[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 119 (Friday, June 19, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 37250-37283]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13031]



[[Page 37249]]

Vol. 85

Friday,

No. 119

June 19, 2020

Parts III





Nuclear Regulatory Commission





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10 CFR Part 170 and 171





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Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2020; Final 
Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 85 , No. 119 / Friday, June 19, 2020 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 37250]]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171

[NRC-2017-0228; Docket No. PRM-171-1; NRC-2019-0084]
RIN 3150-AK10


Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2020

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the 
licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its 
applicants and licensees. These amendments are necessary to implement 
the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90), 
which requires the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its 
annual budget through fees less certain amounts excluded from this fee-
recovery requirement. To mitigate the financial impact and economic 
disruption caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the NRC has suspended 
billing of annual fees and fees for services for the 90-day period of 
April through June 2020. Deferred fees will be billed in July 2020.

DATES: This final rule is effective on August 18, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0228 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this action by any of 
the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0228. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this final rule.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS 
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in this document. For the convenience of the 
reader, the ADAMS accession numbers and instructions about obtaining 
materials referenced in this document are provided in the 
``Availability of Documents'' section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Rossi, Office of the Chief 
Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-7341; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background; Statutory Authority
II. Petition for Rulemaking: (PRM-171-1; NRC-2019-0084)
III. Discussion
IV. Public Comment Analysis
V. Public Comments and NRC Responses
VI. Regulatory Flexibility Certification
VII. Regulatory Analysis
VIII. Backfitting and Issue Finality
IX. Plain Writing
X. National Environmental Policy Act
XI. Paperwork Reduction Act
XII. Congressional Review Act
XIII. Voluntary Consensus Standards
XIV. Availability of Guidance
XV. Availability of Documents

I. Background; Statutory Authority

    The NRC's fee regulations are primarily governed by two laws: (1) 
The Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 
9701), and (2) OBRA-90 (42 U.S.C. 2214). The IOAA generally authorizes 
and encourages Federal regulatory agencies to recover--to the fullest 
extent possible--costs attributable to services provided to 
identifiable recipients. Under OBRA-90, the NRC must recover 
approximately 90 percent of its budget authority for the fiscal year 
through fees. In FY 2020, the following appropriated amounts are 
excluded from the fee-recovery requirement: the development of a 
regulatory infrastructure for advanced nuclear reactor technologies, 
international activities, generic homeland security activities, Waste 
Incidental to Reprocessing, and Inspector General services for the 
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Under OBRA-90, the NRC must 
use its IOAA authority first to collect service fees for NRC work that 
provides specific benefits to identifiable applicants and licensees 
(such as licensing work, inspections, and special projects).
    The NRC's regulations in part 170 of title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Fees for Facilities, Materials, Import 
and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services Under the Atomic 
Energy Act of 1954, as amended,'' authorize the fees the agency is 
required to collect from specific beneficiaries. Because the NRC's fee 
recovery under the IOAA (10 CFR part 170) will not equal 90 percent of 
the agency's budget authority for the fiscal year, the NRC also 
assesses ``annual fees'' under 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,'' to recover the remaining amount necessary to meet OBRA-90's 
fee-recovery requirement.

II. Petition for Rulemaking: (PRM-171-1; NRC-2019-0084)

    On February 28, 2019, the NRC received a petition for rulemaking 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML19081A015) from Dr. Michael D. Meier, on behalf 
of the Southern Nuclear Operating Company (the petitioner). The 
petitioner requested that the NRC revise its regulations in 10 CFR part 
171 related to the start of the assessment of annual fees for combined 
license (COL) holders licensed under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to align with 
the commencement of ``commercial operation'' of a licensed nuclear 
power plant. Specifically, the petitioner requested that the NRC revise 
the timing of when annual fees commence for COL holders to coincide 
with when a reactor achieves ``commercial operation,'' rather than when 
the NRC finds under Sec.  52.103(g) that the acceptance criteria in the 
COL are met, after which the licensee can operate the facility. The 
NRC's regulations at Sec.  171.15 currently require a 10 CFR part 52 
COL holder to pay the annual fee upon the Commission's finding under 
Sec.  52.103(g).

Public Comment on PRM-171-1

    The NRC published a notice of docketing in the Federal Register (84 
FR 26774; June 10, 2019), and requested public comment on the issues 
raised in PRM-171-1. The comment period closed on July 10, 2019. The 
NRC received five public comment submissions; these comments are 
available on www.regulations.gov under the docket ID NRC-2019-0084. 
Comments were submitted by Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), several 
industry stakeholders, and one non-government organization, and all 
comments supported the petitioner's request. The NRC has carefully 
considered the public comments received on PRM-171-1, and

[[Page 37251]]

provides this summary and analysis of the issues raised by the 
commenters.
    Comment: Two commenters recommended expanding the scope of the 
rulemaking to apply to reactors licensed under 10 CFR part 50 and small 
modular reactors with conforming changes to Sec.  171.19(e)(1).
    Response: The NRC agrees with this comment. A power reactor can 
submit an application under 10 CFR parts 50 and part 52; therefore, the 
NRC found it reasonable to apply this to change to both 10 CFR parts. 
Although this comment is beyond the scope of PRM-171-1, the NRC 
considered this subject in its rulemaking for annual fees under 10 CFR 
part 171 within the FY 2020 fee rule. The annual fee assessment for 10 
CFR part 50 power reactor licensees and 10 CFR part 52 COL holders will 
begin on the date of the licensee's written notification of successful 
completion of power ascension testing. The NRC notes that 10 CFR part 
50 includes non-power reactor licensees (e.g., test reactors, research 
reactors) that the commenters did not separately distinguish. The NRC 
will consider, expanding the scope of 10 CFR part 171 to cover other 10 
CFR part 50 licensees in a future rulemaking.
    Comment: One commenter stated that, ``[t]his is a drop in the 
bucket of the overall costs associated with getting the plant online, 
but is a great first step in removing government from the equation and 
letting costs be determined by market forces . . . [licensees] could 
then be able to assess their costs and set prices with the thumb of 
government pressing less forcefully on the economic scales.''
    Response: The NRC disagrees with the commenter's suggestion that 
fees should be determined by market forces. The NRC is required by 
statute, OBRA-90, as amended, to recover 90 percent of its budget in 
fees assessed to licensees, less portions specifically excluded from 
fee recovery or granted as fee-relief. Starting in FY 2021, the Nuclear 
Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) will increase the 
amount of the budget to be recovered to 100 percent, less portions 
specifically excluded or determined by the Commission as fee-relief. To 
maintain the cohesiveness of NRC's fee schedules, the Commission has 
maintained appropriate policies to comply with statutory requirements. 
The Commission previously addressed this issue in the statement of 
considerations for the FY 2002 final fee rule (67 FR 42611; June 24, 
2002) that ``the NRC has not based its fees on licensees' economic 
status, market conditions, or the ability of licensees to pass through 
the costs to its customers.'' In keeping with the agency's independent, 
non-promotional regulatory role, the NRC's regulations deliberately are 
not tied to economic viability or profitability, nor has the NRC 
assessed fees based on these concepts.
    No changes were made to the final rule as a result of these 
comments.

PRM-171-1 Consideration

    The petitioner requested that the NRC consider this rule change 
within the context of its annual fee rulemaking to amend 10 CFR parts 
170 and 171 to collect FY 2020 fees. The NRC published a notice in the 
Federal Register (84 FR 65032; November 26, 2019) that granted partial 
consideration by modifying the timing regarding the assessment of 
annual fees for 10 CFR part 52 COL holders in the FY 2020 fee rule.
    Based on its review of PRM-171-1 and the public comments, the NRC 
is amending Sec.  171.15(a) to modify the timing regarding the 
assessment of annual fees for 10 CFR part 52 COL holders. In addition, 
the NRC is amending the timing regarding the assessment of annual fees 
to apply to future 10 CFR part 50 power reactor licensees. See the FY 
2020 Policy Changes section of this final rule for additional 
information on the amendment resulting from PRM-171-1.

III. Discussion

FY 2020 Fee Collection--Overview

    The NRC is issuing this FY 2020 final fee rule based on Public Law 
(Pub. L.) 116-93--Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, (the 
enacted budget). The final fee rule reflects a budget authority in the 
amount of $855.6 million, a decrease of $55.4 million from FY 2019. As 
explained previously, certain portions of the NRC's total budget are 
excluded from OBRA-90's fee-recovery requirement. Based on the FY 2020 
enacted budget, these exclusions total $46.6 million, consisting of 
$15.5 million for the development of a regulatory infrastructure for 
advanced nuclear reactor technologies; $14.5 million for international 
activities; $14.1 million for generic homeland security activities; 
$1.3 million for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing activities; and $1.2 
million for Inspector General services for the Defense Nuclear 
Facilities Safety Board. Additionally, OBRA-90 requires the NRC to 
recover approximately 90 percent of the remaining budget authority for 
the fiscal year--10 percent of the remaining budget authority need not 
be recovered through fees. The NRC refers to the activities included in 
this 10-percent as ``fee-relief'' activities.
    After accounting for the fee-recovery exclusions, the fee-relief 
activities, and net billing adjustments (i.e., the sum of unpaid 
current year invoices (estimated) minus payments for prior year 
invoices, and current year collections made for the termination of one 
operating power reactor), the NRC must recover approximately $728.1 
million in fees in FY 2020. Of this amount, the NRC estimates that 
$220.2 million will be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 service fees 
and approximately $507.9 million will be recovered through 10 CFR part 
171 annual fees. Table I summarizes the fee-recovery amounts for the FY 
2020 final fee rule using the enacted budget, and taking into account 
excluded activities, fee-relief activities, and net billing 
adjustments. For all information presented in the following tables, 
individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding. Please see the 
work papers (ADAMS Accession No. ML20142A363) for actual amounts.
    Public Law 116-93--Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, 
also includes direction for the NRC to use $40.0 million in prior year 
unobligated carryover funds. The use of carryover funds allows the NRC 
to accomplish the work needed without additional costs to licensees 
because, consistent with the requirements of OBRA-90, fees are 
calculated based on the budget authority enacted for the current fiscal 
year and not carryover funds.
    The Commission has authorized a suspension of billing of 10 CFR 
part 171 annual fees, and 10 CFR part 170 fees for services, for the 
90-day period of April through June 2020. This action includes all 
annual fees that would have come due during the 90-day period and fees 
for services that would have been billed in April for services rendered 
January through March 2020. These deferred fees will be billed in July 
2020. The NRC took this action to help mitigate the financial impacts 
and economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

[[Page 37252]]



               Table I--Budget and Fee Recovery Amounts 1
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
                                               rule            rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Budget Authority..................          $911.0          $855.6
Less Excluded Fee Items.................           -43.4           -46.6
                                         -------------------------------
    Balance.............................           867.6           808.9
Fee Recovery Percent....................              90              90
Total Amount to be Recovered............           780.8           728.1
                                         -------------------------------
    Less Estimated Amount to be                   -252.1          -220.2
     Recovered through 10 CFR Part 170
     Fees...............................
    Estimated Amount to be Recovered               528.7           507.9
     through 10 CFR Part 171 Fees.......
                                         -------------------------------
10 CFR Part 171 Billing Adjustments
    Unpaid Current Year Invoices                     4.5             4.5
     (estimated)........................
    Less Current Year Collections from a             0.0            -2.7
     Terminated Reactor--Indian Point
     Nuclear Generating, Unit 2.........
    Less Payments Received in Current               -2.8            -1.7
     Year for Previous Year Invoices
     (estimated)........................
                                         -------------------------------
Adjusted 10 CFR Part 171 Annual Fee               $530.5          $507.9
 Collections Required...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FY 2020 Fee Collection--Professional Hourly Rate
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ For each table, numbers may not add due to rounding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC uses a professional hourly rate to assess fees under 10 CFR 
part 170 for specific services it provides. The professional hourly 
rate also helps determine flat fees (which are used for the review of 
certain types of license applications). This rate would be applicable 
to all activities for which fees are assessed under Sec. Sec.  170.21 
and 170.31.
    The NRC's professional hourly rate is derived by adding budgeted 
resources for: (1) Mission-direct program salaries and benefits, (2) 
mission-indirect program support, and (3) agency support (corporate 
support and the Inspector General). The NRC then subtracts certain 
offsetting receipts and divides this total by the mission-direct full-
time equivalent (FTE) converted to hours (the mission-direct FTE 
converted to hours is the product of the mission-direct FTE multiplied 
by the estimated annual mission-direct FTE productive hours). The only 
budgeted resources excluded from the professional hourly rate are those 
for mission-direct contract resources, which are generally billed to 
licensees separately. The following shows the professional hourly rate 
calculation:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR19JN20.000

    For FY 2020, the NRC is increasing the professional hourly rate 
from $278 to $279. The FY 2019 professional hourly rate was $278, as 
discussed in the statement of considerations for both the FY 2019 
proposed and final fee rules. During the development of the FY 2020 
proposed fee rule, the NRC staff identified that the amendatory 
language for 10 CFR 170.20, ``Average cost per professional staff-
hour,'' inadvertently was not updated in FY 2019 to reflect the 
professional hourly rate of $278, which is why the regulatory language 
in this final rule continues to show the FY 2018 professional hourly 
rate of $275. The NRC has updated the statement of considerations for 
the FY 2020 fee rule and the amendatory language to reflect the 
proposed FY 2020 professional hourly rate of $279.
    The slight increase in the FY 2020 professional hourly rate is 
primarily due to the anticipated decline in number of mission-direct 
FTE compared to FY 2019. The hourly rate is inversely related to the 
mission-direct FTE amount, therefore as the number of mission-direct 
FTE decrease the hourly rate can increase. The number of mission-direct 
FTE is expected to decline by 109, primarily due to: (1) The 
anticipated completion of the NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) 
design certification review; (2) a reduction in workload associated 
with the Clinch River Nuclear Site (Clinch River) early site permit; 
(3) the power reactor plant closures of Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating 
Station (Oyster Creek), Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim), Three 
Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1 (TMI 1); (4) the 
expected decline in submissions for fuel facility license renewal 
applications; (5) the decrease in the number of fuel facility license 
amendments; (6) the termination of the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel 
Fabrication Facility construction authorization; and (7) efficiencies 
gained within the fuel facilities inspection program. The FY 2020 
estimate for annual mission-direct FTE productive hours is 1,510 hours, 
which is unchanged from FY 2019. This estimate, also referred to as the 
productive hours assumption, reflects the average number of hours that 
a mission-direct employee spends on mission-direct work in a given 
year. This estimate therefore excludes hours charged to annual leave, 
sick leave, holidays, training, and general administrative tasks. Table 
II shows the professional hourly rate calculation methodology. The FY 
2019 amounts are provided for comparison purposes.

