[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34220-34248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14069]
[[Page 34219]]
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Part II
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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10 CFR Parts 170 and 171
Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for FY 2010; Final Rule
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 115 / Wednesday, June 16, 2010 /
Rules and Regulations
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 170 and 171
NRC-2009-0333
RIN 3150-AI70
Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for FY 2010
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 the
NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget
authority in fiscal year (FY) 2010, not including amounts appropriated
from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), amounts appropriated for Waste
Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), and amounts appropriated for generic
homeland security activities. Based on the Energy and Water Development
and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2010, signed by the President
on October 28, 2009, the NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY
2010 budget is approximately $912.2 million. After accounting for
billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees is
approximately $911.1 million.
DATES: Effective Date: August 16, 2010.
ADDRESSES: The comments received on the proposed rule and the NRC's
work papers that support these final changes to 10 CFR parts 170 and
171 are available from the following locations:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2009-0333. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 301-492-3668; e-mail
[email protected].
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have
copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain
entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public
documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Renu Suri, Office of the Chief
Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone 301-415-0161, e-mail [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Response to Comments
III. Final Action
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
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
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 (42 U.S.C. 2214), as
amended, to recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority
through fees to NRC licensees and applicants, not including the
following non-fee items: amounts appropriated from the NWF, amounts
appropriated for WIR, and amounts appropriated for generic homeland
security activities. The NRC receives 10 percent of its budget
authority (not including non-fee items) from the general fund each year
to pay for the cost of agency activities that do not provide a direct
benefit to NRC licensees, such as international assistance and
Agreement State activities (as defined under section 274 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended).
The NRC assesses two types of fees to meet the requirements of
OBRA-90. First, user fees, presented 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 cost of providing special benefits
to identifiable applicants and licensees. For example, the NRC assesses
these fees to cover the cost of inspections, applications for new
licenses and license renewals, and requests for license amendments.
Second, annual fees, presented in 10 CFR part 171 under the authority
of OBRA-90, recover generic regulatory costs not otherwise recovered
through 10 CFR part 170 fees.
Based on Pub. L. 111-85, the NRC's required fee recovery amount for
the FY 2010 budget is approximately $912.2 million, which is reduced by
approximately $1.1 million to account for billing adjustments (i.e.,
expected unpaid invoices, payments for prior year invoices), resulting
in a total of approximately $911.1 million to be billed as fees in FY
2010.
In accordance with OBRA-90, $22.2 million of the agency's budgeted
resources for generic homeland security activities are excluded from
the NRC's fee base in FY 2010. These funds cover generic activities
such as rulemakings and the development of guidance documents that
support entire license fee classes or classes of licensees. Under its
IOAA authority, the NRC will continue to charge part 170 fees for all
licensee-specific homeland security-related services provided,
including security inspections and security plan reviews.
The amount of the NRC's required fee collections is set by law, and
is, therefore, outside the scope of this rulemaking. In FY 2010, the
NRC's total fee recovery amount has increased by $41.5 million from FY
2009, mostly in response to increased activities for reactor oversight,
new reactor programs, information technology support, homeland security
issues, and licensing reviews for fuel facilities, non-power reactors
and spent fuel storage. The FY 2010 budget was allocated to the fee
classes that the budgeted activities support. As such, the annual fees
for power reactor, most fuel facility, uranium recovery, and small
materials licensees have increased. Another factor affecting the amount
of annual fees for each fee class is the estimated collection under
part 170, discussed in Section III, ``Final Action'', of this document.
II. Response to Comments
The NRC published the FY 2010 proposed fee rule on March 10, 2010
(75 FR 11375) to solicit public comment on its proposed revisions to 10
CFR parts 170 and 171. By the close of the comment period (April 9,
2010), the NRC received six comments and one comment thereafter, for a
total of seven comments that were considered in this fee rulemaking.
The comments have been grouped by issues and are addressed in a
collective response.
[[Page 34221]]
A. Specific Part 171 Issues
1. Fuel Facilities Annual Fee Increase
Comment. Some commenters were concerned about the increase in
annual fees. For fee category 1.A.(1)(b), Low Enriched Uranium Fuel,
one commenter noted that the increase appears disproportionate to the
overall increase for FY 2010 annual fee. Another commenter requested
NRC to reconsider the increase in annual fee for the fee category Gas
Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration, because the risk of their facility
licensed under 1.A.(2)(b) is very low relative to other operating fuel
cycle facilities.
Response. Annual fees fluctuate from year to year based on a number
of factors, including the budgeted resources for a license fee class.
The higher FY 2010 fee is primarily due to an increase in total
budgeted resources allocated to the fuel facilities fee class for
increased support for environmental reviews, and licensing amendments
and renewals for existing fuel fabrication facilities. Because annual
fees must recover all budgeted resources for a fee class not recovered
through part 170 fees, annual fees for all facilities in the fee class
are impacted by the lower part 170 fee collections estimate for FY
2010. A higher fee-relief adjustment and low-level waste (LLW)
surcharge for this fee class also increased the annual fee.
The commenter requests reconsideration of their annual fee because
their facility poses a lower risk relative to other fuel facilities due
to the small amount of the radioactive material, uranium hexafluoride,
that it is authorized to possess and because it has not deployed all
the machines that are authorized in the license issued to the facility.
However, the NRC is unable to change the fee for the following reasons.
The NRC is mandated to recover most of its budget resources through
fees based on the costs of providing regulatory services. Under NRC's
methodology established through public notice and comment rulemaking
(64 FR 31448; June 10, 1999) the total budgeted resources for fuel
facilities are allocated to individual fuel facility fee categories
based on the effort/fee determination matrix, which was described in
detail in the FY 2010 proposed fee rule. Although a licensee 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. The NRC continues to believe that an
effort/fee determination matrix, based on the commensurate level of
regulatory effort related to the various fuel facility categories from
a safety and safeguards perspective, results in annual fees that
accurately reflect the current costs of providing generic and other
regulatory services to each fuel facility type. As they do each year,
the NRC's fuel facility project managers and regulatory analysts
reviewed the safety and safeguards effort factors and did not make any
changes for fee category 1.A.(2)(b). Therefore, the NRC is retaining
the effort/fee determination matrix as outlined in the proposed rule.
The Commission will continue to review these factors and make changes,
as appropriate.
2. Uranium Recovery Annual Fees
Comment: Some commenters were concerned that the percentage
increase in uranium recovery fees is greater than the fee increase for
power reactors.
Response. Annual fees fluctuate from year to year based on a number
of factors, including the budgeted resources for a license fee class.
As stated in the proposed rule, the increase in the FY 2010 total
required annual fee recovery amount for uranium recovery licensees is
mainly due to increased budget resources allocated to support uranium
recovery legal and program infrastructure. In addition, the FY 2010
fee-relief adjustment amount is an additional charge compared to a
reduction in FY 2009. For more discussion on the fee-relief adjustment,
refer to Section III.B.1. of this final rule.
In response to the concern that the proposed fee structure favors
power reactors at the expense of other licensees, the NRC disagrees.
The agency is mandated to recover most of its budget resources through
fees. The NRC complies with this law by calculating fees based on
allocation of budget resources to each fee class. The NRC strives to
ensure that the fees are equitable and fair to each class of licensees.
This is why in FY 2010, as noted in the March 2010 proposed fee rule,
generic budgeted resources supporting applications for new uranium
recovery facilities are excluded from the calculation of annual fee
charged to current uranium recovery licensees. Instead these resources
are included in the calculation of fee charged to operating reactors
and fuel facility licensees because they will potentially benefit from
increased production of the uranium milled by the new facilities. The
NRC's annual fees for the uranium recovery licensees reflect the
budgeted cost of NRC's regulatory services for this class of licensees.
3. Agreement State Activities
Comment. Some commenters expressed concern about the impact on NRC
materials program licensees once additional states beyond the State of
New Jersey become Agreement States.
Response. This concern has been largely addressed by legislation.
To address fairness and equity concerns associated with licensees
paying for the cost of activities that do not directly benefit them,
the FY 2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act amended
OBRA-90 to decrease the NRC's fee recovery amount to 90 percent
beginning in FY 2005. In response to concerns about decreasing numbers
of NRC licensees as more states become Agreement States, the NRC notes
that the fee calculation methodology considers the percentage of
licensees in Agreement States in establishing fees for the materials
users fee class. As explained in the proposed fee rule, the budgeted
resources providing support to Agreement States or their licensees are
included in total fee-relief costs, which are offset by the 10 percent
non-fee recoverable funding (fee relief) provided by Congress. For
example, if the NRC develops a rule, guidance document, or a tracking
system that is associated with or otherwise benefits Agreement State
licensees, the costs of these activities are prorated to the fee-relief
activities according to the percentage of licensees in that fee class
in Agreement States (e.g., if 85 percent of materials users licensees
are in Agreement States, 85 percent of these regulatory infrastructure
costs are included in the fee-relief category). To the extent that the
10 percent fee relief is insufficient to cover the total cost of all
fee-relief activities, these remaining costs are spread to all
licensees based on their percentage of the budget.
B. Other Issues
1. Fee Increases Are Inconsistent With Current Economic Conditions
Comment. Some commenters stated that the NRC fees are increasing in
spite of the fact that the country is experiencing economic downturn.
The commenters recommended revising the fees to be in line with
inflation. They also expressed concern that the NRC hourly rate is
extremely high.
Response. The NRC acknowledges that an increase in fees is more
difficult to absorb in the current economic downturn. In compliance
with OBRA-90, as amended, NRC's fees are calculated to recover 90
percent of its approved budget. Any adjustments in fees to align it
with the rate of inflation
[[Page 34222]]
or other external factors could result in NRC's not recovering 90
percent of its budget and thus not complying with the law. As such, the
purpose of the FY 2010 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.
