part 170 fees under the Independent 
Offices Appropriation Act (IOAA). The proposed rule would have amended 
only 10 CFR part 171. The NRC believes however, that this change to 10 
CFR part 170 is consistent with the legislative intent of the Energy 
Policy Act of 1992 that government-owned research reactors be exempt 
from fees if they meet the technical design criteria for the exemption 
and are used primarily for educational training and academic research 
purposes. There is currently one research reactor, owned by the Rhode 
Island Atomic Energy Commission, that will be exempt under this 
amendment to Sec. 170.11.
Section 170.20  Average Cost Per Professional Staff Hour
    This section is amended to reflect an agency-wide, professional 
staff-hour rate based on FY 1994 budgeted costs. Accordingly, the NRC 
professional staff-hour rate for FY 1994 for all fee categories that 
are based on full cost is $133 per hour, or $231,216 per direct FTE. 
The rate is based on the FY 1994 direct FTEs and NRC budgeted costs 
that are not recovered through the appropriation from the NWF. The rate 
is calculated using the identical method established for FY 1991, FY 
1992, and FY 1993. As noted earlier, in this final rule, the NRC has 
directly assigned additional effort to the reactor and materials 
programs for the Office of Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, 
the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and the Advisory Committee 
on Nuclear Waste. The method is as follows:
    1. All direct FTEs are identified in Table II by major program. For 
FY 1994 the NRC has traced additional direct effort to the reactor and 
materials programs for the Office of Investigations, the Office of 
Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the 
Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. The budgeted costs for these 
activities had previously been included in overhead but are now being 
directly assigned to the class of licensees that they support. 

         Table II.--Allocation of Direct FTEs by Major Program          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                No. of  
                       Major program                            direct  
                                                               FTEs\1\  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reactor Safety and Safeguards Regulation...................      1,034.4
Reactor Safety Research....................................        111.3
Nuclear Material and Low Level Waste Safety and Safeguards              
 Regulation................................................        352.5
Reactor Special and Independent Reviews, Investigations,                
 and Enforcement...........................................        111.7
Nuclear Material Management and Support....................        19.0 
                                                            ------------
      Total direct FTE.....................................  \2\1,628.9 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\FTE (full-time equivalent) is one person working for a full year.    
  Regional employees are counted in the office of the program each      
  supports.                                                             
\2\In FY 1994, 1,628.9 FTEs of the total 3,223 FTEs are considered to be
  in direct support of NRC non-NWF programs. The remaining 1,594.1 FTEs 
  are considered overhead and general and administrative.               

    2. NRC FY 1994 budgeted costs are allocated, in Table III, to the 
following four major categories:
    (a) Salaries and benefits.
    (b) Administrative support.
    (c) Travel.
    (d) Program support.
    3. Direct program support, which is the use of contract or other 
services in support of the line organization's direct program, is 
excluded because these costs are charged directly through the various 
categories of fees.
    4. All other costs (i.e., Salaries and Benefits, Travel, 
Administrative Support, and Program Support contracts/services for G&A 
activities) represent ``in-house'' costs and are to be collected by 
allocating them uniformly over the total number of direct FTEs.
    Using this method, which was described in the final rules published 
July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31472), July 23, 1992 (57 FR 32691), and July 20, 
1993 (58 FR 38666), and excluding direct Program Support funds, 
allocating the remaining $376.6 million uniformly to the direct FTEs 
(1,628.9) results in a rate of $231,216 per FTE for FY 1994. The Direct 
FTE Hourly Rate is $133 per hour (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). 
This rate is calculated by dividing $376.6 million by the number of 
direct FTEs (1,628.9 FTE) and the number of productive hours in one 
year (1744 hours) as indicated in OMB Circular A-76, ``Performance of 
Commercial Activities.'' 

         Table III.--FY 1994 Budget Authority by Major Category         
                         [Dollars in millions]                          
                                                                        
                                                                        
Salaries and                                                            
 benefits..........  $259.5                                             
Administrative                                                          
 support...........  86.7                                               
Travel.............  15.9                                               
                    ---------------------------------------------       
      Total                                                             
       nonprogram                                                       
       support                                                          
       obligations.  362.1                                              
Program support....  150.9                                              
                    =============================================       
      Total Budget                                                      
       Authority...  513.0                                              
Less direct program                                                     
 support and                                                            
 offsetting                                                             
 receipts..........  136.4                                              
                    ---------------------------------------------       
       Budget                                                           
       Allocated to                                                     
       Direct FTE..  376.6                                              
Professional Hourly                                                     
 Rate..............  133                                                

    Section 170.21 Schedule of Fees for Production and Utilization 
Facilities, Review of Standard Reference Design Approvals, Special 
Projects, Inspections and Import and Export Licenses.
    The licensing and inspection fees in this section, which are based 
on full-cost recovery, are revised to reflect the FY 1994 budgeted 
costs and to recover costs incurred by the NRC in providing licensing 
and inspection services to indentifiable recipients. The fees asssessed 
for services provided under the schedule are based on the professional 
hourly rate as shown in Sec. 170.20 and any direct program support 
(contractual services) costs expended by the NRC. Any professional 
hours expended on or after the effective date of this rule will be 
assessed at the FY 1994 rate shown in Sec. 170.20. Although the amounts 
of the import and export licensing fees in Sec. 170.21, facility 
Category K, have not changed from FY 1993 as a result of the very small 
increase in the hourly rate from $132 per hour to $133 per hour, they 
are being published for purposes of convenience.
    For those applications currently on file and pending completion, 
footnote 2 of Sec. 170.21 is revised to provide that the professional 
hours expended up to the effective date of this rule will be assessed 
at the professional rates established for the rules that became 
effective on June 20, 1984, January 30, 1989, July 2, 1990, August 9, 
1991. August 24, 1992, and August 19, 1993, as appropriate. For topical 
report applications currently on file which are still pending 
completion of the review and for which review costs have reached the 
applicable fee ceiling established by the July 2, 1990, rule, the costs 
incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached through August 8, 
1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any professional hours 
expended for the review of topical report applications, amendments, 
revisions, or supplements to a topical report on or after August 9, 
1991, are assessed at the applicable rate established by Sec. 170.20.
    Section 170.31 Schedule of Fees for Materials Licenses and Other 
Regulatory Services, Including Inspections and Import and Export 
Licenses.
    The licensing and inspection fees in this section are modified to 
recover the FY 1994 costs incurred by the Commission in providing 
licensing and inspection services to identifiable recipients. Those 
flat fees, which are based on the average time to review an application 
or conduct an inspection, are adjusted to reflect the very small 
increase in the professional hourly rate from $132 per hour in FY 1993 
to $133 per hour in FY 1994. In many cases, the fees for FY 1994 are 
the same as those assessed in FY 1993.
    The amounts of the licensing and inspection flat fees were rounded 
by applying standard rules of arithmetic so that the amounts rounded 
would be de minimus and convenient to the user. Fees that are greater 
than $1,000 are rounded to the nearest $100. Fees under $1,000 are 
rounded to the nearest $10.
    The revised flat fees are applicable to fee categories 1.C and 1.D; 
2.B and 2.C; 3.A through 3.P; 4.B through 9.D, 10.B, 15A through 15E 
and 16. The revised fees will be assessed for applications filed or 
inspections conducted on or after the effective date of this rule.
    Fee Category 2 is amended by establishing two additional fee 
categories 2.A.(2) and 2.A.(3) which cover licenses authorizing receipt 
and disposal of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material as defined by the 
Atomic Energy Act. The current 2.A. category has been amended to read 
2.A.(1). The current 4.D. fee category has been eliminated. This action 
recognizes that (1) source material licenses are issued to cover these 
licensed activities and they are more appropriately placed in the 
source material category and (2) that a further distinction should be 
made between those licenses whose primary purpose is to authorize 
receipt and disposal of 11e.(2) material requiring the establishment of 
a new tailings pile from those licenses authorizing the receipt and 
disposal of 11e.(2) material incidental to tailings piles created by 
mill operations.
    Fee Category 16, reciprocity, is also amended to include a fee to 
recover the costs incurred by the NRC for the review of revisions to 
the information submitted on the initial NRC Form-241 filed by 10 CFR 
150.20 general licensees during the remainder of the calendar year. 
Agreement State licensees requesting reciprocity for activities 
conducted in non-Agreement States or in offshore waters are subject to 
10 CFR 150.20. The first time within a calendar year that an Agreement 
State licensee conducts activities in non-Agreement States or in 
offshore waters, it must file a completed NRC Form 241. Revisions to 
the initial NRC Form 241 are filed for review and authorization when 
persons using the 10 CFR Part 150.20 general license either add 
locations of work, use different radioactive material or perform 
additional work activities in a non-Agreement State.
    For those licensing, inspection, and review fees assessed that are 
based on full-cost recovery (cost for professional staff hours plus any 
contractual services), the revised hourly rate of $133, as shown in 
Sec. 170.20, applies to those professional staff hours expended on or 
after the effective date of this rule.
Part 171
Section 171.11  Exemptions
    Paragraph (a)(2) of this section is amended to exempt State-owned 
reactors used primarily for educational training and academic research 
purposes from annual fees. The NRC believes that this change is 
consistent with the legislative intent of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 
that government-owned research reactors be exempt from annual fees if 
they meet the technical design criteria of the exemption and are used 
primarily for educational training and academic research purposes. 
There is currently one research reactor, owned by the Rhode Island 
Atomic Energy Commission, that will be exempt under this amendment to 
Sec. 171.11.
Section 171.15  Annual Fee: Reactor Operating Licenses
    The annual fees in this section are revised to reflect FY 1994 
budgeted costs. Paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(2), (d), and (e) are 
revised to comply with the requirement of OBRA-90 to recover 
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget for FY 1994. Table IV shows 
the budgeted costs that have been allocated directly to operating power 
reactors as part of the base fee. They have been expressed in terms of 
the NRC's FY 1994 programs and program elements. The resulting total 
base annual fee amount for power reactors is also shown.

                   Table IV.--Allocation of NRC FY 1994 Budget to Power Reactors' Base Fees\1\                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Program element     Allocated to power 
                                                                             total                reactors      
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
                                                                       Program               Program            
                                                                       support     Direct    support     Direct 
                                                                       ($, K)       FTE       ($, K)      FTE   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Reactor Safety and Safeguards Regulation (RSSR)                                                      
                                                                                                                
Standard Reactor Designs............................................     $9,531       96.3     $9,361       92.8
Reactor License Renewal.............................................        600       33.9        600       33.9
Reactor and Site Licensing..........................................      1,810       34.7      1,810       29.8
Resident Inspections................................................  .........      207.0  .........      207.0
Region-Based Inspections............................................      2,780      235.0      2,780      229.8
Interns (HQ and Regions)............................................  .........       23.0  .........       23.0
Special Inspections.................................................        970       42.7        970       42.7
License Maintenance and Safety Evaluations..........................      4,142      208.5      4,142      208.5
Plant Performance...................................................        927       52.1        927       52.1
Human Performance...................................................      4,760       54.7      4,403       51.1
Other Safety Reviews and Assistance.................................      3,443       46.5      3,213      38.8 
                                                                                           ---------------------
    RSSR program total..............................................  .........  .........    $28,206   1,009.5 
                                                                                           =====================
                                                                                                                
                    Reactor Safety Research (RSR)                                                               
                                                                                                                
Standard Reactor Designs............................................    $16,676       29.3    $16,676       29.3
Reactor Aging & License Renewal.....................................     23,273       13.7     22,573       13.6
Plant Performance...................................................      3,173        4.2      3,173        4.2
Human Reliability...................................................      4,428        7.0      4,428        7.0
Reactor Accident Analysis...........................................     20,284       26.7     20,284       26.7
Safety Issue Resolution and Regulatory Improvements.................     10,240       30.4     10,240       30.4
                                                                                           ---------------------
    RSR program total...............................................  .........  .........    $77,374     111.2 
                                                                                           =====================
                 Nuclear Material & Low Level (NMLL)                                                            
NMLL (NMSS):                                                                                                    
    Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards................................     $4,783       85.8     $1,494        2.8
    LLW Licensing and Inspection....................................        592       14.3  .........        1.4
    Uranium Recovery Licensing and Inspection.......................        265       14.4         21          0
    Decommissioning.................................................      2,215       30.8          9        6.7
NMLL (RES):                                                                                                     
    Environmental Policy and Decommissioning........................      2,410        9.0        964        3.6
                                                                                           ---------------------
        NMLL program total..........................................  .........  .........     $2,488      14.5 
                                                                                           =====================
                                                                                                                
    Reactor Special and Independent Reviews, Investigations, and                                                
                             Enforcement                                                                        
                                                                                                                
AEOD:                                                                                                           
    Diagnostic Evaluations..........................................        288        5.0        288        5.0
    Incident Investigations.........................................         26        1.0         26        1.0
    NRC Incident Response...........................................      1,854       26.0      1,854       24.0
    Operational Experience Evaluation...............................      5,447       30.0      5,447      29.0 
                                                                                           ---------------------
    Committee to Review Generic Requirements........................  .........        2.0  .........       2.0 
                                                                                           =====================
        AEOD Subtotal...............................................  .........  .........     $7,615       61.0
Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards............................        181       20.5        181       20.5
Office of Investigations............................................  .........       17.0  .........       17.0
Office of Enforcement...............................................         10        7.2         10       7.0 
                                                                                           ---------------------
    RSIRIE program total............................................  .........  .........     $7,806     105.5 
                                                                                           =====================
    Total base fee amount allocated to power reactors...............  .........  .........  .........     $402.7
                                                                                                       (million\
                                                                                                             2\)
    Less estimated part 170 power reactor fees (million)............  .........  .........  .........    $100.6 
                                                                                           ---------------------
      Part 171 base fees for operating power reactors...............  .........  .........  .........     $302.1
                                                                                                       (million)
                                                                                                                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fees include all costs attributable to the operating power reactor class of licensees. The base  
  fees do not include costs allocated to power reactors for policy reasons.                                     
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE and adding the program support funds.