[[Page 37253]]



             Table II--Professional Hourly Rate Calculation
                 [Dollars in millions, except as noted]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
                                               rule            rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission-Direct Program Salaries &                 $334.7          $314.6
 Benefits...............................
Mission-Indirect Program Support........          $120.6          $110.8
Agency Support (Corporate Support and             $304.5          $291.5
 the IG)................................
                                         -------------------------------
    Subtotal............................          $759.8          $716.9
Less Offsetting Receipts 2..............            $0.0            $0.0
                                         -------------------------------
    Total Budgeted Resources Included in          $759.8          $716.9
     Professional Hourly Rate...........
Mission-Direct FTE (Whole numbers)......           1,810           1,701
Annual Mission-Direct FTE Productive               1,510           1,510
 Hours (Whole numbers)..................
Mission-Direct FTE Converted to Hours          2,733,100       2,568,510
 (Mission-Direct FTE multiplied by
 Annual Mission-Direct FTE Productive
 Hours) (In Millions)...................
Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budgeted            $278            $279
 Resources Included in Professional
 Hourly Rate Divided by Mission-Direct
 FTE Converted to Hours) (Whole Numbers)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FY 2020 Fee Collection--Flat Application Fee Changes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The fees collected by the NRC for Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA) services and indemnity fees (financial protection required of 
all licensees for public liability claims at 10 CFR part 140) are 
subtracted from the budgeted resources amount when calculating the 
10 CFR part 170 professional hourly rate, per the guidance in the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-25, User Charges. 
The budgeted resources for FOIA activities are allocated under the 
product for Information Services within the Corporate Support 
business line. The budgeted resources for indemnity activities are 
allocated under the Licensing Actions and Research and Test Reactors 
products within the Operating Reactors business line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC is amending the flat application fees it charges in its 
schedule of fees in Sec. Sec.  170.21 and 170.31 to reflect the revised 
professional hourly rate of $279. The NRC charges these fees to 
applicants for materials licenses and other regulatory services, as 
well as holders of materials licenses. The NRC calculates these flat 
fees by multiplying the average professional staff hours needed to 
process the licensing actions by the professional hourly rate for FY 
2020. As part of its calculations, the NRC analyzes the actual hours 
spent performing licensing actions and estimates the five-year average 
professional staff hours that are needed to process licensing actions 
as part of its biennial review of fees, which is required by Section 
205(a) of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (31 U.S.C. 
902(a)(8)). The NRC performed this review in FY 2019 and will perform 
this review again in FY 2021. The higher professional hourly rate of 
$279 is the primary reason for the increase in application fees. Please 
see the work papers for more detail.
    The NRC rounds these flat fees in such a way that ensures both 
convenience for its stakeholders and that any rounding effects are 
minimal. Accordingly, fees under $1,000 are rounded to the nearest $10, 
fees between $1,000 and $100,000 are rounded to the nearest $100, and 
fees greater than $100,000 are rounded to the nearest $1,000.
    The licensing flat fees are applicable for certain materials 
licensing actions (see fee categories 1.C. through 1.D., 2.B. through 
2.F., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.B. through 5.A., 6.A. through 9.D., 10.B., 
15.A. through 15.L., 15.R., and 16 of Sec.  170.31). Because the 
enacted budget excludes international activities from the fee-
recoverable budget, import and exporting licensing activities, funded 
through the international activities product line (see fee categories 
K.1. through K.5. of Sec.  170.21 and fee categories 15.A. through 
15.R. of Sec.  170.31) will not be charged flat fees under this final 
rule. Applications filed on or after the effective date of the FY 2020 
final fee rule will be subject to the revised fees in this final rule.

FY 2020 Fee Collection--Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge

    As previously noted, OBRA-90 requires the NRC to recover 
approximately 90 percent of its annual budget authority for the fiscal 
year. The NRC applies the remaining 10 percent that is not recovered to 
offset certain budgeted activities--see Table III for a full listing of 
these ``fee-relief'' activities. If the amount budgeted for these fee-
relief activities is greater or less than 10 percent of the NRC's 
annual budget authority (less the fee-recovery exclusions), then the 
NRC applies a fee adjustment (either an increase or decrease) to all 
licensees' annual fees, based on the percentage of the NRC's budgeted 
resources allocated to each fee class.
    In FY 2020, the amount budgeted for fee-relief activities is less 
than the 10 percent threshold. Therefore, the NRC is assessing a fee-
relief credit that decreases all licensees' annual fees. Table III 
summarizes the fee-relief activities budgeted for FY 2020. The FY 2019 
amounts are provided for comparison purposes.

                    Table III--Fee-Relief Activities
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              FY 2019         FY 2020
                                             budgeted        budgeted
          Fee-relief activities              resources       resources
                                            final rule      final rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an
 existing NRC licensee or class of
 licensees:.............................
    a. Agreement State oversight........           $11.5           $11.9
    b. Scholarships and Fellowships.....            15.0            16.0
    c. Medical Isotope Production                    5.4             3.1
     Infrastructure.....................

[[Page 37254]]

 
2. Activities not assessed under........
10 CFR part 170 service fees or 10 CFR
 part 171 annual fees based on existing
 law or Commission policy:..............
    a. Fee exemption for nonprofit                   9.1             9.0
     educational institutions...........
    b. Costs not recovered from small                8.0             7.6
     entities under 10 CFR 171.16(c)....
    c. Regulatory support to Agreement              14.7            12.2
     States.............................
    d. Generic decommissioning/                     12.9            12.0
     reclamation (not related to the
     power reactor and spent fuel
     storage fee classes)...............
    e. Uranium recovery program and                  7.2             5.2
     unregistered general licensees.....
    f. Potential Department of Defense               2.1             1.7
     remediation program Memorandum of
     Understanding activities...........
    g. Non-military radium sites........             1.1             0.8
                                         -------------------------------
        Total fee-relief activities.....            87.0            79.6
        Less 10 percent of the NRC's               -86.8           -80.9
         total FY budget (less the fee
         recovery exclusions)...........
                                         -------------------------------
            Fee-Relief Adjustment to be              0.3            -1.3
             Allocated to All Licensees'
             Annual Fees................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table IV shows how the NRC allocates the $1.3 million fee-relief 
credit to each licensee fee class. In addition to the fee-relief 
credit, the NRC assesses a generic low-level waste (LLW) surcharge of 
$3.4 million. Disposal of LLW occurs at commercially operated LLW 
disposal facilities that are licensed by either the NRC or an Agreement 
State. Four existing LLW disposal facilities in the United States 
accept various types of LLW. All are located in Agreement States and, 
therefore, are regulated by an Agreement State, rather than the NRC. 
The NRC allocates this surcharge to its licensees based on data 
available in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Manifest Information 
Management System (MIMS). This database contains information on total 
LLW volumes disposed by four generator classes: Academic, industrial, 
medical, and utility. The ratio of waste volumes disposed by these 
generator classes to total LLW volumes disposed over a period of time 
is used to estimate the portion of this surcharge that will be 
allocated to the power reactors, fuel facilities, and materials fee 
classes. The materials portion is adjusted to account for the large 
percentage of materials licensees that are licensed by the Agreement 
States rather than the NRC.
    The LLW surcharge amounts have changed since publication of the 
proposed rule. The DOE updated MIMS with 2020 data; as a result of the 
update, the LLW surcharge for operating power reactors fee class 
increased from $2.8 million to $3.0 million and the LLW surcharge 
decreased from $0.4 million to $0.3 million for fuel facilities; while 
the LLW surcharge remained stable at $0.1 million for materials users.
    Table IV shows the LLW surcharge and fee-relief credit and 
allocation across the various fee classes.

                    Table IV--Allocation of Fee-Relief Adjustment and LLW Surcharge, FY 2020
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           LLW surcharge               Fee-relief adjustment           Total
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Percent            $            Percent            $               $
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors........            87.4           2.997            86.4          -1.152           1.845
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor                   0.0           0.000             5.4          -0.071          -0.071
 Decommissioning................
Research and Test Reactors......             0.0           0.000             0.5          -0.006          -0.006
Fuel Facilities.................            10.0           0.343             3.4          -0.045           0.298
Materials Users.................             2.6           0.089             3.8          -0.051           0.039
Transportation..................             0.0           0.000             0.5          -0.007          -0.007
Rare Earth Facilities...........             0.0           0.000             0.0             0.0             0.0
Uranium Recovery................             0.0           0.000             0.1          -0.001          -0.001
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................           100.0           3.430           100.0          -1.334           2.096
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FY 2020 Fee Collection--Revised Annual Fees

    In accordance with SECY-05-0164, ``Annual Fee Calculation Method'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML052580332), the NRC rebaselines its annual fees 
every year. ``Rebaselining'' entails analyzing the budget in detail and 
then allocating the budgeted costs to various classes or subclasses of 
licensees. It also includes updating the number of NRC licensees in its 
fee calculation methodology.
    The NRC revised its annual fees in Sec. Sec.  171.15 and 171.16 to 
recover approximately 90 percent of the NRC's FY 2020 enacted budget 
(less the fee-recovery exclusions and the estimated amount to be 
recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees). The total estimated 10 CFR 
part 170 collections for this final rule are $220.2 million, a decrease 
of $31.9 million from the FY 2019 final rule (see the specific fee 
class sections for a discussion of this decrease). The NRC, therefore, 
must recover $507.9 million through annual fees from its licensees, 
which is a decrease of $22.6 million from the FY 2019 final rule.

[[Page 37255]]

    Table V shows the final rebaselined fees for FY 2020 for a 
representative list of licensee categories. The FY 2019 amounts are 
provided for comparison purposes.

                    Table V--Rebaselined Annual Fees
                            [Actual dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
       Class/category of licenses           annual fee      annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Power Reactors................      $4,669,000      $4,621,000
+ Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor                     152,000         188,000
 Decommissioning........................
                                         -------------------------------
    Total, Combined Fee.................       4,821,000       4,809,000
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor                       152,000         188,000
 Decommissioning........................
Research and Test Reactors (Non-power             82,400          81,300
 Reactors)..............................
High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility            6,675,000       5,067,000
 (Category 1.A.(1)(a))..................
Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility             2,262,000       1,717,000
 (Category 1.A.(1)(b))..................
Uranium Enrichment (Category 1.E).......       3,513,000       2,208,000
UF6 Conversion and Deconversion Facility       1,417,000         510,000
 (Category 2.A.(1)......................
Basic In Situ Recovery Facilities                 49,200          49,200
 (Category 2.A.(2)(b))..................
Typical Users: Radiographers (Category            30,200          29,900
 3O)....................................
All Other Specific Byproduct Material             10,000           9,700
 Licensees (Category 3P)................
Medical Other (Category 7C).............          15,300          14,800
Device/Product Safety Evaluation--Broad           14,300          13,800
 (Category 9A)..........................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The work papers that support this final rule show in detail how the 
NRC allocates the budgeted resources for each class of licensees and 
calculates the fees.
    Paragraphs a. through h. of this section describe the budgeted 
resources allocated to each class of licensees and the calculations of 
the rebaselined fees. For more information about detailed fee 
calculations for each class, please consult the accompanying work 
papers for this final rule.
a. Operating Power Reactors
    The NRC will collect $439.0 million in annual fees from the 
operating power reactors fee class in FY 2020, as shown in Table VI. 
The FY 2019 fees are shown for comparison purposes.