In response to the comment on the high hourly rate, the NRC's rate
is calculated to recover all the budgeted costs supporting the services
provided under part 170, including all programmatic and agency
overhead, which is consistent with the full cost recovery concept
emphasized in the Office of Management and Budget's Circular No. A-25,
``User Charges.'' The NRC did not receive any comments suggesting ways
to revise its hourly rate calculation methodology, and comments on this
fee rule and other rulemakings have consistently supported the NRC's
efforts to collect more of its budget through part 170 fees-for-
services rather than part 171 annual fees. As discussed in the proposed
rule, the increase in the hourly rate is due to the higher budget
necessary for supporting increased infrastructure and support costs for
the new reactors program, fuel facility reviews, reactor licensing
renewal, international activities, and spent fuel storage and
transportation activities. Therefore, the NRC is retaining the hourly
rate formula as presented in the FY 2010 proposed rule.
2. Hold an Annual Public Meeting To Share Fee Projections
Comment. Some commenters expressed an interest in an annual public
meeting early in the year with NRC stakeholders to share information on
the budget request and its impact on the future fees.
Response. The NRC's Congressional Budget Justification is submitted
to Congress in early February for review and approval by the U.S.
Congress and is publicly available at that time. An Appendix in this
document provides an estimate of fees. The current document (NUREG-
1100, Volume 26) can be viewed on NRC's Web site http://www.nrc.gov.
The proposed fee rule for the current fiscal year is published
subsequent to the submittal of the Congressional document. The
Commission acknowledges the importance of this information to a
licensee's budget but cannot provide predecisional policies or certain
administrative fee-related information until the proposed fee rule is
published. The timing of a periodic meeting will depend on the timing
of the budget process, publication of the proposed rule, and NRC staff
availability.
3. Performance Based Licensing
Comment. Some commenters recommended expansion of performance based
licensing and the increased use of Safety and Environment Review Panel
(SERP) to help in reducing review costs/hourly charges for uranium
recovery facilities.
Response. The NRC currently allows changes to a facility and tests
through a SERP as part of a performance based license condition (PBLC).
However, to use the PBLC, the licensee must not undertake an activity
that falls outside the scope of the safety and environmental reviews
already performed at a particular site. The scope of a SERP review is,
therefore, necessarily limited to what is already known and reviewed
about a particular site, i.e. to information that cannot change.
The use of a SERP would have no effect on the uranium recovery
facility annual fee because these fees are based on the generic
activities that are not charged to a particular licensee, but to the
industry as a whole. Furthermore, as noted previously, generic costs
for the new uranium recovery facilities in FY 2010 were allocated to
the operating power reactors and fuel facilities. A SERP would also
have no effect on inspections and license renewal costs because the NRC
must perform those functions. Most license amendments are of a nature
that cannot be addressed by a SERP because of the necessary limitations
that are placed on performance based licensing. Amendments such as
expansions (i.e., new satellites and plant upgrades), restarts, surety
updates, process changes, toll milling, and change-of-control comprise
the majority of amendments that the staff reviews. None of these
amendments can be addressed using a SERP. Therefore, the Commission
disagrees that the use of a SERP can be expanded to the point where
hourly or annual fees would substantively decrease.
III. Final Action
The NRC is amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fees to
recover approximately 90 percent of its FY 2010 budget authority less
the appropriations for non-fee items. The NRC's total budget authority
for FY 2010 is $1,066.9 million. The non-fee items include $29.0
million appropriated from the NWF, $2.1 million for WIR activities, and
$22.2 million for generic homeland security activities. Based on the 90
percent fee-recovery requirement, the NRC will have to recover
approximately $912.2 million in FY 2010 through part 170 licensing and
inspection fees and part 171 annual fees. The amount required by law to
be recovered through fees for FY 2010 is $41.5 million more than the
amount estimated for recovery in FY 2009, an increase of approximately
5 percent.
The FY 2010 fee recovery amount is reduced by $1.1 million to
account for billing adjustments (i.e., for FY 2010 invoices that the
NRC estimates will not be paid during the fiscal year, less payments
received in FY 2010 for prior year invoices). This leaves approximately
$911.1 million to be billed as fees in FY 2010 through part 170
licensing and inspection fees and part 171 annual fees.
Table I summarizes the budget and fee recovery amounts for FY 2010.
(Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
Table I--Budget and Fee Recovery Amounts For FY 2010
[Dollars in millions]
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Budget Authority.................................. $1,066.9
Less Non-Fee Items...................................... -53.3
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Balance............................................. $1,013.6
Fee Recovery Rate for FY 2010........................... 90%
Total Amount to be Recovered for FY 2010................ $912.2
Less Part 171 Billing Adjustments:
Unpaid FY 2010 Invoices (estimated)................. 2.1
Less Payments Received in FY 2010 for Prior Year -3.2
Invoices (estimated)...............................
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Subtotal........................................ -1.1
Amount to be Recovered Through Parts 170 and 171 Fees... $911.1
[[Page 34223]]
Less Estimated Part 170 Fees........................ -357.3
Part 171 Fee Collections Required....................... $553.8
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In this final rule, NRC amends fees for the power reactors, non-
power reactors, some fuel facilities and small materials users, and
DOE's Transportation license. The changes to the annual fee are
primarily due to updated part 170 collections estimate. The NRC updated
the part 170 collections estimate based on the latest billing data
available, adjusted for FY 2010 budget changes, as appropriate. The
total part 170 collections estimate for FY 2010 final rule decreased by
approximately $6.7 million compared to the proposed rule, primarily for
the operating reactors and spent fuel storage/reactors in
decommissioning classes of licensees resulting in a greater amount to
be recovered through annual fees from these licensees. The NRC
estimates that $357.3 million will be recovered from part 170 fees in
FY 2010 which represents an increase of approximately seven percent
compared to $332.6 million in part 170 collections during FY 2009. The
change for each class of licensees affected is discussed in Section
III.B.3., below.
The FY 2010 final fee rule is a ``major rule'' as defined by the
Congressional Review Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 801-808). Therefore, the
NRC's fee schedules for FY 2010 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 reactor licensees,
10 CFR part 72 licensees, major fuel cycle facilities, and other
licensees with annual fees of $100,000 or more, upon publication of the
FY 2010 final rule. For these licensees, payment is due on the
effective date of the FY 2010 final rule. Because these licensees are
billed quarterly, the payment due is the amount of the total FY 2010
annual fee, less payments made in the first three quarters of the
fiscal year.
Materials licensees with annual fees of less than $100,000 are
billed annually. Those materials licensees whose license anniversary
date during FY 2010 falls before the effective date of the FY 2010
final rule will be billed for the annual fee during the anniversary
month of the license at the FY 2009 annual fee rate. Those materials
licensees whose license anniversary date falls on or after the
effective date of the FY 2010 final rule will be billed for the annual
fee at the FY 2010 annual fee rate during the anniversary month of the
license, and payment will be due on the date of the invoice.
The NRC currently does not routinely mail the final fee rule to
licensees, but will send the final rule to any licensee or other person
upon specific request. To request a copy, contact the Accounts
Receivable and Payable Branch, Division of the Controller, 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://www.regulations.gov.
The NRC plans to review its fee policies for power reactors. The
NRC anticipates that it will receive applications to license small and
medium sized commercial nuclear reactors. The NRC published an Advance
Notice of Final Rulemaking (ANPR) on March 25, 2009 (74 FR 12735) to
receive early input from the public on issues relevant to the
establishment of an annual fee structure based on the size of the
reactor. The NRC received sixteen comments in response to the ANPR. The
general consensus from the commenters is that an adjustment to the
current power reactor annual fee methodology is needed to account for
small and medium sized power reactors. The NRC plans to analyze
suggested methodologies for a variable annual fee structure for power
reactors and present its findings in a future rule.
The NRC is changing its current policy with regard to billing
inspection costs. Currently, inspection costs are billed only after the
inspection is completed (i.e., approximately 30 days after the
inspection report is issued). As a result, in some cases inspection
costs accumulate over several billing cycles, and the licensee receives
one invoice for these accumulated costs rather than being billed as the
costs are incurred. Therefore, the NRC will bill for accumulated
inspection costs each quarter. Billing for incurred inspection costs
will begin in the first quarter of FY 2011, when the NRC's new
accounting system is implemented. This policy change does not require a
revision to part 170.
The NRC is amending 10 CFR parts 170 and 171, as follows:
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
In FY 2010, the NRC is increasing the hourly rate to recover the
full cost of activities under part 170 and is using this rate to
calculate ``flat'' application fees.
The NRC is making the following changes:
1. 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 NRC is changing the FY 2010 hourly rate to
$259. This rate would be applicable to all activities for which fees
are assessed under Sec. Sec. 170.21 and 170.31. The FY 2010 hourly
rate is higher than the FY 2009 hourly rate of $257. The increase is
primarily due to the higher FY 2010 budget supporting increased
infrastructure and support costs for the new reactors program, fuel
facility reviews, reactor licensing renewal, international activities,
spent fuel storage, and transportation activities. The hourly rate
calculation is described in further detail in the following paragraphs.
The NRC's hourly rate is derived by dividing the sum of recoverable
budgeted resources for (1) Mission direct program salaries and
benefits; (2) mission indirect salaries and benefits and contract
activity; and (3) agency management and support and the Inspector
General (IG), by mission direct full-time equivalent (FTE) hours. The
mission direct FTE hours are the product of the mission direct FTE
times the hours per direct FTE. The only budgeted resources excluded
from the hourly rate are those for mission direct contract activities.
In FY 2010, the NRC is using 1,371 hours per direct FTE, the same
amount as FY 2009, to calculate the hourly fees. The NRC has reviewed
data from its time and labor system to determine if the annual direct
hours worked per direct FTE estimate requires updating for the FY 2010
fee rule. Based on this review of the most recent data available, the
NRC determined that 1,371 hours is the best estimate of direct hours
worked annually per direct FTE. This estimate
[[Page 34224]]
excludes all indirect activities such as training, general
administration, and leave.
Table II shows the results of the hourly rate calculation
methodology. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
Table II--FY 2010 Hourly Rate Calculation
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Direct Program Salaries & Benefits.............. $343.8
Mission Indirect Salaries & Benefits, and Contract $135.6
Activity...............................................