    Based on the information in Table IV, the base annual fees that 
will be assessed for FY 1994 are the amounts shown in Table V below for 
each nuclear power operating license. 

                             Table V.--Base Annual Fees for Operating Power Reactors                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Reactors                                      Containment type              Annual fee 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Westinghouse:                                                                                                   
    1. Beaver Valley 1....................................  PWR Large Dry Containment.............    $2,805,000
    2. Beaver Valley 2....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    3. Braidwood 1........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    4. Braidwood 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    5. Byron 1............................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    6. Bryon 2............................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    7. Callaway 1.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    8. Comanche Peak 1....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    9. Comanche Peak 2....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    10. Diablo Canyon 1...................................  ...... do.............................     2,803,000
    11. Diablo Canyon 2...................................  ...... do.............................     2,803,000
    12. Farley 1..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    13. Farley 2..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    14. Ginna.............................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    15. Haddam Neck.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    16. Harris 1..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    17. Indian Point 2....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    18. Indian Point 3....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    19. Kewaunee..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    20. Millstone 3.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    21. North Anna 1......................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    22. North Anna 2......................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    23. Point Beach 1.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    24. Point Beach 2.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    25. Prairie Island 1..................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    26. Prairie Island 2..................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    27. Robinson 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    28. Salem 1...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    29. Salem 2...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    30. Seabrook 1........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    31. South Texas 1.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    32. South Texas 2.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    33. Summer 1..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    34. Surry 1...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    35. Surry 2...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    36. Turkey Point 3....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    37. Turkey Point 4....................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    38. Vogtle 1..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    39. Vogtle 2..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    40. Wolf Creek 1......................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    41. Zion 1............................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    42. Zion 2............................................  ...... do.............................     2,805,000
    43. Catawba 1.........................................  PWR--Ice Condenser....................     2,804,000
    44. Catawba 2.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    45. Cook 1............................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    46. Cook 2............................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    47. McGuire 1.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    48. McGuire 2.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    49. Sequoyah 1........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    50. Sequoyah 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
Combustion Engineering:                                                                                         
    1. Arkansas 2.........................................  PWR Large Dry Containment.............     2,804,000
    2. Calvert Cliffs 1...................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    3. Calvert Cliffs 2...................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    4. Ft. Calhoun 1......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    5. Maine Yankee.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    6. Millstone 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    7. Palisades..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    8. Palo Verde 1.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,801,000
    9. Palo Verde 2.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,801,000
    10. Palo Verde 3......................................  ...... do.............................     2,801,000
    11. San Onofre 2......................................  ...... do.............................     2,801,000
    12. San Onofre 3......................................  ...... do.............................     2,801,000
    13. St. Lucie 1.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    14. St. Lucie 2.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    15. Waterford 3.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
Babcock & Wilcox:                                                                                               
    1. Arkansas 1.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    2. Crystal River 3....................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    3. Davis Besse 1......................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    4. Oconee 1...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    5. Oconee 2...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    6. Oconee 3...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
    7. Three Mile Island 1................................  ...... do.............................     2,804,000
General Electric:                                                                                               
    1. Browns Ferry 1.....................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    2. Browns Ferry 2.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    3. Browns Ferry 3.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    4. Brunswick 1........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    5. Brunswick 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    6. Clinton 1..........................................  Mark III..............................     2,785,000
    7. Cooper.............................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    8. Dresden 2..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    9. Dresden 3..........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    10. Duane Arnold......................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    11. Fermi 2...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    12. Fitzpatrick.......................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    13. Grand Gulf 1......................................  Mark III..............................     2,785,000
    14. Hatch 1...........................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    15. Hatch 2...........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    16. Hope Creek 1......................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    17. LaSalle 1.........................................  Mark II...............................     2,785,000
    18. LaSalle 2.........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    19. Limerick 1........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    20. Limerick 2........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    21. Millstone 1.......................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    22. Monticello........................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    23. Nine Mile Point 1.................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    24. Nine Mile Point 2.................................  Mark II...............................     2,785,000
    25. Oyster Creek......................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    26. Peach Bottom 2....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    27. Peach Bottom 3....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    28. Perry 1...........................................  Mark III..............................     2,785,000
    29. Pilgrim...........................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    30. Quad Cities 1.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    31. Quad Cities 2.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    32. River Bend 1......................................  Mark III..............................     2,785,000
    33. Susquehanna 1.....................................  Mark II...............................     2,785,000
    34. Susquehanna 2.....................................  ...... do.............................     2,785,000
    35. Vermont Yankee....................................  Mark I................................     2,785,000
    36. Washington Nuclear 2..............................  Mark II...............................     2,782,000
Other Reactor:                                                                                                  
    1. Big Rock Point.....................................  GE Dry Containment....................    2,785,000 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The ``Other Reactor'' listed in Table V was not included in the fee 
base because historically Big Rock Point has been granted a partial 
exemption from the annual fees. With respect to Big Rock Point, a 
smaller older reactor, the NRC hereby grants a partial exemption from 
the FY 1994 annual fees based on a request filed with the NRC in 
accordance with Sec. 171.11. The total amount of $0.2 million to be 
paid by Big Rock Point has been subtracted from the total amount 
assessed operating reactors as a surcharge.
    Paragraph (b)(3) is revised to change the fiscal year references 
from FY 1993 to FY 1994. Paragraph (c)(2) is amended to show the amount 
of the surcharge for FY 1994. This surcharge is added to the base 
annual fee for each operating power reactor shown in Table V. The 
purpose of this surcharge is to recover those NRC budgeted costs that 
are not directly or solely attributable to operating power reactors but 
nevertheless must be recovered to comply with the requirements of OBRA-
90. The NRC has continued its previous policy decision to recover these 
costs from operating power reactors.
    The FY 1994 budgeted costs related to the additional charge and the 
amount of the charge are calculated as follows: 

                                                                        
                          [Dollars in millions]                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 1994  
                     Category of costs                         budgeted 
                                                                costs   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee              
 or class of licensee:                                                  
    a. Reviews for DOE/DOD reactor projects, and West                   
     Valley Demonstration Project;                                  $2.4
    b. International cooperative safety program and                     
     international safeguards activities; and                        8.2
    c. Low-level waste disposal generic activities;                  6.0
2. Activities not assessed Part 170 licensing and                       
 inspection fees or Part 171 annual fees based on                       
 Commission policy:                                                     
    a. Licensing and inspection activities associated with              
     nonprofit educational institutions; and                         7.8
    b. Costs not recovered from Part 171 for small                      
     entities.                                                       5.3
                                                            ------------
        Subtotal budgeted costs............................        $29.7
        Less amount to be assessed to small older reactors.           .2
                                                            ------------
            Total budgeted costs...........................        $29.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The annual additional charge is determined as follows:

TR20JY94.009

    On the basis of this calculation, an operating power reactor, 
Beaver Valley 1, for example, would pay a base annual fee of $2,805,000 
and an additional charge of $273,000 for a total annual fee of 
$3,078,000 for FY 1994.
    Paragraph (d) is revised to show, in summary form, the amount of 
the total FY 1994 annual fee, including the surcharge, to be assessed 
for each major type of operating power reactor.
    Paragraph (e) is revised to show the amount of the FY 1994 annual 
fee for nonpower (test and research) reactors. In FY 1994, $373,000 in 
costs are attributable to those commercial and non-exempt Federal 
government organizations that are licensed to operate test and research 
reactors. Applying these costs uniformly to those nonpower reactors 
subject to fees results in an annual fee of $62,200 per operating 
license. The Energy Policy Act establishes an exemption for certain 
Federally-owned research reactors that are used primarily for 
educational training and academic research purposes where the design of 
the reactor satisfies certain technical specifications set forth in the 
legislation. Consistent with this legislative requirement, the NRC 
granted an exemption from annual fees for FY 1992 and FY 1993 to the 
Veterans Administration Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. 
Geological Survey for its reactor in Denver, Colorado, and the Armed 
Forces Radiobiological Institute in Bethesda, Maryland for its research 
reactor. This exemption was initially codified in the July 20, 1993 (58 
FR 38695) final fee rule at Sec. 171.11(a) and more recently in the 
March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12543) final rule at Sec. 171.11(a)(2). The NRC 
intends to continue to grant exemptions from the annual fee to those 
Federally owned research and test reactors who meet the exemption 
criteria specified in Sec. 171.11. The NRC is amending 
Sec. 171.11(a)(2) to exempt from annual fees the research reactor owned 
by the Rhode Island Atomic Energy Commission.
    Section 171.16 Annual fees: Materials Licensees, Holders of 
Certificates of Compliance, Holders of Sealed Source and Device 
Registrations, Holders of Quality Assurance Program Approvals, and 
Government agencies licensed by the NRC.
    Sec. 171.16(c) covers the fees assessed for those licensees that 
can qualify as small entities under NRC size standards. Currently, the 
NRC assesses two fees for licensees that qualify as small entities 
under the NRC's size standards. In general, licensees with gross annual 
receipts of $250,000 to $3.5 million pay a maximum annual fee of $1,800 
per licensed category. A second or lower-tier small entity fee of $400 
is in place for licensees with gross annual receipts of less than 
$250,000 and small governmental jurisdictions with a population of less 
than 20,000. Although the amounts of the small entity fees have not 
changed for FY 1994, they are being published for purposes of 
convenience.
    Paragraph (d) is revised to reflect the FY 1994 budgeted costs for 
materials licensees, including Government agencies, licensed by the 
NRC. These fees are necessary to recover the FY 1994 generic costs 
totalling $63.7 million that apply to fuel facilities, uranium recovery 
facilities, spent fuel facilities, holders of transportation 
certificates and QA program approvals, and other materials licensees, 
including holders of sealed source and device registrations.
    Fee Category 2 is amended by establishing two new fee categories 
2.A.(3) and 2.A.(4) relating to the disposal of Section 11e.(2) 
byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act. The current 
4.D. category has been eliminated. This action recognizes that (1) part 
of the budgeted costs for the uranium recovery class of licensees 
should be allocated to source material licenses that authorize receipt 
and disposal of 11e.(2) material because some of these budgeted 
resources are used to regulate these licensees and (2) a further 
distinction should be made between those licenses whose primary purpose 
is to authorize disposal of 11e.(2) byproduct material requiring the 
establishment of a new mill tailings pile for disposal of 11e.(2) 
material and those non-operating mills that accept 11e.(2) byproduct 
material for disposal incidental to tailings piles created by mill 
operations.
    In addition, Fee Category 18 is amended to assess fees to the 
Department of Energy (DOE) for use of the general license provided 
under 10 CFR 40.27. Currently, DOE is billed for the issuance of 
transportation Certificates of Compliance. The general license fulfills 
a requirement of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 
1978 (UMTRCA) (Public Law 95-604) that the perpetual custodian of 
reclaimed uranium mill tailings piles be licensed by the NRC. The 
Sec. 40.27 general license covers only post-reclamation closure custody 
and site surveillance. In September 1993, DOE became a general licensee 
of the NRC because post-reclamation closure of the Spook, Wyoming site 
had been achieved. Because DOE now holds an NRC license, it is subject 
to annual fees. The NRC had previously indicated its intent in the FY 
1991 final fee rule to bill DOE for UMTRCA costs once post-closure was 
achieved and the sites were licensed by the Government (56 FR 31481; 
July 10, 1991). As a result, DOE will be billed for the costs 
associated with NRC's UMTRCA review of all activities associated with 
the facilities assigned to DOE under UMTRCA. As with other licensees, 
the annual fee for this class of licensees (DOE UMTRCA facilities) will 
recover the generic and other regulatory costs not recovered through 10 
CFR Part 170 fees. Because DOE, as a Federal agency, cannot be assessed 
Part 170 fees under the IOAA, the NRC will assess annual fees for the 
total costs of DOE UMTRCA activities to DOE.
    Tables VI and VII show the NRC program elements and resources that 
are attributable to fuel facilities and materials users, respectively. 
The costs attributable to the uranium recovery class of licensees are 
those associated with uranium recovery research, licensing and 
inspection. For transportation, the costs are those budgeted for 
transportation research, licensing, and inspection. Similarly, the 
budgeted costs for spent fuel storage are those for spent fuel storage 
research, licensing, and inspection.

                   Table VI.--Allocation of NRC FY 1994 Budget to Fuel Facility Base Fees\1\                    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                          Total program       Allocated to fuel 
                                                                            element               facility      
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
                                                                       Program               Program            
                                                                       support      FTE      support      FTE   
                                                                        $, K                  $, K              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           NMLL (Research)                                                                      
                                                                                                                
Radiation Protection/Health Effects.................................     $1,575        5.3       $315        1.1
Environmental Policy and Decommissioning............................      2,410        9.0        241         .9
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    NMLL (RES) program total........................................                              556        2.0
                                                                     ===========================================
                                                                                                                
                             NMLL (NMSS)                                                                        
                                                                                                                
Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards....................................     $4,783       85.8     $2,432       57.1
Event Evaluation....................................................          0       14.9          0        4.2
Decommissioning.....................................................      2,215       30.8        309       10.5
Uranium Recovery (Dam Safety).......................................        250        7.6          3          0
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    NMLL (NMSS) program total.......................................                            2,744       71.8
                                                                     ===========================================
                                                                                                                
                            NMLL (MSIRIE)                                                                       
                                                                                                                
Incident Response...................................................        186        6.0          0        1.0
Enforcement.........................................................         10        6.8          0        1.2
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    NMLL MSIRIE program total.......................................                                0        2.2
                                                                     ===========================================
        Total NMLL..................................................                           $3,300       76.0
                                                                     ===========================================
    Total base fee amount allocated to fuel facilities (million\2\).                                       $20.8
    Less part 170 fuel facility fees (million)......................                                         4.0
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
        Part 171 base fees for fuel facilities (million)............                                       $16.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the fuel facility class of licensees. The base fee does   
  not include costs allocated to fuel facilities for policy reasons.                                            
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE and adding the program support funds.


