[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 108 (Wednesday, June 6, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 31402-31435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10468]



[[Page 31401]]

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Part III





Nuclear Regulatory Commission





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10 CFR Parts 170 and 171



Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for FY 2007; Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 108 / Wednesday, June 6, 2007 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 31402]]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171

RIN 3150-AI00


Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for FY 2007

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 the Omnibus Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires that 
the NRC recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in 
fiscal year (FY) 2007, less the amounts appropriated from the Nuclear 
Waste Fund (NWF) and for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) 
activities and generic homeland security activities. The required fee 
recovery amount for the FY 2007 budget is approximately $669.2 million. 
After accounting for carryover and billing adjustments, the net amount 
to be recovered is approximately $670.5 million.

DATES: Effective Date: August 6, 2007.

ADDRESSES: The comments received and the NRC's work papers that support 
these final changes to 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 are available 
electronically at the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the 
Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, 
the public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access 
and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of 
NRC's public documents. For more information, contact the NRC Public 
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, 
or by e-mail to [email protected]. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if 
there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact 
the PDR.
    Comments received may also be viewed via the NRC's interactive 
rulemaking Web site (http://ruleforum.llnl.gov). This site provides the 
ability to upload comments as files (any format), if your web browser 
supports that function. For information about the interactive 
rulemaking site, contact Ms. Carol Gallagher, 301-415-5905; e-mail 
[email protected].
    The work papers may also be examined at the NRC's PDR, Room O-1F22. 
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-2738. 
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Renu Suri, telephone 301-415-0161; 
Office of the Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background
II. Response to Comments
III. Final Action
IV. Voluntary Consensus Standards
V. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion
VI. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
VII. Regulatory Analysis
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
IX. Backfit Analysis
X. Congressional Review Act

I. Background

    The NRC is required each year, under OBRA-90, as amended, to 
recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority (less amounts 
appropriated from the NWF and for other activities specifically removed 
from the fee base), through fees to NRC licensees and applicants. The 
NRC receives appropriations each year for 10 percent of its budget 
authority (less amounts appropriated from the NWF and for other 
activities specifically removed from the fee base), to pay for the 
costs of agency activities that do not provide a direct benefit to NRC 
licensees, such as international assistance and Agreement State 
activities under section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended. The required fee recovery amount for the FY 2007 budget is 
approximately $669.2 million. After accounting for carryover and 
billing adjustments, the net amount to be recovered is approximately 
$670.5 million.
    The NRC assesses two types of fees to meet the requirements of 
OBRA-90, as amended. First, license and inspection fees, established in 
10 CFR part 170 under the authority of the Independent Offices 
Appropriation Act of 1952 (IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701, recover the NRC's 
costs of providing special benefits to identifiable applicants and 
licensees. Examples of the services provided by the NRC for which these 
fees are assessed are the review of applications for new licenses and 
the review of renewal applications, the review of amendment requests, 
and inspections. Second, annual fees established in 10 CFR part 171 
under the authority of OBRA-90, as amended, recover generic and other 
regulatory costs not otherwise recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees.
    In accordance with Section 637 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
(Pub. L. 109-58), the budgeted resources associated with generic 
homeland security activities are excluded from the NRC's fees each 
year, beginning with this FY 2007 fee rule. This new legislative 
provision was discussed in the NRC's FY 2006 proposed and final fee 
rules (71 FR 7349, February 10, 2006; 71 FR 30721, May 30, 2006), and 
results in the removal of approximately $33 million from the fee base 
in FY 2007. These funds cover generic activities--those activities that 
support an entire license fee class or classes of licensees--such as 
rulemakings and guidance development. Under the NRC's authority under 
the IOAA, the NRC will continue to bill under part 170 for all 
licensee-specific homeland security-related services provided, 
including security inspections (which include force-on-force exercises) 
and security plan reviews.
    On February 15, 2007, the President signed the Revised Continuing 
Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (Pub. L. 110-5). The provisions in 
Sections 101, 111, and 20317 of Pub. L. 110-5 appropriated $824,888,507 
to the NRC to carry out its mission for FY 2007. This amount is $8.3 
million higher than the funding levels used for the FY 2007 proposed 
fee rule. The FY 2007 proposed fee rule was based on the FY 2007 Energy 
and Water Development Appropriations Bill passed by the U.S. House of 
Representatives in 2006. As discussed in the Statements of 
Consideration of the FY 2007 proposed fee rule, the NRC's FY 2007 final 
fee rule has been adjusted to reflect the enacted budget. Therefore, 
fees in the FY 2007 final fee rule differ from those in the proposed 
rule.
    The amount of the NRC's required fee collections is set by law, and 
is therefore outside the scope of this rulemaking. In FY 2007, the 
NRC's total fee recovery increased by $45.2 million from FY 2006, 
mostly in response to the increased budget for new reactor licensing 
activities. The FY 2007 budget was allocated to the fee classes that 
the budgeted activities support. As such, the annual fees for reactor 
licensees increased. The annual fees for most other licensees decreased 
due to factors such as the removal of generic homeland security 
resources from the fee base, and other reductions in budgeted resources 
allocated to the fee classes. Another factor affecting the amount of 
annual fees for each fee class is the estimated fee collection under 
part 170.

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II. Response to Comments

    The NRC published the FY 2007 proposed fee rule on February 2, 2007 
(72 FR 5107) to solicit public comment on its proposed revisions to 10 
CFR parts 170 and 171. The NRC received seven comments by the close of 
the comment period (March 5, 2007). The comments have been grouped by 
issue and are addressed in a collective response.

A. Information Provided by NRC in Support of Proposed Rule

    Comment. Some commenters requested more explanation for the fee 
increases. The details requested include explanation of direct hours 
worked annually per direct full-time equivalent (FTE) and NRC's cost 
breakdown of the major elements that comprise the annual fee. In 
addition, some commenters were not satisfied with the allocation of fee 
recovery between parts 170 and 171.
    Response. Consistent with the requirements of OBRA-90, as amended, 
the purpose of this rulemaking is to establish fees necessary to 
recover 90 percent of the NRC's FY 2007 budget authority, less the 
amounts appropriated from the NWF, WIR activities, and for generic 
homeland security activities, from applicants and the various classes 
of NRC licensees. As with each year's fee rulemaking, the FY 2007 
proposed fee rule described the types of activities included in the 
proposed fees and explained how the fees were calculated to recover the 
budgeted costs for those activities. Additional summary calculations 
were provided in the FY 2007 proposed fee rule. A table was presented 
showing the aggregate calculations for each fee class (e.g., total 
budgeted resources and estimated part 170 collections). There was also 
a summary explanation provided for the changes in fees and budgeted 
resources for each fee class.
    In addition to the information provided in the proposed rule, the 
supporting work papers were available for public examination in ADAMS 
and, during the 30-day comment period, in the NRC's PDR at One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. The work papers show 
the total budgeted FTE and contract budgeted resources at the planned 
activity level for all agency activities. These papers present an 
itemized accounting of all the budgeted resources included in the fees, 
at the lowest level of detail available agency-wide. The papers 
included extensive information detailing the allocation of the budgeted 
costs for each planned activity within each program to the various 
classes of licenses, as well as information on categories of budgeted 
costs included in the hourly rates.
    The FY 2007 proposed fee rule work papers included a separate 
document for each fee class and surcharge category to show the budget 
allocations for FY 2007 and FY 2006 at the planned activity level, 
thereby making it easier to see the reasons for any fee changes between 
FY 2007 and FY 2006. Accordingly, the proposed rule showed the total 
value of budgeted resources allocated to a fee class and described the 
major reasons for any fee change(s). The supporting work papers clearly 
set forth the changes in budgeted resources for each class at the 
planned activity level for both FTE and contract dollars. For example, 
the proposed fee rule stated that the power reactor annual fee 
increased due to an increase in budgeted resources for activities such 
as Technical Development Activities for new reactor licensing 
activities (other examples were also provided). The work papers showed 
that the budgeted resources for that planned activity increased by 
approximately 21 FTE and $14 million in FY 2007, as compared to FY 
2006.
    Also to assist commenters provide meaningful comments, the NRC made 
available NUREG-1100, Volume 22, ``Performance Budget: Fiscal Year 
2007'' (February 2006), which discusses the NRC's budget for FY 2007, 
including the activities to be performed in each program. This document 
is available on the NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. The extensive information available provided the public with 
sufficient information on how NRC calculated the proposed fees. 
Additionally, the contact listed in the proposed fee rule was available 
during the public comment period to answer any questions that 
commenters had on the development of the proposed fees. Therefore, the 
NRC believes that ample information was available on which to base 
constructive comments on the proposed revisions to parts 170 and 171 
and that its fee schedule development is a transparent process.
    The purpose of the FY 2007 fee rulemaking, as with prior year fee 
rulemakings, is to establish fees in a fair and transparent manner to 
recover the required portion of the NRC's budget. The estimate of the 
direct staff hours per FTE used for the calculation of the hourly rate 
was revised based on NRC's time and labor system data. This revised 
estimate reflects changes that are taking place with the NRC's 
workforce. The changes reflect the increase in retirements of more 
experienced NRC staff and the increase in hiring of new staff to fill 
these vacancies. In addition, the NRC is also recruiting new staff due 
to the projected increase in its workload particularly as it relates to 
new reactors. In the near term, as new, less experienced staff continue 
to come on board, more hours are required for training and less are 
available for direct work. As a result, the estimated direct staff 
hours per FTE is lower. NRC plans to review this estimate in future 
years and to update it as appropriate.
    Regarding the comments that expressed concern that too much of the 
NRC's budget was designated for recovery under part 171, as discussed 
in previous fee rulemakings, the NRC is not at liberty to allocate fees 
indiscriminately between parts 170 and 171 because fee allocation 
between the parts is controlled by statute. The NRC assesses part 170 
fees under the IOAA, consistent with implementing OMB Circular A-25, 
``User Charges,'' to recover the costs incurred from each identifiable 
recipient for special benefits derived from Federal activities beyond 
those received by the general public. Generic costs that do not provide 
special benefits to identifiable recipients cannot be recovered under 
part 170. Further, the NRC notes that, as required by OBRA-90, as 
amended, the part 171 annual fee recovery amounts are offset by the 
estimated part 170 fee collections. The NRC's work papers clearly set 
forth the components of these generic costs and how those costs are 
recovered through annual fees. Additionally, the NRC notes that it has 
taken action to maximize the amount recovered under part 170, 
consistent with existing law and agency policy. For example, in FY 1998 
the NRC began charging part 170 fees for all resident inspectors' time 
(63 FR 31840; June 10, 1998), and in FY 1999 the NRC started charging 
part 170 fees for all project manager activities associated with the 
oversight of the assigned license or plant (64 FR 31448; June 10, 
1999). In FY 2003, the NRC amended its regulations to allow the NRC to 
recover costs associated with contested hearings on licensing actions 
involving U.S. Government national security initiatives through part 
170 fees assessed to the affected applicant or licensee (67 FR 64033; 
October 17, 2002). Included under this provision are activities 
involving the fabrication and use of mixed oxide fuel. Additionally, 
beginning with the FY 2005 fee rule (70 FR 30526; May 26, 2005), the 
NRC revised its hourly rate calculation formula to better reflect 
actual agency

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costs, resulting in higher hourly rates. These higher hourly rates 
increased fee recovery under part 170.

B. Specific Part 170 Issue

Hourly Fees
    Comment. One commenter requested a better explanation for the 
increase in the NRC hourly rate compared to the total inflation rate.
    Response. The change in inflation rate is only one of the variables 
affecting the increase in the hourly rate. The NRC's hourly rates are 
based on budgeted costs and are established each year to meet the NRC's 
fee recovery requirements as explained in the proposed rule and in 
Section III.A.1., Hourly Rate, of this final rule. The NRC budgeted 
costs have increased in recent years in response to increased workload, 
e.g., new reactor licensing activities. The hourly rates are calculated 
to recover all of the budgeted costs supporting the services provided 
under part 170, including all programmatic and agency overhead, 
consistent with the full cost recovery concept emphasized in OMB's 
Circular A-25, ``User Charges.'' Therefore, the increase in the hourly 
rate reflects the increase in the NRC funding. In addition, the NRC 
revised its estimate of the direct staff hours per FTE which also 
contributed to the increase in the hourly rate. The NRC did not receive 
any comments on ways to revise the hourly rate calculation methodology, 
and notes that other comments have consistently supported the NRC in 
its efforts to collect more of its budget through part 170 fees-for-
services rather than part 171 annual fees. Therefore, the NRC is 
retaining the hourly rate formula as presented in the FY 2007 proposed 
fee rule. This results in an hourly rate of $258.
    The Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007, enacted 
after the FY 2007 proposed fee rule was published, provided NRC with 
additional funding. As a result, the hourly rate increased from $256 in 
the proposed rule to $258 in this final rule. The NRC recognizes that 
the higher hourly rates will have a greater impact on licensees that 
receive more part 170 services, but believes this is appropriate 
because the new rates more accurately reflect the costs of providing 
these services.

C. Specific Part 171 Issue

Annual Fees for Uranium Recovery Licensees
    Comment. Several commenters supported the reduction in annual fees 
for uranium recovery licensees. They also recommended devoting 
additional resources to address the numerous license application and 
amendment requests that NRC is receiving, and will receive, and using 
hourly charges to recover the cost of these resources.
    Response. The reduction in the annual fees is due to reduction in 
uranium recovery resources allocated to this fee class. As appropriate, 
the NRC will continue to recover its cost of application and amendment 
reviews by billing the identifiable applicants using the hourly rate. 
The NRC's FY 2008 Budget sent to the Congress includes more resources 
for uranium recovery fee class. In addition, the NRC is also looking at 
streamlining the review process for the large number of applications 
expected to be received.

D. Other Issues

1. Changing NRC's Small Entity Size Standards
    Comment. One commenter requested that NRC change its definition of 
Small Entity to be consistent with the Small Business Administration 
(SBA) standards.
    Response. The NRC acknowledges that the size standards used by NRC 
to determine small entity status are currently different from the SBA 
standards. The NRC will conduct a parallel rulemaking proceeding to 
make adjustments to its size standards to reflect SBA's actions as 
appropriate. We expect that final rule will be issued and become 
effective soon after the final fee rule becomes effective. The size 
standards in this FY 2007 final fee rule will be replaced by the new 
size standards. Once the size standards rulemaking takes effect, 
licensees who meet the amended size standards for a small entity can 
submit a completed NRC Form 526 ``Certification of Small Entity Status 
for the Purposes of Annual Fees Imposed Under 10 CFR Part 171'' to 
qualify prospectively for the reduced small entity annual fee.
2. Need for Timely Budget Estimate
    Comment. Several commenters raised concerns that the timing of the 
issuance of the fee rule makes it difficult for licensees to plan for 
regulatory expenses within the framework of their normal budget cycles. 
One commenter specifically noted that the lack of adequate notice 
results from the NRC's fiscal year differing from the majority of 
licensees' fiscal years, fee recovery is not known until after a new 
calendar year begins. To address this issue, these commenters suggested 
that the NRC publish an estimate of fees for the following year, 
coincident with issuance of the proposed fee rule each year.
    Response. The NRC acknowledges the concerns raised by these 
commenters, and has addressed similar comments in previous fee 
rulemakings. The timing of the NRC's required fee collections is 
established by OBRA-90, as amended. In accordance with that statute, 
the NRC must collect the mandated level of fees by the end of the 
fiscal year to which they are attributed, in this case September 30, 
2007. As such, the agency does not have the discretion to delay the 
collection of these fees by deferring some fee increases.
    Additionally, the timing of the fee rule each year is contingent 
upon when the NRC receives its Congressionally approved budget. The 
Commission makes every effort to issue the proposed fee rule as soon as 
possible after receiving its appropriation. Because the NRC does not 
know in advance what its future budgets will be (i.e., proposed budgets 
must be submitted to the OMB for its review before the President 
submits the budget to Congress for enactment), the NRC believes it is 
not practicable to project fees based on future estimated budgets. For 
example, at the time the FY 2007 proposed fee rule was published, the 
NRC was under a continuing resolution that limited the FY 2007 funds to 
the NRC's FY 2006 funding level which was approximately $83 million 
lower than what the President eventually signed into law on February 
15, 2007. Had the NRC proposed or established preliminary fees based on 
the NRC funding in FY 2006, these estimated fees would have been quite 
different from the fees ultimately assessed to licensees. The fees in 
this final rulemaking reflect the final approved appropriation that was 
signed by the President on February 15, 2007.
    Changes in economic markets, as well as the security and 
policymaking environments, make predicting the NRC's future budgets 
even more difficult than in previous years. However, even if the NRC 
were able to reasonably predict a future year total budget, the annual 
fee amounts are also highly sensitive to other factors, including the 
allocation of these budgeted resources to license fee classes, the 
numbers of licensees in a fee class, and the proportion of total class 
costs recovered from part 170. (Part 170 revenue from a fee class is 
particularly difficult to predict in advance, and more so for fee 
classes with small numbers of licensees, whose annual fees are even 
more sensitive to part 170 revenue estimates). Estimating these factors 
even further in advance than the NRC currently does would likely lead 
to inaccurate future fee projections, which

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would be misleading to applicants and licensees.

III. Final Action

    The NRC is amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fees to 
recover approximately 90 percent of its FY 2007 budget authority less 
the appropriations received from the NWF and for WIR activities and 
generic homeland securities. The NRC's total budget authority for FY 
2007 is $824.9 million, of which approximately $45.8 million has been 
appropriated from the NWF, $2.5 million for WIR activities, and $33 
million for generic homeland security activities. Based on the 90 
percent fee-recovery requirement, the NRC must recover approximately 
$669.2 million in FY 2007 through part 170 licensing and inspection 
fees and part 171 annual fees. The amount required by law to be 
recovered through fees for FY 2007 is $45.2 million more than the 
amount estimated for recovery in FY 2006, an increase of approximately 
7 percent.
    The FY 2007 fee recovery amount is increased by $1.7 million to 
account for billing adjustments (i.e., for FY 2007 invoices that the 
NRC estimates will not be paid during the fiscal year, less payments 
received in FY 2007 for FY 2006 invoices). There is approximately $0.5 
million FY 2006 carryover to apply to FY 2007 fee collections. This 
leaves approximately $670.5 million to be recovered in FY 2007 through 
part 170 licensing and inspection fees and part 171 annual fees.
    The NRC estimates that in FY 2007 approximately $205.1 million will 
be recovered from part 170 fees. This represents an increase of 
approximately 11 percent as compared to the actual part 170 collections 
of $185 million for FY 2006. The NRC derived the FY 2007 estimate of 
part 170 fee collections based on the previous four quarters of billing 
data for each license fee class, with adjustments to account for 
changes in the NRC's FY 2007 budget, as appropriate. The remaining 
$465.3 million will be recovered through the part 171 annual fees in FY 
2007, compared to $441.7 million for FY 2006, an increase of 
approximately 5.3 percent.
    Table I summarizes the budget and fee recovery amounts for FY 2007 
(individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding).