Agency Management and Support, and the IG............... $330.4
---------------
Subtotal............................................ $809.8
Less Offsetting Receipts................................ -$0.0
---------------
Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate................ $809.8
Mission Direct FTEs..................................... 2,276
Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budget Included in $259
Hourly Rate divided by Mission Direct FTE Hours).......
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As shown in Table II, dividing the $809.8 million budgeted amount
(rounded) included in the hourly rate by total mission direct FTE hours
(2,276 FTE times 1,371 hours) results in an hourly rate of $259. The
hourly rate is rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
2.``Flat'' Application Fee Changes
The NRC is adjusting the current flat application fees in
Sec. Sec. 170.21 and 170.31 to reflect the revised hourly rate of
$259. 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 2010. The agency estimates the average
professional staff hours needed to process licensing actions every
other year as part of its biennial review of fees performed in
compliance with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990. This review
was last performed as part of the FY 2009 fee rulemaking. The higher
hourly rate of $259 is the main reason for the increase in application
fees.
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 minimal. 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 2010 final fee rule would be subject to the
revised fees in the final rule.
3. Administrative Amendments
In the FY 2009 final rule, Sec. 170.11, regarding fee exemptions
for special projects, was changed to simplify the language. In the FY
2010 final rule, the NRC is modifying the introductory text of
paragraph (a)(1) to clarify that this paragraph applies to special
projects. There is no change to the NRC's fee exemption policy.
In addition, the NRC is updating some of the program codes found
next to the materials users fee categories in Sec. 170.31. The program
codes were added in the FY 2008 final rule, and the NRC plans to update
the program codes as needed.
In summary, the NRC is making the following changes to 10 CFR part
170:
1. Establish a revised professional hourly rate to use in assessing
fees for specific services;
2. Revise the license application fees to reflect the FY 2010
hourly rate; and
3. Make certain administrative changes for purposes of updating
some program codes and improving the clarity of the rule.
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 will recover its fee-relief shortfall by increasing all
licensees' annual fees. This rulemaking also makes changes to the
number of NRC licensees and to establish rebaselined annual fees based
on Public Law 111-85. The amendments are described as follows:
1. Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge
The NRC will recover its fee-relief shortfall by increasing all
licensees' annual fees, based on their percent of the budget.
The NRC applies the 10 percent of its budget that is excluded from
fee recovery under OBRA-90, as amended (fee relief), to offset the
total budget allocated for activities which do not directly benefit
current NRC licensees. The budget for these fee-relief activities is
totaled and then reduced by the amount of the NRC's fee relief. Any
difference between the fee relief and the budgeted amount of these
activities results in a fee-relief adjustment (increase or decrease) to
all licensees' annual fees, based on their percent of the budget (i.e.,
over 80 percent is allocated to power reactors each year).
In FY 2010, the NRC's 10 percent fee relief is less than the total
budget for fee-relief activities by $7.1 million. In FY 2009, the 10
percent fee relief exceeded the total budget by $3.2 million. The FY
2010 budget for fee-relief activities is higher than FY 2009, primarily
due to an increase in small entity subsidies, non-profit educational
exemptions, and regulatory support to Agreement States.
The NRC is increasing all licensees' annual fees to recover the
shortfall amount of $7.1 million, based on their percent of the fee
recoverable budget authority. This is consistent with the existing fee
methodology, in that the fee-relief shortfall amount is allocated to
licensees in the same manner as benefits are allocated as a reduction
when the NRC receives enough fee relief to pay for fee-relief
activities. In FY 2010, the power reactors class of licensees will be
allocated approximately 88 percent of the fee-relief shortfall based on
their share of the NRC fee recoverable budget authority.
The FY 2010 budgeted resources for NRC's fee-relief activities are
$108.5 million. The NRC's total fee relief in FY 2010 is $101.4
million, leaving a $7.1 million fee-relief shortfall to be recovered by
increasing all licensees' annual fees. These values are shown in Table
III. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
[[Page 34225]]
Table III--Fee-Relief Activities
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 2010
Fee-relief activities Budgeted costs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC
licensee or class of licensee:
a. International activities......................... $18.2
b. Agreement State oversight........................ 11.2
c. Scholarships and Fellowships..................... 15.0
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 17.4
institutions.......................................
b. Costs not recovered from small entities under 10 6.1
CFR 171.16(c)......................................
c. Regulatory support to Agreement States........... 23.1
d. Generic decommissioning/reclamation (not related 15.1
to the power reactor and spent fuel storage fee
classes)...........................................
e. In situ leach rulemaking and unregistered general 2.4
licensees..........................................
---------------
Total fee-relief activities..................... 108.5
Less 10 percent of NRC's FY 2010 total budget (less non- -101.4
fee items).............................................
Fee-Relief Adjustment to be Allocated to All Licensees' 7.1
Annual Fees............................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table IV shows how the NRC is allocating the $7.1 million fee-
relief adjustment to each license fee class. As explained previously,
the NRC is allocating this fee-relief adjustment 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 adjustment is added to the
required annual fee recovery from each fee class.
Separately, the NRC has continued to allocate the LLW surcharge
based on the volume of LLW disposal of three classes of licenses:
Operating reactors, fuel facilities, and materials users. Table IV also
shows the allocation of the LLW surcharge activity. Because LLW
activities support NRC licensees, the costs of these activities are
recovered through annual fees. For FY 2010, the total budget allocated
for LLW activity is $2.3 million. (Individual values may not sum to
totals due to rounding.)
Table IV--Allocation Of Fee-Relief Adjustment and LLW Surcharge, FY 2010
[Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LLW Surcharge Fee-Relief adjustment Total
----------------------------------------------------------------
Percent $ Percent $ $
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors....................... 54.0 $1.3 87.8 $6.3 $7.5
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning..... -- -- 2.7 0.2 0.2
Test and Research Reactors..................... -- -- 0.2 0.0 0.0
Fuel Facilities................................ 15.0 0.3 5.5 0.4 0.7
Materials Users................................ 31.0 0.7 2.6 0.2 0.9
Transportation................................. -- -- 0.5 0.0 0.0
Uranium Recovery............................... -- -- 0.7 0.1 0.1
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total...................................... 100.0 2.3 100.0 7.1 9.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Agreement State Activities
New Jersey became the 37th Agreement State, effective September 30,
2009. Materials licenses transferred to a new Agreement State are
terminated by the NRC. New Jersey assumed regulatory authority for
approximately 500 former NRC licensees. A larger share of the generic
budget resources for small materials licensees has been allocated to
the Regulatory Support to Agreement States fee-relief category to
mitigate the impact on the annual fee for the remaining small materials
NRC licensees, as seen in Table III.
Note that the continuing costs of oversight and regulatory support
for the State of New Jersey, as for any other Agreement State, are
recovered as fee-relief activities, consistent with existing policy.
The budgeted resources for the regulatory support of Agreement State
licensees are prorated to the fee-relief activity based on the percent
of total licensees in Agreement States. The NRC has updated the
proration percentage in its fee calculation to ensure that resources
are allocated equitably between the NRC materials users fee class and
the regulatory support to Agreement States fee-relief category.
Accordingly, as a result of the State of New Jersey becoming an
Agreement State, the NRC has increased the percentage of materials
users regulatory support costs prorated to the fee-relief activity from
85 percent in FY 2009 to 87 percent in FY 2010. The resources for
licensing and inspection activities supporting NRC licensees in the
materials users fee class are not prorated to the fee-relief activity.
3. Revised Annual Fees
The NRC is revising its annual fees in Sec. Sec. 171.15 and 171.16
for FY 2010 to recover approximately 90 percent of the NRC's FY 2010
budget authority, after subtracting the non-fee amounts and the
estimated amount to be recovered through part 170 fees. The part 170
collections estimate for this final rule increased by $23.4 million
from the FY 2009 fee rule, based on the latest invoice data available.
The total amount to be recovered through annual fees for FY 2010 is
$553.8 million. The required annual fee collection in FY 2009 was
$532.6 million.
[[Page 34226]]
The Commission has determined (71 FR 30721; May 30, 2006) that the
agency should proceed with a presumption in favor of rebaselining when
calculating annual fees each year. Under this method, the NRC's budget
is analyzed in detail and budgeted resources are allocated to fee
classes and categories of licensees. The Commission expects that most
years there will be budgetary and other changes that warrant the use of
the rebaselining method.
As compared with FY 2009 annual fees, rebaselined fees are higher
for five classes of licensees (power reactors, spent fuel storage/
reactor decommissioning, transportation, uranium recovery and materials
users), and lower for one class of licensees (non-power reactors).
Within the fuel facilities fee class, annual fees for most licensees
increase, while the annual fee for one fee category decreases.
The NRC's total fee recoverable budget, as mandated by law, is
approximately $41.5 million larger in FY 2010 as compared with FY 2009.
Much of this increase is in response to increased activities for
reactor oversight, new reactor programs, information technology
support, homeland security issues, and licensing reviews for fuel
facilities, non-power reactors, and spent fuel storage. The FY 2010
budget was allocated to the fee classes that the budgeted activities
support. As in FY 2009, generic NRC resources supporting new uranium
recovery applications are included in the budget allocated to operating
power reactors and fuel facility fee classes, because these licensees
will potentially benefit from increased production of uranium milled by
new uranium recovery facilities. The impact of this allocation on the
operating reactors and fuel facilities annual fees is less than one
percent.
The factors affecting all annual fees include the distribution of
budgeted costs to the different classes of licenses (based on the
specific activities the NRC will perform in FY 2010), the estimated
part 170 collections for the various classes of licenses, and
allocation of the fee-relief adjustment to all fee classes. The
percentage of the NRC's budget not subject to fee recovery remained at
10 percent from FY 2009 to FY 2010.
Table V shows the rebaselined annual fees for FY 2010 for a
representative list of categories of licenses. The FY 2009 fee is also
shown for comparative purposes.