                    Table VII.--Allocation of FY 1994 Budget to Material Users' Base Fees\1\                    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                          Total program         Allocated to    
                                                                            element           materials users   
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
                                                                       Program               Program            
                                                                       support      FTE      support      FTE   
                                                                        $, K                  $, K              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           NMLL (Research)                                                                      
                                                                                                                
Materials licensee performance......................................       $450        1.2       $405        1.1
Materials regulatory standards......................................      1,495       12.2      1,346       11.0
Radiation protection/health effects.................................      1,575        5.3      1,134        3.8
Environmental policy and decommissioning............................      2,410        9.0      1,085        4.1
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    Total NMLL (RES)................................................                            3,970       20.0
                                                                     ===========================================
                                                                                                                
                             NMLL (NMSS)                                                                        
                                                                                                                
Licensing/inspection of materials users.............................       $965      109.3       $869       99.5
Event evaluation....................................................  .........       16.2  .........       11.4
Information technology..............................................      1,100  .........         89  .........
Decommissioning.....................................................      2,215       30.8      1,707       12.0
Low level waste--on site disposal...................................        592       14.3         71        2.3
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    Total NMLL (NMSS)...............................................                            2,736      125.2
                                                                     ===========================================
                                                                                                                
                            NMLL (MSIRIE)                                                                       
                                                                                                                
Analysis and evaluation of operational data.........................       $186        6.0       $167        4.5
Office of Investigations............................................  .........        7.0  .........        6.3
Office of Enforcement...............................................         10        6.8          9        5.0
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
    Total NMLL Program..............................................                            6,882      161.0
                                                                     ===========================================
    Base amount allocated to materials users (million\2\)...........                                       $44.1
    Less part 170 material users fees (million).....................                                         5.5
                                                                     -------------------------------------------
        PART 171 base fees for material users (million).............                                        38.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the materials class of licensees. The base fee does not   
  include costs allocated to materials licensees for policy reasons.                                            
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE and adding the program support funds.

     The allocation of the NRC's $16.8 million in budgeted costs to the 
individual fuel facilities is based, as in FYs 1991-1993, primarily on 
the OBRA-90 conferees' guidance that licensees who require the greatest 
expenditure of NRC resources should pay the greatest annual fee. 
Because the two high-enriched fuel manufacturing facilities possess 
strategic quantities of nuclear materials, more NRC safeguards costs 
(e.g., physical security) are attributable to these facilities. 
Likewise, more of the safety licensing and inspection costs are 
allocated to the HEU facilities because more of these resources are 
used for HEU facilities as compared to other facilities. However, 
safety program assessment and safety event evaluation costs for fuel 
facilities are uniformly allocated to HEU and LEU facilities because 
these activities apply equally to each of the HEU and LEU facilities.
    Using this approach, the base annual fee for each facility is shown 
below. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Annual fee-- 
                   Type of facility                       safeguards and
                                                              safety    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High enriched fuel:                                                     
    Nuclear Fuel Services..............................      $3,176,000 
    Babcock and Wilcox.................................       3,176,000 
                                                        ----------------
      Subtotal.........................................       6,352,000 
                                                        ================
Low enriched fuel:                                                      
    Siemens Nuclear Power..............................      $1,429,000 
    Babcock and Wilcox.................................       1,429,000 
    General Electric...................................       1,429,000 
    Westinghouse.......................................       1,429,000 
    Combustion Engineering (Hematite)..................       1,429,000 
    General Atomics....................................       1,429,000 
                                                        ----------------
      Subtotal.........................................       8,574,000 
                                                        ================
UF6 conversion:                                                         
    Allied-Signal Corp.................................      $1,114,000 
    Other fuel facilities (3 facilities at $254,000                     
     each).............................................         762,000 
                                                        ----------------
      Total............................................      16,802,000 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    One of Combustion Engineering's (CE) low enriched fuel facilities 
has not been included in the fee base because of the D.C. Circuit Court 
of Appeals' decision of March 16, 1993, directing the NRC to grant an 
exemption for FY 1991 to Combustion Engineering for one of its two 
facilities. As a result of the Court's decision, the NRC granted an 
exemption to one of CE's low enriched uranium fuel facilities for FY 
1994. The NRC has therefore excluded this facility from the calculation 
of the FY 1994 annual fees for the low enriched fuel category.
    Of the $2.1 million attributable to the uranium recovery class of 
licensees, about $1.5 million will be assessed to the Department of 
Energy (DOE) to recover the costs associated with DOE facilities under 
the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA). These 
costs were previously recovered from operating power reactors because 
DOE was not an NRC licensee prior to September 1993 and therefore could 
not be billed under 10 CFR Part 171. In September 1993, DOE became a 
general licensee of the NRC because post-reclamation closure of the 
Spook, Wyoming site had been achieved. Approximately 44 percent of the 
remaining costs of $639,000 for uranium recovery is attributable to 
uranium mills (Class I facilities) and facilities that dispose of 
11e.(2) byproduct materials, approximately 39 percent is attributable 
to those solution mining licensees who do not generate uranium mill 
tailings (Class II facilities), and the remaining 17 percent is 
allocated to the other uranium recovery facilities (e.g., extraction of 
metals and rare earths). The resulting annual fees for each class of 
licensee are:

 2.A.(2)--Class I facilities: $74,500
2.A.(2)--Class II facilities: $41,200
2.A.(2)--Other facilities: $36,200
2.A.(3)--11e.(2) disposal: $67,000
2.A.(4)--11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings site: $8,700

    The annual fees for FY 1994 for the uranium recovery class of 
licensees are less than the FY 1992 fees and are higher than the FY 
1993 annual fees. The total amount of fees that must be recovered from 
uranium recovery commercial licensees has decreased by about 10 percent 
compared to FY 1993; however, the annual fee per facility has increased 
for two basic reasons. First, the amount that is expected to be 
recovered through part 170 fees has decreased as a result of completing 
the licensing of the Envirocare 11e.(2) byproduct disposal facility. 
This requires relatively more costs to be recovered through annual 
fees. The second cause of the increase is a decrease in the number of 
licensees in the class to be assessed annual fees for FY 1994.
    For spent fuel storage licenses, the generic costs of $2.2 million 
have been spread uniformly among those licensees who hold specific or 
general licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel at an ISFSI. 
This results in an annual fee of $363,500. This represents a fee 
increase compared to FY 1993 in order to recover the increased budget 
necessary to perform rulemakings and the regulatory oversight over the 
increased number of licensees.
    To equitably and fairly allocate the $38.6 million attributable to 
the approximately 6,500 diverse material users and registrants, the NRC 
has continued to base the annual fee on the Part 170 application and 
inspection fees. Because the application and inspection fees are 
indicative of the complexity of the license, this approach continues to 
provide a proxy for allocating the costs to the diverse categories of 
licensees based on how much it costs NRC to regulate each category. The 
fee calculation also continues to consider the inspection frequency, 
which is indicative of the safety risk and resulting regulatory costs 
associated with the categories of licensees. In summary, the annual fee 
for these categories of licenses is developed as follows:
    Annual Fee=(Application Fee+Inspection Fee/Inspection 
Priority)xConstant+(Unique Category Costs).
    The constant is the multiple necessary to recover $38.6 million and 
is 2.6 for FY 1994. The unique costs are any special costs that the NRC 
has budgeted for a specific category of licensees. For FY 1994, unique 
costs of approximately $2.6 million were identified for the medical 
improvement program which is attributable to medical licensees. 
Materials annual fees for FY 1994 are 13 to 17 percent higher compared 
to the FY 1993 annual fees. There are two basic reasons for the changes 
in the fees from FY 1993. First, the FY 1994 budgeted amount 
attributable to materials licensees is about 10 percent higher than the 
comparable FY 1993 to reflect the cost necessary to regulate this class 
of licensees and the direct allocation of certain budgeted costs as 
opposed to including them in the hourly rate. Second, the number of 
licensees to be assessed annual fees in FY 1994 has decreased (from 
about 6,800 to about 6,500), resulting in a 4 percent increase in fees. 
The materials fees must be established at these levels in order to 
comply with the mandate of OBRA-90 to recover approximately 100 percent 
of the NRC's FY 1994 budget authority.
    A materials licensee may pay a reduced annual fee if the licensee 
qualifies as a small entity under the NRC's size standards and 
certifies that it is a small entity using NRC Form 526.
     To recover the $4.0 million attributable to the transportation 
class of licensees, $923,000 will be assessed to the Department of 
Energy (DOE) to cover all of its transportation casks under Category 
18. The remaining transportation costs for generic activities ($3.1 
million) are allocated to holders of approved QA plans. The annual fee 
for approved QA plans is $64,700 for users and fabricators and $900 for 
users only.
    The amount or range of the FY 1994 base annual fees for all 
materials licensees is summarized as follows: 

               Materials Licenses Base Annual Fee Ranges                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Category of license                      Annual fees            
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 70--High enriched fuel........  $3.2 million.                      
Part 70--Low enriched fuel.........  $1.4 million.                      
Part 40--UF6 conversion............  $1.1 million.                      
Part 40--Uranium recovery..........  $36,200 to $74,500.                
Part 30--Byproduct material........  $970 to $30,900\1\.                
Part 71--Transportation of           $900 to $64,700.                   
 radioactive material.                                                  
Part 72--Independent storage of      $363,500.                          
 spent nuclear fuel.                                                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Excludes the annual fee for a few military ``master'' materials      
  licenses of broad-scope issued to Government agencies, which is       
  $430,500.                                                             

    Paragraph (e) is amended to establish the additional charge to be 
added to the base annual fees shown in paragraph (d) of this final 
rule. The Commission is continuing the approach used in FY 1993 so as 
to assess the budgeted low-level waste (LLW) costs to two broad 
categories of licensees (large LLW generators and small LLW generators) 
based on historical disposal data. This surcharge continues to be 
shown, for convenience, with the applicable categories in paragraph 
(d). Although these NRC LLW disposal regulatory activities are not 
directly attributable to regulation of NRC materials licensees, the 
costs nevertheless must be recovered in order to comply with the 
requirements of OBRA-90. For FY 1994, the additional charge recovers 
approximately 18 percent of the NRC budgeted costs of $8.1 million 
relating to LLW disposal generic activities from small generators, 
which are comprised of materials licensees that dispose of LLW. The 
percentage distribution reflects the deletion of LLW disposed by 
Agreement State licensees. The FY 1994 budgeted costs related to the 
additional charge for LLW and the amount of the charge are calculated 
as follows: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 1994  
                                                               budgeted 
                     Category of costs                       costs ($ in
                                                              millions) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee              
 or class of licensee, i.e., LLW disposal generic                       
 activities................................................         $8.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Of the $8.1 million in budgeted costs shown above for LLW 
activities, 82 percent of the amount ($6.7 million) are allocated to 
the 120 large waste generators (reactors and fuel facilities) included 
in 10 CFR Part 171. This results in an additional charge of $55,600 per 
facility. Thus, the LLW charge will be $55,600 per HEU, LEU, UF6 
facility, and each of the other 3 fuel facilities. The remaining $1.4 
million is allocated to the material licensees in categories that 
generate low level waste (965 licensees) as follows: $1,500 per 
materials license except for those in Category 17. Those licensees that 
generate a significant amount of low level waste for purposes of the 
calculation of the $1,500 surcharge are in fee Categories 1.B, 1.D, 
2.C, 3.A, 3.B, 3.C, 3.L, 3.M, 3.N, 4.A, 4.B, 4.C, 5.B, 6.A, and 7.B. 
The surcharge for licenses in fee Category 17, which also generate and/
or dispose of low level waste, is $22,800.
    Of the $6.3 million not recovered from small entities, $1.0 million 
is allocated to fuel facilities and other materials licensees. This 
results in a surcharge of $170 per category for each fuel facility and 
materials licensee that is not eligible for the small entity fee.
    On the basis of this calculation, a fuel facility (a high enriched 
fuel fabrication licensee, for example) pays a base annual fee of 
$3,176,000 and an additional charge of $55,770 for LLW activities and 
small entity costs. A medical center with a broad-scope program pays a 
base annual fee of $30,900 and an additional charge of $1,670, for a 
total FY 1994 annual fee of $32,570.
Section 171.17  Proration
    10 CFR 171.17 is amended to add a proration provision for materials 
licenses and to revise the provision for reactors. The annual fee for 
materials licenses would be prorated based on applications filed after 
October 1 of the fiscal year either to terminate a license or obtain a 
POL. Those materials licensees who file applications between October 1 
and March 31 of the fiscal year to terminate the license or obtain a 
POL will be assessed one-half the annual fee stated in Sec. 171.16(d) 
for the affected fee category(ies). Those materials licensees who file 
applications on or after April 1 of the fiscal year to terminate a 
license or obtain a POL will be assessed the full annual fee for that 
fiscal year. Those licensees who file for termination or a POL must 
also permanently cease operations of those licensed activities during 
the periods mentioned for the fee to be reduced. Similarly, materials 
licensees who were issued new licenses during the fiscal year will be 
charged a prorated annual fee based on the date of issuance of the new 
license. New materials licenses issued during the period October 1 
through March 31 will be assessed one-half of the annual fee stated in 
Sec. 171.16(d) for the applicable fee categories for that fiscal year. 
New licenses issued on or after April 1 of the fiscal year will not be 
assessed the annual fee for that fiscal year.
    The proration provision in Sec. 171.17 applicable to reactors is 
amended to provide that for licensees who have requested a license 
amendment to withdraw operating authority permanently during the FY the 
annual fee will be prorated based on the number of days during the FY 
the operating license was in effect before the possession-only license 
was issued or the license was terminated.
    Footnote 1 of 10 CFR 171.16(d) is amended to provide for waiver of 
the annual fees for those materials licensees, and holders of 
certificates, registrations, and approvals who either filed for 
termination of their licenses or approvals or filed for possession 
only/storage only licenses before October 1, 1993, and permanently 
ceased licensed activities entirely by September 30, 1993. All other 
licensees and approval holders who held a license or approval on 
October 1, 1993 are subject to the FY 1994 annual fees.
Section 171.19  Payment
    This section is revised to give credit for partial payments made by 
certain licensees in FY 1994 toward their FY 1994 annual fees. The NRC 
anticipates that the first, second, and third quarterly payments for FY 
1994 will have been made by operating power reactor licensees and some 
materials licensees before the final rule is effective. Therefore, NRC 
will credit payments received for those three quarters toward the total 
annual fee to be assessed. The NRC will adjust the fourth quarterly 
bill in order to recover the full amount of the revised annual fee or 
to make refunds, as necessary. As in FY 1993, payment of the annual fee 
is due on the effective date of the rule and interest accrues from the 
effective date of the rule. However, interest will be waived if payment 
is received within 30 days from the effective date of the rule.
    During the past three years many licensees have indicated that 
although they held a valid NRC license authorizing the possession and 
use of special nuclear, source, or byproduct material, they were in 
fact either not using the material to conduct operations or had 
disposed of the material and no longer needed the license. In 
responding to licensees about this matter, the NRC has stated that 
annual fees are assessed based on whether a licensee holds a valid NRC 
license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive material. 
Whether or not a licensee is actually conducting operations using the 
material is a matter of licensee discretion. The NRC cannot control 
whether a licensee elects to possess and use radioactive material once 
it receives a license from the NRC. Therefore, the NRC reemphasizes 
that the annual fee will be assessed based on whether a licensee holds 
a valid NRC license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive 
material. To remove any uncertainty, the NRC issued minor clarifying 
amendments to 10 CFR 171.16, footnotes 1 and 7 on July 20, 1993 (58 FR 
38700).

V. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion

    The NRC has determined that this final rule is the type of action 
described in categorical exclusion 10 CFR 51.22(c)(1). Therefore, 
neither an environmental impact statement nor an environmental impact 
assessment has been prepared for the final regulation.

VI. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    This final rule contains no information collection requirements 
and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

VII. Regulatory Analysis

    With respect to 10 CFR Part 170, this final rule was developed 
pursuant to Title V of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 
1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 9701) and the Commission's fee guidelines. When 
developing these guidelines the Commission took into account guidance 
provided by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 4, 1974, in its decision of 
National Cable Television Association, Inc. v. United States, 415 U.S. 
36 (1974) and Federal Power Commission v. New England Power Company, 
415 U.S. 345 (1974). In these decisions, the Court held that the IOAA 
authorizes an agency to charge fees for special benefits rendered to 
identifiable persons measured by the ``value to the recipient'' of the 
agency service. The meaning of the IOAA was further clarified on 
December 16, 1976, by four decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia, National Cable Television Association v. 
Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1094 (D.C. Cir. 1976); 
National Association of Broadcasters v. Federal Communications 
Commission, 554 F.2d 1118 (D.C. Cir. 1976); Electronic Industries 
Association v. Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1109 (D.C. 
Cir. 1976) and Capital Cities Communication, Inc. v. Federal 
Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1135 (D.C. Cir. 1976). These 
decisions of the Courts enabled the Commission to develop fee 
guidelines that are still used for cost recovery and fee development 
purposes.
    The Commission's fee guidelines were upheld on August 24, 1979, by 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Mississippi Power 
and Light Co. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 601 F.2d 223 (5th 
Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1102 (1980). The Court held that--
    (1) The NRC had the authority to recover the full cost of providing 
services to identifiable beneficiaries;
    (2) The NRC could properly assess a fee for the costs of providing 
routine inspections necessary to ensure a licensee's compliance with 
the Atomic Energy Act and with applicable regulations;
    (3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting 
environmental reviews required by NEPA;
    (4) The NRC properly included the costs of uncontested hearings and 
of administrative and technical support services in the fee schedule;
    (5) The NRC could assess a fee for renewing a license to operate a 
low-level radioactive waste burial site; and
    (6) The NRC's fees were not arbitrary or capricious.
    With respect to 10 CFR Part 171, on November 5, 1990, the Congress 
passed Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1990 (OBRA-90) which required that for FYs 1991 through 1995, 
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget authority be recovered 
through the assessment of fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to extend 
the 100 percent fee recovery requirement for NRC through 1998. To 
accomplish this statutory requirement, the NRC, in accordance with 
Sec. 171.13, is publishing the final amount of the FY 1994 annual fees 
for operating reactor licensees, fuel cycle licensees, materials 
licensees, and holders of Certificates of Compliance, registrations of 
sealed source and devices and QA program approvals, and Government 
agencies. OBRA-90 and the Conference Committee Report specifically 
state that--
    (1) The annual fees be based on the Commission's FY 1994 budget of 
$535.0 million less the amounts collected from Part 170 fees and the 
funds directly appropriated from the NWF to cover the NRC's high level 
waste program;
    (2) The annual fees shall, to the maximum extent practicable, have 
a reasonable relationship to the cost of regulatory services provided 
by the Commission; and
    (3) The annual fees be assessed to those licensees the Commission, 
in its discretion, determines can fairly, equitably, and practicably 
contribute to their payment.
    Therefore, when developing the annual fees for operating power 
reactors, the NRC continued to consider the various reactor vendors, 
the types of containment, and the location of the operating power 
reactors. The annual fees for fuel cycle licensees, materials 
licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations and approvals and 
for licenses issued to Government agencies take into account the type 
of facility or approval and the classes of the licensees.
    10 CFR Part 171, which established annual fees for operating power 
reactors effective October 20, 1986 (51 FR 33224; September 18, 1986), 
was challenged and upheld in its entirety in Florida Power and Light 
Company v. United States, 846 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 
490 U.S. 1045 (1989).
    10 CFR Parts 170 and 171, which established fees based on the FY 
1989 budget, were also legally challenged. As a result of the Supreme 
Court decision in Skinner v. Mid-American Pipeline Co., 109 S. Ct. 1726 
(1989), and the denial of certiorari in Florida Power and Light, all of 
the lawsuits were withdrawn.
    The NRC's FY 1991 annual fee rule was largely upheld by the D.C. 
Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied-Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (D.C. 
Cir. 1993).

VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    The NRC is required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1990 to recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority 
through the assessment of user fees. OBRA-90 further requires that the 
NRC establish a schedule of charges that fairly and equitably allocates 
the aggregate amount of these charges among licensees.
    This final rule establishes the schedules of fees that are 
necessary to implement the Congressional mandate for FY 1994. The final 
rule results in an increase in the fees charged to most licensees, and 
holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals, including those 
licensees who are classified as small entities under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act. The Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, prepared in 
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 604, is included as Appendix A to this final 
rule.

IX. Backfit Analysis

    The NRC has determined that the backfit rule, 10 CFR 50.109, does 
not apply to this final rule and that a backfit analysis is not 
required for this final rule. The backfit analysis is not required 
because these final amendments do not require the modification of or 
additions to systems, structures, components, or design of a facility 
or the design approval or manufacturing license for a facility or the 
procedures or organization required to design, construct or operate a 
facility.

List of Subjects

10 CFR Part 170

    Byproduct material, Import and export licenses, Intergovernmental 
relations, Non-payment penalties, Nuclear materials, Nuclear power 
plants and reactors, Source material, Special nuclear material.

10 CFR Part 171

    Annual charges, Byproduct material, Holders of certificates, 
Registrations, Approvals, Intergovernmental relations, Non-payment 
penalties, Nuclear materials, Nuclear power plants and reactors, Source 
material, Special nuclear material.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and 5 U.S.C. 552 and 553, 
the NRC is adopting the following amendments to 10 CFR Parts 170, and 
171.

PART 170--FEES FOR FACILITIES, MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT 
LICENSES, AND OTHER REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE ATOMIC ENERGY ACT 
OF 1954, AS AMENDED

    1. The authority citation for Part 170 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701, 96 Stat. 1051; sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-
314, 86 Stat. 222 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-4381, 88 
Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 205, Pub. L. 101-576, 
104 Stat. 2842, (31 U.S.C. 901).

    2. In Sec. 170.3, the definition special projects is revised to 
read as follows:


Sec. 170.3   Definitions.

* * * * *
    Special projects means those requests submitted to the Commission 
for review for which fees are not otherwise specified in this chapter. 
Examples of special projects include, but are not limited to, topical 
and other report reviews, early site reviews, waste solidification 
facilities, route approvals for shipment of radioactive materials, and 
services provided to certify licensee, vendor, or other private 
industry personnel as instructors for Part 55 reactor operators. As 
used in this part, special projects does not include requests/reports 
submitted to the NRC:
    (1) In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin which does not 
result in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of 
an alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the 
Generic Letter, or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;
    (2) In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director 
level or above) to resolve an identified safety, safeguards or 
environmental issue, or to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory 
guide, policy statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or
    (3) As a means of exchanging information between industry 
organizations and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic 
regulatory improvements or efforts.
* * * * *
    3. In Sec. 170.11, a new paragraph (a)(9) is added to read as 
follows:


Sec. 170.11   Exemptions.

    (a) * * *
    (9) State-owned research reactors used primarily for educational 
training and academic research purposes. For purposes of this 
exemption, the term research reactor means a nuclear reactor that--
    (i) Is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 
104c. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2134(c)) for 
operation at a thermal power level of 10 megawatts or less; and
    (ii) If so licensed for operation at a thermal power level or more 
than 1 megawatt, does not contain--
    (A) A circulating loop through the core in which the licensee 
conducts fuel experiments;
    (B) A liquid fuel loading; or
    (C) An experimental facility in the core in excess of 16 square 
inches in cross-section.
* * * * *
    4. Section 170.20 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 170.20   Average cost per professional staff-hour.

    Fees for permits, licenses, amendments, renewals, special projects, 
Part 55 requalification and replacement examinations and tests, other 
required reviews, approvals, and inspections under Secs. 170.21 and 
170.31 that are based upon the full costs for the review or inspection 
will be calculated using a professional staff-hour rate equivalent to 
the sum of the average cost to the agency for a professional staff 
member, including salary and benefits, administrative support, travel, 
and certain program support. The professional staff-hour rate for the 
NRC based on the FY 1994 budget is $133 per hour.

    5. In Sec. 170.21, the introductory paragraph, Category J, Category 
K, and footnotes 1 and 2 to the table are revised and a new footnote 4 
is added to read as follows:


Sec. 170.21   Schedule of fees for production and utilization 
facilities, review of standard referenced design approvals, special 
projects, inspections, and import and export licenses.

    Applicants for construction permits, manufacturing licenses, 
operating licenses, import and export licenses, approvals of facility 
standard reference designs, requalification and replacement 
examinations for reactor operators, and special projects and holders of 
construction permits, licenses, and other approvals shall pay fees for 
the following categories of services.

                        Schedule of Facility Fees                       
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Facility categories and type of fees              Fees\1\ \2\    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
                              * * * * * * *                             
J. Special Projects:\4\                                                 
    Approvals and preapplication/licensing          Full Cost.          
     activities.                                                        
    Inspections\3\................................  Full Cost.          
K. Import and export licenses:                                          
  Licenses for the import and export only of                            
   production and utilization facilities or the                         
   import and export only of components for                             
   production and utilization facilities issued                         
   pursuant to 10 CFR part 110.                                         
    1. Application for import or export of                              
     reactors and other facilities and components                       
     which must be reviewed by the Commission and                       
     the Executive Branch, for example, actions                         
     under 10 CFR 110.40(b).                                            
        Application-new license...................  $8,600              
        Amendment.................................  $8,600              
    2. Application for import or export of reactor                      
     components and initial exports of other                            
     equipment requiring Executive Branch review                        
     only, for example, those actions under 10 CFR                      
     110.41(a)(1)-(8).                                                  
        Application-new license...................  $5,300              
        Amendment.................................  $5,300              
    3. Application for export of components                             
     requiring foreign government assurances only.                      
        Application-new license...................  $3,300              
        Amendment.................................  $3,300              
    4. Application for export or import of other                        
     facility components and equipment not                              
     requiring Commission review, Executive Branch                      
     review, or foreign government assurances.                          
        Application-new license...................  $1,300              
        Amendment.................................  $1,300              
    5. Minor amendment of any export or import                          
     license to extend the expiration date, change                      
     domestic information, or make other revisions                      
     which do not require analysis or review.                           
        Amendment.................................  $130                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
  to Sec. 2.202 of this chapter or for amendments resulting specifically
  from the requirements of these types of Commission orders. Fees will  
  be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision  
  of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
  Regulations (e.g. Secs. 50.12, 73.5) and any other sections now or    
  hereafter in effect regardless of whether the approval is in the form 
  of a license amendment, letter of approval, safety evaluation report, 
  or other form. Fees for licenses in this schedule that are initially  
  issued for less than full power are based on review through the       
  issuance of a full power license (generally full power is considered  
  100 percent of the facility's full rated power). Thus, if a licensee  
  received a low power license or a temporary license for less than full
  power and subsequently receives full power authority (by way of       
  license amendment or otherwise), the total costs for the license will 
  be determined through that period when authority is granted for full  
  power operation. If a situation arises in which the Commission        
  determines that full operating power for a particular facility should 
  be less than 100 percent of full rated power, the total costs for the 
  license will be at that determined lower operating power level and not
  at the 100 percent capacity.                                          
\2\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff    
  time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For       
  applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
  on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
  expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
  this rule will be determined at the professional rates established for
  the rules that became effective on June 20, 1984, January 30, 1989,   
  July 2, 1990, August 9, 1991, August 24, 1992, and August 19, 1993, as
  appropriate. For those applications currently on file for which review
  costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling established by the June  
  20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules but are still pending completion of 
  the review, the cost incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached
  through January 29, 1989, will not be billed to the applicant. Any    
  professional staff-hours expended above those ceilings on or after    
  January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the applicable rates established
  by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except for topical reports whose costs
  exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed $50,000 for any topical report,    
  amendment, revision or supplement to a topical report completed or    
  under review from January 30, 1989, through August 8, 1991, will not  
  be billed to the applicant. Any professional hours expended on or     
  after August 9, 1991, will be assessed at the applicable rate         
  established in Sec. 170.20. In no event will the total review costs be
  less than twice the hourly rate shown in Sec. 170.20.                 
* * * * * * *                                                           
\4\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC: 
1. In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result 
  in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an   
  alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
  Letter, or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;               
2. In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director level
  or above) to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or             
  environmental issue, or to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory
  guide, policy statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or              
3. As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations  
  and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory          
  improvements or efforts.                                              

    6. Section 170.31 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 170.31  Schedule of fees for materials licenses and other 
regulatory services, including inspections, and import and export 
licenses.