 Table VI--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Operating Power Reactors
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................          $670.2          $623.9
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.          -217.7          -186.7
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 resources.......           452.5           437.2
Allocated generic transportation........             0.2             0.2
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge.....             3.4             1.9
Billing adjustment......................             1.5             2.4
Adjustment: Estimated current year                   0.0            -2.7
 collections from terminated reactor
 (Indian Point Unit 2)..................
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..           457.6           439.0
    Total operating reactors............              98              95
Annual fee per reactor..................           4.669           4.621
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the resources budgeted for the operating 
power reactors fee class decreased by $46.3 million due to a decline in 
FTE that includes, but is not limited to, the following: (1) The 
closures of Oyster Creek, Pilgrim, and TMI 1; (2) the delay in receipt 
of the Utah Associated Municipal Power System SMR application; (3) 
withdrawal of the Blue Castle large light-water reactor application; 
(4) delay in the submittal of the Advanced Passive 1000 design 
certification renewal application; (5) the near completion of Phase 4 
of the NuScale SMR design certification review; (6) the completion of 
the Clinch River early site permit technical review; (7) a reduction in 
license amendment requests for the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant; 
(8) expected delays in construction and operating license application 
review activities for Bellefonte Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2; (9) 
efficiencies gained from the merger of the Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation and the Office of New Reactors; and (10) the completion of 
flooding and integrated assessment work related to lessons learned from 
the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi in Japan. In addition, the total 
budgeted resources decreased due to the utilization of prior year 
unobligated carryover funding.
    The 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings declined primarily due to 
the following: (1) Decreases in both licensing actions and inspections 
resulting from the shutdown of the Pilgrim and TMI 1 reactors at the 
end of FY 2019; (2) the shutdown of Indian Point Nuclear Generating, 
Unit 2 (Indian Point 2) during FY 2020; (3) the completion of the 
Advanced Power Reactor-1400 design certification, issued in FY 2019 for 
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., LTD.; and (4) the completion

[[Page 37256]]

of the NuScale SMR design certification review and the completion of 
the Clinch River early site permit technical review. This decrease in 
the 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings is partially offset by increased 
work to support the Oklo Power LLC COL application for the Aurora micro 
reactor.
    The recoverable budgeted costs are divided equally among the 95 
licensed operating power reactors, resulting in an annual fee of 
$4,621,000 per reactor. As part of the final annual fee, an approximate 
$2,725,000 current year collection adjustment was included in the 
operating power reactors calculation due to the shutdown of Indian 
Point 2 as shown in Table VI. Additionally, each licensed operating 
power reactor is assessed the FY 2020 spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning annual fee of $188,000 (see Table VII and the 
discussion that follows). The combined FY 2020 annual fee for each 
operating power reactor is $4,809,000.
    In FY 2016, the NRC amended its licensing, inspection, and annual 
fee regulations to establish a variable annual fee structure for light-
water SMRs (81 FR 32617). Under the variable annual fee structure, an 
SMR's annual fee would be calculated as a function of its licensed 
thermal power rating. Currently, there are no operating SMRs; 
therefore, the NRC will not assess an annual fee in FY 2020 for this 
type of licensee.
b. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning
    The NRC will collect $22.9 million in annual fees from 10 CFR part 
50 power reactors, and from 10 CFR part 72 licensees that do not hold a 
10 CFR part 50 license, to recover the budgeted costs for the spent 
fuel storage/reactor decommissioning fee class, as shown in Table VII. 
The FY 2019 fees are shown for comparison purposes.

   Table VII--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Spent Fuel Storage/
                         Reactor Decommissioning
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................           $35.6           $37.9
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.           -17.8           -15.9
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 resources.......            17.8            22.1
Allocated generic transportation costs..             0.7             0.8
Fee-relief adjustment...................             0.0            -0.1
Billing adjustments.....................             0.1             0.1
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..            18.6            22.9
    Total spent fuel storage facilities.             122             122
Annual fee per facility.................           0.152           0.188
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the resources budgeted for the spent fuel 
storage/reactor decommissioning fee class increased to support the 
following: (1) The review of new storage license renewal applications 
for Holtec HI-Storm 100, TN-32, TN-68, NAC UMS, NAC-MPC, Westinghouse 
W-150, and GE-Hitachi Morris Operation, which are expected in FY 2020; 
(2) inspection activities related to site preparation for 
decommissioning of TMI 1, Pilgrim, Oyster Creek, and Indian Point; and 
(3) fuel performance research. In addition, budgeted resources for 
contract costs increased due to a reduction in the utilization of prior 
year unobligated carryover funding compared to FY 2019.
    The 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings for FY 2020 decreased 
primarily due to the following: (1) The completion of certain follow-up 
inspections and enforcement activities for San Onofre Nuclear 
Generating Station; (2) a reduction in the staff's review of the Holtec 
HI-STORE consolidated interim storage facility application due to the 
extension of the public comment period on the draft environmental 
impact statement until the end of July; (3) the completion of the 
Oyster Creek license transfer application and other licensing 
activities; and (4) the completion of amendments, partial site release 
requests, and final status surveys at multiple sites. This decrease in 
the 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings is partially offset by increased 
work to support the following: (1) License renewals, amendments, and 
certificates of compliance (CoCs) at multiple sites, and (2) the 
staff's review of the Indian Point 1 and TMI 2 license transfer 
applications. The overall decrease in 10 CFR part 170 estimated 
billings resulted in an increase in annual fees under 10 CFR part 171.
    In addition, the annual fee increased due to the rise in generic 
transportation costs as a result of two new CoCs in FY 2020.
    The required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among 
122 licensees, resulting in an FY 2020 annual fee of $188,000 per 
licensee.
c. Fuel Facilities
    The NRC will collect $18.0 million in annual fees from the fuel 
facilities fee class, as shown in Table VIII. The FY 2019 fees are 
shown for comparison purposes.

     Table VIII--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Fuel Facilities
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................           $30.0           $23.2
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.            -7.3            -6.8
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 resources.......            22.7            16.5
Allocated generic transportation........             1.2             1.1
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge.....             0.5             0.3

[[Page 37257]]

 
Billing adjustments.....................             0.1             0.1
                                         -------------------------------
    Total remaining required annual fee             24.5            18.0
     recovery...........................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the resources budgeted for the fuel 
facilities fee class decreased primarily due to the following: (1) An 
expected decline in submissions for license renewal applications; (2) 
the decrease in the number of license amendments; (3) the termination 
of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility construction authorization; (4) 
efficiencies gained because of changes to the Fuel Facilities 
Inspection Program and workload projections; and (5) the utilization of 
prior year unobligated carryover funding in FY 2020. The 10 CFR part 
170 estimated billings decreased as a result of the withdrawal of the 
license application for the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility.
    The NRC will continue allocating annual fees to individual fuel 
facility licensees based on the effort/fee determination matrix 
developed in the FY 1999 final fee rule (64 FR 31447; June 10, 1999). 
To briefly recap, the matrix groups licensees within this fee class 
into various fee categories. The matrix lists processes conducted at 
licensed sites and assigns effort factors for the safety and safeguards 
activities associated with each process (these effort levels are 
reflected in Table IX). The annual fees are then distributed across the 
fee class based on the regulatory effort assigned by the matrix. The 
effort factors in the matrix represent regulatory effort that is not 
recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees (e.g., rulemaking, guidance). 
Regulatory effort for activities that are subject to 10 CFR part 170 
fees, such as the number of inspections, is not applicable to the 
effort factor. In FY 2020, the safety and safeguard factors in the 
effort factors matrix for Liquid Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) processes 
at Uranium Conversion facilities have been reduced from 5 (moderate 
effort) to 0 (no effort). Currently, there is one uranium conversion 
facility and it is in a ``ready-idle'' status with no processing 
operations, and the NRC believes that it will remain in ``ready-idle'' 
position for FY 2020 and will need to be reassessed on an annual basis. 
Regulatory oversight of processing operations have been curtailed while 
the operations are in a ``ready-idle'' status. Therefore, the Liquid 
UF6 processing at Uranium Conversion facilities safety and safeguards 
factors in the effort factors matrix have been reduced from a 5 to 0 to 
reflect the curtailed regulatory oversight of these processes.

                              Table IX--Effort Factors for Fuel Facilities, FY 2020
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                          Effort factors
                  Facility type  (fee category)                      Number of   -------------------------------
                                                                    facilities        Safety        Safeguards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
High-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a)).........................               2              88              91
Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b))..........................               3              70              21
Limited Operations (1.A.(2)(a)).................................               0               0               0
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b))............               0               0               0
Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c))..............................               0               0               0
Uranium Enrichment (1.E.).......................................               1              16              23
UF6 Conversion and Deconversion (2.A.(1)).......................               1               7               2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In FY 2020, the total remaining amount of annual fees to be 
recovered, $18.0 million, is comprised of safety activities, safeguards 
activities, and the fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge. For FY 2020, 
the total budgeted resources to be recovered as annual fees for safety 
activities are $10.1 million. To calculate the annual fee, the NRC 
allocates this amount to each fee category based on its percentage of 
the total regulatory effort for safety activities. Similarly, the NRC 
allocates the budgeted resources to be recovered as annual fees for 
safeguards activities, $7.6 million, to each fee category based on its 
percentage of the total regulatory effort for safeguards activities. 
Finally, the fuel facilities fee class portion of the fee-relief 
adjustment/LLW surcharge--$0.3 million--is allocated to each fee 
category based on its percentage 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 for each facility is summarized in Table X.

                Table X--Annual Fees for Fuel Facilities
                            [Actual dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
      Facility type (fee category)          annual fee      annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a)).      $6,675,000      $5,067,000
Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b))..       2,262,000       1,717,000
Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration              N/A             N/A
 (1.A.(2)(b))...........................
Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c))......             N/A             N/A

[[Page 37258]]

 
Uranium Enrichment (1.E.)...............       2,909,000       2,208,000
UF6 Conversion and Deconversion                1,417,000         510,000
 (2.A.(1))..............................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

d. Uranium Recovery Facilities

    The NRC will collect $0.2 million in annual fees from the uranium 
recovery facilities fee class, which is stable compared to FY 2019, as 
shown in Table XI. The FY 2019 fees are shown for comparison purposes.

     Table XI--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Uranium Recovery
                               Facilities
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................            $1.0            $0.6
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.            -0.8            -0.4
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 resources.......             0.2             0.2
Allocated generic transportation........             N/A             N/A
Fee-relief adjustment...................             0.0             0.0
Billing adjustments.....................             0.0             0.0
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..            $0.2            $0.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the budgeted resources and 10 CFR part 
170 estimated billings for the uranium recovery fee class decreased due 
to the expected reduction in support for adjudicatory actions, the 
uncertainty associated with the construction of the NuFuels Crownpoint 
site in NM and Powertech Dewey Burdock site in SD, and Cameco's 
continuation to cease U.S. uranium recovery operations at its Crow 
Butte facility in Crawford, NE. Budgeted resources also decreased to 
include additional uranium recovery resources in the fee-relief 
category, ``In Situ leach rulemaking and unregistered general 
licenses,'' in order to ensure the equitability and the stability of 
annual fees.
    The NRC regulates DOE's Title I and Title II activities under 
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) \3\ and the annual 
fee assessed to DOE includes the costs specifically budgeted for the 
NRC's UMTRCA Title I and II activities, as well as 10 percent of the 
remaining budgeted costs for this fee class. The NRC described the 
overall methodology for determining fees for UMTRCA in the FY 2002 fee 
rule (67 FR 42625; June 24, 2002), and the NRC continues to use this 
methodology. The DOE's UMTRCA annual fee decreased compared to FY 2019 
due to an increase in the 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings for 
processing groundwater corrective action plans site reviews, the 
anticipated workload increases at various DOE UMTRCA sites, and the 
fee-relief credit. The NRC assesses the remaining 90 percent of its 
budgeted costs to the remaining licensee in this fee class, as 
described in the work papers. This is reflected in Table XII:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ The Congress established the two programs, Title I and Title 
II, under UMTRCA to protect the public and the environment from 
hazards associated with 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 weapons 
programs. 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.