Table V--Rebaselined Annual Fees
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY2009 Annual FY 2010
Class/category of licenses fee Annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors (Including $4,625,000 $4,784,000
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor
Decommissioning Annual Fee)............
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor 122,000 148,000
Decommissioning........................
Test and Research Reactors (Non-power 87,600 81,700
Reactors)..............................
High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility..... 4,691,000 5,439,000
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility...... 1,649,000 2,047,000
UF6 Conversion Facility................. 969,000 1,111,000
Conventional Mills...................... 31,200 38,300
Typical Materials Users:
Radiographers (Category 3O)......... 22,700 28,200
Well Loggers (Category 5A).......... 9,700 11,900
Gauge Users (Category 3P)........... 3,700 4,500
Broad Scope Medical (Category 7B)... 36,300 45,100
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The work papers that support this final 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 2010 budgeted FTE and contract dollars allocated to
each fee class and fee-relief category at the planned activity and
program level and compare these allocations to those used to develop
the final FY 2009 fees. The work papers are available electronically at
http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2009-0333 and
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, Maryland.
The budgeted costs allocated to each class of licenses and the
calculations of the rebaselined fees are described in paragraphs a.
through h. of this section. Individual values in the Tables presented
in this section may not sum to totals due to rounding.
a. Fuel Facilities
The FY 2010 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 $28.8 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
for allocated generic transportation resources and fee-relief. In FY
2010, the LLW surcharge for fuel facilities is added to the allocated
fee-relief adjustment (see Table IV in Section III.B.1., ``Application
of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge'' of this document). The
summary calculations used to derive this value are presented in Table
VI for FY 2010, with FY 2009 values shown for comparison. (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 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................ $44.6 $48.8
Less estimated part 170 receipts........ -22.0 -21.2
-------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.............. 22.6 27.6
[[Page 34227]]
Allocated generic transportation........ +0.4 +0.5
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge..... +0.2 +0.7
Billing adjustments..................... -0.2 -0.1
-------------------------------
Total required annual fee recovery.. 23.0 28.8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increase in total budgeted resources allocated to this fee
class from FY 2009 to FY 2010 is primarily due to increased support for
environmental reviews and for licensing amendments and renewals for
existing fuel fabrication facilities. This is partially offset by
reductions in fuel facility inspections and licensing and inspection
activities for enrichment facilities. In the final rule, due to a small
decrease ($16,000) in the generic transportation resources allocated to
fuel facility fee class, the FY 2010 annual fee for some of the
facilities decreased slightly from the proposed rule.
The total required annual fee recovery amount is allocated to the
individual fuel facility licensees, based on the effort/fee
determination matrix developed for the FY 1999 final fee rule (64 FR
31447; June 10, 1999). In the matrix included in the publicly available
NRC work papers, licensees are grouped into categories according to
their licensed activities (i.e., nuclear material enrichment,
processing operations, and material form) and 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 (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.
Each year, 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: 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 total effort factors for the High Enriched
Uranium Fuel (HEU), Low Enriched Uranium Fuel (LEU), Hot Cell and
Uranium Enrichment fee categories have increased from FY 2009, while
the Limited Operations fee category decreased from FY 2009. The safety
and safeguards factors increased in FY 2010 to reflect process changes,
such as emphasis on emergency planning, ongoing uranium enrichment
activities, and a new facility in the Uranium Enrichment fee category.
The safety factor decreases for Low Enriched Uranium Fuel and Limited
Operations fee categories in FY 2010 reflect the lower level of safety
issues at two facilities. Taking into account the addition of a new
facility, the total safety and safeguards effort factor change is
relatively small.
Table VII--Effort Factors for Fuel Facilities, FY 2010
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effort factors (percent of
Number of total)
Facility Type (fee category) facilities ---------------------------------
Safety Safeguards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a))...................... 2 89 (32.5) 97 (44.3)
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b))....................... 3 70 (25.5) 35 (16.0)
Limited Operations (1.A.(2)(a)).............................. 1 8 (2.9) 4 (1.8)
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b))......... 1 3 (1.1) 15 (6.8)
Hot Cell (1.A.(2)(c))........................................ 1 6 (2.2) 3 (1.4)
Uranium Enrichment (1.E)..................................... 3 86 (31.4) 58 (26.5)
UF6 Conversion (2.A.(1))..................................... 1 12 (4.4) 7 (3.2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 34228]]
For FY 2010, the total budgeted resources for safety activities,
before the fee-relief adjustment is made, is $15,613,008. This amount
is 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 10, that fee category will be allocated 10 percent of the total
budgeted resources for safety activities. Similarly, the budgeted
resources amount of $12,479,010 for safeguards activities is allocated
to each fee category based on its percent of the total regulatory
effort for safeguards activities. The fuel facility fee class' portion
of the fee-relief adjustment ($740,003) 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. The fee
(rounded) for each facility is summarized in Table VIII.
Table VIII--Annual Fees for Fuel Facilities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facility type (fee category) FY 2010 Annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a))............. $5,439,000
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b)).............. 2,047,000
Limited Operations Facility (1.A.(2)(a))............ 702,000
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b)) 1,053,000
Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c)).................. 526,000
Uranium Enrichment (1.E.)........................... 2,807,000
UF6 Conversion (2.A.(1))............................ 1,111,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRC expects to authorize operation of one new uranium
enrichment facility in FY 2010. 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 the facility in a subsequent rulemaking. The
applicable annual fee for a facility that is authorized to operate
during the FY will be prorated in accordance with the provisions of
Sec. 171.17.
b. Uranium Recovery Facilities
The total FY 2010 budgeted costs 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.(2)(c), 2.A.(2)(d),
2.A.(2)(e), 2.A.(3), 2.A.(4), 2.A.(5) and 18.B., under Sec. 171.16],
is approximately $0.91 million. The derivation of this value is shown
in Table IX, with FY 2009 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 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources........ $7.21 $6.69
Less estimated part 170 receipts - 6.64 - 5.83
---------------------------------------
Net part 171 resources...... 0.57 0.86
Allocated generic transportation N/A N/A
Fee-relief adjustment........... - 0.03 + 0.05
Billing adjustments............. - 0.03 - 0.01
---------------------------------------
Total required annual fee 0.51 0.91
recovery...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increase in the total required annual fee recovery is mainly
due to increased support for uranium recovery legal and program
infrastructure and the increased fee-relief adjustment, which was a
reduction in FY 2009. As in FY 2009, the NRC is excluding the generic
budgeted resources supporting applications for new uranium recovery
facilities from the FY 2010 annual fee charged to current uranium
recovery licensees. Because operating reactors and fuel facility
licensees would potentially benefit from increased production of the
uranium milled by the new facilities, the budgeted resources would be
allocated to these fee classes. The generic resources supporting the
new uranium recovery facilities do not benefit the existing uranium
recovery licensees. In the final rule, there were no changes to the
fees for this class of licensees.
Since FY 2002, the NRC has computed the annual fee for the uranium
recovery fee class by allocating the total annual fee amount for this
fee class between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the other
licensees in this fee class. The NRC regulates DOE's Title I and Title
II activities under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act
(UMTRCA). The Congress established the two programs, Title I and Title
II under UMTRCA, to protect the public and the environment from uranium
milling. The UMTRCA Title I program is for remedial action at abandoned
mill tailings sites where tailings resulted largely from production of
uranium for the weapons program. The NRC also regulates DOE's UMTRCA
Title II program which is directed toward uranium mill sites licensed
by the NRC or Agreement States in or after 1978.
In FY 2010, 35 percent of the total annual fee amount, less
$419,769 specifically budgeted for Title I activities, is allocated to
DOE's UMTRCA facilities. The budgeted resources for Title I activities
increased in FY 2010 primarily due to additional Title I sites. The
remaining 65 percent of the total annual fee (less the amounts
specifically budgeted for Title I activities) is allocated to other
licensees. This is the same as in FY 2009. The remaining $317,000
(rounded) would be recovered through annual fees assessed to the other
licensees in this fee class (i.e., conventional uranium mills and heap
leach facilities, uranium solution mining and resin in-situ recovery
(ISR) facilities, mill tailings disposal facilities (11e.(2) disposal
facilities), and uranium water treatment facilities).
The annual fee assessed to DOE includes recovery of the costs
specifically budgeted for NRC's Title I activities, plus 35 percent of
the remaining annual fee amount, including
[[Page 34229]]
the fee-relief and generic/other costs, for the uranium recovery class.
The remaining 65 percent of the fee-relief 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 (UMTRCA Title I and Title II)
general licenses:
UMTRCA Title I budgeted costs................... $419,769
35 percent of generic/other uranium recovery 151,950
budgeted costs.................................
35 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief + 18,519
adjustment.....................................
-------------------
Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE (rounded)... 590,000
Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery
Licenses:
65 percent of generic/other uranium recovery 282,193
budgeted costs less the amounts specifically
budgeted for Title I activities................
65 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief + 34,393
adjustment.....................................
-------------------
Total Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium 316,586
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 conducting the generic regulatory actions for the different (non-
DOE) licensees in this fee class. The weights derived in this matrix
are used to allocate the approximately $317,000 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 2010 matrix is described as follows.
First, the methodology identifies the categories of licenses
included in this fee class (besides DOE). In FY 2010, these categories
are conventional uranium mills and heap leach facilities, uranium
solution mining and resin ISR facilities, mill tailings disposal
facilities (11e.(2) disposal facilities), and uranium water treatment
facilities.
Second, the matrix identifies the types of operating activities
that support and benefit these licensees. In FY 2010, the activities
related to generic decommissioning/reclamation are not included in the
matrix, because they are included in the fee-relief activities.
Therefore, they are not a factor in determining annual fees. The
activities included in the FY 2010 matrix are operations, waste
operations, and groundwater protection. 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 protection activities have weights of 0, 5, and 10,
respectively, in the FY 2010 matrix.