    Applicants for materials licenses, import and export licenses, and 
other regulatory services and holders of materials licenses, or import 
and export licenses shall pay fees for the following categories of 
services. This schedule includes fees for health and safety and 
safeguards inspections where applicable.

                       Schedule of Materials Fees                       
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of materials licenses and type of fees\1\       Fee\2\,\3\     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Special nuclear material:                                            
    A. Licenses for possession and use of 200                           
     grams or more of plutonium in unsealed form                        
     or 350 grams or more of contained U-235 in                         
     unsealed form or 200 grams or more of U-233                        
     in unsealed form. This includes applications                       
     to terminate licenses as well as licenses                          
     authorizing possession only:                                       
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent                        
     fuel at an independent spent fuel storage                          
     installation (ISFSI):                                              
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special                       
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained                       
     in devices used in industrial measuring                            
     systems, including x-ray fluorescence                              
     analyzers:\4\                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $570.               
        Renewal...................................  $680.               
        Amendment.................................  $360.               
        Inspections...............................  $670.               
    D. All other special nuclear material                               
     licenses, except licenses authorizing special                      
     nuclear material in unsealed form in                               
     combination that would constitute a critical                       
     quantity, as defined in Sec. 150.11 of this                        
     chapter, for which the licensee shall pay the                      
     same fees as those for Category 1A:\4\                             
        Application--New license..................  $600.               
        Renewal...................................  $430.               
        Amendment.................................  $330.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,200.             
    E. Licenses for construction and operation of                       
     a uranium enrichment facility.                                     
        Application...............................  $125,000.           
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
2. Source material:                                                     
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of                            
     source material in recovery operations such                        
     as milling, in-situ leaching, heap-leaching,                       
     refining uranium mill concentrates to uranium                      
     hexafluoride, ore buying stations, ion                             
     exchange facilities and in processing of ores                      
     containing source material for extraction of                       
     metals other than uranium or thorium,                              
     including licenses authorizing the possession                      
     of byproduct waste material (tailings) from                        
     source material recovery operations, as well                       
     as licenses authorizing the possession and                         
     maintenance of a facility in a standby mode:                       
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    A.(2) Licenses that authorize the receipt,                          
     from other persons, of byproduct material as                       
     defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic                           
     Energy Act for possession and disposal except                      
     those licenses subject to fees in Category                         
     2.A.(1).                                                           
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    A.(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt,                          
     from other persons, of byproduct material as                       
     defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic                           
     Energy Act for possession and disposal                             
     incidental to the disposal of the uranium                          
     waste tailings generated by the licensee's                         
     milling operations, except those licenses                          
     subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(1).                           
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses which authorize only the                                
     possession, use and/or installation of source                      
     material for shielding:                                            
        Application--New license..................  $230.               
        Renewal...................................  $160.               
        Amendment.................................  $270.               
        Inspections...............................  $560.               
    C. All other source material licenses:                              
        Application--New license..................  $2,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $450.               
        Inspections...............................  $2,500.             
3. Byproduct material:                                                  
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and                       
     use of byproduct material issued pursuant to                       
     Parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for                                
     processing or manufacturing of items                               
     containing byproduct material for commercial                       
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $2,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,700.             
        Amendment.................................  $470.               
        Inspections...............................  $9,800.\5\          
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 30                      
     of this chapter for processing or                                  
     manufacturing of items containing byproduct                        
     material for commercial distribution:                              
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,200.             
        Amendment.................................  $600.               
        Inspections...............................  $3,000.\5\          
    C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72,                         
     32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter                                
     authorizing the processing or manufacturing                        
     and distribution or redistribution of                              
     radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent                          
     kits and/or sources and devices containing                         
     byproduct material:                                                
        Application--New license..................  $3,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $3,000.             
        Amendment.................................  $490.               
        Inspections...............................   $3,400.            
    D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to                        
     Secs. 32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this                           
     chapter authorizing distribution or                                
     redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals,                            
     generators, reagent kits and/or sources or                         
     devices not involving processing of byproduct                      
     material:                                                          
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $550.               
        Amendment.................................  $370.               
        Inspections...............................  $3,000.             
    E. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material in sealed sources for                           
     irradiation of materials in which the source                       
     is not removed from its shield (self-shielded                      
     units):                                                            
        Application--New license..................  $930.               
        Renewal...................................  $760.               
        Amendment.................................  $330.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,200.             
    F. Licenses for possession and use of less                          
     than 10,000 curies of byproduct material in                        
     sealed sources for irradiation of materials                        
     in which the source is exposed for                                 
     irradiation purposes. This category also                           
     includes underwater irradiators for                                
     irradiation of materials where the source is                       
     not exposed for irradiation purposes.                              
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,000.             
        Amendment.................................  $330.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,300.             
    G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000                        
     curies or more of byproduct material in                            
     sealed sources for irradiation of materials                        
     in which the source is exposed for                                 
     irradiation purposes. This category also                           
     includes underwater irradiators for                                
     irradiation of materials where the source is                       
     not exposed for irradiation purposes.                              
        Application--New license..................  $5,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $4,800.             
        Amendment.................................  $640.               
        Inspections...............................  $4,100.             
    H. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart A of                         
     Part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material that require                         
     device review to persons exempt from the                           
     licensing requirements of Part 30 of this                          
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons exempt                      
     from the licensing requirements of Part 30 of                      
     this chapter:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $2,400.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $800.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,100.             
    I. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart A of                         
     Part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material or quantities                        
     of byproduct material that do not require                          
     device evaluation to persons exempt from the                       
     licensing requirements of Part 30 of this                          
     chapter, except for specific licenses                              
     authorizing redistribution of items that have                      
     been authorized for distribution to persons                        
     exempt from the licensing requirements of                          
     Part 30 of this chapter:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $4,600.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,700.             
        Amendment.................................  $1,100.             
        Inspections...............................  $1,000.             
    J. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart B of                         
     Part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material that require                         
     sealed source and/or device review to persons                      
     generally licensed under Part 31 of this                           
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons                             
     generally licensed under Part 31 of this                           
     chapter:                                                           
        Application--New license..................  $2,100.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $370.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,800.             
    K. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart B of                         
     Part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material or quantities                        
     of byproduct material that do not require                          
     sealed source and/or device review to persons                      
     generally licensed under Part 31 of this                           
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons                             
     generally licensed under Part 31 of this                           
     chapter:                                                           
        Application--New license..................  $2,000.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $270.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,000.             
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and                       
     use of byproduct material issued pursuant to                       
     Parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for research                       
     and development that do not authorize                              
     commercial distribution:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $4,100.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,200.             
        Amendment.................................  $630.               
        Inspections...............................  $4,700.             
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 30                      
     of this chapter for research and development                       
     that do not authorize commercial                                   
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $1,400.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,500.             
        Amendment.................................  $690.               
        Inspections...............................  $2,200.             
    N. Licenses that authorize services for other                       
     licensees, except (1) licenses that authorize                      
     only calibration and/or leak testing services                      
     are subject to the fees specified in fee                           
     Category 3P, and (2) licenses that authorize                       
     waste disposal services are subject to the                         
     fees specified in fee Categories 4A, 4B, 4C,                       
     and 4D:                                                            
        Application--New license..................  $1,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,100.             
        Amendment.................................  $680.               
        Inspections...............................  $2,400.             
    O. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 34                      
     of this chapter for industrial radiography                         
     operations:                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $3,800.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,900.             
        Amendment.................................  $690.               
        Inspections...............................  $3,500.\5\          
    P. All other specific byproduct material                            
     licenses, except those in Categories 4A                            
     through 9D:                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $570.               
        Renewal...................................  $680.               
        Amendment.................................  $360.               
        Inspections...............................  $1,500.             
4. Waste disposal and processing:                                       
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of waste byproduct material, source                        
     material, or special nuclear material from                         
     other persons for the purpose of contingency                       
     storage or commercial land disposal by the                         
     licensee; or licenses authorizing contingency                      
     storage of low-level radioactive waste at the                      
     site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses                        
     for receipt of waste from other persons for                        
     incineration or other treatment, packaging of                      
     resulting waste and residues, and transfer of                      
     packages to another person authorized to                           
     receive or dispose of waste material:                              
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of waste byproduct material, source                        
     material, or special nuclear material from                         
     other persons for the purpose of packaging or                      
     repackaging the material. The licensee will                        
     dispose of the material by transfer to                             
     another person authorized to receive or                            
     dispose of the material:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $4,000.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,100.             
        Amendment.................................   $430.              
        Inspections...............................  $2,300.             
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of prepackaged waste byproduct                             
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material from other persons. The licensee                          
     will dispose of the material by transfer to                        
     another person authorized to receive or                            
     dispose of the material:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $1,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,100.             
        Amendment.................................  $250.               
        Inspections...............................  $2,800.             
5. Well logging:                                                        
    A. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material, source material, and/or                        
     special nuclear material for well logging,                         
     well surveys, and tracer studies other than                        
     field flooding tracer studies:                                     
        Application--New license..................   $3,700.            
        Renewal...................................  $3,900.             
        Amendment.................................   $650.              
        Inspections...............................  $3,600.             
    B. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material for field flooding tracer                       
     studies:                                                           
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  $1,300.             
6. Nuclear laundries:                                                   
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and                           
     laundry of items contaminated with byproduct                       
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material:                                                          
        Application--New license..................   $4,500.            
        Renewal...................................  $2,900.             
        Amendment.................................   $700.              
        Inspections...............................  $4,500.             
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special                           
 nuclear material:                                                      
    A. Licenses issued pursuant to Parts 30, 35,                        
     40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of                        
     byproduct material, source material, or                            
     special nuclear material in sealed sources                         
     contained in teletherapy devices:                                  
        Application--New license..................   $3,700.            
        Renewal...................................  $1,200.             
        Amendment.................................   $560.              
        Inspections...............................  $2,300.             
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                        
     institutions or two or more physicians                             
     pursuant to Parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of                        
     this chapter authorizing research and                              
     development, including human use of byproduct                      
     material, except licenses for byproduct                            
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material in sealed sources contained in                            
     teletherapy devices:                                               
        Application--New license..................   $2,700.            
        Renewal...................................  $3,500.             
        Amendment.................................   $500.              
        Inspections...............................  $8,700.             
    C. Other licenses issued pursuant to Parts 30,                      
     35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use                       
     of byproduct material, source material, and/                       
     or special nuclear material, except licenses                       
     for byproduct material, source material, or                        
     special nuclear material in sealed sources                         
     contained in teletherapy devices:                                  
        Application--New license..................   $1,100.            
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................   $500.              
        Inspections...............................  $2,100.             
8. Civil defense:                                                       
    A. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material, source material, or                            
     special nuclear material for civil defense                         
     activities:                                                        
        Application--New license..................   $670.              
        Renewal...................................   $700.              
        Amendment.................................  $480.               
        Inspections...............................   $1,100.            
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety                             
 evaluation:                                                            
    A. Safety evaluation of devices or products                         
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material, except                      
     reactor fuel devices, for commercial                               
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--each device..................  $3,700.             
        Amendment--each device....................  $1,300.             
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Safety evaluation of devices or products                         
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material                              
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel devices:                            
        Application--each device..................  $1,900.             
        Amendment--each device....................  $670.               
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources                              
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material, except                      
     reactor fuel, for commercial distribution:                         
         Application--each source.................  $800.               
        Amendment--each source....................  $270.               
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    D. Safety evaluation of sealed sources                              
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material,                             
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel:                                    
        Application--each source..................  $400.               
        Amendment--each source....................  $130.               
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
10. Transportation of radioactive material:                             
    A. Evaluation of casks, packages, and shipping                      
     containers:                                                        
        Approval, Renewal, Amendment..............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Evaluation of 10 CFR Part 71 quality                             
     assurance programs:                                                
        Application--Approval.....................  $370.               
        Renewal...................................  $280.               
        Amendment.................................   $320.              
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
11. Review of standardized spent fuel facilities:                       
        Approval, Renewal, Amendment..............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
12. Special projects:\6\                                                
        Approvals and preapplication/licensing      Full Cost.          
         activities.                                                    
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of                           
 Compliance:                                                            
        Approvals.................................  Full Cost.          
        Amendments, revisions, and supplements....  Full Cost.          
        Reapproval................................  Full Cost.          
    B. Inspections related to spent fuel storage    Full Cost.          
     cask Certificate of Compliance.                                    
    C. Inspections related to storage of spent      Full Cost.          
     fuel under Sec. 72.210 of this chapter.                            
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material                      
 licenses and other approvals authorizing                               
 decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or                      
 site restoration activities pursuant to 10 CFR                         
 Parts 30, 40, 70, and 72 of this chapter:                              
        Approval, Renewal, Amendment..............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
15. Import and Export licenses:                                         
    Licenses issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 110 of                      
     this chapter for the import and export only                        
     of special nuclear material, source material,                      
     byproduct material, heavy water, tritium, or                       
     nuclear grade graphite.                                            
    A. Application for import or export of HEU and                      
     other materials which must be reviewed by the                      
     Commission and the Executive Branch, for                           
     example, those actions under 10 CFR                                
     110.40(b).                                                         
        Application--New license..................  $8,600.             
        Amendment.................................  $8,600.             
    B. Application for import or export of special                      
     nuclear material, heavy water, nuclear grade                       
     graphite, tritium, and source material, and                        
     initial exports of materials requiring                             
     Executive Branch review only, for example,                         
     those actions under 10 CFR 110.41(a)(2)-(8).                       
        Application--New license..................  $5,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $5,300.             
    C. Application for export of routine reloads                        
     of LEU reactor fuel and exports of source                          
     material requiring foreign government                              
     assurances only.                                                   
        Application--New license..................  $3,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $3,300.             
    D. Application for export or import of other                        
     materials not requiring Commission review,                         
     Executive Branch review or foreign government                      
     assurances.                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $1,300.             
    E. Minor amendment of any export or import                          
     license to extend the expiration date, change                      
     domestic information or make other revisions                       
     which do not require analysis or review.                           
        Amendment.................................  $130.               
16. Reciprocity:                                                        
    Agreement State licensees who conduct                               
     activities in a non-Agreement State under the                      
     reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.                           
        Application (initial filing of Form 241)..  $700.               
        Renewal...................................  N/A.                
        Revisions.................................  $200.               
        Inspections...............................  Fees as specified in
                                                     appropriate fee    
                                                     categories in this 
                                                     section.           
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Types of fees--Separate charges, as shown in the schedule, will be   
  assessed for preapplication consultations and reviews and applications
  for new licenses and approvals, issuance of new licenses and          
  approvals, amendments and renewals to existing licenses and approvals,
  safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices, and inspections. The
  following guidelines apply to these charges:                          
(a) Application fees--Applications for new materials licenses and       
  approvals; applications to reinstate expired, terminated or inactive  
  licenses and approvals except those subject to fees assessed at full  
  cost; and applications filed by Agreement State licensees to register 
  under the general license provisions of 10 CFR 150.20, must be        
  accompanied by the prescribed application fee for each category,      
  except that: (1) applications for licenses covering more than one fee 
  category of special nuclear material or source material must be       
  accompanied by the prescribed application fee for the highest fee     
  category; and (2) applications for licenses under Category 1E must be 
  accompanied by an application fee of $125,000.                        
(b) License/approval/review fees--Fees for applications for new licenses
  and approvals and for preapplication consultations and reviews subject
  to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E, 2A, 4A, 5B, 10A, 11, 12,
  13A, and 14) are due upon notification by the Commission in accordance
  with Sec. 170.12 (b), (e), and (f).                                   
(c) Renewal/reapproval fees--Applications for renewal of licenses and   
  approvals must be accompanied by the prescribed renewal fee for each  
  category, except that fees for applications for renewal of licenses   
  and approvals subject to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E,   
  2A, 4A, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14) are due upon notification by the
  Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(d).                         
(d) Amendment/Revision Fees--                                           
(1) Applications for amendments to licenses and approvals and revisions 
  to reciprocity initial applications, except those subject to fees     
  assessed at full costs, must be accompanied by the prescribed         
  amendment/revision fee for each license/revision affected. An         
  application for an amendment to a license or approval classified in   
  more than one fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed      
  amendment fee for the category affected by the amendment unless the   
  amendment is applicable to two or more fee categories in which case   
  the amendment fee for the highest fee category would apply. For those 
  licenses and approvals subject to full costs (fee Categories 1A, 1B,  
  1E, 2A, 4A, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14), amendment fees are due upon
  notification by the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(c).     
(2) An application for amendment to a materials license or approval that
  would place the license or approval in a higher fee category or add a 
  new fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee
  for the new category.                                                 
(3) An application for amendment to a license or approval that would    
  reduce the scope of a licensee's program to a lower fee category must 
  be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for the lower fee      
  category.                                                             
(4) Applications to terminate licenses authorizing small materials      
  programs, when no dismantling or decontamination procedure is         
  required, are not subject to fees.                                    
(e) Inspection fees--Although a single inspection fee is shown in the   
  regulation, separate charges will be assessed for each routine and    
  nonroutine inspection performed, including inspections conducted by   
  the NRC of Agreement State licensees who conduct activities in non-   
  Agreement States under the reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.   
  Inspections resulting from investigations conducted by the Office of  
  Investigations and nonroutine inspections that result from third-party
  allegations are not subject to fees. If a licensee holds more than one
  materials license at a single location, a fee equal to the highest fee
  category covered by the licenses will be assessed if the inspections  
  are conducted at the same time unless the inspection fees are based on
  the full cost to conduct the inspection. The fees assessed at full    
  cost will be determined based on the professional staff time required 
  to conduct the inspection multiplied by the rate established under    
  Sec. 170.20 plus any applicable contractual support services costs    
  incurred. Licenses covering more than one category will be charged a  
  fee equal to the highest fee category covered by the license.         
  Inspection fees are due upon notification by the Commission in        
  accordance with Sec. 170.12(g). See Footnote 5 for other inspection   
  notes.                                                                
\2\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
  to 10 CFR 2.202 or for amendments resulting specifically from the     
  requirements of these types of Commission orders. However, fees will  
  be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision  
  of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
  Regulations (e.g., 10 CFR 30.11, 40.14, 70.14, 73.5, and any other    
  sections now or hereafter in effect) regardless of whether the        
  approval is in the form of a license amendment, letter of approval,   
  safety evaluation report, or other form. In addition to the fee shown,
  an applicant may be assessed an additional fee for sealed source and  
  device evaluations as shown in Categories 9A through 9D.              
\3\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff    
  time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For those 
  applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
  on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
  expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
  this rule will be determined at the professional rates established for
  the final rules that became effective on June 20, 1984, January 30,   
  1989, July 2, 1990, August 9, 1991, August 24, 1992, and August 19,   
  1993 rules, as appropriate. For applications currently on file for    
  which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling established 
  by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules, but are still pending  
  completion of the review, the cost incurred after any applicable      
  ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be billed to   
  the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above those      
  ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the        
  applicable rates established by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except   
  for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed    
  $50,000 for each topical report, amendment, revision, or supplement to
  a topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989,     
  through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any      
  professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be       
  assessed at the applicable rate established in Sec. 170.20. The       
  minimum total review cost is twice the hourly rate shown in Sec.      
  170.20.                                                               
\4\Licensees paying fees under Categories 1A, 1B, and 1E are not subject
  to fees under Categories 1C and 1D for sealed sources authorized in   
  the same license except in those instances in which an application    
  deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license.         
  Applicants for new licenses or renewal of existing licenses that cover
  both byproduct material and special nuclear material in sealed sources
  for use in gauging devices will pay the appropriate application or    
  renewal fee for fee Category 1C only.                                 
\5\For a license authorizing shielded radiographic installations or     
  manufacturing installations at more than one address, a separate fee  
  will be assessed for inspection of each location, except that if the  
  multiple installations are inspected during a single visit, a single  
  inspection fee will be assessed.                                      
\6\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC: 
1. In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result 
  in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an   
  alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
  Letter or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;                
2. In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director level
  or above) to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or             
  environmental issue, or to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory
  guide, policy statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or              
3. As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations  
  and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory          
  improvements or efforts.                                              