  Table XII--Costs Recovered Through Annual Fees; Uranium Recovery Fee
                                  Class
                            [Actual dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
            Summary of costs                annual fee      annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOE Annual Fee Amount (UMTRCA Title I
 and Title II) General Licenses:
    UMTRCA Title I and Title II budgeted        $115,888        $114,577
     costs less 10 CFR part 170 receipts
    10 percent of generic/other uranium            5,431           5,573
     recovery budgeted costs............
    10 percent of uranium recovery fee-               33            -107
     relief adjustment..................
                                         -------------------------------
        Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE          121,000         120,000
         (rounded)......................
Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium
 Recovery Licenses:
    90 percent of generic/other uranium           48,880          50,153
     recovery budgeted costs less the
     amounts specifically budgeted for
     UMTRCA Title I and Title II
     activities.........................
    90 percent of uranium recovery fee-              294            -959
     relief adjustment..................
                                         -------------------------------
        Total Annual Fee Amount for               49,173          49,194
         Other Uranium Recovery Licenses
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 37259]]

    Further, for any non-DOE licensees, the NRC will continue using a 
matrix to determine the effort levels associated with conducting 
generic regulatory actions for the different licensees in the uranium 
recovery fee class; this is similar to the NRC's approach for fuel 
facilities, described previously. The matrix methodology for uranium 
recovery licensees first identifies the licensee categories included 
within this fee class (excluding DOE). These categories are: 
conventional uranium mills and heap leach facilities, uranium in situ 
recovery (ISR) and resin ISR facilities, mill tailings disposal 
facilities, and uranium water treatment facilities. The matrix 
identifies the types of operating activities that support and benefit 
these licensees, along with each activity's relative weight (for more 
information, see the work papers). Currently, there is only one 
remaining non-DOE licensee which is a Basic In Situ Recovery facility. 
Table XIII displays the benefit factors for the non-DOE licensee in 
that fee category:

                            Table XIII--Benefit Factors for Uranium Recovery Licenses
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of    Benefit factor                  Benefit factor
                  Fee category                       licensees     per licensee     Total value    percent total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a))..               0               0               0               0
Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b))..               1             190             190           100.0
Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities                           0               0               0               0
 (2.A.(2)(c))...................................
Section 11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing                0               0               0               0
 tailings sites (2.A.(4)).......................
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................               1             190             190           100.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The annual fee for the remaining non-DOE licensee is calculated by 
allocating 100 percent of the budgeted resources, as summarized in 
Table XIV.

          Table XIV--Annual Fees for Uranium Recovery Licensees
                            (Other than DOE)
                            [Actual dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
      Facility type (fee category)          annual fee      annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conventional and Heap Leach mills                    N/A             N/A
 (2.A.(2)(a))...........................
Basic In Situ Recovery facilities                $49,200         $49,200
 (2.A.(2)(b))...........................
Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities                 N/A             N/A
 (2.A.(2)(c))...........................
Section 11e.(2) disposal incidental to               N/A             N/A
 existing tailings sites (2.A.(4))......
------------------------------------------------------------------------

e. Research and Test Reactors (non-power reactors)
    The NRC will collect $0.325 million in annual fees from the 
research and test reactor licensee class, as shown in Table XV. The FY 
2019 fees are shown for comparison purposes.

Table XV--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Research and Test Reactors
                            [Actual dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources................        $834,280      $3,317,830
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.        -538,000      -3,030,000
Net 10 CFR part 171 resources...........         296,280         287,830
Allocated generic transportation........          30,971          30,713
Fee-relief adjustment...................             284          -6,183
Billing adjustments.....................           1,901          12,980
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..         329,436         325,341
                                         -------------------------------
    Total research and test reactors....               4               4
                                         -------------------------------
    Total annual fee per reactor                  82,400          81,300
     (rounded)..........................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the budgeted resources for the research 
and test reactors increased primarily within the medical isotope 
production facilities due to the submittal of the SHINE Medical 
Technologies, Inc. (SHINE) operating license application.
    The 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings also increased due to the 
following: (1) The submittal of SHINE's operating license application 
for a medical production facility; (2) the review of Aerotest 
Operations, Inc.'s request to amend its operating license to possession 
only; and (3) reviews of the

[[Page 37260]]

National Institute of Standards and Technology and GE-Hitachi Nuclear 
Energy America's, LLC Nuclear Test Reactor license amendments for 
security plan reviews.
    The annual fee-recovery amount is divided equally among the four 
research and test reactors subject to annual fees and results in an FY 
2020 annual fee of $81,300 for each licensee.
f. Rare Earth
    The NRC has not allocated any budgeted resources to this fee class; 
therefore, the NRC is not assessing an annual fee for this fee class in 
FY 2020.
g. Materials Users
    The NRC will collect $34.1 million in annual fees from materials 
users licensed under 10 CFR parts 30, 40, and 70, as shown in Table 
XVI. The FY 2019 fees changes are shown for comparison purposes.

     Table XVI--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Materials Users
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total budgeted resources for licensees             $36.0           $33.7
 not regulated by Agreement States......
Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts.            -1.1            -1.0
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 resources.......            35.0            32.8
Allocated generic transportation........             1.2             1.2
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge.....             0.1             0.0
Billing adjustments.....................             0.1             0.1
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..            36.4            34.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The formula for calculating 10 CFR part 171 annual fees for the 
various categories of materials users is described in detail in the 
work papers. Generally, the calculation results in a single annual fee 
that includes 10 CFR part 170 costs, such as amendments, renewals, 
inspections, and other licensing actions specific to individual fee 
categories.
    The total annual fee recovery of $34.1 million for FY 2020 shown in 
Table XVI consists of $26.6 million for general costs and $7.5 million 
for inspection costs. To equitably and fairly allocate the $34.1 
million required to be collected among approximately 2,500 diverse 
materials users licensees, the NRC continues to calculate the annual 
fees for each fee category within this class based on the 10 CFR 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 materials license, this approach 
provides a proxy for allocating the generic and other regulatory costs 
to the diverse fee categories. This fee-calculation method also 
considers the inspection frequency (priority), which is indicative of 
the safety risk and resulting regulatory costs associated with the 
categories of licenses.
    The NRC will decrease annual fees for licensees in this fee class 
in FY 2020 due to the following: (1) The utilization of prior year 
unobligated carryover funding in FY 2020; (2) reductions of regional 
resources for the Nuclear Regulatory Apprenticeship Network (formerly 
the Nuclear Safety Professional Development Program); (3) budget 
estimates that are better aligned with projected workload; and (4) a 
decline in the generic transportation costs for materials users. The 
decline in annual fees for materials users is offset by a reduction of 
materials users licensees from FY 2019.
    A constant multiplier is established to recover the total general 
costs (including allocated generic transportation costs) of $26.6 
million. To derive the constant multiplier, the general cost amount is 
divided by the sum of all fee categories (application fee plus the 
inspection fee divided by inspection priority) then multiplied by the 
number of licensees. This calculation results in a constant multiplier 
of 1.27 for FY 2020. The average inspection cost is the average 
inspection hours for each fee category multiplied by the professional 
hourly rate of $279. The inspection priority is the interval between 
routine inspections, expressed in years. The inspection multiplier is 
established in order to recover the $7.5 million in inspection costs. 
To derive the inspection multiplier, the inspection costs amount is 
divided by the sum of all fee categories (inspection fee divided by 
inspection priority) then multiplied by the number of licensees. This 
calculation results in an inspection multiplier of 1.48 for FY 2020. 
The unique category costs are any special costs that the NRC has 
budgeted for a specific category of licenses. Please see the work 
papers for more detail about this classification.
    The annual fee assessed to each licensee also takes into account a 
share of the approximately $0.051 million fee-relief credit assessment 
allocated to the materials users fee class (see Table IV, ``Allocation 
of Fee-Relief Adjustment and LLW Surcharge, FY 2020,'' in Section IV, 
``Discussion,'' of this document), and for certain categories of these 
licensees, a share of the approximately $0.089 million in LLW surcharge 
costs allocated to the fee class. The annual fee for each fee category 
is shown in the revision to Sec.  171.16(d).
h. Transportation
    The NRC will collect $1.0 million in annual fees to recover generic 
transportation budgeted resources in FY 2020, as shown in Table XVII. 
The FY 2019 fees are shown for comparison purposes.

     Table XVII--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Transportation
                          [Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Summary fee calculations           FY 2019 final   FY 2020 final
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Budgeted Resources................            $8.0            $7.2

[[Page 37261]]

 
Less Estimated 10 CFR part 170 Receipts.            -3.7            -2.8
                                         -------------------------------
    Net 10 CFR part 171 Resources.......             4.3             4.4
Less Generic Transportation Resources...            -3.3            -3.4
Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge.....             0.0             0.0
Billing adjustments.....................             0.0             0.0
                                         -------------------------------
    Total required annual fee recovery..             1.0             1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In comparison to FY 2019, the total budgeted resources for generic 
transportation activities decreased due to the following: (1) The 
utilization of prior year unobligated carryover funding; (2) a 
reduction in FTE due to decreases in maintenance work associated with 
the Storage and Transportation Information Management System; and (3) 
the decline in DOE's percentage of total CoCs as a result of two new 
CoCs benefitting other fee classes. The 10 CFR part 170 estimated 
billings decreased primarily due to the issuance of CoCs for NAC 
International, Inc. and Industrial Nuclear Company, LLC in FY 2019.
    Consistent with the policy established in the NRC's FY 2006 final 
fee rule (71 FR 30721; May 30, 2006), the NRC recovers generic 
transportation costs unrelated to DOE by including those costs in the 
annual fees for licensee fee classes. The NRC continues 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.
    This resource distribution to the licensee fee classes and DOE is 
shown in Table XVIII. Note that for the research and test reactors fee 
class, the NRC allocates the distribution to only those licensees that 
are subject to annual fees. Although four CoCs benefit the entire 
research and test reactor class, only 4 out of 31 research and test 
reactors are subject to annual fees. Consequently, the number of CoCs 
used to determine the proportion of generic transportation resources 
allocated annual fees for the research and test reactors fee class has 
been adjusted to 0.7 so these licensees are charged a fair and 
equitable portion of the total fees. For more information, see the work 
papers.

                         Table XVIII--Distribution of Transportation Resources, FY 2020
                                              [Dollars in millions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                     Allocated
                                                                  Number of CoCs   Percentage of      generic
                     Licensee fee class/DOE                       benefiting fee    total CoCs    transportation
                                                                   class or DOE                      resources
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Materials Users.................................................            25.0            27.3             1.2
Operating Power Reactors........................................             5.0             5.5             0.2
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning......................            16.0            17.5             0.8
Research and Test Reactors......................................             0.7             0.7             0.0
Fuel Facilities.................................................            24.0            26.2             1.2
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Sub-Total of Generic Transportation Resources...............            70.7            77.1             3.4
DOE.............................................................            21.0            22.9             1.0
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................            91.7           100.0             4.4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC assesses an annual fee to DOE based on the 10 CFR part 71 
CoCs it holds. The NRC, therefore, does not allocate these DOE-related 
resources to other licensees' annual fees because these resources 
specifically support DOE.

FY 2020--Policy Changes

    The NRC is making two policy changes for FY 2020:
Removing the Fee Exceptions in Sec.  170.21, Footnote 1 and Sec.  
170.31, Footnote 2
    The NRC is eliminating the fee exceptions set forth in footnote 1 
to 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,'' and footnote 2 
to Sec.  170.31, ``Schedule of Fees for Materials Licenses and Other 
Regulatory Services, Including Inspections, and Import and Export 
Licenses.'' These footnotes contain parallel language stating that the 
NRC ``will not charge fees under 10 CFR part 170 for orders related to 
civil penalties or other civil sanctions issued by the Commission under 
Sec.  2.202 or for amendments resulting specifically from the 
requirements of these orders.''
    Currently, footnote 1 to Sec.  170.21 and footnote 2 to Sec.  
170.31 provide an exception to the general rule that the NRC recovers 
review and inspection costs through fees assessed to individuals under 
10 CFR part 170. The current language excludes the following activities 
from 10 CFR part 170 fees if an order relates to a civil penalty or