Each year, the NRC determines the level of benefit to each licensee
for generic uranium recovery program activities for each type of
generic activity in the matrix. This is done by assigning, for each fee
category, separate benefit factors for each type of regulatory activity
in the matrix. Benefit factors are assigned on a scale of 0 to 10 as
follows: Zero (no regulatory benefit), five (moderate regulatory
benefit), and ten (high regulatory benefit). These benefit factors are
first multiplied by the relative weight assigned to each activity
(described previously). Total benefit factors by fee category, and per
licensee in each fee category, are then calculated. These benefit
factors thus reflect the relative regulatory benefit associated with
each licensee and fee category. The NRC expects to license an In Situ
Recovery Resin Facility in FY 2010. Therefore, the benefit factors for
fee category 2.A.(2)(d) have been included in the FY 2010 matrix, and
an annual fee has been established.
The benefit 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--Benefit Factors for Uranium Recovery Licenses, FY 2010
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Benefit factor Benefit factor
Fee category licensees per licensee Total value percent total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conventional and Heap Leach mills....... 1 200 200 12
Basic In Situ Recovery facilities....... 5 190 950 57
Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities.... 1 215 215 13
In Situ Recovery Resin Facilities....... 1 180 180 11
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing 1 65 65 4
tailings sites.........................
Uranium water treatment................. 1 45 45 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
................ ................ 1,655 ................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Applying these factors to the approximately $317,000 in budgeted
costs to be recovered from non-DOE uranium recovery licensees results
in the total annual fees for each fee category. 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 XII:
[[Page 34230]]
Table XII--Annual Fees for Uranium Recovery Licensees
[Other than DOE]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facility type (fee category) FY 2010 Annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a))...... $38,300
Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b))...... 36,300
Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(c))... 41,100
In Situ Recovery Resin facilities (2.A.(2)(d))...... 34,400
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings 12,400
sites (2.A.(4))....................................
Uranium water treatment (2.A.(5))................... 8,600
------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Operating Power Reactors
The $482.1 million in budgeted costs to be recovered through FY
2010 annual fees assessed to the power reactor class was calculated as
shown in Table XIII. FY 2009 values are shown for comparison.
(Individual values 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 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............ $761.5 $787.3
Less estimated part 170 receipts.... -288.8 -312.5
-----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.......... 472.7 474.8
Allocated generic transportation.... +0.9 +0.8
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge. -1.6 +7.5
Billing adjustments................. -3.6 -1.0
-----------------------------------
Total required annual fee 468.3 482.1
recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 a FY 2010 annual fee of $4,636,000 per
reactor, of which approximately $72,200 is the fee-relief adjustment/
LLW surcharge. Additionally, each power reactor licensed to operate
would be assessed the FY 2010 spent fuel storage/reactor
decommissioning annual fee of $148,000 which results in a total FY 2010
annual fee of $4,784,000 for each power reactor licensed to operate.
The part 170 collections estimate for the final rule decreased by
approximately $6.2 million compared with the proposed rule primarily
due to decreased billing for work related to new applications. As a
result, the annual fee for each power reactor in the final rule
increased by approximately 1.3 percent compared to the proposed rule.
The annual fee for power reactors is higher in FY 2010 than in FY
2009, primarily due to increased budgeted resources for licensing,
international, oversight, and new reactor activities, and the increased
fee-relief adjustment, which was a reduction in FY 2009. This increase
is partially offset by a decrease in budgeted resources for incident
response activities and higher estimated part 170 collections. The
annual fees for power reactors are presented in Sec. 171.15.
d. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning
For FY 2010, budgeted costs of approximately $18.2 million for
spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning are to be recovered through
annual fees assessed to 10 CFR 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 2009 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may
not sum to totals due to rounding.)
Table XIV--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for the Spent Fuel Storage/
Reactor Decommissioning Fee Class
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary fee calculations FY 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............ $21.1 $24.1
Less estimated part 170 receipts.... -6.1 -6.4
-----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.......... 15.0 17.7
Allocated generic transportation.... +0.2 +0.4
Fee-relief adjustment............... -0.1 +0.2
Billing adjustments................. -0.1 0.0
-----------------------------------
Total required annual fee 15.1 18.2
recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 34231]]
The required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among
123 licensees, resulting in a FY 2010 annual fee of $148,000 per
licensee. The value of total budgeted resources for this fee class is
higher in FY 2010 than in FY 2009, due to increased budgeted resources
for information technology and legal support and for spent fuel storage
licensing and certification activities. This increase is partially
offset by a decrease in reactor decommissioning inspection and
licensing activities. The part 170 collections estimate for the final
rule decreased by approximately eight percent due to decreased billings
which resulted in a higher FY 2010 annual fee compared with the
proposed rule.
e. Test and Research Reactors (Non-power Reactors)
Approximately $330,000 in budgeted costs is to be recovered through
annual fees assessed to the test and research reactor class of licenses
for FY 2010. Table XV summarizes the annual fee calculation for test
and research reactors for FY 2010. FY 2009 values are shown for
comparison. (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 FY 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............ $1.22 $1.31
Less estimated part 170 receipts.... -0.87 -1.01
-----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.......... 0.35 0.30
Allocated generic transportation.... +0.01 +0.01
Fee-relief adjustment............... -0.00 +0.01
Billing adjustments................. -0.01 -0.00
-----------------------------------
Total required annual fee 0.35 0.33
recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among
the four test and research reactors subject to annual fees and results
in a FY 2010 annual fee of $81,700 for each licensee. The decrease in
annual fees from FY 2009 to FY 2010 is due to a higher part 170 revenue
estimate for license renewal activity. In the final rule, annual fee
for the test and research reactors decreased slightly compared to the
proposed rule due to a small decrease ($450) in generic transportation
resources allocated to this fee class.
f. Rare Earth Facilities
The agency does not anticipate receiving an application for a rare
earth facility this fiscal year, so no budget resources are allocated
to this fee class, and no annual fee will be published in FY 2010.
g. Materials Users
Table XVI shows the calculation of the FY 2010 annual fee amount
for materials users licensees. FY 2009 values are shown for comparison.
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. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
Table XVI--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Materials Users
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary fee calculations FY 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............ $28.7 $28.8
Less estimated part 170 receipts.... -1.7 -1.8
-----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.......... 27.0 27.0
Allocated generic transportation.... +0.8 +0.8
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge. +0.6 +0.9
Billing adjustments................. -0.1 -0.0
-----------------------------------
Total required annual fee 28.4 28.7
recovery.......................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The total required annual fees to be recovered from materials
licensees increases in FY 2010, mainly because of increases in the
budgeted resources allocated to this fee class for legal support,
information technology support, and enforcement activities. This is
partially offset by a decrease in budgeted resources for licensing
activities and higher estimated part 170 revenue resulting from the
higher FY 2009 fees. Annual fees for all fee categories within the
materials users fee class increase. The number of licensees decreased
because of the transfer of licensees to the State of New Jersey, which
became an Agreement State on September 30, 2009. In the final rule,
annual fees for some licensees decrease slightly (fee categories 3.A.,
3.C., 3.G., 3.I., 4.C., 5.A., and 17) compared to the proposed rule
because of a small decrease ($25,000) in the generic transportation
resources allocated to this fee class.
To equitably and fairly allocate the $28.7 million in FY 2010
budgeted costs to be recovered in annual fees assessed to the
approximately 3,150 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
[[Page 34232]]
allocating the generic and other regulatory costs to the diverse
categories of licenses based on the NRC's cost 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 $20
million in general costs (including allocated generic transportation
costs) and is 1.5 for FY 2010. The average inspection cost is the
average inspection hours for each fee category multiplied by the hourly
rate of $259. The inspection priority is the interval between routine
inspections, expressed in years. The inspection multiplier is the
multiple necessary to recover approximately $7.6 million in inspection
costs, and is 2.2 for FY 2010. The unique category costs are any
special costs that the NRC has budgeted for a specific category of
licenses. For FY 2010, approximately $107,500 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 fee-relief adjustment of approximately $187,000 allocated
to the materials users fee class (see Section III.B.1., ``Application
of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge,'' of this document), and
for certain categories of these licensees, a share of the approximately
$719,000 in LLW surcharge costs allocated to the fee class. The annual
fee for each fee category is shown in Sec. 171.16(d).
h. Transportation
Table XVII shows the calculation of the FY 2010 generic
transportation budgeted resources to be recovered through annual fees.
FY 2009 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum
to totals due to rounding.)
Table XVII--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Transportation
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary fee calculations FY 2009 Final FY 2010 Final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources............ $6.1 $6.6
Less estimated part 170 receipts.... -$2.9 -$3.3
-----------------------------------
Net part 171 resources.......... $3.1 $3.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRC must approve any package used for shipping nuclear material
before shipment. If the package meets NRC requirements, the NRC issues
a Radioactive Material Package Certificate of Compliance (CoC) to the
organization requesting approval of a package. Organizations are
authorized to ship radioactive material in a package approved for use
under the general licensing provisions of 10 CFR part 71. The resources
associated with generic transportation activities are distributed to
the license fee classes based on the number of CoCs benefitting (used
by) that fee class, as a proxy for the generic transportation resources
expended for each fee class.
The total FY 2010 budgeted resources for generic transportation
activities, including those to support DOE CoCs, are $3.3 million. The
budgeted resources for these activities are higher in FY 2010 than in
FY 2009, mostly due to an increase in budgeted resources for homeland
security safeguards, licensing, and certification activities. Generic
transportation resources associated with fee-exempt entities are not
included in this total. These costs are included in the appropriate
fee-relief category (e.g., the fee-relief category for nonprofit
educational institutions). In the final rule, the part 170 collections
estimate increased by approximately $105,000 due to increased billings.
The higher part 170 collections estimate for Transportation results in
a lower annual fee for the DOE in the final rule compared to the
proposed rule.