          Table I.--Budget and Fee Recovery Amounts for FY 2007
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Budget Authority.....................................       $824.9
Less NWF, WIR, and generic homeland security...............        -81.3
                                                            ------------
    Balance................................................       $743.6
Fee Recovery Rate for FY 2007..............................      x 90.0%
                                                            ------------
    Total Amount to be Recovered For FY 2007...............       $669.2
Less Carryover from FY 2006................................         -0.5
Plus Part 171 Billing Adjustments..........................
    Unpaid FY 2007 Invoices (estimated)....................          5.4
    Less Payments Received in FY 2007 for Prior Year                -3.7
     Invoices (estimated)..................................
        Subtotal...........................................          1.7
                                                            ============
Amount to be Recovered Through Parts 170 and 171 Fees......       $670.5
Less Estimated Part 170 Fees...............................       -205.1
                                                            ============
    Part 171 Fee Collections Required......................       $465.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC has updated the part 170 estimates based on the latest 
invoice data available. In total, the part 170 estimates increased by 
approximately $12 million from the FY 2007 proposed fee rule; 
approximately $10 million of this increase is from the power reactor 
fee class. This change and its associated impacts on each fee class is 
discussed in more detail in Section III.B.4, Revised Annual Fees, of 
this document.
    Fees for most licensees decreased between the FY 2007 proposed and 
final fee rules. The most significant changes were an 47.6 percent 
decrease in the annual fee for uranium recovery facilities other than 
DOE and an 17.3 percent decrease in the annual fee for test and 
research (non power) reactors which resulted from changes in estimated 
part 170 fee collections for these fee classes.
    The FY 2007 final fee rule is a ``major rule'' as defined by the 
Congressional Review Act of 1996. Therefore, the NRC's fee schedules 
for FY 2007 will become effective 60 days after publication of the 
final rule in the Federal Register. The NRC will send an invoice for 
the amount of the annual fee to reactors, major fuel cycle facilities, 
and other licensees with annual fees of $100,000 or more, upon 
publication of the FY 2007 final rule. For these licensees, payment is 
due on the effective date of the FY 2007 rule. Because these licensees 
are billed quarterly, the payment due is the amount of the total FY 
2007 annual fee less payments made in the first three quarters of the 
fiscal year. Those materials licensees whose license anniversary date 
during FY 2007 falls before the effective date of the final FY 2007 
rule will be billed for the annual fee during the anniversary month of 
the license at the FY 2006 annual fee rate. Those materials licensees 
whose license anniversary date falls on or after the effective date of 
the final FY 2007 rule will be billed for the annual fee at the FY 2007 
annual fee rate during the anniversary month of the license, and 
payment will be due on the date of the invoice.
    The NRC has discontinued mailing the final fee rule to all 
licensees as a cost saving measure, in accordance with its FY 1998 
announcement. Accordingly, the NRC does not plan to routinely mail the 
FY 2007 final fee rule or future final fee rules to licensees. The NRC 
will send the final rule to any licensee or other person upon specific 
request. To request a copy, contact the License Fee Team, Division of 
Financial Management, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, at 301-
415-7554, or e-mail [email protected]. In addition to publication in the 
Federal Register, the final rule will be available on the Internet at 
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov for at least 90 days after the effective date 
of the final rule, and will be permanently available at http://www.access.gpo.gov.
    The NRC is amending 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 as discussed below in 
Sections III. A. and B. of this document.

A. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170: Fees for Facilities, Materials, 
Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services Under the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as Amended

    The NRC is establishing one hourly rate to recover the full cost of 
activities under part 170, and to use this rate to calculate ``flat'' 
application fees. This hourly rate of $258 has changed from $256 in the 
proposed fee rule. The increase is due to additional funding received 
by NRC under the Pub. L. 110-5 Revised Continuing Appropriations 
Resolution, 2007. Additionally, this rule revises the license 
application fees to (1) reflect the FY 2007 hourly rate and to comply 
with the requirement under the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 
1990 (Pub. L. 101-578, November 15, 1990) that fees be reviewed 
biennially and revised as necessary to reflect the cost to the agency, 
(2) establish new flat fees for requests for exemptions from import/
export licensing requirements, and (3) change facilities flat fees to 
full cost fees. It also establishes new fee

[[Page 31406]]

categories under Sec.  170.31 and makes minor administrative changes 
for purposes of clarification and consistency.
    The NRC is making the following changes:
1. Hourly Rate
    The NRC is establishing in Sec.  170.20 one professional hourly 
rate for NRC staff time. This is a change from the current policy of 
using two hourly rates, one for the Nuclear Reactor Safety (Reactor) 
Program, and one for the Nuclear Materials and Waste Safety (Materials) 
Program.
    From FY 1988 through 1994, the NRC used one agency-wide 
professional hourly rate. In the FY 1995 fee rule (60 FR 32218; June 
20, 1995), the NRC replaced the single rate with two professional 
hourly rates based on `cost center concepts' used for budgeting 
purposes, to more closely align budgeted costs with specific fee 
classes. The average difference in hourly costs between the Reactor and 
Materials Programs has been small for a number of years. From FY 1998 
through FY 2006, the average difference in these rates was 
approximately two percent. The NRC does not have reason to believe that 
these two rates will be notably different from each other in the 
future. Additionally, the NRC incurs administrative burden in 
calculating and billing two different hourly rates. Therefore, the NRC 
is returning to the use of one hourly rate.
    The NRC's hourly rate is used in assessing full cost fees for 
specific services provided, as well as flat fees for certain 
application reviews. The FY 2007 hourly rate is $258. This rate is 
higher than the hourly rate of $256 in the proposed fee rule. The 
increase is due to additional funding provided NRC in the Pub. L. 110-5 
Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007. This rate is 
applicable to all activities for which fees are assessed under 
Sec. Sec.  170.21 and 170.31. In the FY 2006 final fee rule, the 
Reactor and Materials Program rates were $217 and $214, respectively.
    The FY 2007 hourly rate is higher than the FY 2006 Reactors and 
Materials Program rates mainly because of a downward revision to the 
NRC's estimate of direct hours worked per FTE per year, which is used 
in the denominator of the hourly rate calculation (described in further 
detail later in this document). It is also higher due to Government-
wide pay raises.
    The NRC's single hourly rate is derived by dividing the sum of 
budgeted resources for (1) mission direct labor; (2) mission indirect 
(or program overhead) labor and non-labor activities (including mission 
direct travel); and (3) agency overhead labor and non-labor activities, 
by mission direct FTE hours. The only budgeted resources excluded from 
the hourly rate are those for mission direct non-labor (i.e., contract) 
activities. This method is consistent with the existing approach for 
calculating hourly rates for the Reactor and Materials Programs. The 
only difference is that the formula used to derive one average NRC 
hourly rate would be based on total NRC budgeted resources (excluding 
HLW, WIR, and generic homeland security), rather than using this same 
formula to calculate two rates based on resources allocated to the 
Reactor and Materials Programs.
    As noted previously, the FY 2007 hourly rate is higher than the FY 
2006 Reactors and Materials rates mainly due to a revision to the NRC's 
estimate of direct hours per FTE per year. The NRC last revised its 
estimate of direct hours worked annually per direct FTE in the FY 2005 
final fee rule (70 FR 30525; May 26, 2005), when it began using an 
estimate of 1,446 hours. As explained in the FY 2005 final fee rule, 
this estimate is based on data from the NRC's time and labor system. 
The NRC has again reviewed data from its time and labor system to 
determine if this estimate requires updating for the FY 2007 fee rule. 
Based on this review of the most recent data available, the NRC 
determined that 1,287 is its best estimate of direct hours worked 
annually per FTE. This estimate excludes all non-mission direct hours, 
such as training, general administration, and leave. Because the NRC's 
hourly rates are calculated by dividing annual budgeted costs by the 
product of budgeted mission direct FTE and average annual direct hours 
per FTE, the lower the number of direct hours per FTE used in the 
calculation, the higher the hourly rates.
    The NRC is updating its hourly rate calculation to reflect its 
latest estimate of direct hours per FTE to more accurately reflect the 
NRC's costs of providing part 170 services, which would allow the NRC 
to more fully recover the costs of these services through part 170 
fees. The NRC believes that this is consistent with guidance provided 
in the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-25 on recovering the 
full cost of services provided to identifiable recipients. The 
resulting higher hourly rate would result in both increased full cost 
fees for licensing and inspection activities, and increased materials 
flat fees for license applications.
    Because costs not recovered under part 170 are recovered through 
part 171 annual fees, the increase in total part 170 fees (caused by 
the hourly rate increase) would result in a reduction to total annual 
fees of the same amount. As such, this hourly rate increase would shift 
some fee recovery from part 171 annual fees to part 170 fees for 
licensee-specific services. This change supports industry comments that 
consistently recommend that the NRC collect more of its budget through 
part 170 fees-for-services rather than part 171 annual fees. (Because 
the invoices reflecting these increased part 170 fees will not be paid 
by licensees until FY 2008--in light of the effective date of the FY 
2007 final rule and the timing of the NRC's regular billing cycle--the 
reduction in annual fees from this change would not occur until FY 
2008).
    Because annual fees are adjusted to recover the remainder of the 
budgeted resources for a license fee class not recovered under part 
170, the total estimated fees (parts 170 plus 171) recovered from a 
license fee class would be the same regardless of the amount of the 
hourly rate. However, when implemented, higher hourly rates would 
result in some individual licensees paying less in total fees than if 
this change were not enacted. This is true for those licensees for whom 
the NRC performs fewer hours of part 170 services than it does, on 
average, for a licensee in that class. Similarly, licensees for which 
the NRC performs more hours of part 170 services will pay more in total 
fees under the higher hourly rate.
    Table II shows the results of the hourly rate calculation 
methodology. Due to rounding, adding the individual numbers in the 
table may result in a total that is slightly different than the one 
shown.

   Table II.--FY 2007 Budget Authority To Be Included in Hourly Rates
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Direct Program Salaries & Benefits.................      $255.0M
Mission Indirect (Program Overhead) Salaries & Benefits,          107.1M
 and Mission Direct Travel.................................
Agency Management and Support..............................       247.8M
                                                            ------------
    Subtotal...............................................       609.9M
Less Offsetting Receipts...................................        -0.1M
                                                            ------------
    Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate...................      $609.8M
Mission Direct FTEs........................................        1,835
Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budget Included in Hourly           $258
 Rate divided by Mission Direct FTE times 1,287 hours).....
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 31407]]

    As shown in Table II, dividing the $609.8 million budgeted amount 
(rounded) included in the hourly rate by total mission direct hours 
(1,835 FTE times 1,287 hours) results in an hourly rate of $258. The 
hourly rate is rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
2. ``Flat'' Application Fee Changes
    a. Revised Flat Fees. The NRC is adjusting the current flat 
application fees in Sec. Sec.  170.21 and 170.31 to reflect the revised 
hourly rate of $258 and the results of the biennial review of part 170 
fees required by the CFO Act of 1990. These flat fees are calculated by 
multiplying the average professional staff hours needed to process the 
licensing actions by the professional hourly rate for FY 2007.
    To comply with the requirements of the CFO Act, the NRC has 
evaluated historical professional staff hours used to process a new 
license application for those materials users fee categories subject to 
flat application fees. This review also included new license and 
amendment applications for import and export licenses.
    Evaluation of the historical data shows that fees based on the 
average number of professional staff hours required to complete 
licensing actions in the materials program should be increased in some 
fee categories and decreased in others to more accurately reflect 
current costs incurred in completing these licensing actions. The data 
for the average number of professional staff hours needed to complete 
new licensing actions was last updated for the FY 2005 final fee rule. 
Thus, the revised average professional staff hours in this fee rule 
reflect the changes in the NRC licensing review program that have 
occurred since that time.
    As a result of the biennial review, the application fees for 
materials users are based on the average professional staff hours that 
reflect an increase in average time for new license applications for 
four of the 34 Materials Program fee categories, a decrease in average 
time for six fee categories, and the same average time for the 
remaining 24 fee categories. [Note that for fee category 3.H., the NRC 
used seven years of data (rather than five) to determine the average 
application hours to mitigate the significant fee `swings' resulting 
from large changes to this estimate in the past two biennial reviews, 
which the NRC believes are more a function of data anomalies than 
substantive changes.] The average time for new license applications and 
amendments for export and import licenses increased for seven fee 
categories in Sec. Sec.  170.21 and 170.31, and remained the same for 
the others. The reciprocity fee reflects a slight decrease in the 
average time supporting these licenses. The registration fee for 
general licensees (fee category 3.Q. under Sec.  170.31) also 
decreased.
    The higher hourly rate of $258 is the main reason for the increases 
in the application fees. Application fees for some fee categories 
(K.3., K.4., and K.5. under Sec.  170.21; and 3.C., 3.N., 3.O., 15.C., 
15.D., 15.E., 15.R., and 17 under Sec.  170.31) also increase because 
of the results of the biennial review of fees, which showed an increase 
in average time to process these types of license applications. (As 
discussed in the FY 2006 final fee rule, the average hours to process a 
category 17 application are based on similar licenses of broad scope.)
    The amounts of the materials licensing flat fees are rounded so 
that the fees would be convenient to the user and the effects of 
rounding would be ``de minimis.'' Fees under $1,000 are rounded to the 
nearest $10, fees that are greater than $1,000 but less than $100,000 
are rounded to the nearest $100, and fees that are greater than 
$100,000 are rounded to the nearest $1,000.
    The licensing flat fees are applicable for fee categories K.1. 
through K.5. of Sec.  170.21, and fee categories 1.C., 1.D., 2.B., 
2.C., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.B. through 9.D., 10.B, 15.A. through 15.R., 
16, and 17 of Sec.  170.31. Applications filed on or after the 
effective date of the FY 2007 final fee rule will be subject to the 
revised fees in the final rule.
    b. Flat Fees for Import/Export License Exemption Requests. The NRC 
will charge part 170 flat fees for requests for exemptions from import/
export licensing requirements. The same fees would apply to these 
requests for exemptions as apply to requests for import/export 
licenses, because the NRC incurs similar costs in reviewing a license 
application as it does in reviewing an exemption request. The NRC does 
not receive many requests for exemptions from import/export licensing 
requirements, but will assess part 170 fees for these requests to 
comply with IOAA direction to recover the full costs of the services it 
provides to identifiable recipients.
    c. Change Facilities Flat Fees to Full Cost Fees. The NRC is 
eliminating the flat application fees in Sec.  170.21 A (application 
for a nuclear power reactor construction permit), C (application for a 
test facility/research reactor/critical facility construction permit), 
D (application for a manufacturing license), and G (application for 
other production and utilization facility construction permit), and 
instead is charging full cost part 170 fees for these activities. 
Footnote 1 to Sec.  170.21 is also modified to eliminate reference to 
provisions relating to these flat fees. The NRC is making this change 
because it does not have recent data on average professional hours 
associated with the review of these types of applications. Therefore, 
the NRC believes it is more appropriate to charge full cost fees for 
these types of activities.
    The NRC is also eliminating fee category F, Advanced Reactors, in 
Sec.  170.21. This is because applications of this type are already 
covered under other fee categories (e.g., fee category A, Nuclear Power 
Reactors). The definition of ``Advanced Reactor'' under Sec.  170.3 is 
also eliminated.
3. New Fee Categories
    The NRC is amending Sec.  170.31 to establish a new fee category 
(2.A.(5)) for uranium water treatment facilities. The NRC recently 
received its first license application for this type of facility, and 
it is not covered by existing fee categories. Accordingly, the NRC 
charged this applicant full cost part 170 fees for reviewing its 
application under the ``special project'' fee category in Sec.  170.31. 
Because the NRC is adding a fee category under Sec.  171.16 to 
establish an annual fee for this type of facility (see Section 
III.B.4.b of this document), the NRC is also adding the same new fee 
category under Sec.  170.31, to maintain consistency of the fee 
categories under parts 170 and 171. This new fee category under Sec.  
170.31 would state that these facilities are subject to full cost 
licensing and inspection fees.
    The NRC is also proposing to update the fee amounts for some new 
and revised fee categories that were included in another NRC 
rulemaking. The NRC published a proposed rule on July 28, 2006 (71 FR 
42951) titled, ``Requirements for Expanded Definition of Byproduct 
Material,'' which would amend its regulations to include jurisdiction 
over certain radium sources, accelerator-produced radioactive 
materials, and certain naturally occurring radioactive material, as 
required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This July 28, 2006, rule 
proposed the establishment of three new fee categories and the revision 
of one existing fee category. These new and revised fee categories 
would include activities not currently covered by the NRC's existing 
regulations, but would be covered by the July 28, 2006, proposed rule. 
As explained in that proposed rule (71 FR 42967), which was published 
before the effective date of the FY 2006 final fee rule, the fee

[[Page 31408]]

amounts quoted reflected FY 2005 rates and budgeted resources. The NRC 
revises its fees each year in light of the current fiscal year budget 
and other factors. Accordingly, this document provides the fee amounts 
for these new and revised fee categories based on the FY 2007 budget 
and hourly rates.
    The new and revised fee categories included in the July 28, 2006, 
proposed rule on the expanded definition of byproduct material are not 
included in this FY 2007 final fee rule. This is because these new and 
revised fee categories will be finalized as part of the NRC's final 
rule on the expanded definition of byproduct material. The NRC expects 
to publish a final rule on the requirements for the expanded definition 
of byproduct material in the latter half of calendar year 2007.
    The NRC's proposed rule on the expanded definition of byproduct 
material would establish a new fee category 3.R.(1), for individuals 
possessing quantities greater than the number of items or limits in 10 
CFR 31.12(a)(3), (4), or (5), but less than or equal to 10 times these 
quantities. That rule proposed that the application and annual fees for 
category 3.R.(1) be the same as those for fee category 8 under Sec.  
170.31, given the similarity in regulatory effort. The FY 2007 
application and annual fees for the new fee category 3.R.(1) continue 
to be based on the level of effort for fee category 8, and are $590 and 
$2,100, respectively.
    The proposed rule on the expanded definition of byproduct material 
would also establish a new fee category 3.R.(2), for individuals 
possessing quantities greater than 10 times the number of items or 
limits in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(3), (4), or (5). That rule proposed that the 
application and annual fees for category 3.R.(2) be the same as those 
for fee category 3.P. under Sec.  170.31, given the similarity in 
regulatory effort. The FY 2007 application and annual fees for the new 
fee category 3.R.(2) continue to be based on the level of effort for 
fee category 3.P., and are $1,400 and $2,700, respectively.
    Additionally, the proposed rule on expanding the definition of 
byproduct material would also establish a new fee category 3.S., for 
the production of accelerator-produced radioactive materials. That rule 
proposed that the application and annual fees for 3.S. be the same as 
those for fee category 3.C. under Sec.  170.31, given the similarity in 
regulatory effort. The FY 2007 application and annual fees for fee 
category 3.C. are $8,000 and $11,900, respectively. The application and 
annual fees for fee category 3.S. are $8,000 and $10,900, respectively. 
The proposed fees for fee category 3.S. continue to be based on the 
level of effort associated with fee category 3.C. licensees. The 
proposed annual fee for category 3.S. is slightly less than that for 
category 3.C. because the category 3.S. fee does not include a portion 
of the low-level waste (LLW) surcharge, while the category 3.C. fee 
does. This is because the licensees in fee category 3.C. directly 
benefit from the NRC's LLW activities, but the licensees in fee 
category 3.S. do not. (The LLW surcharge is included only in part 171 
annual fees, and therefore does not affect the part 170 application 
fees.)
    Finally, the proposed rule on expanding the definition of byproduct 
material would revise the scope of fee category 3.B. to include 
licenses for repair, assembly, and disassembly of products containing 
radium-226. The FY 2007 application and annual fees for fee category 
3.B. are $4,600 and $8,400, respectively.
    Fees associated with the new and revised fee categories for the 
expanded definition of byproduct material will not be applicable until 
the effective date of the FY 2007 final fee rule (approximately early 
August 2007), or the effective date of the NRC's final rule on the 
expanded definition of byproduct material, whichever is later. FY 2007 
fees will be applicable to those new fee categories as of that date. As 
mentioned previously, these fee amounts will be updated each year.
    The specific application and inspection hours used in the part 170 
and 171 fees for all categories of materials users licensees, are 
included in the publicly available work papers supporting this final 
rulemaking. The calculation method used to determine the annual fees 
for materials users is explained in Section III.B.4.g, Materials Users, 
of this document.
4. Administrative Amendments
    The NRC is revising Sec. Sec.  170.3 and 170.12 to clarify that 
unless otherwise specifically exempted, all specific services provided 
by the Commission are ``special projects'' for which full cost fees 
will be assessed under part 170. This is consistent with NRC's existing 
regulations and practice, but the revisions state this more clearly.
    The NRC is also making other minor administrative changes. The NRC 
is eliminating the definitions for ``Indian organization'' and ``Indian 
tribe'' in Sec.  170.3, because these terms are no longer used in part 
170. In Sec.  170.31, fee category 1.A.(2)(c) is modified to state that 
it includes all ``other'' licenses for fuel cycle activities under fee 
category 1.A.(2), including hot cell facilities. The NRC is also 
eliminating the reference to footnote 4 in Sec.  170.31, fee categories 
2.A.(2)(a), 2.A.(2)(b), and 2.A.(2)(c), as this footnote is not 
applicable to these fee categories. Footnote 1(b) under Sec.  170.31 
will be revised to eliminate the listing of all full cost fee 
categories to eliminate redundancy. Additionally, footnote 1(c) under 
Sec.  170.31 will be revised to eliminate reference to amendments for 
licenses other than import and export licenses, as flat fees for other 
license amendments no longer apply. Finally, fee category 7.B. in Sec.  
170.31 is slightly modified so that the language describing this fee 
category is the same under both parts 170 and 171.
    In summary, the NRC is making the following changes to 10 CFR part 
170--
    1. Establishing one FY 2007 professional hourly rate of $258 to use 
in assessing fees for specific services;
    2. Revising the license application fees to (a) reflect the FY 2007 
hourly rate and to comply with the CFO Act requirement that fees be 
reviewed biennially and revised as necessary to reflect the cost to the 
agency, (b) establish new flat fees for requests for exemptions from 
import/export licensing requirements, and (c) change facilities flat 
fees to full cost fees;
    3. Establishing new fee categories under Sec.  170.31; and
    4. Making minor administrative changes for purposes of 
clarification and consistency.