[[Page 37262]]

other sanction: (1) Subsequent NRC inspection or review work to ensure 
compliance with the terms of the order, and (2) subsequent NRC review 
costs if the order requires the licensee to seek a license amendment. 
The current language also states, however, that where an order is 
``unrelated to civil penalties or other civil sanctions,'' the NRC will 
follow its normal practice of assessing fees under 10 CFR part 170.
    The language in these footnotes comes from the NRC's FY 2005 fee 
rule (70 FR 30526; May 26, 2005). Before 2005, the NRC excluded work in 
connection with all orders from 10 CFR part 170 fees. In the FY 2005 
fee rule, the NRC amended the footnotes to narrow the exceptions to 
just those orders that ``relate'' to civil penalties or civil 
sanctions. The NRC made this change because, after September 11, 2001, 
it had imposed additional security requirements on multiple licensees 
through orders. As a result of these orders, the NRC performed 
extensive follow-up activities that, because of the pre-existing broad 
exceptions in footnotes 1 and 2, were exempt from 10 CFR part 170 fees. 
Because these activities were exempt from 10 CFR part 170 fees, the NRC 
recovered the associated costs through annual fees under 10 CFR part 
171, even though the work benefited specific licensees (70 FR 30528-
30535; May 26, 2005).
    Through the FY 2005 fee rule, the NRC attempted to allocate costs 
more fairly by ensuring that the beneficiaries of its review and 
inspection services associated with orders of the type issued after 
September 11, 2001, paid for those services through 10 CFR part 170 
fees. At the same time, the NRC retained an exception for orders that 
relate to a civil penalty or civil sanction. The NRC also explained in 
the FY 2005 fee rule that it was maintaining its longstanding policy of 
not charging 10 CFR part 170 fees for the preparation of any order. The 
costs associated with preparing an order would continue to be recovered 
through annual fees under 10 CFR part 171.
    The authority for assessing the 10 CFR part 171 fees comes from the 
same statute that provides the authority for the NRC's 10 CFR part 170 
fee schedule. The IOAA requires that the NRC assess fees fairly and 
equitably, and it authorizes the NRC to collect fees whenever the 
agency provides ``a service or thing of value'' to a recipient. In 
addition, OBRA-90 (or, in future fiscal years, NEIMA) and Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-25, ``User Charges,'' require 
that the NRC recover fees from persons who derive a direct benefit from 
the agency's services.
    Even if an order related to a civil penalty or civil sanction has 
some public benefit, the services the NRC provides in connection with 
the order, such as inspections and document-review activities, 
primarily benefit a specific licensee. These services primarily benefit 
the licensee because they enable the licensee to maintain its NRC 
license in good standing and continue to operate its facility. 
Furthermore, regardless of whether the NRC issues an order in a safety, 
security, or enforcement context, the NRC's follow-up services related 
to the order--inspections, document review and analysis, and other 
services--benefit the licensee by contributing to public confidence in 
the safe operation of the licensee's facility. Charging 10 CFR part 170 
fees for services related to all orders is therefore most consistent 
with the NRC's obligations under the governing fee-recovery statutes 
and OMB Circular A-25. Transferring the cost of these services to other 
members of a licensee's fee class, on the other hand, could therefore 
be viewed as unfair and inconsistent with the governing fee-recovery 
statutes and OMB Circular A-25.
    Accordingly, in this final rule, the NRC is removing the fee 
exceptions (i.e., the first two sentences) from Sec.  170.21, footnote 
1 and Sec.  170.31, footnote 2. Removing the exceptions promotes 
fairness and equity in the NRC's fees rules, consistent with the IOAA, 
ensures that licensees who receive special benefits in the form of NRC 
services pay for those services, consistent with OMB Circular A-25. 
Removing the exceptions also simplifies the NRC's fee schedules. If 
there are circumstances in which charging 10 CFR part 170 fees for 
follow-up activities related to an order would be unfair, the NRC 
retains the ability under Sec.  170.11 to grant a fee exemption for 
those services, either on its own initiative or upon request.
    Removing the fee exceptions will not, however, change the NRC's 
longstanding policy regarding the recovery of costs associated with 
preparing an order. Consistent with this policy, such costs will 
continue to be recovered through annual fees under 10 CFR part 171.

Amending Sec.  171.15 Regarding the Assessment of Annual Fees for 10 
CFR Part 52 Combined License Holders and Future 10 CFR Part 50 Power 
Reactor Licensees

    Based on its review of PRM-171-1 and the public comments, the NRC 
is amending Sec.  171.15(a) so that the assessment of annual fees for 
10 CFR part 52 COL holders commences upon successful completion of 
power ascension testing, rather than after the Commission makes a 
finding under Sec.  52.103(g). This approach will also apply this 
approach to future 10 CFR part 50 power reactor licensees.
    Currently, Sec.  171.15 requires a 10 CFR part 52 COL holder to 
begin paying the annual fee once the Commission finds under Sec.  
52.103(g) that all acceptance criteria in the COL are met. Similarly, 
10 CFR part 50 licensees begin paying annual fees upon issuance of an 
operating license. The timing of annual fees reflects the NRC's 
historical position that a nuclear power reactor licensee receives the 
benefits of its license, and thus should begin paying annual fees, when 
the NRC authorizes the licensee to use nuclear materials (i.e., begin 
operating the reactor).
    The NRC is firmly committed to the application of fairness and 
equity in the assessment of fees to licensees. The NRC recognizes that, 
subsequent to the Sec.  52.103(g) finding for 10 CFR part 52 COL 
holders, and issuance of the operating license for 10 CFR part 50 power 
reactor licensees, fuel must be loaded, and power ascension testing 
must be completed to provide assurance that the facility is fully 
operational. As part of this process, 10 CFR part 52 COL holders must 
provide written notification to the NRC that successful power ascension 
testing is completed. This notification is the trigger that enables 
operation at a steady-state reactor core power level equal to 100 
percent of reactor thermal power as defined in the facility's final 
safety analysis report.
    As a result, the NRC recognizes that it would be more fair and 
equitable to change the timing of when annual fees commence for 10 CFR 
part 52 licensees from when the Commission issues a Sec.  52.103(g) 
finding to a time that aligns more closely with the licensee's facility 
becoming fully operational. For that reason, the NRC will defer 
charging annual fees until after the licensee's start-up and initial-
testing phase. The NRC will begin charging annual fees only after the 
licensee has notified the NRC in writing that it has successfully 
completed power ascension testing. For similar reasons, the NRC is also 
applying this change to 10 CFR part 50 power reactor licensees.
    Because only current 10 CFR part 52 COLs contain a standard license 
condition that requires written notification be submitted to the NRC 
upon successful completion of power ascension testing, the NRC will 
consider adding a similar license condition to

[[Page 37263]]

future 10 CFR part 50 operating licenses and 10 CFR part 52 COLs to 
ensure that they promptly notify the NRC of successful completion of 
power ascension testing. Upon successful completion of testing and the 
required notification to the NRC, the power reactor would be fully 
operational. The annual fee assessment for 10 CFR part 50 power reactor 
licensees and 10 CFR part 52 COL holders would therefore begin on the 
date of the licensee's written notification of successful completion of 
power ascension testing.
    Accordingly, the NRC is amending Sec.  171.15(a) so that annual 
fees commence not upon issuance of the operating license for 10 CFR 
part 50 power reactors and issuance of the Sec.  52.103(g) finding for 
10 CFR part 52 COL holders, but upon written notification to the NRC of 
successful completion of power ascension testing and making conforming 
changes to Sec.  171.3, ``Scope,'' and Sec.  171.17, ''Proration.'' The 
NRC finds this rule change amendment to be reasonable, fair, and 
equitable, and supported by the public comments the NRC received on 
PRM-171-1 and on the proposed rule. Finally, the NRC will consider 
expanding this approach to other 10 CFR part 50 licensees in a future 
rulemaking.

FY 2020--Administrative Change

    The NRC is making one administrative change:
    Add a footnote to the table in Sec.  171.16(d) for additional 
clarity.
    The NRC is adding a footnote to the table in Sec.  171.16(d) to 
clarify that licensees that are subject to annual fees under fee 
categories 4.A., 4.B. or 4.C. are not subject to annual fees under 3.N. 
for waste disposal services authorized on the same license.

Update on the Fees Transformation Initiative

    In the Staff Requirements Memorandum, dated October 19, 2016, 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML16293A902) for SECY-16-0097, ``Fee Setting 
Improvements and Fiscal Year 2017 Proposed Fee Rule,'' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML16194A365), the Commission directed staff to explore, as a 
voluntary pilot, whether the NRC could establish a flat fee structure 
for routine licensing matters in the area of uranium recovery, and to 
accelerate the process improvements for setting fees, including the 
transition to an electronic billing system. In addition, the Commission 
also directed the staff to begin the fees transformation activities 
listed in SECY-16-0097 as ``Process Changes Recommended for Future 
Consideration--FY 2018 and Beyond,'' which includes one remaining item 
to complete regarding the rulemaking to update the NRC's small business 
size standards in Sec.  2.810, ``NRC Size Standards.''
    With respect to the uranium recovery flat fee pilot initiative, the 
NRC explored the feasibility of establishing a flat fee structure for 
routine licensing matters and inspection activities. The NRC provided a 
report to Congress on January 9, 2020, describing the results of the 
pilot initiative and the decision to maintain the current NRC fee 
billing structure for 10 CFR part 170 fees for service for uranium 
recovery licensing matters. For more information, the report to 
Congress can be found at ADAMS Accession No. ML20010D684.
    With respect to the NRC's transition to an electronic billing 
system (eBilling), eBilling went live with a phased implementation on 
October 1, 2019, which included 9 licensees with 65 dockets. As of May 
12, 2020, eBilling currently has 111 licensees with 381 dockets 
enrolled. Outreach to additional licensees will continue throughout FY 
2020 in order to increase enrollment and ensure awareness.
    Finally, in order to obtain sufficient information to update the 
NRC's small business size standard in Sec.  2.810, the NRC conducted a 
financial survey of materials licensees to determine whether changes to 
the size standards are needed. The NRC published a document in the 
Federal Register (85 FR 6225; February 4, 2020) announcing the survey, 
and requested response by due date of April 30, 2020. The survey 
results will be analyzed to determine if changes are needed to the 
current nuclear industry-specific size standards in Sec.  2.810.
    For more information, please see our fees transformation 
accomplishments schedule, located on our license fees website at: 
https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing/fees-transformation-accomplishments.html.

IV. Public Comment Analysis

Overview of Public Comments

    The NRC published a proposed rule on February 18, 2020 (85 FR 9328) 
and requested public comment on its proposed revisions to 10 CFR parts 
170 and 171. By the close of the comment period, the NRC received eight 
written comment submissions on the FY 2020 proposed rule. In general, 
the commenters were supportive of the specific proposed regulatory 
changes. Some commenters expressed concerns about broader fee-policy 
issues related to transparency, the overall size of the budget, 
fairness of fees, and budget formulation.
    The commenters are listed in Table XIX.

       Table XIX--FY 2020 Proposed Fee Rule Commenter Submissions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Commenter                Affiliation       ADAMS accession No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Shafer................  U.S. Department of    ML20056F131
                               Energy (DOE).
Jeffrey Fulks...............  Honeywell             ML20073J763
                               International--Metr
                               opolis Works (MTW).
Jennifer Uhle...............  NEI.................  ML20077K338
Matthew Ostdiek.............  Rendezvous            ML20077M622
                               Engineering, P.C.
                               (RE).
Fred Schuman................  Mid River Asphalt,    ML20083K042
                               Inc.
Camilla Zozula..............  Westinghouse          ML20083K046
                               Electric Company
                               (WEC).
Cheryl Gayheart.............  Southern Nuclear      ML20083K048
                               Operating Company
                               (SNC).
Bradley Fewell..............  Exelon Generation     ML20084K871
                               Company (Exelon).
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Information about obtaining the complete text of the comment 
submissions is available in Section XIV, ``Availability of Documents,'' 
of this document.

V. Public Comments and NRC Responses

    The NRC has carefully considered the public comments received on 
the proposed rule. The comments have been organized by topic. Comments 
from multiple commenters raising similar specific concerns were 
combined to capture the common essential issues raised by the 
commenters. Comments from a single commenter have been quoted to ensure 
accuracy; brackets

[[Page 37264]]

within those comments are used to show changes that have been made to 
the quoted comments. The NRC responses are preceded by a short summary 
of the issues raised by the commenters.

A. Budget Formulation

    Comment: ``The NRC staff provided a very thorough public briefing 
about the proposed fee rule on March 5, 2020, including the business 
line budget utilization of the $40M in carryover funds. Approximately 
50 [percent] of the carryover funding was utilized in the Operating and 
New Reactor business lines, consistent with the business line budgeting 
information provided in the briefing. However, the fee class budget 
distribution provided in the briefing shows 86 [percent] of the fee/
receipt recoverable budget is allocated to Power Reactors. The Federal 
Register publication of the proposed fee rule notes that the $40M in 
carryover results in reduced fees to licensees. In light of the NRC's 
distribution of its fee-recoverable appropriation, how did the NRC 
determine the percentage of carryover that would be applied to reduce 
operating reactor fees?'' (Exelon)
    Response: One commenter requested that the NRC explain its process 
to determine the percentage of carryover that was applied to reduce the 
operating power reactors fees. There is not a separate process to 
determine the percentage of carryover that would be applied to reduce 
the fee classes budgeted resources. When determining how to allocate 
the $40.0 million in carryover funds based on Congressional direction, 
the NRC used its appropriation funding categories--or control points--
and allocated the carryover funds to appropropriate funding categories 
relative to the percentages of total enacted funding. This allocation 
was performed without distinguishing the specific fee classes during 
this process. The fee class distribution is determined as part of the 
normal fee allocation process after budget allocations are determined. 
During the March 5, 2020, public meeting, the NRC discussed the 
allocation process and demonstrated the reconciliation of the FY 2020 
business line budgets to the specific fee classes. To increase 
transparency, NRC has included these reconciliations in the work papers 
for this final rule. In addition, the work papers include a chart, 
illustrating the utilization of carryover funding in FY 2019 and FY 
2020 by business line and the subsequent allocations for the 
development of the fee rule.
    No changes were made to the final rule as a result of this comment.
    Comment: ``Related to the use of carryover funds, the $40M amount 
is very large by historical standards, the FY2019 carryover was $20M. 
Again, referencing the business line carryover utilization provided in 
the March 5 briefing, $13M, approximately one third of carryover 
funding was used to defray corporate support costs. NRC has struggled 
to contain corporate support costs and is required under NEIMA to 
reduce these costs to less than 30 [percent], to the maximum extent 
practicable. Exelon is concerned that without continued use of 
carryover funds in future years, corporate support will drive licensee 
fees higher, with uncertain safety benefit. We request that the work 
papers address the potential for increased industry fees to cover NRC 
corporate support.'' (Exelon)
    Response: The agency remains focused on innovative strategies that 
result in savings, while not jeopardizing the corporate activities 
necessary to accomplish the agency's mission. The NRC has made 
significant progress in reducing corporate support in recent years. 
When compared to the FY 2014 enacted budget, the FY 2021 budget request 
for corporate support represents a decrease of $74.7 million, or 
approximately 22 percent. It should be noted that the NRC's annual fee 
rule and supporting work papers are published so that the public and 
licensees can understand how fees are calculated based on the budget 
authority enacted for the current fiscal year, not future fiscal years. 
The FY 2021 Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ), alternatively, 
provides the agency's explanation and justification for the resources 
being requested for the next fiscal year to allow the agency to 
complete its mission, the CBJ provides the reasoning for changes in the 
agency resource requests, and is the appropriate source for the 
agency's explanation and justification for the Corporate Support 
budget. The NRC's goal is to provide transparency in the fee rule and 
work papers between fees at the final appropriated budget requirements.
    No changes were made to the final rule as a result of this comment.