Consistent with the policy established in the NRC's FY 2006 final
fee rule (71 FR 30721; May 30, 2006), the NRC will recover generic
transportation costs unrelated to DOE as part of existing annual fees
for license fee classes. The NRC will continue to assess a separate
annual fee under Sec. 171.16, fee category 18.A., for DOE
transportation activities. The amount of the allocated generic
resources 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. Because of the increase in total budgeted
resources for transportation, the generic transportation cost allocated
to most fee classes is higher than the FY 2009 cost. Compared to the
proposed rule, the generic transportation cost allocated to some fee
classes decreased in the final rule. This resulted in decreases in
annual fees for non-power reactors, fuel facilities, and some materials
users.
The distribution of these costs to be recovered through annual fees
to the license fee classes and DOE is shown in Table XVIII. 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 32 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 ((4/32)*3), or 0.4 CoCs.
Table XVIII--Distribution of Generic Transportation Resources, FY 2010
[Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allocated
Number CoCs Percentage of generic
License fee class/DOE benefiting fee total CoCs transportation
class or DOE resources
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 82.7 100.0 $3.28
[[Page 34233]]
DOE....................................................... 21.0 25.4 0.83
Operating Power Reactors.................................. 19.0 23.0 0.75
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning................ 9.0 10.9 0.36
Test and Research Reactors................................ 0.4 0.5 0.01
Fuel Facilities........................................... 13.0 15.7 0.52
Materials Users........................................... 20.3 24.5 0.80
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRC is proposing to continue to assess an annual fee to DOE
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 an
increase for the fee-relief adjustment (see Section III.B.1,
``Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge,'' of this
document), resulting in a total annual fee of $861,000 for FY 2010.
This fee increase from last year is primarily due to an increase in
budgeted resources for transportation activities and a higher
percentage of the total number of CoCs. The FY 2010 final fee rule
amount for DOE decreased by 2.8 percent compared to the proposed rule
due to higher part 170 collections estimate used in the final rule.
4. Administrative Amendments
The NRC is updating some of the program codes found next to the
materials users fee categories in Sec. 171.16. The program codes were
added in the FY 2008 final rule and the NRC plans to update the program
codes as needed.
In addition, the NRC is editing footnote 4 in Sec. 171.16 to use
the same descriptive language that is used for fee category 2.A(f)
``Other facilities'' that footnote 4 references. This does not change
the meaning of footnote 4 but provides consistency.
In summary, the NRC is--
1. Recovering the NRC's fee-relief shortfall by increasing all
licensees' annual fees, based on their percent of the NRC budget;
2. Revising the number of NRC licensees to reflect that the State
of New Jersey became an Agreement State effective September 30, 2009;
3. Establishing rebaselined annual fees for FY 2010; and
4. Making certain administrative changes for purposes of updating
some program codes and providing rule consistency.
IV. Voluntary Consensus Standards
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15
U.S.C. 3701) 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 2010, 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 rule. 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.).
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a request for information or an information collection
requirement, unless the requesting document displays a currently valid
OMB control number.
VII. Regulatory Analysis
With respect to 10 CFR part 170, this final rule was developed
under Title V of the 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 (DC
Cir. 1976); National Association of Broadcasters v. Federal
Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1118 (DC Cir. 1976); Electronic
Industries Association v. Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d
1109 (DC Cir. 1976); and Capital Cities Communication, Inc. v. Federal
Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1135 (DC 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, as amended, and with applicable
regulations;
[[Page 34234]]
(3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting
environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321);
(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, less
appropriations from the NWF, 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 in FY 2007. As a result, the NRC is
required to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its FY
2010 budget authority, less the amounts appropriated from the NWF and
amounts appropriated for WIR and generic homeland security activities.
To comply with this statutory requirement and in accordance with Sec.
171.13, the NRC is publishing the amount of the FY 2010 annual fees for
reactor licensees, fuel cycle licensees, materials licensees, and
holders of CoCs, 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 will be based on approximately 90 percent of
the Commission's FY 2010 budget of $1,066.9 million not including the
following items: funds appropriated from the NWF to cover the NRC's
high-level waste program, amounts appropriated for WIR and generic
homeland security activities, and 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.
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 (DC.Cir. 1988), cert. denied,
490 U.S. 1045 (1989). Further, the NRC's FY 1991 annual fee rule
methodology was upheld by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied
Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (DC Cir. 1993).
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The NRC is required by the OBRA-90, as amended, to recover
approximately 90 percent of its FY 2010 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 2010. This
final rule results in increases in the annual fees charged to certain
licensees and holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals,
and in decreases in annual fees charged to 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 Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA)
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 2010.
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 (5 U.S.C.
801-808), 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. 552 and 553, the NRC is adopting the
following amendments to 10 CFR parts 170 and 171.
PART 170--FEES FOR FACILITIES, MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT
LICENSES, AND OTHER REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE ATOMIC ENERGY ACT
OF 1954, AS AMENDED
0
1. The authority citation for part 170 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Section 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));
sec. 651(e), Pub. L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 806-810 (42 U.S.C. 2014,
2021, 2021b, 2111).
0
2. In Sec. 170.11, the introductory text of paragraph (a)(1), is
revised to read as follows:
Sec. 170.11 Exemptions.
(a) * * *
(1) A special project that is a request/report submitted to the
NRC--
* * * * *
[[Page 34235]]
0
3. 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 $259 per hour.
0
4. In Sec. 170.21, in the table, fee category K is 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\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
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 amendment; or $16,900
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 amendment; or $9,900
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 amendment; or $4,200
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 amendment; or $2,600
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...................... $780
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\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, 10
CFR 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.
\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
when 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.
* * * * * * *
\4\ Imports only of major components for end-use at NRC-licensed
reactors are now authorized under NRC general import license.
0
5. 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) [Program
Code(s): 21130].
(b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Full Cost.
Form Used for Fabrication of Power
Reactor Fuel [Program Code(s): 21210].
(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.
[Program Code(s): 21310, 21320].
(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment Full Cost.
demonstration facilities.
(c) Others, including hot cell Full Cost.
facilities.
[[Page 34236]]
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) [Program Code(s):
23200].
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 [Program Code(s): 22140]... $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 [Program Code(s): 22110, $2,400
22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 22150,
22151, 22161, 22163, 22170, 23100,
23300, 23310].
E. Licenses or certificates for Full Cost.
construction and operation of a uranium
enrichment facility [Program Code(s):
21200].
2. Source material:
A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of Full Cost.
source material for refining uranium mill
concentrates to uranium hexafluoride
[Program Code(s): 11400].
(2) Licenses for possession and use of
source material in recovery operations
such as milling, in-situ recovery, 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) Conventional and Heap Leach Full Cost.
facilities [Program Code(s): 11100].
(b) Basic In Situ Recovery facilities Full Cost.
[Program Code(s): 11500].
(c) Expanded In Situ Recovery Full Cost.
facilities [Program Code(s): 11510].
(d) In Situ Recovery Resin facilities Full Cost.
[Program Code(s): 11550].
(e) Resin Toll Milling facilities Full Cost.
[Program Code(s): 11555].
(f) Other facilities [Program Code(s): Full Cost.
11700].
(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)
[Program Code(s): 11600, 12000].
(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)
[Program Code(s): 12010].
(5) Licenses that authorize the possession Full Cost.
of source material related to removal of
contaminants (source material) from
drinking water [Program Code(s): 11820].
B. Licenses which authorize the possession,
use, and/or installation of source
material for shielding.
Application [Program Code(s): 11210]... $570
C. All other source material licenses......
Application [Program Code(s): 11200, $10,200
11220, 11221, 11230, 11300, 11800,
11810].
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 [Program Code(s): 03211, $12,100
03212, 03213].
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 [Program Code(s): 03214, $4,600
03215, 22135, 22162].
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 [Program Code(s): 02500, $6,600
02511, 02513].
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.
Sec. 170.11(a)(4).
Application [Program Code(s): 02512, $4,400
02514].
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 [Program Code(s): 03510, $3,000
03520].
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 [Program Code(s): 03511]... $6,100
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 [Program Code(s): 03521]... $29,000
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 [Program Code(s): 03254, $5,500
03255].
[[Page 34237]]
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 [Program Code(s): 03250, $10,100
03251, 03252, 03253, 03256].
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 [Program Code(s): 03240, $1,900
03241, 03243].
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 [Program Code(s): 03242, $1,100
03244].
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 [Program Code(s): 01100, $10,200
01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612,
03613].
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 [Program Code(s): 03620]... $3,500
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 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.
Application [Program Code(s): 03219, $6,100
03225, 03226].
O. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued under part 34 of
this chapter for industrial radiography
operations.
Application [Program Code(s): 03310, $5,800
03320].
P. All other specific byproduct material
licenses, except those in Categories 4.A.
through 9.D.
Application [Program Code(s): 02400, $1,400
02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123,
03124, 03220, 03221, 03222, 03800,
03810, 22130].
Q. Registration of a device(s) generally
licensed under part 31 of this chapter.
Registration........................... $320
R. Possession of items or products
containing radium-226 identified in 10 CFR
31.12 which exceed the number of items or
limits specified in that section.\6\
1. Possession of quantities exceeding the
number of items or limits in 10 CFR
31.12(a)(4), or (5) but less than or equal
to 10 times the number of items or limits
specified.
Application [Program Code(s): 02700]... $1,190
2. Possession of quantities exceeding 10
times the number of items or limits
specified in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4), or (5).
Application [Program Code(s): 02710]... $1,400
S. Licenses for production of accelerator-
produced radionuclides.
Application [Program Code(s): 03210]... $6,600
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. [Program
Code(s): 03231, 03233, 03235, 03236,
06100, 06101].
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 [Program Code(s): 03234]... $4,500
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 [Program Code(s): 03232]... $4,700
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 [Program Code(s): 03110, $3,400
03111, 03112].
B. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material for field flooding
tracer studies.
Licensing [Program Code(s): 03113]..... 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 [Program Code(s): 03218]... $20,700
7. Medical licenses:
[[Page 34238]]
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 gamma stereotactic
radiosurgery units, teletherapy devices,
or similar beam therapy devices.
Application [Program Code(s): 02300, $11,300
02310].