PART 171--ANNUAL FEES FOR REACTOR OPERATING LICENSES, AND FUEL 
CYCLE LICENSES AND MATERIALS LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF 
CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE, REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY ASSURANCE 
PROGRAM APPROVALS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY THE NRC

    7. The authority citation for Part 171 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: Sec. 7601, Pub. L. 99-272, 100 Stat. 146, as amended 
by Sec. 5601, Pub. L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330-275, as amended by 
Sec. 3201, Pub. L. 101-239, 103 Stat. 2132 as amended by Sec. 6101, 
Pub. L. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388-298 (42 U.S.C. 2214); Sec. 301, Pub. 
L. 92-314, 86 Stat. 267 (42 U.S.C. 2201(w)); Sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-
438, 88 Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); Sec. 2903, Pub. L. 
102-486, 106 Stat. 3125 (42 U.S.C. 2214(c)).

    8. In Sec. 171.11, paragraph (a)(2) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.11    Exemptions.

    (a) * * *
    (2) Federally-owned and State-owned research reactors used 
primarily for educational training and academic research purposes. For 
purposes of this exemption, the term research reactor means a nuclear 
reactor that--
    (i) Is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 
104c. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2134(c)) for 
operation at a thermal power level of 10 megawatts or less; and
    (ii) If so licensed for operation at a thermal power level of more 
than 1 megawatt, does not contain--
    (A) A circulating loop through the core in which the licensee 
conducts fuel experiments;
    (B) A liquid fuel loading; or
    (C) An experimental facility in the core in excess of 16 square 
inches in cross-section.
* * * * *
    9. In Sec. 171.15, paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(2), (d), and (e) are 
revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.15   Annual fees: reactor operating licenses.

    (a) Each person licensed to operate a power, test, or research 
reactor shall pay the annual fee for each unit for which the person 
holds an operating license at any time during the Federal FY in which 
the fee is due, except for those test and research reactors exempted in 
Sec. 171.11 (a)(1) and (a)(2).
    (b) * * *
    (3) Generic activities required largely for NRC to regulate power 
reactors, e.g., updating Part 50 of this chapter, or operating the 
Incident Response Center. The base FY 1994 annual fees for each 
operating power reactor subject to fees under this section and which 
must be collected before September 30, 1994, are shown in paragraph (d) 
of this section.
    (c) * * *
    (2) The FY 1994 surcharge to be added to each operating power 
reactor is $273,000. This amount is calculated by dividing the total 
cost for these activities ($29.5 million) by the number of operating 
power reactors (108).
    (d) The FY 1994 Part 171 annual fees for operating power reactors 
are as follows: 

                                   Part 171 Annual Fees by Reactor Category\1\                                  
                                               [Fees in thousands]                                              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                              Added                   Estimated 
                Reactor vendor                     Number      Base fee      charge      Total fee   collections
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Babcock/Wilcox.................................            7       $2,804         $273       $3,077      $21,539
Combustion Eng.................................           15        2,804          273        3,077       46,155
GE Mark I......................................           24        2,785          273        3,058       73,392
GE Mark II.....................................            8        2,785          273        3,058       24,464
GE Mark III....................................            4        2,785          273        3,058       12,232
Westinghouse...................................           50        2,805          273        3,078      153,900
                                                ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals.....................................          108                                             331,682
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Fees assessed will vary for plants west of the Rocky Mountains and for Westinghouse plants with ice          
  condensers.                                                                                                   

    (e) The annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a nonpower 
(test and research) reactor licensed under Part 50 of this chapter, 
except for those reactors exempted from fees under Sec. 171.11(a), are 
as follows:

Research reactor--$62,200
Test reactor--$62,200
* * * * *
    10. In Sec. 171.16, the introductory text of paragraph (c) and 
paragraphs (c)(4), (d), and (e) are revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.16    Annual Fees: Materials Licensees, Holders of 
Certificates of Compliance, Holders of Sealed Source and Device 
Registrations, Holders of Quality Assurance Program Approvals and 
Government agencies licensed by the NRC.

* * * * *
    (c) A licensee who is required to pay an annual fee under this 
section may qualify as a small entity. If a licensee qualifies as a 
small entity and provides the Commission with the proper certification, 
the licensee may pay reduced annual fees for FY 1994 as follows: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Maximum  
                                                              annual fee
                                                                 per    
                                                               licensed 
                                                               category 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small businesses and small not-for-profit organizations                 
 (gross annual receipts):                                               
  $250,000 to $3.5 million.................................       $1,800
  Less than $250,000.......................................          400
Private practice physicians (gross annual receipts):                    
  $250,000 to $1.0 million.................................        1,800
  Less than $250,000.......................................          400
Small governmental jurisdictions (Including publicly                    
 supported educational institutions) (population):                      
  20,000 to 50,000.........................................        1,800
  Less than 20,000.........................................          400
  Educational institutions that are not state or publicly               
   supported, and have 500 employees or less...............        1,800
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *
    (4) For FY 1994, the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus 
surcharge) a small entity is required to pay is $1,800 for each 
category applicable to the license(s).
    (d) The FY 1994 annual fees for materials licensees and holders of 
certificates, registrations or approvals subject to fees under this 
section are as follows:

   Schedule of Materials Annual Fees and Fees for Government Agencies   
                             Licensed by NRC                            
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
                                                                        
                                                                Annual  
              Category of materials licenses                  fees1,2,3 
1. Special nuclear material:                                            
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of U-235 or                   
     plutonium for fuel fabrication activities.                         