B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: Annual Fees for Reactor 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

    The NRC is making the following changes to part 171: removing 
generic homeland security budgeted resources from the fee base; using 
its fee relief to reduce all licensees' annual fees and modifying some 
surcharge categories; codifying the NRC's policy regarding when the 
assessment of annual fees begins and establishing rebaselined annual 
fees based on the Pub. L. 110-5 Revised Continuing Appropriations 
Resolution, 2007; revising the way it prorates annual fees for 
materials licenses of $100,000 or more and establishing new fee 
categories; and making some minor administrative amendments under part 
171. The final amendments are described below:

[[Page 31409]]

1. Removal of Generic Homeland Security Budgeted Resources From the Fee 
Base
    As mentioned previously, beginning with this FY 2007 rulemaking, in 
accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the budgeted resources 
associated with generic homeland security activities are excluded from 
the NRC's fees each year. As a result, $33 million is removed from the 
NRC's required annual fee recovery in FY 2007. These funds cover 
generic homeland security activities such as rulemakings and guidance 
development. Under the NRC's authority under the IOAA, the NRC will 
continue to bill under part 170 for all licensee-specific homeland 
security-related services provided, including security inspections 
(which include force-on-force exercises) and security plan reviews.
2. Application of ``Fee Relief''/Surcharge Changes
    The NRC will be using its fee relief to reduce all licensees' 
annual fees, based on their percent of the budget. Additionally, the 
NRC is revising the activities included in the surcharge.
    The NRC applies the 10 percent of its budget that it receives as 
fee relief under OBRA-90, as amended, to offset the costs of activities 
for which it does not charge fees or charges reduced fees. The costs of 
these ``surcharge'' activities are totaled, and then reduced by the 
amount of the NRC's fee relief. In prior years, any remaining surcharge 
costs were then allocated to all licensees' annual fees, based on their 
percent of the budget (i.e., over 80 percent was allocated to power 
reactors each year).
    In FY 2007, the NRC's 10 percent fee relief exceeds the total 
surcharge costs by approximately $9.8 million. Therefore, the NRC will 
use this fee relief to reduce all licensees' annual fees, based on 
their percent of the budget authority. This is consistent with the 
existing fee methodology, in that the benefits of the NRC's fee relief 
are allocated to licensees in the same manner as costs were allocated 
when the NRC did not receive enough fee relief to pay for surcharge 
activities.
    The NRC is also modifying some surcharge categories. First, the NRC 
is adding a new surcharge category in FY 2007 for the costs associated 
with a rulemaking on groundwater protection at in-situ leach (ISL) 
uranium extraction facilities. This change is in accordance with 
Commission Staff Requirements Memorandum COMJSM-06-0001, ``Regulation 
of Groundwater Protection at In Situ Leach Uranium Extraction 
Facilities'' (ML060830525). Second, the NRC is eliminating the 
surcharge category for specific services to other Federal agencies, 
because these agencies became subject to part 170 fees to recover the 
costs of these services as of the effective date of the FY 2006 final 
fee rule. Third, the NRC is eliminating the surcharge category for 
activities supporting unlicensed sites, because the NRC now charges 
part 170 fees to owners or operators of unlicensed sites in 
decommissioning (beginning July 25, 2006). All generic decommissioning 
resources associated with these sites have been allocated to the 
generic decommissioning/reclamation surcharge category. The budgeted 
resources associated with unregistered general licensees, previously 
included in the unlicensed sites surcharge category, are added to the 
new surcharge category that includes the ISL rulemaking.
    Note the NRC is also modifying the way it calculates the resources 
included in the generic decommissioning/reclamation surcharge category, 
which includes decommissioning resources for all fee classes except 
power reactors and the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning fee 
class. This is not a substantive policy change, but rather a 
calculation method change that will result in a more accurate estimate 
of the actual costs of generic decommissioning/reclamation activities. 
In previous years, the budgeted resources allocated to each fee class 
included budgeted resources for site-specific decommissioning 
activities, and then the part 170 estimated decommissioning revenue was 
subtracted from each fee class. Beginning in FY 2007, all budgeted 
resources for decommissioning/reclamation activities (for fee classes 
other than power reactors and spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning) are initially allocated to the generic 
decommissioning/reclamation surcharge category. This total is then 
reduced by the total estimated part 170 decommissioning revenue from 
all licensees (other than those in the power reactor and spent fuel 
storage/reactor decommissioning fee classes). The NRC is explaining 
this change because it results in a reduction in both the total 
allocated budgeted resources and estimated part 170 revenue for the 
affected fee classes, which are shown in Section III.B.4, Revised 
Annual Fees, of this document.
    The total budgeted resources for the NRC's surcharge activities in 
FY 2007 are $64.6 million. The NRC's total fee relief in FY 2007 is 
$74.4. million, leaving $9.8 million in fee relief to be used to reduce 
all licensees' annual fees. These values are shown in Table III 
(individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding).

                       Table III.--Surcharge Costs
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        FY 2007 budgeted
                   Category of costs                          costs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC
 licensee or class of licensee:
    a. International activities.......................             $12.8
    b. Agreement State oversight......................               9.2
2. Activities not assessed part 170 licensing and
 inspection fees or part 171 annual fees based on
 existing law or Commission policy:
    a. Fee exemption for nonprofit educational                       8.8
     institutions.....................................
    b. Costs not recovered from small entities under                 5.2
     10 CFR 171.16(c).................................
3. Activities supporting NRC operating licensees and
 others:
    a. Regulatory support to Agreement States.........              11.2
    b. Generic decommissioning/reclamation (not                     14.8
     related to the power reactor and spent fuel
     storage fee classes).............................
    c. ISL rulemaking and unregistered general                       2.6
     licensees........................................
                                                       -----------------
        Total surcharge costs.........................              64.6
Less 10 percent of NRC's FY 2007 total budget (less                -74.4
 NWF, WIR, and generic homeland security acitvities)..
                                                       -----------------
        Fee Relief to be Allocated to All Licensees'                -9.8
         Annual Fees..................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 31410]]

    Table IV shows how the NRC is allocating the $9.8 million in fee 
relief to each license fee class (individual amounts may not sum to 
totals due to rounding). As explained previously, the NRC is allocating 
this fee relief to each license fee class based on the percent of the 
budget for that fee class compared to the NRC's total budget. The fee 
relief is used to partially offset the required annual fee recovery 
from each fee class. The revisions to Sec. Sec.  171.15(d)(1) and 
171.16(e) clarify that the surcharge allocated to annual fees may be 
negative, i.e., an annual fee reduction.
    Separately, the NRC has continued to allocate the LLW surcharge 
costs based on the volume of LLW disposal of certain classes of 
licenses. Table IV also shows the allocation of the LLW surcharge. 
Because LLW activities support NRC licensees, the costs of these 
activities are not offset by the NRC's fee relief. For FY 2007, the LLW 
surcharge costs are $3.5 million. Because the allocated LLW surcharge 
exceeds the fee relief allocated to the materials users fee class, the 
annual fee recovery for this fee class includes a net addition to its 
annual fees for the surcharge costs.

                              Table IV.--Allocation of Fee Relief and LLW Surcharge
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           LLW surcharge            Fee relief surcharge  (fee         Total
                                 --------------------------------           reduction)           ---------------
                                                                 --------------------------------
                                      Percent           $M            Percent           $M              $M
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors........              74             2.6            87.7            -8.6            -6.0
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor        ..............  ..............             3.6            -0.3            -0.3
 Decomm.........................
Test and Research Reactors......  ..............  ..............             0.1               0               0
Fuel Facilities.................               8             0.3             4.9            -0.5            -0.2
Materials Users.................              18             0.6             3.2            -0.3             0.3
Transportation..................  ..............  ..............             0.3               0               0
Rare Earth Facilities...........  ..............  ..............             0.0               0               0
Uranium Recovery................  ..............  ..............             0.2               0               0
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Surcharge.............             100             3.5           100.0            -9.8            -6.3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Codification of Policy Regarding When the Assessment of Annual Fees 
Begins
    The NRC is modifying Sec. Sec.  171.3 and 171.16 to codify its 
longstanding practice regarding when the assessment of annual fees 
begins for licensees subject to regulations that require a specific NRC 
authorization to operate subsequent to the NRC issuing the license. For 
these licensees, annual fees will not be assessed until the NRC grants 
this authorization. At the present time, this codification only affects 
new uranium enrichment licensees, as described further in this 
document. (The NRC's regulations already provide that part 52 combined 
operating license holders are not subject to annual fees until the 
Commission authorizes fuel load and operation of the reactor. This is 
also described further in this document.)
    All other licensees will continue to be subject to annual fees at 
the time the license is issued. This is consistent with the policy that 
annual fees are assessed to licensees based on the benefits of 
receiving the NRC's authorization to operate, whether or not the 
licensee chooses to operate (with the exception of power reactors in 
decommissioning or possession only status, which are assessed annual 
fees if they have spent fuel onsite). Once a facility is authorized to 
operate, it continues to pay its annual fee(s) even if it shuts down 
for safety or other reasons and needs Commission approval to restart.
    These amendments codify previous Commission decisions on this 
issue. The Commission first adopted this fee policy when it did not 
assess annual fees on those entities holding only a power reactor 
construction permit. The Commission indicated its intention to continue 
this policy when it included a provision in the FY 2002 final fee rule 
(67 FR 42611; June 24, 2002), which expanded the scope of part 171 to 
cover combined licenses authorizing operation of a power reactor (part 
52 licenses). The Statement of Considerations for this June 2002 final 
rule further explained that an annual fee for part 52 licensees will 
only be assessed after construction has been completed, all regulatory 
requirements have been met, and the Commission authorizes operation of 
the reactor. Additionally, the NRC published a proposed rule on March 
13, 2006 (71 FR 12781), ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for 
Nuclear Power Plants,'' that included a provision that states that a 
combined license holder does not have to pay an annual fee until the 
Commission authorizes fuel load and operation. The Commission has 
approved for publication a final rule that includes this provision.
    Other than part 52 licenses, a uranium enrichment facility is the 
only other current type of licensee subject to regulations that require 
a specific NRC authorization to operate subsequent to the NRC issuing 
the license. In the case of uranium enrichment facilities, this 
authorization occurs after the Commission verifies through inspection 
that the facility has been constructed in accordance with the 
requirements of the license, as required by 10 CFR 40.41(g) and 10 CFR 
70.32(k). Therefore, the Commission is codifying its policy that annual 
fees for uranium enrichment facilities will be assessed at that time.
    In the future, should the NRC amend its regulations to require 
specific authorizations for other types of licenses before the licensee 
may operate, the NRC will revise part 171 to explicitly state that 
these other types of licenses are also not subject to annual fees until 
the NRC grants the required authorization(s).
4. Revised Annual Fees
    The NRC is revising its annual fees in Sec. Sec.  171.15 and 171.16 
for FY 2007 to recover approximately 90 percent of the NRC's FY 2007 
budget authority (less the amounts appropriated from the NWF, and for 
WIR and generic homeland security activities), less the estimated 
amount to be recovered through part 170 fees. The part 170 estimates 
for this final rule increased by $11.7 million from the proposed fee 
rule based on the latest invoice data available. The total amount to be 
recovered through annual fees for FY 2007 decreased to $465.3 million 
compared to $471.5 million in the proposed fee rule primarily due to 
the increase in the part 170 estimates. The

[[Page 31411]]

required annual fee collection in FY 2006 was $441.7 million.
    The NRC uses one of two methods to determine the amounts of the 
annual fees, for each type of licensee, established in its fee rule 
each year. One method is ``rebaselining,'' for which the NRC's budget 
is analyzed in detail and budgeted resources are allocated to fee 
classes and categories of licensees. The second method is the ``percent 
change'' method, for which fees are revised based on the percent change 
in the total budget, taking into account other adjustments, such as the 
number of licensees and the projected revenue to be received from part 
170 fees.
    The NRC is establishing revised annual fees for FY 2007 using the 
rebaseline method because of significant budget changes in the areas of 
new reactor licensing and homeland security. As explained in the FY 
2006 final fee rule, the Commission has determined that the agency 
should proceed with a presumption in favor of rebaselining in 
calculating annual fees each year, and that the percent change method 
should be used infrequently. This is because the Commission expects 
that most years there will be budget and other changes that warrant the 
use of the rebaseline method.
    Rebaselining fees results in increased annual fees compared to FY 
2006 for the power reactors, and decreased annual fees for six classes 
of licenses (spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning, non-power 
reactors, fuel facilities, uranium recovery, rare earth, and 
transportation). Within the materials users fee class, annual fees for 
most of the categories (sub-classes) of licenses decrease, while annual 
fees for some increase or remain the same.
    The most significant factors affecting the changes to the annual 
fee amounts are the increase in budgeted resources for new reactor 
activities, and the removal of generic homeland security resources from 
the fee base in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The 
NRC's total fee recoverable budget, as mandated by law, is 
approximately $45.2 million larger in FY 2007 as compared to FY 2006. 
Because much of this increase is for the additional workload demand in 
the area of new reactor licensing, this increase mainly affects the 
operating power reactors' annual fees. Other factors affecting all 
annual fees include adjustments in the distribution of budgeted costs 
to the different classes of licenses (based on the specific activities 
NRC will perform in FY 2007) and the estimated part 170 collections for 
the various classes of licenses. The percentage of the NRC's budget not 
subject to fee recovery remained unchanged at ten percent from FY 2006 
to FY 2007.
    Table V shows the rebaselined annual fees for FY 2007 for a 
representative list of categories of licenses. The FY 2006 fee is also 
shown for comparative purposes.

              Table V.--Rebaselined Annual Fees for FY 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          FY 2006 annual  FY 2007 annual
       Class/category of licenses               fee             fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors (including           $3,704,000      $4,043,000
 Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor
 Decommissioning annual fee)............
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor                       173,000         159,000
 Decommissioning........................
Test and Research Reactors (Non-power             80,100          76,300
 Reactors)..............................
High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility.....       5,420,000       4,096,000
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility......       1,596,000       1,237,000
UF6 Conversion Facility.................       1,046,000         811,000
Conventional Mills......................          65,900          18,700
Typical Materials Users:
    Radiographers.......................          15,400          14,100
    Well Loggers........................           4,800           4,400
    Gauge Users (Category 3P)...........           2,900           2,700
    Broad Scope Medical.................          33,000          29,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The budgeted costs allocated to each class of licenses and the 
calculations of the rebaselined fees are described in paragraphs a. 
through h. below. The work papers which support this rule show in 
detail the allocation of NRC's budgeted resources for each class of 
licenses and how the fees are calculated. The reports included in these 
work papers summarize the FY 2007 budgeted FTE and contract dollars 
allocated to each fee class and surcharge category at the planned 
activity and program level, and compare these allocations to those used 
to develop final FY 2006 fees. The work papers are available 
electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at 
Web site address http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The work 
papers may also be examined at the NRC PDR located at One White Flint 
North, Room O-1F22, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-2738.
a. Fuel Facilities
    The FY 2007 budgeted cost to be recovered in the annual fees 
assessment to the fuel facility class of licenses [which includes 
licensees in fee categories 1.A.(1)(a), 1.A.(1)(b), 1.A.(2)(a), 
1.A.(2)(b), 1.A.(2)(c), 1.E., and 2.A.(1), under Sec.  171.16] is 
approximately $18.9 million. This value is based on the full cost of 
budgeted resources associated with all activities that support this fee 
class, which is reduced by estimated part 170 collections and adjusted 
to reflect the net allocated surcharge, allocated generic 
transportation resources (see Section III.B.4.h, Transportation, of 
this document for further discussion), and billing adjustments. The 
summary calculations used to derive this value are presented in Table 
VI for FY 2007, with FY 2006 values shown for comparison purposes 
(individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding):

     Table VI.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Fuel Facilities
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2006 final   FY 2007 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fuel Facility Fee Class

[[Page 31412]]

 
    Total budgeted resources............           $39.6           $32.2
    Less estimated part 170 receipts....           -15.8           -13.6
                                         -------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..............            23.8            18.6
    Plus allocated generic                          +0.4            +0.5
     transportation.....................
    Allocated surcharge.................            +0.5            -0.2
    Billing adjustments (including                  +0.0            +0.1
     carryover).........................
                                         -------------------------------
        Total required annual fee                   24.8            18.9
         recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The decrease in fuel facilities FY 2007 total budgeted resources 
compared to FY 2006 is due mostly to exclusion of homeland security 
generic activities from the fee base, as well as lower budgeted 
resources for certain activities. The part 170 revenue estimates for 
the final rule increased by 16 percent compared to the proposed rule 
due to increased billing for fuel facilities. This results in lower FY 
2007 annual fees for fuel facilities in this final fee rule.
    The total required annual fee recovery amount is allocated to the 
individual fuel facility licensees based on the effort/fee 
determination matrix established in the FY 1999 final fee rule (64 FR 
31447; June 10, 1999). In the matrix (which is included in the NRC work 
papers that are publicly available), licensees are grouped into 
categories according to their licensed activities (i.e., nuclear 
material enrichment, processing operations, and material form) and 
according to the level, scope, depth of coverage, and rigor of generic 
regulatory programmatic effort applicable to each category from a 
safety and safeguards perspective. This methodology can be applied to 
determine fees for new licensees, current licensees, licensees in 
unique license situations, and certificate holders.
    This methodology is adaptable to changes in the number of licensees 
or certificate holders, licensed or certified material and/or 
activities, and total programmatic resources to be recovered through 
annual fees. When a license or certificate is modified, it may result 
in a change of category for a particular fuel facility licensee as a 
result of the methodology used in the fuel facility effort/fee matrix. 
Consequently, this change may also have an effect on the fees assessed 
to other fuel facility licensees and certificate holders. For example, 
if a fuel facility licensee amends its license/certificate in such a 
way (e.g., decommissioning or license termination) that results in it 
not being subject to part 171 costs applicable to the fee class, then 
the budgeted costs for the safety and/or safeguards components will be 
spread among the remaining fuel facility licensees/certificate holders.
    The methodology is applied as follows. First, a fee category is 
assigned based on the nuclear material and activity authorized by 
license or certificate. Although a licensee/certificate holder may 
elect not to fully use a license/certificate, the license/certificate 
is still used as the source for determining authorized nuclear material 
possession and use/activity. Second, the category and license/
certificate information are used to determine where the licensee/
certificate holder fits into the matrix. The matrix depicts the 
categorization of licensees/certificate holders by authorized material 
types and use/activities.
    Once the structure of the matrix is established, the NRC's fuel 
facility project managers and regulatory analysts determine the level 
of effort associated with regulating each of these facilities. This is 
done by assigning, for each fuel facility, separate effort factors for 
the safety and safeguards activities associated with each type of 
regulatory activity. The matrix includes ten types of regulatory 
activities, including enrichment and scrap/waste related activities 
(see the work papers for the complete list). Effort factors are 
assigned as follows: Zero (no regulatory effort), one (low regulatory 
effort), five (moderate regulatory effort), and ten (high regulatory 
effort). These effort factors are then totaled for each fee category, 
so that each fee category has a total effort factor for safety 
activities and a total effort factor for safeguards activities.
    The effort factors for the various fuel facility fee categories are 
summarized in Table VII. The value of the effort factors shown, as well 
as the percent of the total effort factor for all fuel facilities, 
reflects the total regulatory effort for each fee category (not per 
facility). Note that the effort factors for the High Enriched Uranium 
Fuel fee category have changed from FY 2006. The safeguards factor 
increased in FY 2007 to reflect greater workload in the area of 
handling sensitive and classified information. The safety factor is 
lower in FY 2007 to reflect lower effort factors for pellet processing 
activities for this fee category. Taking into account both of these 
changes, the total safety and safeguards effort factor change is 
relatively small.