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 [Program Code(s): 02110]... $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 [Program Code(s): 02120, $2,300
02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220,
02230, 02231, 02240, 22160].
8. Civil defense:
A. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material for civil defense
activities.
Application [Program Code(s): 03710]... $1,190
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............... $8,400
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............... $8,400
C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources
containing byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material,
except reactor fuel, for commercial
distribution.
Application--each source............... $5,900
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............... $990
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............................ $3,200
Inspections............................ Full Cost.
2. Users.
Application............................ $3,200
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.
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.).
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 amendment; $16,900
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 (i.e., Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Compact Commission, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, etc.).
Application--new license, or amendment; $9,900
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 amendment; $4,200
or license exemption request.
[[Page 34239]]
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 amendment; $2,600
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........................ $780
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; $16,900
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; $9,900
or license exemption request.
H. Application for export of Category 1
materials requiring Executive Branch
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; $16,900
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; $9,900
or license exemption request.
L. Application for the export of Category 2
materials.
Application--new license, or amendment; $4,700
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; $4,200
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; $4,700
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........................ $780
16. Reciprocity:
Agreement State licensees who conduct
activities under the reciprocity
provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.
Application............................ $1,900
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope
issued to Government agencies:
Application............................ $73,800
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).
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; issuances 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.
[[Page 34240]]
(b) Licensing fees. Fees for reviews of applications for new licenses,
renewals, and amendments to existing licenses, pre-application
consultations and other documents submitted to the 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 when 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 for which 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.
\6\ Persons who possess radium sources that are used for operational
purposes in another fee category are not also subject to the fees in
this category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources
are possessed for storage only.)
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
6. The authority citation for part 171 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Section 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), sec. 651(e), Pub. L. 109-58,
119 Stat. 806-810 (42 U.S.C. 2014, 2021, 2021b, 2111).
0
7. In Sec. 171.15, paragraph (b)(1), the introductory text of
paragraph (b)(2), paragraph (c)(1), the introductory text of paragraph
(c)(2) and the introductory text of paragraph (d)(1), and paragraphs
(d)(2), (d)(3), and paragraph (e), are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 171.15 Annual fees: Reactor licenses and independent spent fuel
storage licenses.
* * * * *
(b)(1) The FY 2010 annual fee for each operating power reactor
which must be collected by September 30, 2010 is $4,784,000.
(2) The FY 2010 annual fee is comprised of a base annual fee for
power reactors licensed to operate, a base spent fuel storage/reactor
decommissioning annual fee, and associated additional charges (fee-
relief adjustment). The activities comprising the spent storage/reactor
decommissioning base annual fee are shown in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) and
(ii) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 2010 fee-relief
adjustment are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The
activities comprising the FY 2010 base annual fee for operating power
reactors are as follows:
* * * * *
(c)(1) The FY 2010 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 for each independent spent fuel
storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50
license, is $148,000.
(2) The FY 2010 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 (fee-relief adjustment). The
activities comprising the FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment are shown in
paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 2010
spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning rebaselined annual fee are:
* * * * *
(d)(1) The fee-relief adjustment allocated to annual fees includes
a surcharge for the activities listed in paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this
section, plus the amount remaining after total budgeted resources for
the activities included in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and (d)(1)(iii) of
this section are reduced by the appropriations the 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, annual fees will be reduced. The activities
comprising the FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment are as follows:
* * * * *
(2) The total FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the
operating power reactor class of licenses is $7.5 million, not
including the amount allocated to the spent fuel storage/reactor
decommissioning class. The FY 2010 operating power reactor fee-relief
adjustment to be assessed to each operating power reactor is
approximately $72,200. This amount is calculated by dividing the total
operating power reactor fee-relief adjustment ($7.5 million) by the
number of operating power reactors (104).
(3) The FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the spent fuel
storage/reactor decommissioning class of licenses is $194,250. The FY
2010 spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning fee-relief adjustment
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
[[Page 34241]]
spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR
part 50 license, is approximately $1,579. This amount is calculated by
dividing the total fee-relief adjustment 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 2010 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--$81,700
Test reactor--$81,700
0
8. In Sec. 171.16, the introductory text of paragraph (b), paragraphs
(c) and (d), and the introductory text of paragraph (e) are revised to
read as follows:
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.
* * * * *
(b) The annual fee is comprised of a base annual fee and an
allocation for fee-relief adjustment. The activities comprising the
fee-relief adjustment are shown in paragraph (e) of this section. The
base annual fee is the sum of budgeted costs for the following
activities:
* * * * *
(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 receipt of a
delinquent invoice requesting the outstanding balance due and/or denial
of any refund that might otherwise be due. The small entity fees are as
follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maximum annual fee
per licensed
category
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing
(Average gross receipts over last 3 completed
fiscal years):
$450,000 to $6.5 million........................ $1,900
Less than $450,000.............................. $400
Small Not-For-Profit Organizations (Annual Gross
Receipts):
$450,000 to $6.5 million........................ $1,900
Less than $450,000.............................. $400
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500
employees or fewer:
35 to 500 employees............................. $1,900
Fewer than 35 employees......................... $400
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
supported educational institutions) (Population):
20,000 to 50,000................................ $1,900
Fewer than 20,000............................... $400
Educational Institutions that are not State or $1,900
Publicly Supported, and have 500 Employees or Fewer
35 to 500 employees................................
Fewer than 35 employees............................. $400
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(d) The FY 2010 annual fees are comprised of a base annual fee and
an allocation for fee-relief adjustment. The activities comprising the
FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment are shown for convenience in paragraph
(e) of this section. The FY 2010 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 \1
Category of materials licenses 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 $5,439,000
Enriched Uranium) [Program Code(s): 21130].....
(b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Form $2,047,000
Used for Fabrication of Power Reactor Fuel
[Program Code(s): 21210].......................
(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 [Program $702,000
Code(s): 21310, 21320].........................
(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration $1,053,000
facilities.....................................
(c) Others, including hot cell facilities....... $526,000
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) [Program Code(s): 23200]......
C. Licenses for possession and use of special $3,300
nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
devices used in industrial measuring systems,
including x-ray fluorescence analyzers [Program
Code(s): 22140]....................................
D. All other special nuclear material licenses, $9,300
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) [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111, 22120,
22131, 22136, 22150, 22151, 22161, 22163, 22170,
23100, 23300, 23310]...............................
E. Licenses or certificates for the operation of a $2,807,000
uranium enrichment facility [Program Code(s):
21200].............................................
2. Source material:
A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of source $1,111,000
material for refining uranium mill concentrates to
uranium hexafluoride [Program Code(s): 11400]......
[[Page 34242]]
(2) Licenses for possession and use of source
material in recovery operations such as
milling, in-situ recovery, 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) Conventional and Heap Leach facilities $38,300
[Program Code(s): 11100]...................
(b) Basic In Situ Recovery facilities $36,300
[Program Code(s): 11500]...................
(c) Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities $41,100
[Program Code(s): 11510]...................
(d) In Situ Recovery Resin facilities $34,400
[Program Code(s): 11550]...................
(e) Resin Toll Milling facilities [Program \5\ N/A
Code(s): 11555]............................
(f) Other facilities \4\ [Program Code(s): \5\ N/A
11700].....................................
(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of \5\ N/A
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) [Program Code(s):
11600, 12000]..................................
(4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of $12,400
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) [Program Code(s): 12010]......
(5) Licenses that authorize the possession of $8,600
source material related to removal of
contaminants (source material) from drinking
water [Program Code(s): 11820].................
B. Licenses that authorize only the possession, use, $1,600
and/or installation of source material for
shielding [Program Code(s): 11210].................
C. All other source material licenses [Program $21,100
Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11230, 11300, 11800,
11810].............................................
3. Byproduct material:
A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of $49,100
byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
this chapter for processing or manufacturing of
items containing byproduct material for commercial
distribution [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213]
B. Other licenses for possession and use of $12,700
byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
chapter for processing or manufacturing of items
containing byproduct material for commercial
distribution [Program Code(s): 03214, 03215, 22135,
22162].............................................
C. Licenses issued under Sec. Sec. 32.72 and/or $16,600
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. [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513]........
D. Licenses and approvals issued under Sec. Sec. $10,600
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 [Program Code(s):
02512, 02514]......................................
E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct $8,200
material in sealed sources for irradiation of
materials in which the source is not removed from
its shield (self-shielded units) [Program Code(s):
03510, 03520]......................................
F. Licenses for possession and use of less than $15,500
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 [Program Code(s):
03511].............................................
G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000 curies $76,800
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 [Program Code(s):
03521].............................................
H. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of $9,900
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 [Program Code(s): 03254, 03255]............
I. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of $18,000
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 [Program Code(s): 03250, 03251,
03252, 03253, 03256]...............................
J. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of $4,200
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
[Program Code(s): 03240, 03241, 03243].............
K. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of $3,000
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 [Program
Code(s): 03242, 03244].............................
[[Page 34243]]
L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of $24,200
byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
this chapter for research and development that do
not authorize commercial distribution [Program
Code(s): 01100, 01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612,
03613].............................................
M. Other licenses for possession and use of $9,100
byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
chapter for research and development that do not
authorize commercial distribution [Program Code(s):
03620].............................................
N. Licenses that authorize services for other $13,800
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. [Program Code(s):
03219, 03225, 03226]...............................
O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct $28,200
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
[Program Code(s): 03310, 03320]....................
P. All other specific byproduct material licenses, $4,500
except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.
[Program Code(s): 02400, 02410, 03120, 03121,
03122, 03123, 03124, 03220, 03221, 03222, 03800,
03810, 22130]......................................
Q. Registration of devices generally licensed under \13\ N/A
part 31 of this chapter............................
R. Possession of items or products containing radium-
226 identified in 10 CFR 31.12 which exceed the
number of items or limits specified in that
section: \14\
1. Possession of quantities exceeding the number $4,100
of items or limits in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4), or
(5) but less than or equal to 10 times the
number of items or limits specified [Program
Code(s): 02700]................................