                                                                                                                
                                                             License No.            Docket No.                  
                                                                                                                
High Enriched Fuel:                                                                                             
    Babcock and Wilcox.................................  SNM-42                70-27                  $3,176,000
    Nuclear Fuel Services..............................  SNM-124               70-143                  3,176,000
Low Enriched Fuel:                                                                                              
    B&W Fuel Company...................................  SNM-1168              70-1201                 1,429,000
    Combustion Engineering (Hematite)..................  SNM-33                70-36                   1,429,000
    General Electric Company...........................  SNM-1097              70-1113                 1,429,000
    Siemens Nuclear Power..............................  SNM-1227              70-1257                 1,429,000
    Westinghouse Electric Company......................  SNM-1107              70-1151                 1,429,000
    General Atomics....................................  SNM-696               70-734                 1,429,000 
                                                                                                                


        Surcharge..........................................       55,770
    A.(2) All other special nuclear materials licenses not              
     included in 1.A.(1) above for possession and use of                
     200 grams or more of plutonium in unsealed form or 350             
     grams or more of contained U-235 in unsealed form or               
     200 grams or more of U-233 in unsealed form...........      254,000
        Surcharge..........................................       55,770
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel at an             
     independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI)...      363,500
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special nuclear               
     material in sealed sources contained in devices used               
     in industrial measuring systems, including x-ray                   
     fluorescence analyzers................................        1,800
         Surcharge.........................................          170
    D. All other special nuclear material licenses, except              
     licenses authorizing special nuclear material in                   
     unsealed form in combination that would constitute a               
     critical quantity, as defined in Sec. 150.11 of this               
     chapter, for which the licensee shall pay the same                 
     fees as those for Category 1.A.(2)....................        2,200
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    E. Licenses for the operation of a uranium enrichment               
     facility..............................................     \11\ N/A
2. Source material:                                                     
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of source                     
     material for refining uranium mill concentrates to                 
     uranium hexafluoride..................................    1,114,000
        Surcharge..........................................       55,770
    (2) Licenses for possession and use of source material              
     in recovery operations such as milling, in-situ                    
     leaching, heap-leaching, ore buying stations, ion                  
     exchange facilities and in processing of ores                      
     containing source material for extraction of metals                
     other than uranium or thorium, including licenses                  
     authorizing the possession of byproduct waste material             
     (tailings) from source material recovery operations,               
     as well as licenses authorizing the possession and                 
     maintenance of a facility in a standby mode...........             
        Class I facilities\4\..............................       74,500
        Class II facilities\4\.............................       41,200
        Other facilities...................................       36,200
            Surcharge......................................          170
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other                 
     persons, of byproduct material as defined in Section               
     11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for possession and                
     disposal, except those licenses subject to the fees in             
     Category 2.A.(2) or Category 2.A.(4)..................       67,000
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    (4) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other                 
     persons, of byproduct material as defined in Section               
     11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for possession and                
     disposal incidental to the disposal of the uranium                 
     waste tailings generated by the licensee's milling                 
     operations, except those licenses subject to the fees              
     in Category 2.A.(2)...................................        8,700
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    B. Licenses which authorize only the possession, use                
     and/or installation of source material for shielding..          800
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    C. All other source material licenses..................        8,700
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
3. Byproduct material:                                                  
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of                
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Parts 30 and 33              
     of this chapter for processing or manufacturing of                 
     items containing byproduct material for commercial                 
     distribution..........................................       19,700
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct               
     material issued pursuant to Part 30 of this chapter                
     for processing or manufacturing of items containing                
     byproduct material for commercial distribution........        6,000
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72, 32.73, and/             
     or 32.74 of this chapter authorizing the processing or             
     manufacturing and distribution or redistribution of                
     radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits and/or              
     sources and devices containing byproduct material.                 
     This category also includes the possession and use of              
     source material for shielding authorized pursuant to               
     Part 40 of this chapter when included on the same                  
     license...............................................       12,000
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to Secs.                  
     32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter authorizing             
     distribution or redistribution of radiophar-                       
     maceuticals, generators, reagent kits and/or sources               
     or devices not involving processing of byproduct                   
     material. This category also includes the possession               
     and use of source material for shielding authorized                
     pursuant to Part 40 of this chapter when included on               
     the same license......................................        6,000
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material in sealed sources for irradiation of                      
     materials in which the source is not removed from its              
     shield (self-shielded units)..........................        3,500
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    F. Licenses for possession and use of less than 10,000              
     curies of byproduct material in sealed sources for                 
     irradiation of materials in which the source is                    
     exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also               
     includes underwater irradiators for irradiation of                 
     materials in which the source is not exposed for                   
     irradiation purposes..................................        4,500
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000 curies or              
     more of byproduct material in sealed sources for                   
     irradiation of materials in which the source is                    
     exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also               
     includes underwater irradiators for irradiation of                 
     materials in which the source is not exposed for                   
     irradiation purposes..................................       24,400
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    H. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart A of Part 32 of              
     this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct              
     material that require device review to persons exempt              
     from the licensing requirements of Part 30 of this                 
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been authorized for              
     distribution to persons exempt from the licensing                  
     requirements of Part 30 of this chapter...............        6,800
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    I. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart A of Part 32 of              
     this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct              
     material or quantities of byproduct material that do               
     not require device evaluation to persons exempt from               
     the licensing requirements of Part 30 of this chapter,             
     except for specific licenses authorizing                           
     redistribution of items that have been authorized for              
     distribution to persons exempt from the licensing                  
     requirements of Part 30 of this chapter...............       12,500
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    J. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart B of Part 32 of              
     this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct              
     material that require sealed source and/or device                  
     review to persons generally licensed under Part 31 of              
     this chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                 
     redistribution of items that have been authorized for              
     distribution to persons generally licensed under Part              
     31 of this chapter....................................        6,600
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    K. Licenses issued pursuant to Subpart B of Part 31 of              
     this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct              
     material or quantities of byproduct material that do               
     not require sealed source and/or device review to                  
     persons generally licensed under Part 31 of this                   
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been authorized for              
     distribution to persons generally licensed under Part              
     31 of this chapter....................................        6,100
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of                
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 30 and 33               
     of this chapter for research and development that do               
     not authorize commercial distribution.................       14,700
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct               
     material issued pursuant to Part 30 of this chapter                
     for research and development that do not authorize                 
     commercial distribution...............................        5,100
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    N. Licenses that authorize services for other                       
     licensees, except (1) licenses that authorize only                 
     calibration and/or leak testing services are subject               
     to the fees specified in fee Category 3P, and (2)                  
     licenses that authorize waste disposal services are                
     subject to the fees specified in fee Categories 4A,                
     4B, 4C, and 4D........................................        6,000
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material issued pursuant to Part 34 of this chapter                
     for industrial radiography operations. This category               
     also includes the possession and use of source                     
     material for shielding authorized pursuant to Part 40              
     of this chapter when authorized on the same license...       19,000
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    P. All other specific byproduct material licenses,                  
     except those in Categories 4A through 9D..............        2,300
        Surcharge..........................................          170
4. Waste disposal and processing:                                       
     A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                
     waste byproduct material, source material, or special              
     nuclear material from other persons for the purpose of             
     contingency storage or commercial land disposal by the             
     licensee; or licenses authorizing contingency storage              
     of low-level radioactive waste at the site of nuclear              
     power reactors; or licenses for receipt of waste from              
     other persons for incineration or other treatment,                 
     packaging of resulting waste and residues, and                     
     transfer of packages to another person authorized to               
     receive or dispose of waste material..................   \5\130,200
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                 
     waste byproduct material, source material, or special              
     nuclear material from other persons for the purpose of             
     packaging or repackaging the material. The licensee                
     will dispose of the material by transfer to another                
     person authorized to receive or dispose of the                     
     material..............................................       16,400
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                 
     prepackaged waste byproduct material, source material,             
     or special nuclear material from other persons. The                
     licensee will dispose of the material by transfer to               
     another person authorized to receive or dispose of the             
     material..............................................        7,500
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
5. Well logging:                                                        
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material, source material, and/or special nuclear                  
     material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer                
     studies other than field flooding tracer studies......       12,700
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material for field flooding tracer studies............       15,400
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
6. Nuclear laundries:                                                   
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of                
     items contaminated with byproduct material, source                 
     material, or special nuclear material.................       15,600
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special nuclear                   
 material:                                                              
    A. Licenses issued pursuant to Parts 30, 35, 40, and 70             
     of this chapter for human use of byproduct material,               
     source material, or special nuclear material in sealed             
     sources contained in teletherapy devices. This                     
     category also includes the possession and use of                   
     source material for shielding when authorized on the               
     same license..........................................       16,900
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                        
     institutions or two or more physicians pursuant to                 
     Parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter                       
     authorizing research and development, including human              
     use of byproduct material except licenses for                      
     byproduct material, source material, or special                    
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained in                    
     teletherapy devices. This category also includes the               
     possession and use of source material for shielding                
     when authorized on the same license\9\................       30,900
        Surcharge..........................................        1,670
    C. Other licenses issued pursuant to Parts 30, 35, 40,              
     and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct                  
     material, source material, and/or special nuclear                  
     material except licenses for byproduct material,                   
     source material, or special nuclear material in sealed             
     sources contained in teletherapy devices. This                     
     category also includes the possession and use of                   
     source material for shielding when authorized on the               
     same license\9\.......................................        5,900
        Surcharge..........................................          170
8. Civil defense:                                                       
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material, source material, or special nuclear material             
     for civil defense activities..........................        2,100
        Surcharge..........................................          170
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety evaluation:                 
    A. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     devices or products containing byproduct material,                 
     source material, or special nuclear material, except               
     reactor fuel devices, for commercial distribution.....        9,600
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    B. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     devices or products containing byproduct material,                 
     source material, or special nuclear material                       
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single applicant,             
     except reactor fuel devices...........................        4,900
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    C. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     sealed sources containing byproduct material, source               
     material, or special nuclear material, except reactor              
     fuel, for commercial distribution.....................        2,100
        Surcharge..........................................          170
    D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     sealed sources containing byproduct material, source               
     material, or special nuclear material, manufactured in             
     accordance with the unique specifications of, and for              
     use by, a single applicant, except reactor fuel.......        1,000
        Surcharge..........................................          170
10. Transportation of radioactive material:                             
    A. Certificates of Compliance or other package                      
     approvals issued for design of casks, packages, and                
     shipping containers...................................             
        Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium air                 
         packages..........................................       \6\N/A
        Other Casks........................................       \6\N/A
    B. Approvals issued of 10 CFR Part 71 quality assurance             
     programs..............................................             
        Users and Fabricators..............................       64,700
        Users..............................................          900
            Surcharge......................................          170
11. Standardized spent fuel facilities.....................       \6\N/A
12. Special Projects.......................................       \6\N/A
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of Compliance...       \6\N/A
    B. General licenses for storage of spent fuel under 10              
     CFR 72.210............................................      363,500
        Surcharge..........................................          170
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material licenses             
 and other approvals authorizing decommissioning,                       
 decontamination, reclamation, or site restoration                      
 activities pursuant to 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 70, and 72....       \7\N/A
                                                                        
15. Import and Export licenses.............................       \8\N/A
16. Reciprocity............................................       \8\N/A
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to                  
 Government agencies.......................................      430,500
        Surcharge..........................................       22,970
18. Department of Energy:                                               
    a. Certificates of Compliance..........................  \10\923,000
    b. Uranium Mill Tailing Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA)              
     activities............................................    1,449,000
        Surcharge..........................................         170 
\1\Annual fees will be assessed based on whether a licensee held, during
  the fiscal year, a valid license with the NRC authorizing possession  
  and use of radioactive material. However, the annual fee is waived for
  those materials licensees and holders of certificates, registrations, 
  and approvals who either filed for termination of their licenses or   
  approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses prior to      
  October 1, 1993 and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely by
  September 30, 1993. Annual fees for licensees who filed for           
  termination of a license or for a POL during the fiscal year and for  
  new licenses issued during the fiscal year will be prorated in        
  accordance with the provisions of Sec. 171.17. If a person holds more 
  than one license, certificate, registration, or approval, the annual  
  fee(s) will be assessed for each license, certificate, registration,  
  or approval held by that person. For licenses that authorize more than
  one activity on a single license (e.g., human use and irradiator      
  activities), annual fees will be assessed for each category applicable
  to the license. Licensees paying annual fees under Category 1.A.(1).  
  are not subject to the annual fees of category 1.C and 1.D for sealed 
  sources authorized in the license and licensees paying annual fees    
  under Category 2.A.(2) are not subject to the annual fees for Category
  2.A.(4).                                                              
\2\Payment of the prescribed annual fee does not automatically renew the
  license, certificate, registration, or approval for which the fee is  
  paid. Renewal applications must be filed in accordance with the       
  requirements of Parts 30, 40, 70, 71, or 72 of this chapter.          
\3\For FYs 1995 through 1998, fees for these materials licenses will be 
  calculated and assessed in accordance with Sec. 171.13 and will be    
  published in the Federal Register for notice and comment.             
\4\A Class I license includes mill licenses issued for the extraction of
  uranium from uranium ore. A Class II license includes solution mining 
  licenses (in-situ and heap leach) issued for the extraction of uranium
  from uranium ores including research and development licenses. An     
  ``other'' license includes licenses for extraction of metals, heavy   
  metals, and rare earths.                                              
\5\Two licenses have been issued by NRC for land disposal of special    
  nuclear material. Once NRC issues a LLW disposal license for byproduct
  and source material, the Commission will consider establishing an     
  annual fee for this type of license.                                  
\6\Standardized spent fuel facilities, Part 71 and 72 Certificates of   
  Compliance, and special reviews, such as topical reports, are not     
  assessed an annual fee because the generic costs of regulating these  
  activities are primarily attributable to the users of the designs,    
  certificates, and topical reports.                                    
\7\Licensees in this category are not assessed an annual fee because    
  they are charged an annual fee in other categories while they are     
  licensed to operate.                                                  
\8\No annual fee is charged because it is not practical to administer   
  due to the relatively short life or temporary nature of the license.  
\9\ Separate annual fees will not be assessed for pacemaker licenses    
  issued to medical institutions who also hold nuclear medicine licenses
  under Categories 7B or 7C.                                            
\10\This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to DOE that are not 
  under the Nuclear Waste Fund.                                         
\11\No annual fee has been established because there are currently no   
  licensees in this particular fee category.                            

    (e) A surcharge is added for each category for which a base annual 
fee is required. The surcharge consists of the following:
    (1) To recover costs relating to LLW disposal generic activities, 
an additional charge of $55,600 has been added to fee Categories 
1.A.(1), 1.A.(2) and 2.A.(1); an additional charge of $1,500 has been 
added to fee Categories 1.B., 1.D., 2.C., 3.A., 3.B., 3.C., 3.L., 3.M., 
3.N., 4.A., 4.B., 4.C., 5.B., 6.A., and 7.B.; and an additional charge 
of $22,800 has been added to fee Category 17.
    (2) To recoup those costs not recovered from small entities, an 
additional charge of $170 has been added to each fee Category, except 
Categories 1.E, 10.A., 11., 12., 13.A., 14., 15., and 16., since there 
is no annual fee for these categories. Licensees who qualify as small 
entities under the provisions of Sec. 171.16(c) and who submit a 
completed NRC Form 526 are not subject to the $170 additional charge.
    11. Section 171.17 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.17   Proration.