                                 Table VII.--Effort Factors for Fuel Facilities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                    Effort factors (percent of
                                                                     Number of                total)
                  Facility type (fee category)                      facilities   -------------------------------
                                                                                      Safety        Safeguards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Uranium Fuel......................................               2       91 (35.5)      101 (53.4)
Uranium Enrichment..............................................               2       70 (27.3)       40 (21.2)
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel.......................................               3       66 (25.8)       21 (11.1)
UF6 Conversion..................................................               1        12 (4.7)         7 (3.7)
Limited Operations..............................................               1         8 (3.1)         3 (1.6)
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration.........................               1         3 (1.2)        15 (7.9)

[[Page 31413]]

 
Hot Cell........................................................               1         6 (2.3)         2 (1.1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The budgeted resources for safety activities ($11,034,899) are 
allocated to each fee category based on its percent of the total 
regulatory effort for safety activities. For example, if the total 
effort factor for safety activities for all fuel facilities is 100, and 
the total effort factor for safety activities for a given fee category 
is ten, that fee category will be allocated ten percent of the total 
budgeted resources for safety activities. Similarly, the budgeted 
resources for safeguards activities ($8,146,859) are allocated to each 
fee category based on its percent of the total regulatory effort for 
safeguards activities. The surcharge allocated to the fuel facility fee 
class (a fee reduction in FY 2007 of $196,419) is allocated to each fee 
category based on its percent of the total regulatory effort for both 
safety and safeguards activities. The annual fee per licensee is then 
calculated by dividing the total allocated budgeted resources for the 
fee category by the number of licensees in that fee category as 
summarized in Table VIII.

              Table VIII.--Annual Fees for Fuel Facilities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          FY 2007 annual
              Facility type (fee category)                      fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Uranium Fuel..............................      $4,096,000
Uranium Enrichment......................................       2,347,000
Low Enriched Uranium....................................       1,237,000
UF6 Conversion..........................................         811,000
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration.................         768,000
Limited Operations Facility.............................         469,000
Hot Cell (and others)...................................         341,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Note that the NRC issued a construction and operation license to a 
new uranium enrichment facility in June 2006. As explained in Section 
III.B.3, Codification of Policy Regarding When the Assessment of Annual 
Fees Begins, of this document, this facility would not be subject to 
annual fees until the Commission authorizes operation by verifying 
through inspection that the facility has been constructed in accordance 
with the requirements of the license, as required by 10 CFR 40.41(g) 
and 10 CFR 70.32(k). The annual fee applicable to any type of new 
uranium enrichment facility is the annual fee in Sec.  171.16, fee 
category 1.E., Uranium Enrichment, unless the NRC establishes a new fee 
category for these facilities.
b. Uranium Recovery Facilities.
    The total FY 2007 budgeted cost to be recovered through annual fees 
assessed to the uranium recovery class [which includes licensees in fee 
categories 2.A.(2)(a), 2.A.(2)(b), 2.A.(3), 2.A.(4), 2.A.(5) and 18.B., 
under Sec.  171.16], is approximately $0.69 million. The derivation of 
this value is shown in Table IX, with FY 2006 values shown for 
comparison purposes. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to 
rounding.)

                   Table IX.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Uranium Recovery Facilities
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Summary fee calculations                              FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uranium Recovery Fee Class
    Total budgeted resources................................................             $2.34             $1.32
    Less estimated part 170 receipts........................................             -1.29             -0.61
                                                                             -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..................................................              1.05              0.71
    Plus allocated generic transportation...................................              +N/A              +N/A
    Allocated surcharge.....................................................             +0.01             -0.02
    Billing adjustments (including carryover)...............................             +0.00             +0.00
                                                                             -----------------------------------
        Total required annual fee recovery..................................              1.06              0.69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The decrease in the total required annual fee recovery is mainly 
due to a reduction in uranium recovery licensing and inspection 
resources allocated to this fee class for fee recovery. One main reason 
for this reduction is the reallocation of uranium recovery licensing 
and inspection resources to a rulemaking on groundwater protection at 
ISL uranium extraction facilities. These resources are allocated to the 
surcharge in FY 2007, consistent with the Commission direction on this 
matter, as discussed in Section III.B.2, Application of `Fee Relief'/
Surcharge Changes, of this document. The part 170 revenue estimates for 
the final rule increased by approximately 44 percent compared to the 
proposed rule due to increased billing for uranium recovery facilities. 
This results in lower FY 2007 annual fees for uranium recovery 
facilities in this final fee rule.
    Of the required annual fee collections, $584,000 would be assessed 
to the Department of Energy for its Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation 
Control Act (UMTRCA) Title I and Title II licensees under fee category 
18.B. The remaining $104,809 would be recovered through annual fees 
assessed to the other licensees in this fee class, i.e., conventional 
mills, in situ leach solution mining facilities, 11e.(2) mill tailings 
disposal facilities (incidental to existing tailings sites), and a 
uranium water treatment facility.
    The NRC is adding to the uranium recovery fee class a new fee 
category (2.A.(5) under Sec.  171.16) for uranium water treatment 
facilities. This is because the NRC may license a facility of this type 
during FY 2007, and therefore is establishing the associated annual fee 
in this fee rule. The NRC is establishing a new fee category for this 
type of facility because the NRC has not previously licensed a facility 
of this

[[Page 31414]]

type, and none of the existing fee categories clearly cover this type 
of facility. Although included in the uranium recovery fee class, this 
type of facility is a separate fee category within this fee class. The 
methodology for calculating the annual fee for this type of facility is 
the same as that used for other facilities in this fee class, but 
different input values are used in the fee matrix to determine the 
actual fee amount for this facility (as described further in this 
document), resulting in a different fee amount for this new fee 
category.
    In the FY 2002 final fee rule (67 FR 42611; June 24, 2002), the NRC 
established a fee recovery methodology for the uranium recovery fee 
class that would allocate the total annual fee amount for this fee 
class, less the amounts specifically budgeted for Title I activities, 
equally between DOE (for its UMTRCA Title I and Title II licensees) and 
the other licensees in this fee class. In this final rule, the NRC is 
slightly changing this methodology so that 45 percent of the total 
annual fee amount, less the amounts specifically budgeted for Title I 
activities, is allocated to DOE's UMTRCA annual fee. The remaining 55 
percent of the total annual fee amount (less the amounts specifically 
budgeted for Title I activities) would be allocated to the other 
licensees in this fee class. The NRC is making this change because, as 
mentioned previously, the uranium recovery fee class includes a new 
type of facility in FY 2007 (fee category 2.A.(5), uranium water 
treatment). Because the resources associated with this new facility are 
less directly related to DOE UMTRCA activities than are the resources 
for other licensees in this fee class, the NRC believes it is 
appropriate to allocate a somewhat smaller percentage of the generic 
resources supporting this fee class to DOE.
    This results in an annual fee being assessed to DOE to recover the 
costs specifically budgeted for NRC's Title I activities plus 45 
percent of the remaining annual fee amount, including the surcharge and 
generic/other costs, for the uranium recovery class. The remaining 55 
percent of the surcharge and generic/other costs are assessed to the 
other NRC licensees in this fee class that are subject to annual fees. 
The costs to be recovered through annual fees assessed to the uranium 
recovery class are shown in Table X.

   Table X.--Costs Recovered Through Annual Fees; Uranium Recovery Fee
                                  Class
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOE Annual Fee Amount [Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
 Control Act (UMTRCA) Title I and Title II general
 licenses]:
    UMTRCA Title I budgeted costs.......................        $498,662
    45 percent of generic/other uranium recovery                  93,910
     budgeted costs.....................................
    45 percent of uranium recovery surcharge............          -8,157
                                                         ---------------
        Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE (rounded).......         584,000
Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses:
    55 percent of generic/other uranium recovery                 114,779
     budgeted costs.....................................
    55 percent of uranium recovery surcharge............          -9,970
                                                         ---------------
        Total Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium                104,809
         Recovery Licenses..............................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC will continue to use a matrix (which is included in the 
supporting work papers) to determine the level of effort associated 
with regulating the different (non-DOE) licensees in this fee class. 
The weights derived in this matrix are used to allocate the $104,809 
annual fee amount to these licensees. The use of this uranium recovery 
annual fee matrix was established in the FY 1995 final fee rule (60 FR 
32217; June 20, 1995). The FY 2007 matrix, which includes some 
modifications from the FY 2006 matrix, and the methodology using this 
matrix, is described as follows.
    First, the methodology identifies the categories of licenses 
included in this fee class (besides DOE). In FY 2007, these categories 
are conventional uranium mills (Class I facilities), uranium solution 
mining facilities (Class II facilities), mill tailings disposal 
facilities (11e.(2) disposal facilities), and uranium water treatment 
facilities. The uranium water treatment facility is a new fee category 
in the uranium recovery fee class in FY 2007, as mentioned previously.
    Second, the matrix identifies the types of operating activities 
that support these licensees. In FY 2007, the activities related to 
generic decommissioning/reclamation are no longer included in the 
matrix, because generic decommissioning/reclamation activities are 
included in the surcharge, and therefore need not be a factor in 
determining annual fees. The activities included in the FY 2007 matrix 
are `operations,' `waste operations,' and `groundwater remediation.' 
The relative weight of each type of activity is then determined, based 
on the regulatory resources associated with each activity. The 
`operations,' `waste operations,' and `groundwater remediation' 
activities have weights of 10, 5, and 10, respectively, in the FY 2007 
matrix.
    Once the structure of the matrix is established, the NRC's uranium 
recovery project managers and regulatory analysts determine the level 
of effort associated with regulating each of these facilities. This is 
done by assigning, for each fee category, separate effort factors for 
each type of regulatory activity in the matrix. Effort factors are 
assigned as follows: Zero (no regulatory effort), two (minor regulatory 
effort), five (some regulatory effort), and ten (significant regulatory 
effort). These effort factors are first multiplied by the relative 
weight assigned to each activity (described previously). Total effort 
factors by fee category, and per licensee in each fee category, are 
then calculated. These effort factors thus reflect the relative 
regulatory effort associated with each licensee and fee category.
    The effort factors per licensee and per fee category, for each of 
the non-DOE fee categories included in the uranium recovery fee class, 
are as follows:

                             Table XI.--Effort Factors for Uranium Recovery Licenses
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                        Total effort factor
                  Fee category                       Number of     Effort factor -------------------------------
                                                     licensees     per licensee        Value       Percent total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class I (conventional mills)....................               1              75              75              18

[[Page 31415]]

 
Class II (solution mining)......................               3              75             225              54
11e.(2) disposal................................               0               0               0               0
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings               1              75              75              18
 sites..........................................
Uranium water treatment.........................               1              45              45              11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The annual fee per licensee is calculated by dividing the total 
allocated budgeted resources for the fee category by the number of 
licensees in that fee category as summarized in Table XI. Applying 
these factors to the approximately $105,000 in budgeted costs to be 
recovered from non-DOE uranium recovery licensees results in the 
following annual fees for FY 2007:

 Table XII.--Annual Fees for Uranium Recovery Licensees (Other Than DOE)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          FY 2007 annual
                      Facility type                             fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class I (conventional mills)............................         $18,700
Class II (solution mining)..............................          18,700
11e.(2) disposal........................................             N/A
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites..          18,700
Uranium water treatment.................................          11,200
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Note because there are no longer any 11e.(2) disposal facilities 
under the NRC's regulatory jurisdiction, the NRC has not allocated any 
budgeted resources for these facilities, and therefore has not 
established an annual fee for this fee category. If NRC issues a 
license for this fee category in the future, then the Commission will 
establish the appropriate annual fee.
c. Operating Power Reactors
    The approximately $404 million in budgeted costs to be recovered 
through FY 2007 annual fees assessed to the power reactor class was 
calculated as shown in Table XIII. (FY 2006 values shown for comparison 
purposes; individual amounts may not sum to totals due to rounding.)

                    Table XIII.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Operating Power Reactors
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Summary fee calculations                              FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors Fee Class:
    Total budgeted resources................................................            $515.9            $588.6
    Less estimated part 170 receipts........................................            -155.2            -180.7
                                                                             -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..................................................             360.7             407.9
    Plus allocated transportation...........................................              +0.8              +1.0
    Allocated surcharge.....................................................              +5.5              -6.0
    Billing adjustments (including carryover)...............................              +0.2              +1.1
                                                                             -----------------------------------
        Total required annual fee recovery..................................             367.2             404.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The budgeted costs to be recovered through annual fees to power 
reactors are divided equally among the 104 power reactors licensed to 
operate. This results in an FY 2007 annual fee of $3,884,000 per 
reactor. Additionally, each power reactor licensed to operate would be 
assessed the FY 2007 spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual 
fee of $159,000. This results in a total FY 2007 annual fee of 
$4,043,000 for each power reactor licensed to operate.
    The annual fee for power reactors increases in FY 2007 compared to 
FY 2006 due to an increase in budgeted resources for a number of 
activities, including regulatory infrastructure for new reactor 
licensing activities and preparations for future combined license 
applications. This increase is partially offset by the exclusion of 
generic homeland security activities from the fee base and higher 
estimated part 170 collections. Compared to FY 2006, the NRC estimates 
an increase in part 170 collections of about 16 percent for this fee 
class in FY 2007. These collections offset the required annual fee 
recovery amount by a total of approximately $180.7 million.
    The annual fees for power reactors are presented in Sec.  171.15. 
As discussed previously in Section III.B.3, Codification of Policy 
Regarding When the Assessment of Annual Fees Begins, of this document, 
the NRC recently published a proposed rulemaking (``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' 71 FR 12782; 
March 13, 2006) that includes a provision that states that a combined 
license holder does not have to pay an annual fee until the Commission 
authorizes fuel load and operation.
d. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning
    For FY 2007, budgeted costs of approximately $19.6 million for 
spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning are to be recovered through 
annual fees assessed to part 50 power reactors, and to part 72 
licensees who do not hold a part 50 license. Those reactor licensees 
that have ceased operations and have no fuel onsite are not subject to 
these annual fees. Table XIV shows the calculation of this annual fee 
amount. (FY 2006 values shown for comparison purposes; individual 
values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)

[[Page 31416]]



    Table XIV.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for the Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning Fee Class
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Summary fee calculations                              FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor--Decommissioning Fee Class
    Total budgeted resources................................................             $26.6             $23.9
    Less estimated part 170 receipts........................................              -5.8              -4.2
                                                                             -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..................................................              20.8              19.7
    Plus allocated generic transportation...................................              +0.2              +0.3
    Allocated surcharge.....................................................              +0.2              -0.4
    Billing adjustments (including carryover)...............................              +0.0              +0.0
                                                                             -----------------------------------
        Total required annual fee recovery..................................              21.2              19.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among 
123 licensees, resulting in a FY 2007 annual fee of $159,000 per 
licensee. The value of total budgeted resources for this fee class 
decreased in FY 2007 compared to FY 2006 due to a decrease in the 
budgeted resources for decommissioning activities and the exclusion of 
generic homeland security activities from the fee base.
e. Test and Research Reactors (Non-Power Reactors)
    Approximately $305,000 in budgeted costs is to be recovered through 
annual fees assessed to the test and research reactor class of licenses 
for FY 2007. Table XV summarizes the annual fee calculation for test 
and research reactors for FY 2007. (FY 2006 values shown for comparison 
purposes; individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)

    Table XV.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Test and Research
                                Reactors
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Summary fee calculations/ test and
     research reactors fee class        FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............             $0.88             $0.85
Less estimated part 170 receipts....             -0.57             -0.55
                                     -----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources..............              0.31              0.30
Plus allocated generic                           +0.01             +0.01
 transportation.....................
Allocated surcharge.................             +0.01             -0.01
Billing adjustments (including                   +0.00             +0.00
 carryover).........................
                                     -----------------------------------
    Total required annual fee                     0.32              0.31
     recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among 
the 4 test and research reactors subject to annual fees, and results in 
a FY 2007 annual fee of $76,300 for each licensee. The decrease in 
annual fees from FY 2006 to FY 2007 is due to decrease in budget 
resources for licensing activities for test and research reactors 
class. The part 170 revenue estimates for the final fee rule increased 
by approximately 14 percent compared to the proposed fee rule due to 
increased billing for test and research reactors including federal 
facilities. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized the NRC to bill 
federal facilities for part 170 services.
f. Rare Earth Facilities
    The FY 2007 budgeted costs of $90,158 for rare earth facilities 
(fee category 2.A.(2)(c) under Sec.  171.16) to be recovered through 
annual fees will be assessed to one licensee who has a specific license 
for receipt and processing of source material, resulting in a FY 2007 
annual fee of $90,200. Table XVI summarizes the annual fee calculation 
for the rare earth fee class for FY 2007. (FY 2006 values shown for 
comparison purposes; individual values may not sum to totals due to 
rounding.)

  Table XVI.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Rare Earth Facilities
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Summary fee calculations          FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rare Earth Fee Class
    Total budgeted resources........            $0.831            $0.101
    Less estimated part 170 receipts            -0.740            -0.010
                                     -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..........             0.091             0.091
    Plus allocated generic                        +N/A              +N/A
     transportation.................
    Allocated surcharge.............            +0.005            -0.001
    Billing adjustments (including              +0.000            +0.000
     carryover).....................
                                     -----------------------------------
        Total required annual fee                0.096             0.090
         recovery...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 31417]]

    The total allocated resources for this fee class decreased in FY 
2007 compared to FY 2006, primarily due to a decrease in budgeted 
resources for licensing activities.
g. Materials Users
    Table XVII shows the calculation of the FY 2007 annual fee amount 
for materials users licensees. (FY 2006 values shown for comparison 
purposes; individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.) 
Note the following fee categories under Sec.  171.16 are included in 
this fee class: 1.C., 1.D., 2.B., 2.C., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.A. through 
4.C., 5.A., 5.B., 6.A., 7.A. through 7.C., 8.A., 9.A. through 9.D., 16, 
and 17.