B. Public Participation in Budget Formulation

    Comment: Two commenters expressed a desire for industry to be 
involved with the NRC directly during the development of the NRC's 
budget to better determine the sufficiency of the budget and to 
accurately determine the necessary annual fees. They emphasized the 
need for the NRC staff to work with industry in an open and transparent 
fashion regarding the prioritization of annual fee expenditures and the 
utilization of indirect resources. (NEI and WEC)
    Response: The NRC seeks information from licensees and other 
entities relevant to projected workload, through public meetings and 
other forms of public outreach, to better inform NRC's budget 
formulation workload assumptions. However, the NRC is an independent 
safety regulator, and it would not be appropriate for regulated 
entities, non-government organizations, and members of the public to be 
involved in the NRC's budget formulation. In addition, OMB establishes 
the Executive Branch budget process through OMB Circular No. A-11, 
``Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget.'' Section 22.1 
of OMB Circular No. A-11 requires that pre-decisional budget 
deliberations remain confidential until the release of the CBJ.
    No changes were made to this final rule as a result of these 
comments.

C. Work Papers

    Comment: ``In prior year comments, we have identified a lack of 
transparency in the basis for the budget as an area of concern. We 
acknowledge that several steps have been taken to improve both the 
types and clarity of information provided in the fee rule work papers 
and Congressional Budget Justification. There has been a marked 
improvement in the level of detail provided to stakeholders on the NRC 
budget, however, we urge that additional steps be taken. In particular, 
we believe that additional detail should be provided on budgeted work 
activities, including a level of planned effort for each activity, how 
this level compares with the prior year, and the rationale for the 
change. Such detail would enable licensees to better evaluate and 
understand significant budget changes. Additional information should be 
provided to enable a better understanding of which actions are 
recovered through service fees and which actions are recovered through 
annual fees. We also believe that stakeholders would benefit greatly 
from an expansion on the narrative discussion in the fee rule work 
paper explaining significant increases/decreases in product line budget 
items.'' (NEI)
    Response: The fee rule and its supporting work papers, are 
published so the public and licensees can understand how fees are 
determined for a fee class and a fee category. Consistent with 
requirements of OBRA-90, license

[[Page 37265]]

fees are calculated by business lines, product lines, and products 
based on the budget authority enacted for the current fiscal year. The 
NRC provides those business lines, product lines, and products in the 
fee rule work papers. The CBJ provides the agency explanation and 
justification for the resources being requested for the budget year, 
including increases and decreases, and the reason for changes in the 
agency budget request as compared to the prior year, at the business 
line and product line levels; it also includes the prior year actual 
amounts at the business line and product line levels.
    The commenter is correct that the work papers currently do not 
distinguish by specific budget line items which fees are recovered 
through user and annual fees. The fee rule work papers do not draw this 
distinction because it has been impractical for the NRC to determine in 
advance what precise percentage of fees for a given business line will 
be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 user fees versus 10 CFR part 171 
annual fees. With respect to 10 CFR part 170 user fees, the NRC staff 
time spent on licensing and inspection actions is subject to change, 
depending on the novelty and complexity of the license application 
under review or the facility being inspected. Similarly, with respect 
to 10 CFR part 171 annual fees, the nature of the generic research, 
safety, environmental, or safeguards activities also may vary 
considerably, given changes in Commission priorities, external events, 
interactions with Agreement States, other Federal agencies, state, 
local and tribal governments, the regulated industry, and members of 
the public.
    The NRC notes that the CBJ includes a statement in each business 
line chapter to indicate which product lines impact fees for services 
versus annual fees. For all the business lines, except for the nuclear 
materials users business line, typically resources budgeted in the 
Licensing and Oversight Product Lines typically affect fees for 
services, and all other resources affect annual fees. For the nuclear 
materials users business line, almost all budgeted resources impact 
annual fees. The NRC is planning for the implementation of NEIMA in FY 
2021 and is considering adding additional detail in the fee rule and 
associated work papers to enhance the transparency of how fees are 
determined.
    The NRC disagrees with the comment recommending that NRC expand the 
narrative to explain the significant increases and decreases. The NRC 
has provided improved and detailed explanation in the fee rule of the 
changes in budgetary resources, changes to 10 CFR part 170 estimated 
billings, and the impact on annual fees. The budgetary resources by 
each fee class by business line, product line, and product in the work 
papers, which show the specific fee class budget increases and 
decreases. For example, in the FY 2020 proposed fee rule the operating 
power reactors fee class displayed numerous activities within the 
licensing and oversight product lines (i.e., delayed construction and 
operating license application review activities), that affected the fee 
class budget and caused it to decline from the previous year. To 
increase transparency, the NRC incorporated a reconciliation of the FY 
2020 CBJ resources by business line to the associated fee class in the 
FY 2020 proposed fee rule work papers. For the first time, stakeholders 
can trace the CBJ business line budgets to the resources recovered 
within each fee class budget by product line.
    No changes were made to this final rule as a result of this 
comment.
    Comment: ``The work papers supporting the FY2020 proposed rule show 
a detailed breakdown of the products and product lines included in the 
calculation of the Part 171 Operating Power Reactors annual per-reactor 
fee, including significant amounts for various research activities. 
Research for Operating Reactors is shown as $24M in contract dollars, 
and 128 FTEs. While some research appears explainable for the existing 
fleet of reactors, e.g., ``Aging & Materials,'' other descriptors are 
more cryptic, e.g., ``Engineering Research,'' ``Systems Analysis,'' or 
``Risk Analysis'' ($16M contract dollars budgeted for these three.) And 
others that might appear applicable, e.g., ``Digital I&C'' have no 
resources budgeted. It would be helpful to have in the work papers, 
perhaps as a separate paragraph or table in the Operating Power 
Reactors section, a brief description of the major efforts for each 
research Product, the goal of the research, expected completion date, 
safety issue to be resolved by the research, whether related to 
specific licensing actions, etc., so that Licensees and the public have 
confidence that these research dollars are being used to directly 
support the NRC mission.'' (Exelon)
    Response: The commenter is requesting additional detail in the work 
papers in order to better understand the specific budgeted research 
efforts. The CBJ is the appropriate source for the agency's explanation 
and justification for the agency's research budget, not the fee rule, 
which implements the final results of the budget process. The NRC's 
goal is to provide transparency in the fee rule and work papers between 
fees at the final appropriated budget requirements. The fee rule and 
the supporting work papers are published in order for the public and 
licensees to understand how fees are determined for a fee class and a 
fee category.
    With respect to the commenter's request to expand the fee rule work 
papers to provide additional information on all research activities 
with the specific goal of the research, expected completion date, 
safety issue to be resolved by the research, and whether it is related 
to specific licensing actions, the NRC does not believe such a change 
to the fee rule work papers is necessary. The CBJ, which serves a 
different purpose than the fee rule work papers, provides the overview 
of the specific research activities being conducted by the NRC during 
FY 2020. Some examples of NRC research activities discussed in the CBJ 
include but are not limited to: Seismic and structural stability; 
probabilistic risk assessment; digital instrumentation and controls and 
electrical systems; accident tolerant fuel; fuel performance research; 
and materials performance. Additional information on the regulatory 
research program, including NUREG-1925, Revision 4, ``Research 
Activities FY 2018-FY 2020,'' and the ``FY 2020-22 Planned Research 
Activities,'' are available on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/research.html. Additional information 
regarding the costs associated with research can be derived by 
comparing the work papers from the proposed fee rule to the final fee 
rule, which would allow the impact associated with budget changes, 
including the use of carryover, to be identified between fiscal years. 
Work papers for the proposed and final fee rules for the last several 
years can be readily accessed at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing/fees.html.
    No changes were made to this final rule as a result of this 
comment.
    Comment: ``As Exelon has noted in reviewing proposed fee rules for 
prior years, this trade-off between Part 170 and Part 171 fees divorces 
the reactor fee from any actual health and safety benefit to be 
achieved via the Part 171 fee collection. That is, an increase in per-
reactor fee does not necessarily mean greater NRC focus is needed to 
ensure safety. Exelon notes that under [NEIMA], the reactor fee is 
limited ``to the maximum extent practicable.'' Exelon recommends that 
the work papers address this aspect of the fees so that safety benefit 
derived from increased Part 171 fees can be better

[[Page 37266]]

understood. If the fee reflects only the budgeting process and not any 
change in the need for NRC oversight, that clarity would also be useful 
for the industry in prioritizing resource allocations.'' (Exelon)
    Response: The NRC's annual budget request reflects the agency's 
continued commitment to protecting public health and safety and 
ensuring the long-term safety and security of nuclear power facilities 
and nuclear materials, which includes mission-direct, mission-indirect, 
and agency-support resources, as well as resources that are excluded 
from the NRC's fee recoverable budget.
    Beginning in FY 2021, the NRC will be required to collect 100 
percent of its annual budget authority (less certain excluded items), 
to the maximum extent practicable. Additionally, in accordance with 
Section 102(b)(3)(B)(i) of NEIMA, the operating power reactors fee 
class annual fee, to the maximum extent practicable, shall not exceed 
the operating power reactor annual fee amount established in the FY 
2015 final fee rule, adjusted for inflation. On its own initiative, the 
NRC included an estimate of the operating power reactors annual fee in 
Appendix C, Estimated Operating Power Reactors Annual Fee,'' of the FY 
2021 CBJ, with the intent to increase transparency. The NRC developed 
this estimate based on the NRC staff's allocation of the FY 2021 budget 
request to fee collections under 10 CFR part 170, and allocations 
within the operating power reactors fee class under 10 CFR part 171. In 
addition, the estimated annual fee assumes 93 operating power reactors 
in FY 2021 and applies various data assumptions from the FY 2019 final 
fee rule. Collectively, these actions help mitigate impacts on the 
remaining licensees from licensees that leave a fee class by helping 
the NRC continue to develop budgets that account for regulating a fee 
class with a declining number of licensees. Though the FY 2021 
estimated operating power reactor fee class annual fee is included in 
the FY 2021 CBJ, it is subject to changes in those data assumptions as 
the NRC will conduct an annual rulemaking for FY 2021 fees by 
publishing a proposed and final rule in order to assess fees. Fee rule 
estimates during budget formulation are subject to the changes that 
will occur in the two-year interval between formulation and final 
appropriation impacting the fee rule.
    The commenter is correct that the NRC's FY 2020 work papers do not 
include the allocation of the FY 2021 budget. The NRC's fee rule and 
supporting work papers are published in order for the public and 
licensees to understand how fees are calculated based on the budget 
authority enacted for the current fiscal year and not future fiscal 
years. The FY 2021 CBJ, which serves a different purpose than the fee 
rule work papers, provides the agency's explanation and justification 
for the resources being requested for the next fiscal year to allow the 
agency to complete its mission, and it provides the reasoning for 
changes in the agency resource requests. The NRC is planning for the 
implementation of NEIMA in FY 2021, and strives to enhance transparency 
for the annual fee rule and supporting work papers each year.
    No changes were made to this final rule as a result of this 
comment.