2. Possession of quantities exceeding 10 times $4,500
the number of items or limits specified in 10
CFR 31.12(a)(4), or (5) [Program Code(s):
02710].........................................
S. Licenses for production of accelerator-produced $15,000
radionuclides [Program Code(s): 03210].............
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 [Program Code(s): 03231,
03233, 03235, 03236, 06100, 06101].................
B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of $23,100
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 [Program Code(s): 03234]...
C. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of $14,500
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 [Program Code(s): 03232]
5. Well logging:
A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct $11,900
material, source material, and/or special nuclear
material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer
studies other than field flooding tracer studies
[Program Code(s): 03110, 03111, 03112].............
B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct \5\ N/A
material for field flooding tracer studies [Program
Code(s): 03113]....................................
6. Nuclear laundries:
A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of $42,900
items contaminated with byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material [Program
Code(s): 03218]....................................
7. Medical licenses:
A. Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of $21,300
this chapter for human use of byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material in
sealed sources contained in gamma stereotactic
radiosurgery units, teletherapy devices, or similar
beam therapy devices. This category also includes
the possession and use of source material for
shielding when authorized on the same license
[Program Code(s): 02300, 02310]....................
B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical $45,100
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\ [Program
Code(s): 02110]....................................
C. Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and $7,600
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\ [Program Code(s): 02120,
02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220, 02230, 02231,
02240, 22160]......................................
8. Civil defense:
A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct $4,100
material, source material, or special nuclear
material for civil defense activities [Program
Code(s): 03710]....................................
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety evaluation:
A. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of $12,600
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 $12,600
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 $8,800
sealed sources containing byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material,
except reactor fuel, for commercial distribution...
[[Page 34244]]
D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of $1,500
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 $234,000
Government agencies....................................
18. Department of Energy:
A. Certificates of Compliance....................... \10\ $861,000
B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act $590,000
(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. 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, 2009, and permanently ceased licensed activities
entirely before this date. 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\ Other facilities include licenses for extraction of metals, heavy
metals, and rare earths.
\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 that also hold nuclear medicine
licenses under Categories 7.B. or 7.C.
\10\ This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to the Department
of Energy that are not funded from 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.
\14\ Persons who possess radium sources that are used for operational
purposes in another fee category are not also subject to the fees in
this category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources
are possessed for storage only.)
(e) The fee-relief adjustment 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 fee-relief adjustment
(or annual fee reduction) will be allocated to annual fees. The
activities comprising the FY 2010 fee-relief adjustment are as follows:
* * * * *
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of May 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
J.E. Dyer,
Chief Financial Officer.
Note: This appendix will not appear in the code of Federal
Regulations.
[[Page 34245]]
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 at 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 standards
were based on the Small Business Administration's most common
receipts-based size standards and provides 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 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. In total, the NRC is required to bill
approximately $911.1 million in fees for FY 2010.
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 the NRC in identifying and determining the fees
to be assessed and collected in any given FY.
The Commission is proposing to rebaseline its 10 CFR part 171
annual fees in FY 2010. Rebaselining fees results in higher annual
fees for five classes of licensees (power reactors, spent fuel
storage/reactor decommissioning, transportation, uranium recovery
and materials users), and lower for one class of licensees (non-
power reactors). Within the fuel facilities fee class, annual fees
for most licensees increase, while the annual fee for one fee
category decreases.
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA)
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 SBREFA also requires that an agency prepare a guide to
assist small entities in complying with each rule for which a final
RFA is prepared. As required by law, this analysis and the small
entity compliance guide (Attachment 1) have been prepared for the FY
2010 fee rule, as required by law.
II. Impact on Small Entities
The fee rule results in substantial fees charged to those
individuals, organizations, and companies licensed by the NRC,
including those licensed under the NRC materials program. Comments
received on previous proposed fee rules and the small entity
certifications in response to previous final fee rules indicate that
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 fees on materials
licensees. In FY 2009, about 26 percent of these licensees
(approximately 1,000 licensees) qualified as small entities.
Commenters on previous fee rulemakings consistently indicated
that the following 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 identical for both small and large firms.
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 abandon the
materials license altogether. Commenters estimated that the proposed
rule would cause roughly 10 percent of the well-logging licensees to
terminate their licenses immediately and approximately 25 percent to
terminate 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 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 difficult for some
facilities to meet.
Over 3,000 licenses, approvals, and registration terminations
have been requested since the NRC first established annual fees for
materials licenses. Although some terminations were requested
because the license was no longer needed or could be combined with
registrations, indications are that the economic impact of the fees
caused other terminations.
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 licensee (e.g., number of sources).
2. Base fees on frequency of use of 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 a maximum fee for small
entities is the most appropriate and effective option for reducing
the impact of fees on small entities.
III. Maximum Fee
The SBREFA 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 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 10 CFR part 170 licensing
and inspection fees and Agreement State fees for 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 would not exceed the maximum paid in the
six benchmark Agreement States.
Of the six benchmark states, the NRC used Washington's maximum
Agreement State fee of $3,800 as the ceiling for total fees. Thus
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,
[[Page 34246]]
as well as changes in the fee structure for materials licensees. The
structure of fees NRC charged 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. Because of
the 25 percent increase, in FY 2000 the maximum small entity annual
fee increased from $1,800 to $2,300. However, despite the increase,
total fees for many small entities were reduced because they no
longer paid part 170 fees. Costs not recovered from small entities
were 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
could continue to have a significant impact on materials licensees
with relatively low annual gross receipts. Therefore, the NRC
continued to provide the lower-tier small entity annual fee for
small entities with relatively low gross annual receipts,
manufacturing concerns, and for educational institutions not State
or publicly supported with fewer than 35 employees. The NRC also
increased the lower tier small entity fee by 25 percent, the same
percentage increase to the maximum small entity annual fee,
resulting 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 Officers Act. Accordingly, the NRC examined
the small entity fees again in FY 2003 and FY 2005, determining that
a change was not warranted to those fees established in FY 2001.
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 received one comment requesting
that 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, in addition to
the part 171 small entity fee reduction. Regarding export licenses,
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 charges fees per
application, this 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 retained the $2,300 small entity annual fee and
the $500 lower tier small entity annual fee for FY 2007 and FY 2008.
The NRC conducted an in-depth biennial review of the FY 2009
small entity fees. The review noted significant changes between FY
2000 and FY 2008 in both the external and internal environment which
impacted fees for NRC's small materials users licensees. Since FY
2000, small entity licensees in the upper tier had increased
approximately 53 percent. In addition, due to changes in the law,
NRC is now only required to recover 90 percent of its budget
authority compared to 100 percent recovery required in FY 2000. This
ten percent fee relief has influenced the small materials users'
annual fees. A decrease in the NRC's budget allocation to the small
materials users also influenced annual fees in FY 2007 and FY 2008.
Based on the review, the NRC changed the methodology for
reviewing small entity fees. The NRC determined the maximum small
entity fee should be adjusted each biennial year using a fixed
percentage of 39 percent applied to the prior two-year weighted
average of small materials users fees for all fee categories which
have small entity licensees. The 39 percent was based on the small
entity annual fee for FY 2005, which was the first year the NRC was
required to recover only 90 percent of its budget authority. The FY
2005 small entity annual fee of $2,300 was 39 percent of the two-
year weighted average for all fee categories in FY 2005 and FY 2006
that had an upper tier small entity licensee. The new methodology
allows small entity licensees to be able to predict changes in their
fee in the biennial year based on the small materials fees for the
previous two years. Using a two-year weighted average smoothes the
fluctuations caused by programmatic and budget variables and
reflects the importance of the fee categories with the majority of
small entities. The agency also determined the lower tier annual fee
should remain at 22 percent of the maximum small entity annual fee.
Therefore, for FY 2009 the NRC decreased the maximum small
entity fee from $2,300 to $1,900 and decreased the lower tier annual
fee from $500 to $400. The NRC is not making any changes to these
fees in FY 2010 and plans to re-examine the small entity fees again
in FY 2011.
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 $1,900 for small entities
and a lower-tier small entity annual fee of $400 for small
businesses and not-for-profit organizations with gross annual
receipts of less than $450,000, small governmental jurisdictions
with a population of fewer than 20,000, small manufacturing entities
that have fewer than 35 employees, and educational institutions that
are not State or publicly supported and have fewer 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
2010.
Attachment 1 to Appendix A--U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Small
Entity Compliance Guide; Fiscal Year 2010
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 2010 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 2010 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
``Business with NRC,'' then ``NRC 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,
Accounts Receivable/Payable Branch, 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 $6.5 million or less over its last 3
completed fiscal years;
[[Page 34247]]
(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
$6.5 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 fewer 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.
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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 include 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, including
a foreign 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 Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing (Average
gross receipts over last 3 completed fiscal years):
$450,000 to $6.5 million.......................... $1,900
Less than $450,000................................ $400
Small Not-For-Profit Organizations (Annual Gross
Receipts):
$450,000 to $6.5 million.......................... $1,900
Less than $450,000................................ $400
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500 $1,900
employees or fewer:..............................
35 to 500 employees...............................
Fewer than 35 employees........................... $400
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
supported educational institutions) (Population):
20,000 to 50,000.................................. $1,900
Fewer than 20,000................................. $400
Educational Institutions that are not State or
Publicly Supported, and have 500 Employees or Fewer
35 to 500 employees............................... $1,900
Fewer than 35 employees........................... $400
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.)
(a) Enter the license number and invoice number exactly as they
appear on the annual fee invoice.
(b) Enter the North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS).
(c) 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 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.
(d) Check the appropriate size standard under which the licensee
qualifies as a small entity. Check one box only. Note the following:
(i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) NRC's size standards on a small entity are based on the
Small Business Administration's regulations (13 CFR part 121).
(iv) 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 $950 or $200) 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 $1,900 or $400 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
[[Page 34248]]
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, Accounts Receivable/Payable Branch, 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. 2010-14069 Filed 6-15-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P