                        Table XVII.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Materials Users
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Summary fee calculations/materials users                      FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee Class
    Total budgeted resources................................................             $30.3             $25.8
    Less estimated part 170 receipts........................................              -2.0              -1.2
                                                                             -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources..................................................              28.2              24.6
    Plus allocated generic transportation...................................              +0.6              +0.9
    Plus allocated surcharge................................................              +0.8              +0.3
    Billing adjustments (including carryover)...............................              +0.0              +0.0
        Total required annual fee recovery..................................              29.6              25.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The total required annual fees to be recovered from materials 
licensees decreased in FY 2007 mainly because of the exclusion of 
generic homeland security activities from the fee base, as well as 
decreases in the budgeted resources allocated to this fee class for 
activities such as decommissioning and materials information 
technology.
    To equitably and fairly allocate the $25.9 million in FY 2007 
budgeted costs to be recovered in annual fees assessed to the 
approximately 4,400 diverse materials users licensees, the NRC will 
continue to base the annual fees for each fee category within this 
class on the part 170 application fees and estimated inspection costs 
for each fee category. Because the application fees and inspection 
costs are indicative of the complexity of the license, this approach 
continues to provide a proxy for allocating the generic and other 
regulatory costs to the diverse categories of licenses based on how 
much it costs the NRC to regulate each category. This fee calculation 
also continues to consider the inspection frequency (priority), which 
is indicative of the safety risk and resulting regulatory costs 
associated with the categories of licenses.
    The annual fee for these categories of materials users licenses is 
developed as follows:
Annual fee = Constant x [Application Fee + (Average Inspection Cost 
divided by Inspection Priority)] + Inspection Multiplier x (Average 
Inspection Cost divided by Inspection Priority) + Unique Category 
Costs.

    The constant is the multiple necessary to recover approximately 
$18.3 million in general costs (including allocated generic 
transportation costs) and is 0.93 for FY 2007. The average inspection 
cost is the average inspection hours for each fee category times the 
hourly rate of $258. The inspection priority is the interval between 
routine inspections, expressed in years. The inspection multiplier is 
the multiple necessary to recover approximately $7.2 million in 
inspection costs, and is 1.55 for FY 2007. The unique category costs 
are any special costs that the NRC has budgeted for a specific category 
of licenses. For FY 2007, approximately $156,000 in budgeted costs for 
the implementation of revised 10 CFR part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct 
Material (unique costs), has been allocated to holders of NRC human use 
licenses.
    The annual fee to be assessed to each licensee also includes a 
share of the $313,000 in fee relief allocated to the materials users 
fee class (see Section III.B.2, Application of ``Fee Relief''/Surcharge 
Changes, of this document), and for certain categories of these 
licensees, a share of the approximately $626,000 in LLW surcharge costs 
allocated to the fee class.
    The annual fee for each fee category is shown in Sec.  171.16(d). 
Annual fees for most fee categories within the materials users fee 
class decrease, while some increase or remain the same. As indicated 
previously, changes in the FY 2007 annual fees for categories of 
licensees within the materials users fee class reflect not only changes 
in the budgeted resources supporting this fee class, but also changes 
in the estimates of average professional staff time for materials users 
license applications and inspections, derived from the biennial review 
performed for the FY 2007 fee rule (see discussion of the biennial 
review under Section III.A.2, Flat Application Fee Changes, of this 
document). Accordingly, the relatively large percentage decrease in the 
annual fee for fee category 3.H under Sec.  171.16 is the result of a 
significant decrease to the average professional staff time estimates.
h. Transportation
    Table XVIII shows the calculation of the FY 2007 generic 
transportation budgeted resources to be recovered through annual fees. 
(FY 2006 values shown for comparison purposes.)

    Table XVIII.--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Transportation
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Summary fee calculations/
           transportation               FY 2006 final     FY 2007 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee Class:
    Total budgeted resources........              $6.3              $5.0
    Less estimated part 170 receipts              -1.2              -1.2
                                     -----------------------------------
    Net part 171 resources (required               5.1               3.8
     annual fee recovery)...........
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 31418]]

    The total FY 2007 budgeted resources for generic transportation 
activities, including those to support DOE Certificates of Compliance 
(CoCs), is $3.8 million. Generic transportation resources associated 
with fee-exempt entities are not included in this total. These costs 
are included in the appropriate surcharge category (e.g., the surcharge 
category for nonprofit educational institutions). The budgeted 
resources for these activities decreased from FY 2006 to FY 2007, 
mostly due to the removal of generic homeland security activities from 
the fee base.
    Consistent with the policy established in the NRC's FY 2006 final 
fee rule, the NRC will recover generic transportation costs unrelated 
to DOE as part of existing annual fees for license fee classes. NRC 
will continue to assess a separate annual fee under Sec.  171.16, fee 
category 18.A., for DOE transportation activities.
    These resources are distributed to DOE (to be included in its 
annual fee under fee category 18.A. of Sec.  171.16) and each license 
fee class based on the CoCs used by DOE and each fee class, as a proxy 
for the generic resources expended for each fee class. As such, the 
amount of the generic resources allocated is calculated by multiplying 
the percentage of total CoCs used by each fee class (and DOE) by the 
total generic transportation resources to be recovered.
    The distribution of these resources to the license fee classes and 
DOE is shown in Table XIX (individual values may not sum to totals due 
to rounding). The distribution is adjusted to account for the licensees 
in each fee class that are fee exempt. For example, if 3 CoCs benefit 
the entire test and research reactor class, but only 4 of 30 test and 
research reactors are subject to annual fees, the number of CoCs used 
to determine the proportion of generic transportation resources 
allocated to test and research reactor annual fees equals ((4/30)*3), 
or 0.4 CoCs.

                      Table XIX.--Distribution of Generic Transportation Resources, FY 2007
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                    Allocated
                                                             Number CoCs       Percentage of         generic
                  License fee class/DOE                    benefitting fee       total CoCs      transportation
                                                            class (or DOE)       (percent)          resources
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total...................................................              131                100               $3.80
DOE.....................................................               35                 26.8              1.00
Operating Power Reactors................................               36                 27.5              1.03
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning..............                9                  6.9              0.26
Test and Research Reactors..............................                0.4                0.3              0.01
Fuel Facilities.........................................               19                 14.5              0.55
Materials Users.........................................               31.4               24                0.90
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC will continue to assess DOE an annual fee based on the part 
71 CoCs it holds, and not allocate these DOE-related resources to other 
licensees' annual fees, because these resources specifically support 
DOE. Note that DOE's annual fee includes a reduction for the fee relief 
(see Section III.B.2, Application of ``Fee Relief''/Surcharge Changes, 
of this document), resulting in a total annual fee of $976,000 for FY 
2007. This fee decrease from last year is primarily due to exclusion of 
homeland security activities from the fee base.
5. Prorating Annual Fees
    The NRC is revising the annual fee proration provisions for certain 
materials licenses. Section 171.17(b) currently states that new 
licenses issued on or after April 1 of the FY will not be assessed an 
annual fee for that FY, and that new licenses issued from October 1 to 
March 31 will be assessed one-half the annual fee for that FY. As 
explained in Sec.  171.17(b), similar proration provisions also apply 
to applications for license terminations and requests for downgraded 
licenses.
    The NRC is revising the annual fee proration provisions for new 
licenses, license terminations, and downgraded licenses, for all 
materials licensees subject to an annual fee of $100,000 or more for a 
single fee category. For these licenses, annual fees for new, 
terminated, or downgraded licenses will be based on the number of days 
in the FY the license was in effect. This is consistent with the 
proration provisions for reactors and part 72 licensees who do not hold 
part 50 licenses, as established in Sec.  171.17(a). The NRC is making 
this change because it believes it is more fair to prorate all fees 
over $100,000 in the same manner, regardless of whether the fee is 
associated with a power reactor, part 72 licensee, or materials 
licensee.
6. New Fee Categories
    As discussed in Sections III.A.3, New Fee Categories, and 
III.B.4.b, Uranium Recovery Facilities, of this document, the NRC is 
amending Sec.  171.16 to establish a new fee category (2.A.(5)) for 
uranium water treatment facilities. The NRC recently received its first 
application for this type of license which is not covered by existing 
fee categories.
    Also as discussed in Section III.A.3, New Fee Categories, of this 
document, the NRC is updating the fee amounts for some new and revised 
proposed fee categories that were included in another NRC rulemaking, 
``Requirements for Expanded Definition of Byproduct Material'' (71 FR 
42952; July 28, 2006). Section III.A.3 includes both the FY 2007 part 
170 and part 171 fees for these new and revised fee categories, as well 
as the explanation for the need for these new fee categories.
    Fees associated with the new and revised fee categories for the 
expanded definition of byproduct material will not be applicable until 
the effective date of the FY 2007 final fee rule (approximately early 
August 2007), or the effective date of the NRC's final rule on the 
expanded definition of byproduct material, whichever is later. FY 2007 
fees will be applicable to those new fee categories as of that date. As 
mentioned previously, these fee amounts will be updated each year.
    Note the specific application and inspection hours used in the part 
170 and 171 fees for all categories of materials users licensees are 
included in the publicly available workpapers supporting this 
rulemaking. The calculation method used to determine materials users 
annual fees is explained in Section III.B.4.g, Materials Users, of this 
document.
7. Administrative Amendments
    The NRC is modifying Sec.  171.15(b)(2)(iii) to clarify that the 
types of activities included in the power reactor annual fees include 
generic activities for new reactors. This is not a policy change, but 
rather a clarification

[[Page 31419]]

of existing policy. Further, the NRC is revising Sec.  
171.15(d)(1)(iii) to eliminate reference to Federal agency activities 
being included in the surcharge, because these activities are now 
recovered through part 170 fees to Federal agencies or included in 
other surcharge categories. Additionally, the NRC is modifying the last 
sentence of footnote 1 under Sec.  171.16 to clarify that licensees 
paying fees under categories 1.A. and 1.E. are not subject to fees 
under categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the 
same license. This is to enhance the consistency of this footnote to a 
similar footnote in Sec.  170.31 (footnote 4). Finally, fee category 
1.A.(2)(c) is modified to state that it includes all `other' licenses 
for fuel cycle activities under 1.A.(2), including hot cell facilities, 
consistent with this same change for fee category 1.A.(2)(c) under part 
170.
    In summary, the NRC is--
    1. Removing generic homeland security resources from the fee base, 
beginning in FY 2007, to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005;
    2. Using the NRC's fee relief to all licensees' annual fees, based 
on their percent of the NRC budget, and make changes to certain 
surcharge categories;
    3. Modifying Sec. Sec.  171.3 and 171.16 to codify its policy 
regarding when the assessment of annual fees begins;
    4. Establishing rebaselined annual fees for FY 2007;
    5. Revising the annual fee proration provisions for new, 
terminated, and downgraded materials licenses;
    6. Establishing some new fee categories to cover new NRC 
activities; and
    7. Making certain administrative changes for purposes of 
clarification and consistency.

IV. Voluntary Consensus Standards

    The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Pub. 
L. 104-113, requires that Federal agencies use technical standards that 
are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies unless 
using these standards is inconsistent with applicable law or is 
otherwise impractical. In this final rule, the NRC is amending the 
licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its licensees and 
applicants as necessary to recover approximately 90 percent of its 
budget authority in FY 2007 as required by the Omnibus Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended. This action does not constitute 
the establishment of a standard that contains generally applicable 
requirements.

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 assessment nor an environmental impact 
statement has been prepared for the final regulation. By its very 
nature, this regulatory action does not affect the environment and, 
therefore, no environmental justice issues are raised.

VI. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    This final rule does not contain information collection 
requirements and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

VII. Regulatory Analysis

    With respect to 10 CFR part 170, this final rule was developed 
under 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 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). The Commission's fee 
guidelines were developed based on these legal decisions.
    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). This 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 of 1954 and with applicable regulations;
    (3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting 
environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy 
Act;
    (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 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 subsequently amended to 
extend the 100 percent fee recovery requirement through FY 2000. The FY 
2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act (EWDAA) amended 
OBRA-90 to decrease the NRC's fee recovery amount by 2 percent per year 
beginning in FY 2001, until the fee recovery amount was 90 percent in 
FY 2005. The FY 2006 EWDAA extended this 90 percent fee recovery 
requirement for FY 2006. Section 637 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
made the 90 percent fee recovery requirement permanent beginning in FY 
2007. As a result, the NRC is required to recover approximately 90 
percent of its FY 2007 budget authority, less the amounts appropriated 
from the NWF, WIR, and generic homeland security activities through 
fees. To comply with this statutory requirement and in accordance with 
Sec.  171.13, the NRC is publishing the amount of the FY 2007 annual 
fees for reactor licensees, fuel cycle licensees, materials licensees, 
and holders of Certificates of Compliance, registrations of sealed 
source and devices, and Government agencies. OBRA-90, consistent with 
the accompanying Conference Committee Report, and the amendments to 
OBRA-90, provides that--
    (1) The annual fees be based on approximately 90 percent of the 
Commission's FY 2007 budget of $824.9 million less the funds directly 
appropriated from the NWF to cover the NRC's high-level waste program 
and for

[[Page 31420]]

WIR and generic homeland security activities, and less the amount of 
funds collected from part 170 fees;
    (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.
    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). Further, the NRC's FY 1991 annual fee rule 
methodology was 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, as amended, to recover approximately 90 percent of its FY 2007 
budget authority through the assessment of user fees. This Act 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 2007. This rule 
will result in increases in the annual fees charged to certain 
licensees and holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals, 
and decreases in annual fees for others. Licensees affected by the 
annual fee increases and decreases include those that qualify as a 
small entity under NRC's size standards in 10 CFR 2.810. The Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis, prepared in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 604, is 
included as Appendix A to this final rule.
    The Congressional Review Act of 1996 requires all Federal agencies 
to prepare a written compliance guide for each rule for which the 
agency is required by 5 U.S.C. 604 to prepare a regulatory flexibility 
analysis. Therefore, in compliance with the law, Attachment 1 to the 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is the small entity compliance guide 
for FY 2007.

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 amendments do not require the modification of, or 
additions to systems, structures, components, or the 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.

X. Congressional Review Act

    In accordance with the Congressional Review Act of 1996, Pub. L. 
104-121, the NRC has determined that this action is a major rule and 
has verified the determination with the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget.

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.


0
For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; the Energy Reorganization Act of 
1974, as amended; and 5 U.S.C. 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

0
1. The authority citation for part 170 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: Sec. 9701, Pub. L. 97-258, 96 Stat. 1051 (31 U.S.C. 
9701); sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-314, 86 Stat. 227 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); 
sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-438, 88 Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
5841); sec. 205a, Pub. L. 101-576, 104 Stat. 2842, as amended (31 
U.S.C. 901, 902); sec. 1704, 112 Stat. 2750 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note), 
sec. 623, Pub. L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 783, (42 U.S.C. 2201(w)).


0
2. In Sec.  170.3, the definitions of Advanced reactor, Indian 
organization, and Indian tribe are removed, and the definition of 
Special projects is revised as follows:


Sec.  170.3  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Special projects means specific services provided by the Commission 
for which fees are not otherwise specified in this chapter. This 
includes, but is not limited to, contested hearings on licensing 
actions directly related to U.S. Government national security 
initiatives (as determined by the NRC), topical report reviews, early 
site reviews, waste solidification activities, activities related to 
the tracking and monitoring of shipment of classified matter, services 
provided to certify licensee, vendor, or other private industry 
personnel as instructors for 10 CFR part 55 reactor operators, reviews 
of financial assurance submittals that do not require a license 
amendment, reviews of responses to Confirmatory Action Letters, reviews 
of uranium recovery licensees' land-use survey reports, and reviews of 
10 CFR 50.71 final safety analysis reports. Special projects does not 
include activities otherwise exempt from fees under this part. It also 
does not include those contested hearings for which a fee exemption is 
granted in Sec.  170.11(a)(2), including those related to individual 
plant security modifications.
* * * * *

0
3. In Sec.  170.12, paragraphs (d)(1) and (d)(2) are revised as 
follows:


Sec.  170.12  Payment of fees.

* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (1) All special projects performed by the Commission, unless 
otherwise exempt from fees or for which fees are otherwise specified in 
this part, will be assessed fees to recover the full cost of the 
service provided. Special projects means specific services provided by 
the Commission, including but not limited to--
    (i) Topical reports;
    (ii) Financial assurance submittals that do not require a license 
amendment;
    (iii) Responses to Confirmatory Action Letters;
    (iv) Uranium recovery licensees' land-use survey reports;
    (v) 10 CFR 50.71 final safety analysis reports; and
    (vi) Contested hearings on licensing actions directly involving 
U.S. Government national security initiatives, as determined by the 
NRC.
    (2) The NRC intends to bill each applicant or licensee at quarterly 
intervals until the special project is completed. Each bill will 
identify the special project, including any documents submitted for 
review or the

[[Page 31421]]

specific contested hearing, and the related costs. The fees are payable 
upon notification by the Commission.
* * * * *

0
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, 
10 CFR part 55 re-qualification and replacement examinations and tests, 
other required reviews, approvals, and inspections under Sec. Sec.  
170.21 and 170.31 will be calculated using the professional staff-hour 
rate of $258 per hour.
0
5. In Sec.  170.21, in the table, fee category F is removed and 
reserved, and fee categories A, C, D, G, and K, and footnote 1, are 
revised 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.

* * * * *

                        Schedule of Facility Fees
                     [See footnotes at end of table]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Facility categories and type of fees               Fees 1 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Nuclear Power Reactors:
    Application for Construction Permit........  Full Cost.
    Early Site Permit, Construction Permit,      Full Cost.
     Combined License, Operating License.
    Amendment, Renewal, Dismantling-             Full Cost.
     Decommissioning and Termination, Other
     Approvals.
    Inspections \3\............................  Full Cost.
 
                              * * * * * * *
C. Test Facility/Research Reactor/Critical
 Facility:
    Application for Construction Permit........  Full Cost.
    Construction Permit, Operating License.....  Full Cost.
    Amendment, Renewal, Dismantling-             Full Cost.
     Decommissioning and Termination, Other
     Approvals.
    Inspections \3\............................  Full Cost.
 
                              * * * * * * *
D. Manufacturing License:
    Application for Construction Permit........  Full Cost.
    Preliminary Design Approval, Final Design    Full Cost.
     Approval.
    Amendment, Renewal, Other Approvals........  Full Cost.
    Inspections \3\............................  Full Cost.
 
                              * * * * * * *
F. [Reserved]
G. Other Production and Utilization Facility:
    Application for Construction Permit........  Full Cost.
    Construction Permit, Operating License.....  Full Cost.
    Amendment, Renewal, Other Approvals........  Full Cost.
    Inspections \3\............................  Full Cost.
 