    Annual fees will be prorated for NRC licensees as follows:
    (a) Reactors. The annual fee for reactors (power or nonpower) that 
are subject to fees under this part and are granted a license to 
operate on or after October 1 of a FY is prorated on the basis of the 
number of days remaining in the FY. Thereafter, the full fee is due and 
payable each subsequent FY. Licensees who have requested amendment to 
withdraw operating authority permanently during the FY will be prorated 
based on the number of days during the FY the license was in effect 
before the possession only license was issued or the license was 
terminated.
    (b) Materials licenses (including fuel cycle licenses). The annual 
fee for a materials license that is subject to fees under this part and 
issued on or after October 1 of the FY is prorated on the basis of when 
the NRC issues the new license. New licenses issued during the period 
October 1 through March 31 of the FY will be assessed one-half the 
annual fee for that FY. New licenses issued on or after April 1 of the 
FY will not be assessed an annual fee for that FY. Thereafter, the full 
fee is due and payable each subsequent FY. The annual fee will be 
prorated for licenses for which a termination request or a request for 
a POL has been received on or after October 1 of a FY on the basis of 
when the application for termination or POL is received by the NRC 
provided the licensee permanently ceased licensed activities during the 
specified period. Licenses for which applications for termination or 
POL are filed during the period October 1 through March 31 of the FY 
are assessed one-half the annual fee for the applicable category(ies) 
for that FY. Licenses for which applications for termination or POL are 
filed on or after April 1 of the FY are assessed the full annual fee 
for that FY.
    12. In section 171.19, paragraphs (b) and (c) are revised to read 
as follows:


Sec. 171.19   Payment.

* * * * *
    (b) For FY 1994 through FY 1998, the Commission will adjust the 
fourth quarterly bill for operating power reactors and certain 
materials licensees to recover the full amount of the revised annual 
fee. If the amounts collected in the first three quarters exceed the 
amount of the revised annual fee, the overpayment will be refunded. All 
other licensees, or holders of a certificate, registration, or approval 
of a QA program will be sent a bill for the full amount of the annual 
fee upon publication of the final rule. Payment is due on the effective 
date of the final rule and interest accrues from the effective date of 
the final rule. However, interest will be waived if payment is received 
within 30 days from the effective date of the final rule.
    (c) For FYs 1994 through 1998, annual fees in the amount of 
$100,000 or more and described in the Federal Register notice pursuant 
to Sec. 171.13, must be paid in quarterly installments of 25 percent as 
billed by the NRC. The quarters begin on October 1, January 1, April 1, 
and July 1 of each fiscal year. Annual fees of less than $100,000 must 
be paid once a year as billed by the NRC.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of July, 1994.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James M. Taylor,
Executive Director for Operations.

Appendix A to This Final Rule--Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for 
the Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170 (License Fees) and 10 CFR Part 
171 (Annual Fees)

I. Background.

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
establishes as a principle of regulatory practice that agencies 
endeavor to fit regulatory and informational requirements, consistent 
with applicable statutes, to a scale commensurate with the businesses, 
organizations, and government jurisdictions to which they apply. To 
achieve this principle, the Act requires that agencies consider the 
impact of their actions on small entities. If the agency cannot certify 
that a rule will not significantly impact a substantial number of small 
entities, then a regulatory flexibility analysis is required to examine 
the impacts on small entities and the alternatives to minimize these 
impacts.
    To assist in considering these impacts under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, the NRC adopted size standards for determining which 
NRC licensees qualify as small entities (50 FR 50241; December 9, 
1985). These size standards were clarified November 6, 1991 (56 FR 
56672). The NRC size standards are as follows:
    (1) A small business is a business with annual receipts of $3.5 
million or less except private practice physicians for which the 
standard is annual receipts of $1 million or less.
    (2) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which is 
independently owned and operated and has annual receipts of $3.5 
million or less.
    (3) Small governmental jurisdictions are governments of cities, 
counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special 
districts with a population of less than 50,000.
    (4) A small educational institution is one that is (i) supported by 
a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction, or (ii) one that is not 
state or publicly supported and has 500 employees or less.
    Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 
(OBRA-90), requires that the NRC recover approximately 100 percent of 
its budget authority, less appropriations from the Nuclear Waste Fund, 
for Fiscal Years (FY) 1991 through 1995 by assessing license and annual 
fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to extend the 100 percent recovery 
requirement for NRC through 1998. For FY 1991, the amount collected was 
approximately $445 million; for FY 1992, approximately $492.5 million; 
for FY 1993 about $518.9 million and the amount to be collected in FY 
1994 is approximately $513 million.
    To comply with OBRA-90, the Commission amended its fee regulations 
in 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 in FY 1991 (56 FR 31472; July 10, 1991) in 
FY 1992, (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992) and in FY 1993 (58 FR 38666; July 
20, 1993) based on a careful evaluation of over 1,000 comments. These 
final rules established the methodology used by NRC in identifying and 
determining the fees assessed and collected in FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 
1993. The NRC has used the same methodology established in the FY 1991, 
FY 1992, and FY 1993 rulemakings to establish the fees to be assessed 
for FY 1994 with the following exceptions: (1) the Commission has 
reinstated the annual fee exemption for nonprofit educational 
institutions; and (2) in this final rule, the NRC has directly assigned 
additional effort to the reactor and materials programs for the Office 
of Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on 
Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. The 
methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was changed in FY 
1993 based on the U.S. Court of Appeals decision dated March 16, 1993 
(988 F.2d 146, (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The FY 1993 LLW allocation method has 
been continued in the FY 1994 final rule.

II. Impact on small entities.

    The comments received on the proposed FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993 and 
FY 1994 fee rule revisions and the small entity certifications received 
in response to the final FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 fee rules 
indicate that NRC licensees qualifying as small entities under the 
NRC's size standards are primarily those licensed under the NRC's 
materials program. Therefore, this analysis will focus on the economic 
impact of the annual fees on materials licensees.
    The Commission's fee regulations result in substantial fees being 
charged to those individuals, organizations, and companies that are 
licensed under the NRC materials program. Of these materials licensees, 
the NRC estimates that about 18 percent (approximately 1,300 licensees) 
qualify as small entities. This estimate is based on the number of 
small entity certifications filed in response to the FY 1991, FY 1992, 
and FY 1993 fee rules. In FY 1993, the NRC conducted a survey of its 
materials licensees. The results of this survey indicated that about 25 
percent of these licensees could qualify as small entities under the 
current NRC size standards.
    The commenters on the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 
proposed fee rules indicated the following results if the proposed 
annual fees were not modified:

--Large firms would gain an unfair competitive advantage over small 
entities. One commenter noted that a small well-logging company (a 
``Mom and Pop'' type of operation) would find it difficult to absorb 
the annual fee, while a large corporation would find it easier. Another 
commenter noted that the fee increase could be more easily absorbed by 
a high-volume nuclear medicine clinic. A gauge licensee noted that, in 
the very competitive soils testing market, the annual fees would put it 
at an extreme disadvantage with its much larger competitors because the 
proposed fees would be the same for a two-person licensee as for a 
large firm with thousands of employees.
--Some firms would be forced to cancel their licenses. One commenter, 
with receipts of less than $500,000 per year, stated that the proposed 
rule would, in effect, force it to relinquish its soil density gauge 
and license, thereby reducing its ability to do its work effectively. 
Another commenter noted that the rule would force the company and many 
other small businesses to get rid of the materials license altogether. 
Commenters stated that the proposed rule would result in about 10 
percent of the well-logging licensees terminating their licenses 
immediately and approximately 25 percent terminating their licenses 
before the next annual assessment.
--Some companies would go out of business. One commenter noted that the 
proposal would put it, and several other small companies, out of 
business or, at the very least, make it hard to survive.
--Some companies would have budget problems. Many medical licensees 
commented that, in these times of slashed reimbursements, the proposed 
increase of the existing fees and the introduction of additional fees 
would significantly affect their budgets. Another noted that, in view 
of the cuts by Medicare and other third party carriers, the fees would 
produce a hardship and some facilities would experience a great deal of 
difficulty in meeting this additional burden.

    Over the past three years, approximately 2,600 license, approval, 
and registration terminations have been requested. Although some of 
these terminations were requested because the license was no longer 
needed or licenses or registrations could be combined, indications are 
that other termination requests were due to the economic impact of the 
fees.
    The NRC continues to receive written and oral comments from small 
materials licensees. These comments indicate that the $3.5 million 
threshold for small entities is not representative of small businesses 
with gross receipts in the thousands of dollars. These commenters 
believe that the $1,800 maximum annual fee represents a relatively high 
percentage of gross annual receipts for these ``Mom and Pop'' type 
businesses. Therefore, even the reduced annual fee could have a 
significant impact on the ability of these types of businesses to 
continue to operate.
    To alleviate the continuing significant impact of the annual fees 
on a substantial number of small entities, the NRC considered 
alternatives, in accordance with the RFA. These alternatives were 
evaluated in the FY 1991 rule (56 FR 31472; July 10, 1991), in the FY 
1992 rule (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992), and in the FY 1993 rule (58 FR 
38666; July 20, 1993). The alternatives considered by the NRC can be 
summarized as follows.

--Base fees on some measure of the amount of radioactivity possessed by 
the licensee (e.g., number of sources).
--Base fees on the frequency of use of the licensed radioactive 
material (e.g., volume of patients).
--Base fees on the NRC size standards for small entities.

    The NRC has reexamined the FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 evaluation 
of these alternatives. Based on that reexamination, the NRC continues 
to support the previous conclusion. That is, the NRC continues to 
believe that establishment of a maximum fee for small entities is the 
most appropriate option to reduce the impact on small entities.
    The NRC established, and is continuing for FY 1994, a maximum 
annual fee for small entities. The RFA and its implementing guidance do 
not provide specific guidelines on what constitutes a significant 
economic impact on a small entity. Therefore, the NRC has no benchmark 
to assist it in determining the amount or the percent of gross receipts 
that should be charged to a small entity. For FY 1994, the NRC will 
rely on the analysis previously completed that established a maximum 
annual fee for a small entity by comparing NRC license and inspection 
fees under 10 CFR Part 170 with Agreement State fees for those fee 
categories that are expected to contain a substantial number of small 
entities. Because these fees have been charged to small entities, the 
NRC continues to believe that these fees, or any adjustments to these 
fees during the past year, do not have a significant impact on them. In 
issuing this final rule for FY 1994, the NRC concludes that the 
materials license and inspection fees do not have a significant impact 
on a substantial number of small entities and that the maximum annual 
small entity fee of $1,800 be maintained to alleviate the impact of the 
fees on small entities.
    By maintaining the maximum annual fee for small entities at $1,800, 
the annual fee for many small entities will be reduced while at the 
same time materials licensees, including small entities, pay for most 
of the FY 1994 costs ($33.3 million of the total $38.6 million) 
attributable to them. Therefore, the NRC is continuing, for FY 1994, 
the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus surcharge) for certain 
small entities at $1,800 for each fee category covered by each license 
issued to a small entity. Note that the costs not recovered from small 
entities are allocated to other materials licensees and to operating 
power reactors.
    While reducing the impact on many small entities, the Commission 
agrees that the current maximum annual fee of $1,800 for small 
entities, when added to the Part 170 license and inspection fees, may 
continue to have a significant impact on materials licensees with 
annual gross receipts in the thousands of dollars. Therefore, as in FY 
1992 and FY 1993, the NRC will continue the lower-tier small entity 
annual fee of $400 for small entities with relatively low gross annual 
receipts for FY 1994. This lower-tier small entity fee was established 
in the final rule published in the Federal Register on April 17, 1992 
(57 FR 13625).
    In establishing the annual fee for lower tier small entities, the 
NRC continues to retain a balance between the objectives of the RFA and 
OBRA-90. This balance can be measured by (1) the amount of costs 
attributable to small entities that is transferred to larger entities 
(the small entity subsidy); (2) the total annual fee small entities 
pay, relative to this subsidy; and (3) how much the annual fee is for a 
lower tier small entity. Nuclear gauge users were used to measure the 
reduction in fees because they represent about 40 percent of the 
materials licensees and most likely would include a larger percentage 
of lower tier small entities than would other classes of materials 
licensees. The Commission is continuing an annual fee of $400 for the 
lower tier small entities to ensure that the lower tier small entities 
receive a reduction (75 percent for small gauge users) substantial 
enough to mitigate any severe impact. Although other reduced fees would 
result in lower subsidies, the Commission believes that the amount of 
the associated annual fees, when added to the license and inspection 
fees, would still be considerable for small businesses and 
organizations with gross receipts of less than $250,000 or for 
governmental entities in jurisdictions with a population of less than 
20,000.

III. Summary

    The NRC has determined the annual fee significantly impacts a 
substantial number of small entities. A maximum fee for small entities 
strikes a balance between the requirement to collect 100 percent of the 
NRC budget and the requirement to consider means of reducing the impact 
of the proposed fee on small entities. On the basis of its regulatory 
flexibility analyses, the NRC concludes that a maximum annual fee of 
$1,800 for small entities and a lower tier small entity annual fee of 
$400 for small businesses and non-profit organizations with gross 
annual receipts of less than $250,000, and small governmental entities 
with a population of less than 20,000, will reduce the impact on small 
entities. At the same time, these reduced annual fees are consistent 
with the objectives of OBRA-90. Thus, the revised fees for small 
entities maintain a balance between the objectives of OBRA-90 and the 
RFA. The NRC has used the methodology and procedures developed for the 
FY 1991, the FY 1992, and the FY 1993 fee rules in this final rule 
establishing the FY 1994 fees. Therefore, the analysis and conclusions 
established in the FY 1991, the FY 1992, and the FY 1993 rules remain 
valid for this final rule for FY 1994.

[FR Doc. 94-17502 Filed 7-19-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P