                              * * * * * * *
K. Import and export licenses:
    Licenses for the import and export only of
     production and utilization facilities or
     the export only of components for
     production and utilization facilities
     issued under 10 CFR part 110.
        1. Application for import or export of
         production and utilization facilities
         \4\ (including reactors and other
         facilities) and exports of components
         requiring Commission and Executive
         Branch review, for example, actions
         under 10 CFR 110.40(b).
            Application--new license, or         $16,800.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        2. Application for export of reactor
         and other components requiring
         Executive Branch review only, for
         example, those actions under 10 CFR
         110.41(a)(1)-(8).
            Application--new license, or         $9,800.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        3. Application for export of components
         requiring the assistance of the
         Executive Branch to obtain foreign
         government assurances.
            Application--new license, or         $4,100.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        4. Application for export of facility
         components and equipment (examples
         provided in 10 CFR part 110, Appendix
         A, Items (5) through (9)) not
         requiring Commission or Executive
         Branch review, or obtaining foreign
         government assurances.
            Application--new license, or         $2,600.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        5. Minor amendment of any active export
         or import license, for example, to
         extend the expiration date, change
         domestic information, or make other
         revisions which do not involve any
         substantive changes to license terms
         or conditions or to the type of
         facility or component authorized for
         export and therefore, do not require
         in-depth analysis or review or
         consultation with the Executive
         Branch, U.S. host state, or foreign
         government authorities.
            Minor amendment to license.........  $770.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Fees will not be charged for orders related to civil penalties or
  other civil sanctions issued by the Commission under Sec.   2.202 of
  this chapter or for amendments resulting specifically from the
  requirements of these orders. For orders unrelated to civil penalties
  or other civil sanctions, fees will be charged for any resulting
  licensee-specific activities not otherwise exempted from fees under
  this chapter. 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 50.12, 73.5)
  and any other sections in effect now or in the future, regardless of
  whether the approval is in the form of a license amendment, letter of
  approval, safety evaluation report, or other form.

[[Page 31422]]

 
\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
  the final rule will be determined at the professional rates in effect
  at the time the service was provided. 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.
\3\ Inspections covered by this schedule are both routine and non-
  routine safety and safeguards inspections performed by NRC for the
  purpose of review or follow-up of a licensed program. Inspections are
  performed through the full term of the license to ensure that the
  authorized activities are being conducted in accordance with the
  Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, other legislation, Commission
  regulations or orders, and the terms and conditions of the license.
  Non-routine inspections that result from third-party allegations will
  not be subject to fees.
\4\ Imports only of major components for end-use at NRC-licensed
  reactors are now authorized under NRC general import license.


0
6. In Sec.  170.31, the table 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.

* * * * *

                       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. (1) Licenses for possession and use of U-
     235 or plutonium for fuel fabrication
     activities.
        (a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material   Full Cost.
         (High Enriched Uranium).
        (b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible  Full Cost.
         Form Used for Fabrication of Power
         Reactor Fuel.
    (2) All other special nuclear materials
     licenses not included in Category 1.A.(1)
     which are licensed for fuel cycle
     activities.
        (a) Facilities with limited operations.  Full Cost.
        (b) Gas centrifuge enrichment            Full Cost.
         demonstration facilities.
        (c) Others, including hot cell           Full Cost.
         facilities.
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of       Full Cost.
     spent fuel and reactor-related Greater
     than Class C (GTCC) waste at an
     independent spent fuel storage
     installation (ISFSI).
    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............................  $1,200.
    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
     under Category 1.A.\4\
        Application............................  $2,400.
    E. Licenses or certificates for              Full Cost.
     construction and operation of a uranium
     enrichment facility.
2. Source material:
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of    Full Cost.
     source material for refining uranium mill
     concentrates to uranium hexafluoride.
    (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.
        (a) Class I facilities.................  Full Cost.
        (b) Class II facilities................  Full Cost.
        (c) Other facilities...................  Full Cost.
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of   Full Cost.
     byproduct material, as defined in Section
     11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, from
     other persons for possession and disposal,
     except those licenses subject to the fees
     in Category 2.A.(2) or Category 2.A.(4).
    (4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of   Full Cost.
     byproduct material, as defined in Section
     11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, from
     other persons 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).
    (5) Licenses that authorize the possession   Full Cost.
     of source material related to removal of
     contaminants (source material) from
     drinking water.
    B. Licenses which authorize the possession,
     use, and/or installation of source
     material for shielding.
        Application............................  $280.
    C. All other source material licenses.
        Application............................  $10,200.
3. Byproduct material:
    A. Licenses of broad scope for the
     possession and use of byproduct material
     issued under parts 30 and 33 of this
     chapter for processing or manufacturing of
     items containing byproduct material for
     commercial distribution.
        Application............................  $12,100.
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of
     byproduct material issued under part 30 of
     this chapter for processing or
     manufacturing of items containing
     byproduct material for commercial
     distribution.
        Application............................  $4,600.

[[Page 31423]]

 
    C. Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72
     and/or 32.74 of this chapter that
     authorize the processing or manufacturing
     and distribution or redistribution of
     radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent
     kits, and/or sources and devices
     containing byproduct material. This
     category does not apply to licenses issued
     to nonprofit educational institutions
     whose processing or manufacturing is
     exempt under Sec.   170.11(a)(4). These
     licenses are covered by fee Category 3.D.
        Application............................  $8,000.
    D. Licenses and approvals issued under Sec.
      Sec.   32.72 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. This category includes licenses
     issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72 and/or
     32.74 of this chapter to nonprofit
     educational institutions whose processing
     or manufacturing is exempt under Sec.
     170.11(a)(4).
        Application............................  $4,400.
    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............................  $3,000.
    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............................  $6,000.
    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............................  $14,400.
    H. Licenses issued under 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. The category does not include
     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............................  $10,600.
    I. Licenses issued under 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. This category
     does not include 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............................  $10,500.
    J. Licenses issued under 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. This category does not
     include specific licenses authorizing
     redistribution of items that have been
     authorized for distribution to persons
     generally licensed under part 31 of this
     chapter.
        Application............................  $1,900.
    K. Licenses issued under 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. This category
     does not include specific licenses
     authorizing redistribution of items that
     have been authorized for distribution to
     persons generally licensed under part 31
     of this chapter.
        Application............................  $1,100.
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession
     and use of byproduct material issued under
     parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for
     research and development that do not
     authorize commercial distribution.
        Application............................  $10,200.
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of
     byproduct material issued under part 30 of
     this chapter for research and development
     that do not authorize commercial
     distribution.
        Application............................  $3,600.
    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 4.A.,
         4.B., and 4.C.
        Application............................  $6,600.
    O. Licenses for possession and use of
     byproduct material issued under part 34 of
     this chapter for industrial radiography
     operations.
        Application............................  $4,900.
    P. All other specific byproduct material
     licenses, except those in Categories 4.A.
     through 9.D.
        Application............................  $1,400.
    Q. Registration of a device(s) generally
     licensed under part 31 of this chapter.
        Registration...........................  $320.
4. Waste disposal and processing:
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the     Full Cost.
     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.
    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............................  $3,100.

[[Page 31424]]

 
    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............................  $4,600.
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............................  $1,700.
    B. Licenses for possession and use of
     byproduct material for field flooding
     tracer studies.
        Licensing..............................  Full Cost.
6. Nuclear laundries:
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and
     laundry of items contaminated with
     byproduct material, source material, or
     special nuclear material.
        Application............................  $20,600.
7. Medical licenses:
    A. Licenses issued under 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............................  $11,300.
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to
     medical institutions or two or more
     physicians under 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.
        Application............................  $8,100.
    C. Other licenses issued under 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............................  $2,500.
8. Civil defense:
    A. Licenses for possession and use of
     byproduct material, source material, or
     special nuclear material for civil defense
     activities.
        Application............................  $590.
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...............  $21,100.
    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...............  $21,100.
    C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources
     containing byproduct material, source
     material, or special nuclear material,
     except reactor fuel, for commercial
     distribution.
        Application--each source...............  $2,900.
    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...............  $980.
10. Transportation of radioactive material:
    A. Evaluation of casks, packages, and
     shipping containers.
        1. Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and     Full Cost.
         plutonium air packages.
        2. Other Casks.........................  Full Cost.
    B. Quality assurance program approvals
     issued under part 71 of this chapter.
        1. Users and Fabricators.
            Application........................  $4,800.
            Inspections........................  Full Cost.
        2. Users.
            Application........................  $4,800.
            Inspections........................  Full Cost.
    C. Evaluation of security plans, route       Full Cost.
     approvals, route surveys, and
     transportation security devices (including
     immobilization devices).
11. Review of standardized spent fuel            Full Cost.
 facilities.
12. Special projects:
    Including approvals, preapplication/         Full Cost.
     licensing activities, and inspections.
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of    Full Cost.
 Compliance.
    B. Inspections related to storage of spent   Full Cost.
     fuel under Sec.   72.210 of this chapter.
14. A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear     Full Cost.
 material licenses and other approvals
 authorizing decommissioning, decontamination,
 reclamation, or site restoration activities
 under parts 30, 40, 70, 72, and 76 of this
 chapter.
    B. Site-specific decommissioning activities  Full Cost.
     associated with unlicensed sites,
     regardless of whether or not the sites
     have been previously licensed. Part 170
     fees for these activities will not be
     charged until July 25, 2006.
15. Import and Export licenses:
    Licenses issued under part 110 of this
     chapter for the import and export only of
     special nuclear material, source material,
     tritium and other byproduct material, and
     the export only of heavy water, or nuclear
     grade graphite (fee categories 15.A.
     through 15.E.).

[[Page 31425]]

 
        A. Application for export or import of
         nuclear materials, including
         radioactive waste requiring Commission
         and Executive Branch review, for
         example, those actions under 10 CFR
         110.40(b).
            Application--new license, or         $16,800.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        B. Application for export or import of
         nuclear material, including
         radioactive waste, requiring Executive
         Branch review, but not Commission
         review. This category includes
         applications for the export and import
         of radioactive waste and requires NRC
         to consult with domestic host state
         authorities, Low-Level Radioactive
         Waste Compact Commission, the U.S.
         Environmental Protection Agency, etc.
            Application--new license, or         $9,800.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        C. Application for export of nuclear
         material, for example, routine reloads
         of low enriched uranium reactor fuel
         and/or natural uranium source material
         requiring the assistance of the
         Executive Branch to obtain foreign
         government assurances.
            Application--new license, or         $4,100.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        D. Application for export or import of
         nuclear material, including
         radioactive waste, not requiring
         Commission or Executive Branch review,
         or obtaining foreign government
         assurances. This category includes
         applications for export or import of
         radioactive waste where the NRC has
         previously authorized the export or
         import of the same form of waste to or
         from the same or similar parties
         located in the same country, requiring
         only confirmation from the receiving
         facility and licensing authorities
         that the shipments may proceed
         according to previously agreed
         understandings and procedures.
            Application--new license, or         $2,600.
             amendment; or license exemption
             request.
        E. Minor amendment of any active export
         or import license, for example, to
         extend the expiration date, change
         domestic information, or make other
         revisions which do not involve any
         substantive changes to license terms
         and conditions or to the type/quantity/
         chemical composition of the material
         authorized for export and therefore,
         do not require in-depth analysis,
         review, or consultations with other
         Executive Branch, U.S. host state, or
         foreign government authorities.
            Minor amendment....................  $770.
        Licenses issued under part 110 of this
         chapter for the import and export only
         of Category 1 and Category 2
         quantities of radioactive material
         listed in Appendix P to part 110 of
         this chapter (fee categories 15.F.
         through 15.R.).\5\
Category 1 Exports:
    F. Application for export of Category 1
     materials involving an exceptional
     circumstances review under 10 CFR
     110.42(e)(4).
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $16,800.
         or license exemption request.
    G. Application for export of Category 1
     materials requiring Executive Branch
     review, Commission review, and/or
     government-to-government consent.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $9,800.
         or license exemption request.
    H.Application for export of Category 1
     materials requiring Commission review and
     government-to-government consent.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $6,200.
         or license exemption request.
    I. Application for export of Category 1
     material requiring government-to-
     government consent.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $5,200.
         or license exemption request.
Category 2 Exports:
    J. Application for export of Category 2
     materials involving an exceptional
     circumstances review under 10 CFR
     110.42(e)(4).
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $16,800.
         or license exemption request.
    K. Applications for export of Category 2
     materials requiring Executive Branch
     review and/or Commission review.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $9,800.
         or license exemption request.
    L. Application for the export of Category 2
     materials.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $4,600.
         or license exemption request.
Category 1 Imports:
    M. Application for the import of Category 1
     material requiring Commission review.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $4,900.
         or license exemption request.
    N. Application for the import of Category 1
     material.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $4,100.
         or license exemption request.
Category 2 Imports:
    O. Application for the import of Category 2
     material.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $3,600.
         or license exemption request.
Category 1 Imports with Agent and Multiple
 Licensees:
    P. Application for the import of Category 1
     material with agent and multiple licensees
     requiring Commission review.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $5,700.
         or license exemption request..
    Q . Application for the import of Category
     1 material with agent and multiple
     licensees.
        Application--new license, or amendment;  $4,600.
         or license exemption request.
Minor Amendments (Category 1 and 2 Export and
 Imports):
    R. Minor amendment of any active export or
     import license, for example, to extend the
     expiration date, change domestic
     information, or make other revisions which
     do not involve any substantive changes to
     license terms and conditions or to the
     type/quantity/chemical composition of the
     material authorized for export and
     therefore, do not require in-depth
     analysis, review, or consultations with
     other Executive Branch, U.S. host state,
     or foreign authorities.
        Minor amendment........................  $770.
16. Reciprocity:
    Agreement State licensees who conduct
     activities under the reciprocity
     provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.
        Application............................  $1,500.
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope
 issued to Government agencies:
        Application............................  $23,900.
18. Department of Energy:
    A. Certificates of Compliance. Evaluation    Full Cost.
     of casks, packages, and shipping
     containers (including spent fuel, high-
     level waste, and other casks, and
     plutonium air packages).

[[Page 31426]]

 
    B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control   Full Cost.
     Act (UMTRCA) activities.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Types of fees--Separate charges, as shown in the schedule, will be
  assessed for pre-application consultations and reviews; applications
  for new licenses, approvals, or license terminations; possession only
  licenses; issuance of new licenses and approvals; certain amendments
  and renewals to existing licenses and approvals; safety evaluations of
  sealed sources and devices; generally licensed device registrations;
  and certain inspections. The following guidelines apply to these
  charges:
(a) Application and registration fees. Applications for new materials
  licenses and export and import licenses; applications to reinstate
  expired, terminated, or inactive licenses except those subject to fees
  assessed at full costs; applications filed by Agreement State
  licensees to register under the general license provisions of 10 CFR
  150.20; and applications for amendments to materials licenses that
  would place the license in a higher fee category or add a new fee
  category must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee for
  each category.
(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.
(2) Applications for new licenses that cover both byproduct material and
  special nuclear material in sealed sources for use in gauging devices
  will pay the appropriate application fee for fee Category 1.C. only.
(b) Licensing fees. Fees for reviews of applications for new licenses
  and for renewals and amendments to existing licenses, pre-application
  consultations and reviews of other documents submitted to NRC for
  review, and project manager time for fee categories subject to full
  cost fees, are due upon notification by the Commission in accordance
  with Sec.   170.12(b).
(c) Amendment fees. Applications for amendments to export and import
  licenses must be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for each
  license affected. An application for an amendment to an export or
  import 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.
(d) Inspection fees. Inspections resulting from investigations conducted
  by the Office of Investigations and non-routine inspections that
  result from third-party allegations are not subject to fees.
  Inspection fees are due upon notification by the Commission in
  accordance with Sec.   170.12(c).
(e) Generally licensed device registrations under 10 CFR 31.5.
  Submittals of registration information must be accompanied by the
  prescribed fee.
\2\ Fees will not be charged for orders related to civil penalties or
  other civil sanctions issued by the Commission under 10 CFR 2.202 or
  for amendments resulting specifically from the requirements of these
  orders. For orders unrelated to civil penalties or other civil
  sanctions, fees will be charged for any resulting licensee-specific
  activities not otherwise exempted from fees under this chapter. 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 in effect now or in the future), 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 9.A. through 9.D.
 
\3\ Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff
  time multiplied by the appropriate professional hourly rate
  established in Sec.   170.20 in effect at the time the service is
  provided, and the appropriate contractual support services expended.
  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.
\4\ Licensees paying fees under Categories 1.A., 1.B., and 1.E. are not
  subject to fees under Categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources
  authorized in the same license except for an application that deals
  only with the sealed sources authorized by the license.
\5\ For a combined import and export license application for material
  listed in Appendix P to part 110 of this chapter, only the higher of
  the two applicable fee amounts must be paid.

PART 171--ANNUAL FEES FOR REACTOR 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

0
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, as amended by sec. 
3201, Pub. L. 101-239, 103 Stat. 2132, as amended by sec. 6101, Pub. 
L. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388, as amended by sec. 2903a, Pub. L. 102-
486, 106 Stat. 3125 (42 U.S.C. 2213, 2214), and as amended by Title 
IV, Pub. L. 109-103, 119 Stat. 2283 (42 U.S.C. 2214); sec. 301, Pub. 
L. 92-314, 86 Stat. 227 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-438, 
88 Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 1704, 112 Stat. 
2750 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note).


0
8. Section 171.3 is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  171.3  Scope.

    The regulations in this part apply to any person holding an 
operating license for a power reactor, test reactor or research reactor 
issued under part 50 of this chapter and to any person holding a 
combined license issued under part 52 of this chapter that authorizes 
operation of a power reactor. The regulations in this part also apply 
to any person holding a materials license as defined in this part, a 
Certificate of Compliance, a sealed source or device registration, a 
quality assurance program approval, and to a Government agency as 
defined in this part. Notwithstanding the other provisions in this 
section, the regulations in this part do not apply to uranium 
enrichment facilities until after the Commission verifies through 
inspection that the facility has been constructed in accordance with 
the requirements of the license, as required in 10 CFR parts 40 and 70.


0
9. Section 171.15 is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  171.15  Annual fees: Reactor licenses and independent spent fuel 
storage licenses.

    (a) Each person holding an operating license for a power, test, or 
research reactor; each person holding a 10 CFR part 50 or part 52 power 
reactor license that is in decommissioning or possession only status, 
except those that have no spent fuel onsite; and each person holding a 
10 CFR part 72 license who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 or part 52 
license shall pay the annual fee for each license held at any time 
during the Federal fiscal year (FY) in which the fee is due. This 
paragraph does not apply to test and research reactors exempted under 
Sec.  171.11(a).
    (b)(1) The FY 2007 annual fee for each operating power reactor 
which must be collected by September 30, 2007, is $4,043,000.
    (2) The FY 2007 annual fee is comprised of a base annual fee for

[[Page 31427]]

power reactors licensed to operate, a base spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning annual fee, and associated additional charges 
(surcharges). The activities comprising the FY 2007 spent storage/
reactor decommissioning base annual fee are shown in paragraphs 
(c)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 
2007 surcharge are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The 
activities comprising the FY 2007 base annual fee for operating power 
reactors are as follows:
    (i) Power reactor safety and safeguards regulation except licensing 
and inspection activities recovered under part 170 of this chapter and 
generic reactor decommissioning activities.
    (ii) Research activities directly related to the regulation of 
power reactors, except those activities specifically related to reactor 
decommissioning.
    (iii) Generic activities required largely for NRC to regulate power 
reactors (e.g., updating part 50 or 52 of this chapter, operating the 
Incident Response Center, new reactor regulatory infrastructure). The 
base annual fee for operating power reactors does not include generic 
activities specifically related to reactor decommissioning.
    (c)(1) The FY 2007 annual fee for each power reactor holding a 10 
CFR part 50 license that is in a decommissioning or possession only 
status and has spent fuel onsite, and each independent spent fuel 
storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 
license is $159,000.
    (2) The FY 2007 annual fee is comprised of a base spent fuel 
storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee (which is also included in 
the operating power reactor annual fee shown in paragraph (b) of this 
section), and an additional charge (surcharge). The activities 
comprising the FY 2007 surcharge are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this 
section. The activities comprising the FY 2007 spent fuel storage/
reactor decommissioning rebaselined annual fee are:
    (i) Generic and other research activities directly related to 
reactor decommissioning and spent fuel storage; and
    (ii) Other safety, environmental, and safeguards activities related 
to reactor decommissioning and spent fuel storage, except costs for 
licensing and inspection activities that are recovered under part 170 
of this chapter.
    (d)(1) The surcharge allocated to annual fees includes the budgeted 
resources for the activities listed in paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this 
section, plus the total budgeted resources for the activities included 
in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and (d)(1)(iii) of this section as reduced by 
the appropriations NRC receives for these types of activities. If the 
NRC's appropriations for these types of activities are greater than the 
budgeted resources for the activities included in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) 
and (d)(1)(iii) of this section for a given FY, a negative surcharge 
(or annual fee reduction) will be allocated to annual fees. The 
activities comprising the FY 2007 surcharge are as follows:
    (i) Low-level waste disposal generic activities;
    (ii) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or 
class of licenses (e.g., international cooperative safety program and 
international safeguards activities, support for the Agreement State 
program); and
    (iii) Activities not currently subject to 10 CFR part 170 licensing 
and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission policy (e.g., 
reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit educational 
institutions, costs that would not be collected from small entities 
based on Commission policy in accordance with the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., regulatory support for Agreement 
States, generic decommissioning/reclamation activities for fee classes 
other than power reactors and spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning, the in-situ leach rulemaking, activities for 
unregistered general licensees).
    (2) The total FY 2007 surcharge allocated to the operating power 
reactor class of licenses is -$6.0 million, not including the amount 
allocated to the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning class. The 
FY 2007 operating power reactor surcharge to be assessed to each 
operating power reactor is approximately -$57,000. This amount is 
calculated by dividing the total operating power reactor surcharge (-
$6.0 million) by the number of operating power reactors (104).
    (3) The FY 2007 surcharge allocated to the spent fuel storage/
reactor decommissioning class of licenses is -$350,000. The FY 2007 
spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning surcharge to be assessed to 
each operating power reactor, each power reactor in decommissioning or 
possession only status that has spent fuel onsite, and to each 
independent spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not 
hold a 10 CFR part 50 license is approximately -$2,800. This amount is 
calculated by dividing the total surcharge costs allocated to this 
class by the total number of power reactor licenses, except those that 
permanently ceased operations and have no fuel onsite, and 10 CFR part 
72 licensees who do not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license.
    (e) The FY 2007 annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a 
test and research (non-power) reactor licensed under part 50 of this 
chapter, unless the reactor is exempted from fees under Sec.  
171.11(a), are as follows:

 
 
 
Research reactor.............................................    $76,300
Test reactor.................................................     76,300
 


0
10. In Sec.  171.16, paragraph (a)(2) is redesignated as paragraph 
(a)(3) and revised, a new paragraph (a)(2) is added, paragraphs (c) and 
(d) are revised, and paragraph (e) is added 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.

    (a) * * *
    (2) Notwithstanding the other provisions in this section, the 
regulations in this part do not apply to uranium enrichment facilities 
until after the Commission verifies through inspection that the 
facility has been constructed in accordance with the requirements of 
the license, as required in 10 CFR parts 40 and 70.
    (3) In accordance with Sec.  171.17, each person identified in 
paragraph (a)(1) of this section shall pay the applicable annual fee 
for each license the person holds during the FY. Annual fees will be 
prorated for new licenses issued and for licenses for which termination 
is requested and activities permanently ceased during the FY as 
provided in Sec.  171.17. If a single license authorizes more than one 
activity (e.g., human use and irradiator activities), annual fees will 
be assessed for each fee category applicable to the license. If a 
person holds more than one license, the total annual fee assessed will 
be the cumulative total of the annual fees applicable to each license 
held.
* * * * *
    (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 
along with its annual fee payment, the licensee may pay reduced annual 
fees as shown in the following table. Failure to file a small entity 
certification in a timely manner could result in the denial of any 
refund that might otherwise be due. The small entity fees are as 
follows:

[[Page 31428]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Maximum
                                                          annual fee per
                                                              licensed
                                                             category
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing and Small
 Not-For-Profit Organizations (Gross Annual Receipts):
    $350,000 to $5 million..............................          $2,300
    Less than $350,000..................................             500
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500
 employees or less:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           2,300
    Less than 35 employees..............................             500
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
 supported educational institutions) (Population):
    20,000 to 50,000....................................           2,300
    Less than 20,000....................................             500
Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly
 Supported, and have 500 Employees or Less:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           2,300
    Less than 35 employees..............................             500
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (1) A licensee qualifies as a small entity if it meets the size 
standards established by the NRC (See 10 CFR 2.810).
    (2) A licensee who seeks to establish status as a small entity for 
the purpose of paying the annual fees required under this section must 
file a certification statement with the NRC. The licensee must file the 
required certification on NRC Form 526 for each license under which it 
is billed. NRC Form 526 can be accessed through the NRC's Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov. For licensees who cannot access the NRC's Web site, 
NRC Form 526 may be obtained through the local point of contact listed 
in the NRC's ``Materials Annual Fee Billing Handbook,'' NUREG/BR-0238, 
which is enclosed with each annual fee billing. The form can also be 
obtained by calling the fee staff at 301-415-7554, or by e-mailing the 
fee staff at [email protected].
    (3) For purposes of this section, the licensee must submit a new 
certification with its annual fee payment each year.
    (4) The maximum annual fee a small entity is required to pay is 
$2,300 for each category applicable to the license(s).
    (d) The FY 2007 annual fees are comprised of a base annual fee and 
an additional charge (surcharge). The activities comprising the FY 2007 
surcharge are shown for convenience in paragraph (e) of this section. 
The FY 2007 annual fees for materials licensees and holders of 
certificates, registrations or approvals subject to fees under this 
section are shown in the following table:

   Schedule of Materials Annual Fees and Fees for Government Agencies
                             Licensed by NRC
                     [See footnotes at end of table]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Annual fees
             Category of materials licenses                 \1\ \2\ \3\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Special nuclear material:
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of U-235 or
     plutonium for fuel fabrication activities.
        (a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material (High          $4,096,000
         Enriched Uranium)..............................
        (b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Form           1,237,000
         Used for Fabrication of Power Reactor Fuel.....
    (2) All other special nuclear materials licenses not
     included in Category 1.A.(1) which are licensed for
     fuel cycle activities.
        (a) Facilities with limited operations..........         469,000
        (b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration              768,000
         facilities.....................................
        (c) Others, including hot cell facilities.......         341,000
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel           \11\ N/A
     and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC)
     waste at an independent spent fuel storage
     installation (ISFSI)...............................
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special                  2,100
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
     devices used in industrial measuring systems,
     including x-ray fluorescence analyzers.............
    D. All other special nuclear material licenses,                5,800
     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)............................................
    E. Licenses or certificates for the operation of a         2,347,000
     uranium enrichment facility........................
2. Source material:
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of source             811,000
     material for refining uranium mill concentrates to
     uranium hexafluoride...............................
    (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.
        (a) Class I facilities \4\......................          18,700
        (b) Class II facilities \4\.....................          18,700
        (c) Other facilities \4\........................          90,200
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct         \5\ N/A
     material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the
     Atomic Energy Act, from other persons for
     possession and disposal, except those licenses
     subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category
     2.A.(4)............................................
    (4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct          18,700
     material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the
     Atomic Energy Act, from other persons 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)...
    (5) Licenses that authorize the possession of source          11,200
     material related to removal of contaminants (source
     material) from drinking water......................

[[Page 31429]]

 
    B. Licenses that authorize only the possession, use              750
     and/or installation of source material for
     shielding..........................................
    C. All other source material licenses...............          13,400
3. Byproduct material:
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of          29,100
     byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
     this chapter for processing or manufacturing of
     items containing byproduct material for commercial
     distribution.......................................
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of                    8,400
     byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
     chapter for processing or manufacturing of items
     containing byproduct material for commercial
     distribution.......................................
    C. Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72 and/or            11,900
     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 under part 40 of this chapter when
     included on the same license. This category does
     not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit
     educational institutions whose processing or
     manufacturing is exempt under Sec.   171.11(a)(1).
     These licenses are covered by fee under Category
     3.D................................................
    D. Licenses and approvals issued under Sec.  Sec.              6,800
     32.72 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. This category includes licenses
     issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72 and 32.74 of this
     chapter to nonprofit educational institutions whose
     processing or manufacturing is exempt under Sec.
     171.11(a)(1). This category also includes the
     possession and use of source material for shielding
     authorized under part 40 of this chapter when
     included on the same license.......................
    E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                4,200
     material in sealed sources for irradiation of
     materials in which the source is not removed from
     its shield (self-shielded units)...................
    F. Licenses for possession and use of less than                7,800
     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...................
    G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000 curies           31,200
     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...................
    H. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of              11,400
     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............................................
    I. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of              10,700
     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....................................
    J. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of               2,500
     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...
    K. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of               1,900
     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.............
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of          15,100
     byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
     this chapter for research and development that do
     not authorize commercial distribution..............
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of                    5,600
     byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
     chapter for research and development that do not
     authorize commercial distribution..................
    N. Licenses that authorize services for other                  8,500
     licensees, except: (1) Licenses that authorize only
     calibration and/or leak testing services are
     subject to the fees specified in fee Category 3.P.;
     and (2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal
     services are subject to the fees specified in fee
     categories 4.A., 4.B., and 4.C.....................
    O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct               14,100
     material issued under part 34 of this chapter for
     industrial radiography operations. This category
     also includes the possession and use of source
     material for shielding authorized under part 40 of
     this chapter when authorized on the same license...
    P. All other specific byproduct material licenses,             2,700
     except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D........
    Q. Registration of devices generally licensed under         \13\ N/A
     part 31 of this chapter............................
4. Waste disposal and processing:
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of          \5\ N/A
     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..........................
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of           12,000
     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............................
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of            9,200
     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.........................
5. Well logging:
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                4,400
     material, source material, and/or special nuclear
     material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer
     studies other than field flooding tracer studies...

[[Page 31430]]

 
    B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct              \5\ N/A
     material for field flooding tracer studies.........
6. Nuclear laundries:
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of          26,800
     items contaminated with byproduct material, source
     material, or special nuclear material..............
7. Medical licenses:
    A. Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of          13,700
     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...................................
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                  29,000
     institutions or two or more physicians under 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\.................
    C. Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and           4,900
     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\...............................
8. Civil defense:
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                2,100
     material, source material, or special nuclear
     material for civil defense activities..............
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety evaluation:
    A. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of          19,400
     devices or products containing byproduct material,
     source material, or special nuclear material,
     except reactor fuel devices, for commercial
     distribution.......................................
    B. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of          19,400
     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.............
    C. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of           2,700
     sealed sources containing byproduct material,
     source material, or special nuclear material,
     except reactor fuel, for commercial distribution...
    D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of             900
     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.....................
10. Transportation of radioactive material:
    A. Certificates of Compliance or other package
     approvals issued for design of casks, packages, and
     shipping containers.
        1. Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium           \6\ N/A
         air packages...................................
        2. Other Casks..................................         \6\ N/A
    B. Quality assurance program approvals issued under
     part 71 of this chapter.
        1. Users and Fabricators........................         \6\ N/A
        2. Users........................................         \6\ N/A
    C. Evaluation of security plans, route approvals,            \6\ N/A
     route surveys, and transportation security devices
     (including immobilization devices).................
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         \12\ N/A
     10 CFR 72.210......................................
14. Decommissioning/Reclamation:
    A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material            \7\ N/A
     licenses and other approvals authorizing
     decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or
     site restoration activities under parts 30, 40, 70,
     72, and 76 of this chapter.........................
    B. Site-specific decommissioning activities                  \7\ N/A
     associated with unlicensed sites, whether or not
     the sites have been previously licensed............
15. Import and Export licenses..........................         \8\ N/A
16. Reciprocity.........................................         \8\ N/A
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to           282,000
 Government agencies....................................
18. Department of Energy:
    A. Certificates of Compliance.......................    \10\ 976,000
    B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act              584,000
     (UMTRCA) activities................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Annual fees will be assessed based on whether a licensee held a
  valid license with the NRC authorizing possession and use of
  radioactive material during the current FY. However, the annual fee is
  waived for those materials licenses and holders of certificates,
  registrations, and approvals who either filed for termination of their
  licenses or approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses
  before October 1, 2006, and permanently ceased licensed activities
  entirely by September 30, 2006. Annual fees for licensees who filed
  for termination of a license, downgrade of a license, or for a
  possession only license during the FY and for new licenses issued
  during the FY 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
  for Categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the
  license.
\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, 72, or 76 of this chapter.
\3\ Each FY, 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.

[[Page 31431]]

 
\5\ There are no existing NRC licenses in these fee categories. If NRC
  issues a license for these categories, the Commission will consider
  establishing an annual fee for this type of license.
\6\ Standardized spent fuel facilities, 10 CFR parts 71 and 72
  Certificates of Compliance and related Quality Assurance program
  approvals, 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 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 7.B. or 7.C.
\10\ This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to DOE that are not
  under the Nuclear Waste Fund.
\11\ See Sec.   171.15(c).
\12\ See Sec.   171.15(c).
\13\ No annual fee is charged for this category because the cost of the
  general license registration program applicable to licenses in this
  category will be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees.

    (e) The surcharge allocated to annual fees includes the budgeted 
resources for the activities listed in paragraph (e)(1) of this 
section, plus the total budgeted resources for the activities included 
in paragraphs (e)(2) and (e)(3) of this section as reduced by the 
appropriations NRC receives for these types of activities. If the NRC's 
appropriations for these types of activities are greater than the 
budgeted resources for the activities included in paragraphs (e)(2) and 
(e)(3) of this section for a given FY, a negative surcharge (or annual 
fee reduction) will be allocated to annual fees. The activities 
comprising the FY 2007 surcharge are as follows:
    (1) Low-level waste disposal generic activities;
    (2) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or 
class of licenses (e.g., international cooperative safety program and 
international safeguards activities, support for the Agreement State 
program); and
    (3) Activities not currently subject to 10 CFR part 170 licensing 
and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission policy (e.g., 
reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit educational 
institutions, costs that would not be collected from small entities 
based on Commission policy in accordance with the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., regulatory support for Agreement 
States, generic decommissioning/reclamation activities for fee classes 
other than power reactors and spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning, the in-situ leach rulemaking, and activities for 
unregistered general licensees).


0
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, 10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold 10 CFR part 
50 licenses, and materials licenses with annual fees of $100,000 or 
greater for a single fee category.
    (1) New licenses. The annual fees for new licenses for power 
reactors, non-power reactors, 10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold 
a 10 CFR part 50 license, and materials licenses with annual fees of 
$100,000 or greater for a single fee category for the current FY, that 
are subject to fees under this part and are granted a license to 
operate on or after October 1 of a FY, are prorated on the basis of the 
number of days remaining in the FY. Thereafter, the full annual fee is 
due and payable each subsequent FY.
    (2) Terminations. The base operating power reactor annual fee for 
operating reactor 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 
docketing of the certifications for permanent cessation of operations 
and permanent removal of fuel from the reactor vessel or when a final 
legally effective order to permanently cease operations has come into 
effect. The spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee for 
reactor licensees who permanently cease operations and have permanently 
removed fuel from the site during the FY will be prorated on the basis 
of the number of days remaining in the FY after docketing of both the 
certifications of permanent cessation of operations and permanent 
removal of fuel from the site. The spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning annual fee will be prorated for those 10 CFR part 72 
licensees who do not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license who request 
termination of the 10 CFR part 72 license and permanently cease 
activities authorized by the license during the FY based on the number 
of days the license was in effect before receipt of the termination 
request. The annual fee for materials licenses with annual fees of 
$100,000 or greater for a single fee category for the current FY will 
be prorated based on the number of days remaining in the FY when a 
termination request or a request for a POL is received by the NRC, 
provided the licensee permanently ceased licensed activities during the 
specified period.
    (3) Downgraded licenses. The annual fee for a materials license 
with an annual fee of $100,000 or greater for a single fee category for 
the current FY, that is subject to fees under this part and downgraded 
on or after October 1 of a FY, is prorated upon request by the licensee 
on the basis of the number of days remaining in the FY when the 
application for downgrade is received by the NRC provided the licensee 
permanently ceased the stated activities during the specified period. 
Requests for proration must be filed with the NRC within 90 days from 
the effective date of the final rule establishing the annual fees for 
which a proration is sought. Absent extraordinary circumstances, any 
request for proration of the annual fee for a downgraded license filed 
beyond that date will not be considered.
    (b) Materials licenses (excluding 10 CFR part 72 licenses and 
materials license with annual fees of $100,000 or greater for a single 
fee category, included in Sec.  171.17(a)).
    (1) New 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.
    (2) Terminations. 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

[[Page 31432]]

after April 1 of the FY are assessed the full annual fee for that FY. 
Materials licenses transferred to a new Agreement State during the FY 
are considered terminated by the NRC, for annual fee purposes, on the 
date that the Agreement with the State becomes effective; therefore, 
the same proration provisions will apply as if the licenses were 
terminated.
    (3) Downgraded licenses. (i) The annual fee for a materials license 
that is subject to fees under this part and downgraded on or after 
October 1 of a FY is prorated upon request by the licensee on the basis 
of when the application for downgrade is received by the NRC provided 
the licensee permanently ceased the stated activities during the 
specified period. Requests for proration must be filed with the NRC 
within 90 days from the effective date of the final rule establishing 
the annual fees for which a proration is sought. Absent extraordinary 
circumstances, any request for proration of the annual fee for a 
downgraded license filed beyond that date will not be considered.
    (ii) Annual fees for licenses for which applications to downgrade 
are filed during the period October 1 through March 31 of the FY will 
be prorated as follows:
    (A) Licenses for which applications have been filed to reduce the 
scope of the license from a higher fee category(ies) to a lower fee 
category(ies) will be assessed one-half the annual fee for the higher 
fee category and one-half the annual fee for the lower fee 
category(ies), and, if applicable, the full annual fee for fee 
categories not affected by the downgrade; and
    (B) Licenses with multiple fee categories for which applications 
have been filed to downgrade by deleting a fee category will be 
assessed one-half the annual fee for the fee category being deleted and 
the full annual fee for the remaining categories.
    (iii) Licenses for which applications to downgrade are filed on or 
after April 1 of the FY are assessed the full fee for that FY.

0
12. In Sec.  171.19 paragraph (d) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  171.19  Payment.

* * * * *
    (d) Annual fees of less than $100,000 must be paid as billed by the 
NRC. Materials license annual fees that are less than $100,000 are 
billed on the anniversary date of the license. The materials licensees 
that are billed on the anniversary date of the license are those 
covered by fee categories 1.C., 1.D., 2.A.(2) through 2.A.(5), 2.B., 
2.C., and 3.A. through 9.D.
* * * * *

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of May, 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Peter J. Rabideau,
Acting Chief Financial Officer.

    Note: This Appendix will not appear in the Code of Federal 
Regulations.

Appendix A to this final Rule--Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for the 
final amendments to 10 CFR Part 170 (License Fees) and 10 CFR Part 171 
(Annual fees )

I. Background

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as amended (5 U.S.C. 601 
et seq.), requires that agencies consider the impact of their 
rulemakings on small entities and, consistent with applicable 
statutes, consider alternatives to minimize these impacts on the 
businesses, organizations, and government jurisdictions to which 
they apply.
    The NRC has established standards for determining which NRC 
licensees qualify as small entities (10 CFR 2.810). These size 
standards were established based on the Small Business 
Administration's most common receipts-based size standards and 
include a size standard for business concerns that are manufacturing 
entities. The NRC uses the size standards to reduce the impact of 
annual fees on small entities by establishing a licensee's 
eligibility to qualify for a maximum small entity fee. The small 
entity fee categories in Sec.  171.16(c) of this final rule are 
based on the NRC's size standards.
    The NRC is required each year, under OBRA-90, as amended, to 
recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority (less 
amounts appropriated from the NWF and for other activities 
specifically removed from the fee base), through fees to NRC 
licensees and applicants. The total amount NRC is required to 
recover in fees for FY 2007 is approximately $670.5 million.
    OBRA-90 requires that the schedule of charges established by 
rulemaking should fairly and equitably allocate the total amount to 
be recovered from the NRC's licensees and be assessed under the 
principle that licensees who require the greatest expenditure of 
agency resources pay the greatest annual charges. Since FY 1991, the 
NRC has complied with OBRA-90 by issuing a final rule that amends 
its fee regulations. These final rules have established the 
methodology used by NRC in identifying and determining the fees to 
be assessed and collected in any given FY.
    The Commission is rebaselining its part 171 annual fees in FY 
2007. Rebaselining fees results in increased annual fees compared to 
FY 2006 for two classes of licenses (power reactors and non-power 
reactors), and decreased annual fees for five classes of licenses 
(spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning, fuel facilities, 
uranium recovery, rare earth, and transportation). For the materials 
users fee class, annual fees decrease for most of the categories 
(sub-classes) of licenses, while annual fees for some categories 
increase or remain the same.
    The Congressional Review Act of 1996 provides Congress with the 
opportunity to review agency rules before they go into effect. Under 
this legislation, the NRC annual fee rule is considered a ``major'' 
rule and must be reviewed by Congress and the Comptroller General 
before the rule becomes effective.
    The Congressional Review Act also requires that an agency 
prepare a guide to assist small entities in complying with each rule 
for which a final RFA is prepared. This analysis and the small 
entity compliance guide (Attachment 1) have been prepared for the FY 
2007 fee rule as required by law.

II. Impact on Small Entities

    The fee rule results in substantial fees being charged to those 
individuals, organizations, and companies that are licensed by the 
NRC, including those licensed under the NRC materials program. The 
comments received on previous proposed fee rules and the small 
entity certifications received in response to previous final fee 
rules indicate that NRC licensees qualifying as small entities under 
the NRC's size standards are primarily materials licensees. 
Therefore, this analysis will focus on the economic impact of the 
fees on materials licensees. In FY 2006, about 31 percent of these 
licensees (approximately 1,300 licensees) qualified as small 
entities.
    The commenters on previous fee rulemakings consistently 
indicated that the following results would occur if the proposed 
annual fees were not modified:
    1. Large firms would gain an unfair competitive advantage over 
small entities. Commenters noted that small and very small companies 
(``Mom and Pop'' operations) would find it more difficult to absorb 
the annual fee than a large corporation or a high-volume type of 
operation. In competitive markets, such as soil testing, annual fees 
would put small licensees at an extreme competitive disadvantage 
with their 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.
    2. Some firms would be forced to cancel their licenses. A 
licensee 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. Other licensees, especially well-loggers, noted 
that the increased fees would force 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.
    3. Some companies would go out of business.
    4. Some companies would have budget problems. Many medical 
licensees noted that, along with reduced reimbursements, the 
proposed increase of the existing fees and the introduction of 
additional fees would

[[Page 31433]]

significantly affect their budgets. Others 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 3,000 license, approval, and registration terminations have 
been requested since the NRC first established annual fees for 
materials licenses. 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.
    To alleviate the significant impact of the annual fees on a 
substantial number of small entities, the NRC considered the 
following alternatives in accordance with the RFA in developing each 
of its fee rules since FY 1991.
    1. Base fees on some measure of the amount of radioactivity 
possessed by the license (e.g., number of sources).
    2. Base fees on the frequency of use of the licensed radioactive 
material (e.g., volume of patients).
    3. Base fees on the NRC size standards for small entities.
    The NRC has reexamined its previous evaluations of these 
alternatives and continues to believe that establishment of a 
maximum fee for small entities is the most appropriate and effective 
option for reducing the impact of its fees on small entities.

III. Maximum Fee

    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. In developing the maximum small entity 
annual fee in FY 1991, the NRC examined its 10 CFR part 170 
licensing and inspection fees and Agreement State fees for those fee 
categories which were expected to have a substantial number of small 
entities. Six Agreement States (Washington, Texas, Illinois, 
Nebraska, New York, and Utah), were used as benchmarks in the 
establishment of the maximum small entity annual fee in FY 1991.
    The NRC maximum small entity fee was established as an annual 
fee only. In addition to the annual fee, NRC small entity licensees 
were required to pay amendment, renewal and inspection fees. In 
setting the small entity annual fee, NRC ensured that the total 
amount small entities paid annually would not exceed the maximum 
paid in the six benchmark Agreement States.
    Of the six benchmark states, the maximum Agreement State fee of 
$3,800 in Washington was used as the ceiling for the total fees. 
Thus the NRC's small entity fee was developed to ensure that the 
total fees paid by NRC small entities would not exceed $3,800. Given 
the NRC's FY 1991 fee structure for inspections, amendments, and 
renewals, a small entity annual fee established at $1,800 allowed 
the total fee (small entity annual fee plus yearly average for 
inspections, amendments and renewal fees) for all categories to fall 
under the $3,800 ceiling.
    In FY 1992, the NRC introduced a second, lower tier to the small 
entity fee in response to concerns that the $1,800 fee, when added 
to the license and inspection fees, still imposed a significant 
impact on small entities with relatively low gross annual receipts. 
For purposes of the annual fee, each small entity size standard was 
divided into an upper and lower tier. Small entity licensees in the 
upper tier continued to pay an annual fee of $1,800 while those in 
the lower tier paid an annual fee of $400.
    Based on the changes that had occurred since FY 1991, the NRC 
re-analyzed its maximum small entity annual fees in FY 2000, and 
determined that the small entity fees should be increased by 25 
percent to reflect the increase in the average fees paid by other 
materials licensees since FY 1991, as well as changes in the fee 
structure for materials licensees. The structure of the fees that 
NRC charged to its materials licensees changed during the period 
between 1991 and 1999. Costs for materials license inspections, 
renewals, and amendments, which were previously recovered through 
part 170 fees for services, are now included in the part 171 annual 
fees assessed to materials licensees. As a result, the maximum small 
entity annual fee increased from $1,800 to $2,300 in FY 2000. By 
increasing the maximum annual fee for small entities from $1,800 to 
$2,300, the annual fee for many small entities was reduced while at 
the same time materials licensees, including small entities, would 
pay for most of the costs attributable to them. The costs not 
recovered from small entities are allocated to other materials 
licensees and to power reactors.
    While reducing the impact on many small entities, the NRC 
determined that the maximum annual fee of $2,300 for small entities 
may continue to have a significant impact on materials licensees 
with annual gross receipts in the thousands of dollars range. 
Therefore, the NRC continued to provide a lower-tier small entity 
annual fee for small entities with relatively low gross annual 
receipts, and for manufacturing concerns and educational 
institutions not State or publicly supported, with less than 35 
employees. The NRC also increased the lower tier small entity fee by 
the same percentage increase to the maximum small entity annual fee. 
This 25 percent increase resulted in the lower tier small entity fee 
increasing from $400 to $500 in FY 2000.
    The NRC stated in the RFA for the FY 2001 final fee rule that it 
would re-examine the small entity fees every two years, in the same 
years in which it conducts the biennial review of fees as required 
by the Chief Financial Officer's Act. Accordingly, the NRC examined 
the small entity fees again in FY 2003 (68 FR 36714; June 18, 2003), 
and determined that a change was not warranted to the small entity 
fees established in FY 2003. The NRC performed a similar review, and 
reached the same conclusion, in FY 2005.
    The NRC has again re-examined its small entity fees for the FY 
2007 fee rulemaking, and does not believe that a change to the small 
entity fees is warranted. Unlike the annual fees assessed to other 
licensees, the small entity fees are not designed to recover all of 
the agency costs associated with particular licensees. Instead, the 
reduced fees for small entities are designed to provide some fee 
relief for qualifying small entity licensees while at the same time 
recovering from them some of the agency's costs for activities that 
benefit them. The costs not recovered from small entities for 
activities that benefit them must be recovered from other licensees. 
Given the reduction in annual fees from FY 2000 to FY 2007, on 
average, for those categories of materials licensees that contain a 
number of small entities, the NRC has determined that the current 
small entity fees of $500 and $2,300 continue to meet the objective 
of providing relief to many small entities while recovering from 
them some of the costs that benefit them.
    As part of the small entity review in FY 2007, the NRC also 
considered whether it should establish reduced fees for small 
entities under part 170. The NRC recently received one comment 
requesting that such small entity fees be considered for certain 
export licenses, particularly in light of the recent increases to 
part 170 fees for these licenses. Because the NRC's part 170 fees 
are not assessed to a licensee or applicant on a regular basis 
(i.e., they are only assessed when a licensee or applicant requests 
a specific service from the NRC), the NRC does not believe that the 
impact of its part 170 fees warrants a fee reduction for small 
entities under part 170, in addition to the part 171 small entity 
fee reduction. Regarding export licenses, in particular, the NRC 
notes that interested parties can submit a single application for a 
broad scope, multi-year license that permits exports to multiple 
countries. Because the NRC's fees are charged per application, this 
streamlining process minimizes the fees for export applicants. 
Because a single NRC fee can cover numerous exports, and because 
there are a limited number of entities who apply for these licenses, 
the NRC does not anticipate that the part 170 export fees will have 
a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.
    Therefore, the NRC is retaining the $2,300 small entity annual 
fee and the $500 lower tier small entity annual fee for FY 2007. The 
NRC is not establishing a small entity fee under part 170. The NRC 
plans to re-examine the small entity fees again in FY 2009.

IV. Summary

    The NRC has determined that the 10 CFR part 171 annual fees 
significantly impact a substantial number of small entities. A 
maximum fee for small entities strikes a balance between the 
requirement to recover 90 percent of the NRC budget and the 
requirement to consider means of reducing the impact of the fee on 
small entities. Based on its regulatory flexibility analysis, the 
NRC concludes that a maximum annual fee of $2,300 for small entities 
and a lower-tier small entity annual fee of $500 for small 
businesses and not-for-profit organizations with gross annual 
receipts of less than $350,000, small governmental jurisdictions

[[Page 31434]]

with a population of less than 20,000, small manufacturing entities 
that have less than 35 employees, and educational institutions that 
are not State or publicly supported and have less than 35 employees 
reduces the impact on small entities. At the same time, these 
reduced annual fees are consistent with the objectives of OBRA-90. 
Thus, the fees for small entities maintain a balance between the 
objectives of OBRA-90 and the RFA. Therefore, the analysis and 
conclusions previously established remain valid for FY 2007.

ATTACHMENT 1 TO APPENDIX A--U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Small 
Entity Compliance Guide, Fiscal Year 2007

Contents

Introduction
NRC Definition of Small Entity
NRC Small Entity Fees
Instructions for Completing NRC Form 526

Introduction

    The Congressional Review Act requires all Federal agencies to 
prepare a written guide for each ``major'' final rule, as defined by 
the Act. The NRC's fee rule, published annually to comply with the 
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, is 
considered a ``major'' rule under the Congressional Review Act. 
Therefore, in compliance with the law, this guide has been prepared 
to assist NRC materials licensees in complying with the FY 2007 fee 
rule.
    Licensees may use this guide to determine whether they qualify 
as a small entity under NRC regulations and are eligible to pay 
reduced FY 2007 annual fees assessed under 10 CFR part 171. The NRC 
has established two tiers of annual fees for those materials 
licensees who qualify as small entities under the NRC's size 
standards.
    Licensees who meet the NRC's size standards for a small entity 
(listed in 10 CFR 2.810) must submit a completed NRC Form 526 
``Certification of Small Entity Status for the Purposes of Annual 
Fees Imposed Under 10 CFR Part 171'' to qualify for the reduced 
annual fee. This form can be accessed on the NRC's Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov. The form can then be accessed by selecting ``Who 
We Are'', then ``License Fees'' and under ``Forms'' selecting NRC 
Form 526. For licensees who cannot access the NRC's Web site, NRC 
Form 526 may be obtained through the local point of contact listed 
in the NRC's ``Materials Annual Fee Billing Handbook,'' NUREG/BR-
0238, which is enclosed with each annual fee billing. Alternatively, 
the form may be obtained by calling the fee staff at 301-415-7554, 
or by e-mailing the fee staff at [email protected]. The completed form, 
the appropriate small entity fee, and the payment copy of the 
invoice should be mailed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
License Fee Team, at the address indicated on the invoice. Failure 
to file the NRC small entity certification Form 526 in a timely 
manner may result in the denial of any refund that might otherwise 
be due.

NRC Definition of Small Entity

    For purposes of compliance with its regulations (10 CFR 2.810), 
the NRC has defined a small entity as follows:
    (1) Small business--a for-profit concern that provides a 
service, or a concern that is not engaged in manufacturing, with 
average gross receipts of $5 million or less over its last 3 
completed fiscal years;
    (2) Manufacturing industry--a manufacturing concern with an 
average of 500 or fewer employees based on employment during each 
pay period for the preceding 12 calendar months;
    (3) Small organizations--a not-for-profit organization that is 
independently owned and operated and has annual gross receipts of $5 
million or less;
    (4) Small governmental jurisdiction--a government of a city, 
county, town, township, village, school district or special 
district, with a population of less than 50,000;
    (5) Small educational institution--an educational institution 
supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction, or one 
that is not State or publicly supported and has 500 or fewer 
employees.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ An educational institution referred to in the size standards 
is an entity whose primary function is education, whose programs are 
accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or 
association, who is legally authorized to provide a program of 
organized instruction or study, who provides an educational program 
for which it awards academic degrees, and whose educational programs 
are available to the public.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To further assist licensees in determining if they qualify as a 
small entity, the following guidelines are provided, which are based 
on the Small Business Administration's regulations (13 CFR part 
121).
    (1) A small business concern is an independently owned and 
operated entity which is not considered dominant in its field of 
operations.
    (2) The number of employees means the total number of employees 
in the parent company, any subsidiaries and/or affiliates, including 
both foreign and domestic locations (i.e., not solely the number of 
employees working for the licensee or conducting NRC licensed 
activities for the company).
    (3) Gross annual receipts includes all revenue received or 
accrued from any source, including receipts of the parent company, 
any subsidiaries and/or affiliates, and account for both foreign and 
domestic locations. Receipts include all revenues from sales of 
products and services, interest, rent, fees, and commissions, from 
whatever sources derived (i.e., not solely receipts from NRC 
licensed activities).
    (4) A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large entity does not 
qualify as a small entity.

NRC Small Entity Fees

    In 10 CFR 171.16 (c), the NRC has established two tiers of fees 
for licensees that qualify as a small entity under the NRC's size 
standards. The fees are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Maximum annual
                                                              fee per
                                                             licensed
                                                             category
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small business not engaged in manufacturing and small
 not-for-profit organizations (Gross Annual Receipts):
    $350,000 to $5 million..............................          $2,300
    Less than $350,000..................................             500
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500
 employees or less:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           2,300
    Less than 35 employees..............................             500
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
 supported educational institutions) (population):
    20,000 to 50,000....................................           2,300
    Less than 20,000....................................             500
Educational institutions that are not State or publicly
 supported, and have 500 Employees or less:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           2,300
    Less than 35 employees..............................             500
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Instructions for Completing NRC Small Entity Form 526

    1. Complete all items on NRC Form 526 as follows: (NOTE: 
Incomplete or improperly completed forms will be returned as 
unacceptable).
     Enter the license number and invoice number exactly as 
they appear on the annual fee invoice.
     Enter the North American Industry Classification System 
(NAICS) code if it is known. If it is not known, leave this item 
blank.
     Enter the licensee's name and address exactly as they 
appear on the invoice. Annotate name and/or address changes for 
billing purposes on the payment copy of the

[[Page 31435]]

invoice--include contact's name, telephone number, e-mail address, 
and company web site address. Correcting the name and/or address on 
NRC Form 526 or on the invoice does not constitute a request to 
amend the license.
     Check the appropriate size standard under which the 
licensee qualifies as a small entity. Check one box only. Note the 
following:
    a. A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large entity, including 
foreign entities, does not qualify as a small entity. The 
calculation of a firm's size includes the employees or receipts of 
all affiliates. Affiliation with another concern is based on the 
power to control, whether exercised or not. Such factors as common 
ownership, common management and identity of interest (often found 
in members of the same family), among others, are indications of 
affiliation. The affiliated business concerns need not be in the 
same line of business (67 CFR part 59).
    b. Gross annual receipts, as used in the size standards, include 
all revenue received or accrued by your company from all sources, 
regardless of the form of the revenue and not solely receipts from 
licensed activities.
    c. NRC's size standards on small entity are based on the Small 
Business Administration's regulations (13 CFR part 121).
    d. The size standards apply to the licensee, not to the 
individual authorized users who may be listed in the license.
    2. If the invoice states the ``Amount Billed Represents 50% 
Proration,'' the amount due is not the prorated amount shown on the 
invoice but rather one-half of the maximum small entity annual fee 
shown on NRC Form 526 for the size standard under which the licensee 
qualifies (either $1,150 or $250) for each category billed.
    3. If the invoice amount is less than the reduced small entity 
annual fee shown on this form, pay the amount on the invoice; there 
is no further reduction. In this case, do not file NRC Form 526. 
However, if the invoice amount is greater than the reduced small 
entity annual fee, file NRC Form 526 and pay the amount applicable 
to the size standard you checked on the form.
    4. The completed NRC Form 526 must be submitted with the 
required annual fee payment and the ``Payment Copy'' of the invoice 
to the address shown on the invoice.
    5. 10 CFR 171.16(c)(3) states licensees shall submit a new 
certification with its annual fee payment each year. Failure to 
submit NRC Form 526 at the time the annual fee is paid will require 
the licensee to pay the full amount of the invoice.
    The NRC sends invoices to its licensees for the full annual fee, 
even though some licensees qualify for reduced fees as small 
entities. Licensees who qualify as small entities and file NRC Form 
526, which certifies eligibility for small entity fees, may pay the 
reduced fee, which is either $2,300 or $500 for a full year, 
depending on the size of the entity, for each fee category shown on 
the invoice. Licensees granted a license during the first 6 months 
of the fiscal year, and licensees who file for termination or for a 
``possession only'' license and permanently cease licensed 
activities during the first 6 months of the fiscal year, pay only 50 
percent of the annual fee for that year. Such invoices state that 
the ``amount billed represents 50% proration.''
    Licensees must file a new small entity form (NRC Form 526) with 
the NRC each fiscal year to qualify for reduced fees in that year. 
Because a licensee's ``size,'' or the size standards, may change 
from year to year, the invoice reflects the full fee and licensees 
must complete and return NRC Form 526 for the fee to be reduced to 
the small entity fee amount. LICENSEES WILL NOT RECEIVE A NEW 
INVOICE FOR THE REDUCED AMOUNT. The completed NRC Form 526, the 
payment of the appropriate small entity fee, and the ``Payment 
Copy'' of the invoice should be mailed to the U. S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, License Fee Team at the address indicated on 
the invoice.
    If you have questions regarding the NRC's annual fees, please 
contact the license fee staff at 301-415-7554, e-mail the fee staff 
at [email protected], or write to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Office of the Chief Financial 
Officer.
    False certification of small entity status could result in civil 
sanctions being imposed by the NRC under the Program Fraud Civil 
Remedies Act, 31 U.S.C. 3801 et seq. NRC's implementing regulations 
are found at 10 CFR part 13.

 [FR Doc. E7-10468 Filed 6-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P