D. Operating Reactors Decline in the Budget and 10 CFR Part 170 
Estimated Billings

    Comment: Several commenters expressed concern regarding the 
declining fraction of fees recovered under 10 CFR part 170 (service 
fees) relative to 10 CFR part 171 (annual fees), as well as the NRC's 
overall budget for the operating power reactors fee class. The 
commenters noted that these fees were being borne by a decreasing 
number of facilities with a decreasing number of licensing actions and 
completion of NRC reviews and certifications. The commenters noted that 
the high percentage of activities covered by annual fees places an 
increased importance on transparency of indirect services covered under 
10 CFR part 171 fees, and they encourage a continued focus on enhancing 
transparency. (NEI and Exelon)
    Response: The relationship between 10 CFR part 170 (service fees) 
relative to 10 CFR part 171 (annual fees) is workload driven. The 
activities covered by 10 CFR part 171 annual fees are necessary for NRC 
to accomplish its safety mission as described and justified in the CBJ. 
The amount of user fees collected under 10 CFR part 170 depends on a 
number of different factors including the professional hourly rate, 
licensee and applicant decisions to pursue licensing actions, and the 
number of hours necessary to resolve any licensing actions. Due to 
OBRA-90 requirements, examining changes in the 10 CFR part 170 fees and 
the 10 CFR part 171 fees separately may not account for the overall 
decreases in the fee class budget or the realized efficiencies. Over 
the last seven years, the fee class budget for operating power reactors 
has decreased from $734.7 million in FY 2013 to $623.9 million in FY 
2020. This represents a reduction of $110.8 million, or 15 percent as a 
result of the decreasing number of nuclear power reactor licensees, 
application delays and withdrawals, reduced license amendments, 
efficiencies gained in office mergers, and long-term project 
completions.
    Over this same period, the 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings for 
the operating power reactors fee class have declined from $303.8 
million in FY 2013 to $186.7 million in FY 2020, which represents a 
decline of $117.1 million or 38.5 percent. These changes in the 
budgetary resources and the 10 CFR part 170 estimated billings, 
ultimately adjust the amount of fee recoverable resources that is 
required to be collected through 10 CFR part 171 annual fees. As 
compared to FY 2013, the operating power reactors fee class annual fee 
has increased from $424.2 million in FY 2013 to $439.0 million in FY 
2020, which represents an increase of $14.8 million or 3.5 percent.
    With respect to enhancing transparency, the NRC continues to review 
its budget and will pursue additional efficiency improvements to ensure 
that its budgetary request accurately reflects the anticipated 
workload. The NRC considers projected operating power plant closures 
and other external factors when estimating workload changes in a manner 
that allows the agency to meet its statutory responsibilities as the 
industry changes. However, a reduction in the budget is not linearly 
proportional as there is a cost for the infrastructure that must be 
maintained independent of the number of operating power reactors in the 
fleet.
    The implementation of NEIMA in FY 2021, will include a cap on 
annual fees for operating reactors; the NRC continues to evaluate 
resource requirements and adjustments that can be made to refine the 
operating power reactors budget. Finally, the NRC remains committed to 
providing enhanced transparency throughout the development of the 
annual fee rule and supporting work papers.
    No changes were made to this final rule as a result of these 
comments.

E. Fairness of Fees

    Comment: ``The work papers also show that approximately 17% of the 
Nuclear Reactor Safety program budget used in determining the annual 
Operating Reactor fee comes from the New Reactors product line. Exelon 
suggests that the new reactor budget be broken out separately, to be 
paid by those entities pursuing new reactors. Alternately, the work 
papers should clarify in some detail how new reactor spending benefits 
the operating reactor fleet.'' (Exelon)

[[Page 37267]]

    Response: The NRC disagrees with the proposed recommendation. To 
the extent that the NRC's reactor safety work directly benefits a 
licensee or applicant, the NRC then assesses 10 CFR part 170 user fees 
upon that licensee or applicant. As a result, existing operating 
reactor licensees are not paying any fees for new reactor work that 
directly benefits an entity engaged in new reactor activities. As for 
the portion of the new reactor work that is not collected through 10 
CFR part 170 user fees, OBRA-90, as amended, requires that the NRC 
allocate the costs for this work fairly and equitably. Because the 
NRC's generic new reactor activities yield indirect benefits for 
existing operating reactor licensees, the NRC's current system of 
allocating all operating reactor costs to existing licensees satisfies 
OBRA-90's requirements.
    While there are generic activities that may preferentially benefit 
new reactor vendors or licensees, there are activities that appear to 
be focused on new reactors but have a direct benefit to the operating 
power reactor licensees. For example, if an existing licensee sought to 
obtain NRC approval for a design change to a safety significant 
structure at an operating plant, then the NRC may use guidance that was 
developed for new reactor applications to analyze the design change. 
One example is the vendor quality assurance inspection program that 
develops and maintains the infrastructure for vendor inspections and 
quality assurance reviews supporting both new and operating reactors. 
While inspections and allegations specific to operating reactors are 
funded by operating reactors, many of the vendor inspections and 
allegations funded by the new reactor program are at vendors that also 
supply parts for operating reactors. Moreover, entities holding 
licenses for currently operating reactors may also be, either now or in 
the future, applicants for new nuclear power plant licenses. Finally, 
all power plant licensees indirectly benefit from rulemaking or other 
generic activities that enhance and develop the new reactor licensing 
framework because these generic activities help to establish and 
maintain the regulatory infrastructure at the NRC. This provides 
existing nuclear reactor licensees with regulatory predictability that 
is useful for business planning purposes.
    Along these same lines, the NRC performs generic activities related 
to license renewal. These costs are spread among all holders of power 
reactor operating licenses without regard to whether the operating 
license holder intends to seek renewal. This is because a stable and 
efficient regulatory regime for license renewal indirectly benefits all 
existing power plants even if an existing power reactor has no 
immediate plans to seek license renewal. The same is true for new 
reactor licensing activities.
    Ultimately, identification of fee classes is a matter of drawing 
practical distinctions. By virtue of being a generic activity without a 
specific, concrete beneficiary, all the activities that fall in the 10 
CFR part 171 annual fee category could be theoretically parsed into an 
almost infinite amount of fee classes. For example, if the NRC were to 
base fees on distinctions such as whether generic work benefited 
boiling-water reactors versus pressurized-water reactors or coastal 
versus inland reactors, the exercise would result in distinctions that 
are both artificial and unduly burdensome from an administrative and 
recordkeeping standpoint. Therefore, the NRC's decision to draw the fee 
class line in a way that encompasses generic new reactor work satisfies 
OBRA-90's requirement that costs be allocated fairly and that, ``[t]o 
the maximum extent practicable, the charges shall have a reasonable 
relationship to the cost of providing regulatory services.''
    No change was made to this final rule in response to this comment.

F. Fuel Facilities Matrix

    Comment: ``The Metropolis facility has been secured in an idle 
state due to market conditions. The idle state conditions prohibits the 
production or the creation of liquid UF6 per Honeywell Request for 
Relaxation Security Order dated April 30, 2018. The NRC approved the 
request for Relaxation of Security Order in a letter dated March 11, 
2019, due to the removal of UF6 from the process equipment. NRC 
recently acknowledged an 80% reduction in inspection effort due to the 
idle condition as stated in the NRC Inspection Report 4-339/2020-005 
Honeywell Metropolis Works License Performance Review dated March 2, 
2020. In the current idle state, MTW will not have liquid UF6 on site, 
or implement safeguards related to liquid UF6. Therefore, MTW asks that 
the effort factor for liquid UF6 be revised from 5 to 0 and the 
safeguards factor for liquid UF6 also be revised from a 5 to 0 to 
appropriately reflect the effort during the current idle state 
condition.'' (MTW)
    Response: Currently, there is one uranium conversion facility, and 
it is in a ``ready-idle'' status with no processing operations. The NRC 
believes that this facility will remain in ``ready-idle'' position for 
FY 2020 and will need to be reassessed on an annual basis. Regulatory 
oversight of processing operations have been curtailed while the 
operations are shut down. Therefore, the safety and safeguards factors 
for ``Liquid UF6 processing at Uranium Conversion facilities'' in the 
effort factors matrix have been reduced from 5 to 0 to reflect the 
curtailed regulatory oversight of these processes.

G. Fuel Facilities Fee Class

    Comment: ``We note that annual fees for Category I Fuel Cycle 
Facilities (listed under Category ``High-Enriched Uranium Fuel'') still 
exceed operating power reactor fees by roughly half a million dollars 
($4.9M vs. $4.5M, respectively). We continue to encourage the NRC to 
adjust the Category I Fuel Cycle Facility regulatory effort, and in 
turn fees, to be commensurate with the facility risk profile.'' (NEI)
    Response: The resources budgeted for each business line reflect the 
regulatory effort. In this final rule the total required annual fee 
recovery for the operating power reactor business line is $439.0 
million, and the total annual fee recovery for the fuel facility 
business line is $18.0 million. The lower amount is commensurate with 
the lower risk at fuel facilities. This amount must be recovered from 
the 7 existing fuel facilities in the business line. For the Category I 
fuel facilities, the processes in the matrix are surrogates for the 
actual processes because the actual processes are classified.
    No changes were made to this final rule because of this comment.
    Comment: Two commenters welcomed the reductions in the fuel 
facilities fee class budgetary resources and annual fees in FY 2020, 
but felt that it is imperative that the OCFO staff take into 
consideration the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards' 
(NMSS) ongoing Fuel Cycle Smarter Program initiative, which will likely 
identify further reductions in FY 2021 fee-billable inspection hours. 
For planning purposes, a commensurate business line reduction in FY 
2021 should closely reflect any final ``Smarter Programs'' inspection 
decisions (final reports are anticipated in Spring 2020). In the 
absence of such adjustments, fuel cycle facilities will experience an 
unnecessary increase in annual fees for FY 2021. (NEI and WEC)
    Response: The fuel facilities business line is responsible for 
ensuring the safety and security of fuel cycle and greater than 
critical mass facilities. The business line leads the licensing and 
oversight of these facilities, as well as domestic material control and

[[Page 37268]]

accounting and international safeguards implementation activities for 
the NRC. The business line also supports rulemaking and environmental 
review activities for fuel facilities. The NRC has taken steps to 
right-size the fuel facilities budget to ensure that it reflects the 
reduced workload in the business line. A peak workload was experienced 
in FY 2012 and since then, the fee class budget has decreased from 
$54.4 million in FY 2012 to $18.0 million in FY 2020. This represents a 
reduction of $36.4 million, or 67 percent within the fee class budget. 
The FY 2020 fuel facilities fee class budget decreased primarily due to 
an expected decline in license renewal applications, the decrease in 
the number of license amendments, the termination of the MOX Fuel 
Fabrication Facility construction authorization, and efficiencies 
gained because of changes to the Fuel Facilities Inspection Program, 
and workload projections.
    In a public meeting conducted on March 5, 2020, on the FY 2020 
proposed fee rule, the NRC provided an overview of the fuel facilities 
business line budget, major activities, the budget planning process 
(e.g., workload forecasting, types of work, and inspection activities), 
the reconciliation from the fuel facilities business line to the fee 
class budget, and the five-year trend of 10 CFR part 170 user fees and 
10 CFR part 171 annual fees. Slides from this public meeting are 
available at ADAMS Accession No. ML20064G525.
    Regarding the assertion that the NRC should reduce the fuel 
facilities business line budget, the NRC continues to actively evaluate 
resource requirements, both in terms of overall budget numbers and 
FTEs, to address changes that occur between budget formulation and 
execution. The NRC will continue to assess resource requirements and 
evaluate programmatic efficiencies that could result in additional 
resource reductions, but a reduction in the budget is not linearly 
proportional as there is a cost for the infrastructure that must be 
maintained independent of the number of operational fuel facilities.
    In this final rule, the fees assessed to the licensees and 
applicants by the NRC must conform to OBRA-90, which requires the NRC 
to collect approximately 90 percent of its FY 2020 budget authority 
(less certain excluded items) through both user fees and annual fees. 
The NRC can assess these annual fees only to licensees or certificate 
holders, and the annual fee schedule must be fair and equitably 
allocate annual fees among the NRC's many licensees. To ensure 
compliance with OBRA-90, the NRC makes continual organizational 
improvements to align the resources needed to support its regulatory 
activities. These actions help mitigate impacts on the remaining 
licensees from licensees that leave a fee class by helping the NRC 
continue to develop budgets that account for regulating a fee class 
with a declining number of licensees.
    Beyond FY 2020, the NRC will continue to look for efficiencies 
within the fuel facilities program. Going forward, the fuel facilities 
business line is focusing efforts to align the agency's program of work 
in the fuel facilities area to workload projections and continuing to 
risk-inform the regulatory framework for these activities while 
maintaining adequate protection consistent with our principles of good 
regulation.
    On April 26, 2019, the NRC created two working groups tasked with 
building smarter Fuel Cycle licensing and oversight programs. The 
working groups were tasked with conducting a holistic assessment of the 
fuel cycle licensing and oversight programs for the purpose of 
improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the programs. The working 
groups included experienced supervisors and staff members looking for 
areas of transformation and innovation while adhering to the key 
principles of good regulation that guide the manner in which we conduct 
our work and make decisions.
    The NRC believes that the implementation of the recommendations 
resulting from this effort will ensure focus on the areas of greatest 
safety benefit using the appropriate level of effort. Implementation of 
the recommendations will begin in FY 2021 and the results will be 
reflected in future rulemakings.
    No changes were made to this final rule because of these comments.

H. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (Work Papers)

    Comment: ``The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reviewed the 
proposed 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 fee schedule for FY 2020. The DOE 
finds that the basis for the total annual fee amount and the level of 
effort to support the general licenses for [UMTRCA] sites is not 
presented in the proposed rule or associated work papers. Additionally, 
the bases for allocation percentages for DOE and other uranium recovery 
licensees and the generic/other uranium recovery costs in the proposed 
rule and work papers are not presented. The DOE requests that the US 
NRC clarify the rationale for the various fee components that are used 
to determine the total charge. This will help DOE evaluate whether the 
proposed NRC scope is consistent with anticipated DOE activities and 
establish the basis for DOE's estimate of annual uranium licensee fees 
in its budget request.'' (DOE)
    Response: The NRC described the overall methodology for determining 
fees for uranium recovery facilities, including DOE, in the 2002 fee 
rule (67 FR 42625; June 24, 2002), and the NRC continues to use this 
methodology. As the NRC explained in the FY 2020 proposed fee rule, the 
NRC recovers fees from DOE through both user fees charged under 10 CFR 
part 170 for specific UMTRCA oversight activities and annual fees 
charged under 10 CFR part 171 for generic and other costs related to 
UMTRCA and other uranium recovery activities. As shown in the work 
papers referenced in the proposed fee rule, the NRC calculated the 
total amount of budgeted resources for UMTRCA activities related to DOE 
sites in the FY 2020 budget by computing the cost of staff hours 
budgeted to conduct the work (in terms of full-time equivalent, or FTE) 
and the budgeted contract costs. The total amount of budgeted resources 
was reduced by the amount expected to be recovered by 10 CFR part 170 
user fees for site-specific UMTRCA activities. The NRC estimated the 
amount of 10 CFR part 170 user fees by analyzing billing data and the 
actual contractual work charged to DOE for the previous four quarters. 
The estimate, therefore, reflects any recent reductions in NRC 
oversight activities. The remainder of the UMTRCA budgeted amount 
related to DOE sites is charged to DOE for generic activities. In 
addition to those generic costs, DOE was charged for 10 percent of the 
overall generic costs attributable to the uranium recovery program. In 
other words, the DOE fee includes the costs of generic activities 
related to DOE sites and 10 percent of the overall generic costs 
attributable to the uranium recovery program. The remaining 90 percent 
of the overall generic costs is charged to the other members of the 
uranium recovery fee class. The work papers also provided information 
on all the values of the effort/benefit factors used in the uranium 
recovery matrix for FY 2020.
    No changes were made to this final rule because of this comment.

I. Small Entity Size Standards

    Comment: ``Regarding small entity size standards, the NRC should 
consider establishing lower licensing fees by creating one or more 
additional ranges between the $520,000 and $7,000,000

[[Page 37269]]

gross annual receipts range. A fee rate schedule with more steps for 
small businesses would help reduce the license fee burden on the 
smaller entities and address small business concerns.'' (RE)
    Response: To reduce the significance of the annual fees on a 
substantial number of small entities, the NRC established the maximum 
small entity fee in FY 1991. In FY 1992, the NRC introduced a second 
lower tier to the small entity fee. Because the NRC's methodology for 
small entity size standards has been approved by the Small Business 
Administration, the NRC did not modify its current methodology for this 
rulemaking. However, as one of the ongoing Fees Transformation 
initiatives, the NRC conducted a financial survey of materials 
licensees to determine whether changes to the size standards are 
needed. The NRC published a document in the Federal Register (85 FR 
6225; February 4, 2020) announcing the survey, with a requested due 
date of April 30, 2020, to complete the survey. The survey results will 
be analyzed to determine if changes are needed to the current NRC 
nuclear industry-specific small entity size standards in Sec.  2.810.
    No change was made to this final rule in response to this comment.

J. Comments Generally Supporting Actions of the Agency

    Several commenters expressed comments generally in favor of actions 
that the agency is taking with respect to fees, billing, and other 
aspects of the fee rule process. Comments expressed support for the 
public meetings NRC held on the proposed fee rule; improved efficiency 
and clarity of the fee and invoicing process; NRC's eBilling system; 
the policy change to modify the timing of when annual fees commence for 
power reactor licensees; actions to decrease and right-size the fuel 
facilities budget to right-size the budget to reflect a reduced 
workload; and other improvements made as part of the Fees 
Transformation Initiative. No change was made to this final rule in 
response to this comment.

K. Comments on Matters Not Related to This Rulemaking

    Several commenters raised issues outside the scope of the FY 2020 
fee rule. Commenters raised concerns with the agency's budgeting 
process and requested public participation on the agency's budget 
formulation process. A few commenters requested expediting efficiency 
efforts and engaging industry regarding additional efficiencies and 
risk-informing the current regulatory program. These matters are 
outside the scope of this final rule. The primary purpose of the rule 
is to update the NRC's fee schedules to recover approximately 90 
percent of the NRC's budgeted authority for the current fiscal year, 
and to make other necessary corrections or appropriate changes to 
specific aspects of the NRC's fee regulations in order to ensure 
compliance with OBRA-90.
    The NRC understands the importance of examining and improving the 
efficiency of its operations and the prioritization of its regulatory 
activities. Accordingly, the NRC has undertaken, and continues to 
undertake, a number of significant initiatives aimed at improving the 
efficiency of NRC operations and enhancing the agency's approach to 
regulating. Though comments raising these issues are not within the 
scope of this final rule, the NRC will consider this input in its 
future program operations.

VI. Regulatory Flexibility Certification

    As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 
(RFA),\4\ the NRC has prepared a regulatory flexibility analysis 
related to this final rule. The regulatory flexibility analysis is 
available as indicated in Section XIV, Availability of Documents, of 
this document.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ 5 U.S.C. 603. The RFA, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, has been amended by 
the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, 
Public Law 104-121, Title II, 110 Stat. 847 (1996).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VII. Regulatory Analysis

    Under OBRA-90, the NRC is required to recover approximately 90 
percent of its budget authority in FY 2020. The NRC established fee 
methodology guidelines for 10 CFR part 170 in 1978, and established 
additional fee methodology guidelines for 10 CFR part 171 in 1986. In 
subsequent rulemakings, the NRC has adjusted its fees without changing 
the underlying principles of its fee policy to ensure that the NRC 
continues to comply with the statutory requirements for cost recovery 
in OBRA-90.
    In this final rule, the NRC continues this longstanding approach. 
Therefore, the NRC did not identify any alternatives to the current fee 
structure guidelines and did not prepare a regulatory analysis for this 
final rule.

VIII. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    The NRC has determined that the backfit rule, Sec.  50.109, does 
not apply to this final rule and that a backfit analysis is not 
required. A backfit analysis is not required because these amendments 
do not require the modification of, or addition 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.

IX. Plain Writing

    The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal 
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, and well-organized 
manner. The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the 
Plain Writing Act, as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain 
Language in Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 
31885).

X. National Environmental Policy Act

    The rule is limited to amending the NRC's administrative 
requirements in 10 CFR parts 170 and 171. Therefore, this action is 
categorically excluded from needing environmental review, as described 
in Sec.  51.22(c)(1). Consequently, neither an environmental impact 
statement nor an environmental assessment has been prepared for this 
final rule.

XI. Paperwork Reduction Act

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

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless the document requesting 
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

XII. Congressional Review Act

    This final rule is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review 
Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 801-808). The Office of Management and Budget has 
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.

XIII. Voluntary Consensus Standards

    The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, 
Public Law 104-113, requires that Federal agencies use technical 
standards that are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus 
standards bodies unless the use of such a standard is inconsistent with 
applicable law or 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 2020, as required by

[[Page 37270]]

OBRA-90. This action does not constitute the establishment of a 
standard that contains generally applicable requirements.

XIV. Availability of Guidance

    The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 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. The NRC, in compliance with the law, 
prepared the ``Small Entity Compliance Guide'' for the FY 2019 proposed 
fee rule. The NRC plans to continue to use this compliance guide for FY 
2020 and has relabeled the compliance guide to reflect the current 
fiscal year. The FY 2020 version of the compliance guide is available 
as indicated in Section XIV, Availability of Documents, of this 
document. The next compliance guide will be developed when the NRC 
completes the next small entity biennial review in FY 2021.

XV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as 
indicated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Documents                  Adams Accession No./web link
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECY-05-0164, ``Annual Fee Calculation    ML052580332.
 Method,'' dated September 15, 2005.
SECY-16-0097, ``Fee Setting Improvements  ML16194A365.
 and Fiscal Year 2017 Proposed Fee
 Rule,'' dated August 15, 2016.
Staff Requirements Memorandum for SECY-   ML16293A902.
 16-0097, dated October 19, 2016.
NUREG-1100, Volume 35, ``Congressional    ML19065A279.
 Budget Justification: Fiscal Year
 2020'' (February 2019).
Petition for Rulemaking-171-1,            ML19081A015.
 ``Petition to Amend 10 CFR 171.15,
 ``Reactor Licenses and Independent
 Spent Fuel Storage Licenses,'' dated
 February 28, 2019.
``Nuclear Power Plant License Fees Upon   ML19304B492.
 Commencing Commercial Operation,''
 partial consideration in the rulemaking
 process (84 FR 65032; November 26,
 2019).
FY 2020 Final Rule Work Papers..........  ML20142A363.
``Uranium Recovery Flat Fee Pilot         ML20010D684.
 Initiative: A Report for the Senate
 Committee on Environment and Public
 Works and the House Committee on Energy
 and Commerce''.
FY 2020 Final Fee Rule..................  ML20114E208.
FY 2020 Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.  ML20120A537.
FY 2020 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory           ML19318G044.
 Commission Small Entity Compliance
 Guide.
NRC Form 526, ``Certification of Small    https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Entity Status for the Purposes of         doc-collections/forms/
 Annual Fees Imposed under 10 CFR Part     nrc526.pdf.
 171''.
OMB Circular A-25, ``User Charges''.....  https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/assets/OMB/circulars/a025/a025.html.
Fees Transformation Accomplishments.....  https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing/fees-transformation-accomplishments.html.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of Subjects

10 CFR Part 170

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

10 CFR Part 171

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

    For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; 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: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 11, 161(w) (42 
U.S.C. 2014, 2201(w)); Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, sec. 201 
(42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 U.S.C. 2214; 31 U.S.C. 901, 902, 9701; 44 
U.S.C. 3504 note.


Sec.  170.20  [Amended]

0
2. In Sec.  170.20, remove the dollar amount ``$275'' and add in its 
place the dollar amount ``$279''.
0
3. In Sec.  170.21, in the table, revise the entry for ``K. Import and 
export licenses'' and footnotes 1 and 6 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               Fees1 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                              * * * * * * *
K. Import and export licenses \6\
    Licenses for the import and export only
     of production or utilization
     facilities or the export only of
     components for production or
     utilization facilities issued under 10
     CFR part 110.

[[Page 37271]]

 
        1. Application for import or export
         of production or 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     N/A.
             amendment; or license
             exemption request.
        2. Application for export of
         reactor and other components
         requiring Executive Branch review,
         for example, those actions under
         10 CFR 110.41(a).
            Application--new license, or     N/A.
             amendment; or license
             exemption request.
        3. Application for export of
         components requiring the
         assistance of the Executive Branch
         to obtain foreign government
         assurances.
            Application--new license, or     N/A.
             amendment; or license
             exemption request.
        4. Application for export of
         facility components and equipment
         not requiring Commission or
         Executive Branch review, or
         obtaining foreign government
         assurances.
            Application--new license, or     N/A.
             amendment; or license
             exemption request.
        5. Minor amendment of any active
         export or import license, for
         example, to extend the expiration
         date, change domestic information,
         or make other revisions which do
         not involve any substantive
         changes to license terms or
         conditions or to the type of
         facility or component authorized
         for export and, therefore, do not
         require in-depth analysis or
         review or consultation with the
         Executive Branch, U.S. host state,
         or foreign government authorities.
            Minor amendment to license.....  N/A.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 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.
 * * * * * * *
\4\ Imports only of major components for end-use at NRC-licensed
  reactors are authorized under NRC general import license in 10 CFR
  110.27.
 * * * * * * *
\6\ Because the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, excludes
  international activities from the fee-recoverable budget in FY 2020,
  import and export licensing actions will not incur fees.


0
4. In Sec.  170.31, revise the table to read as follows:


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

* * * * *

          Table 1 to Sec.   170.31--Schedule of Materials Fees
                     [See footnotes at end of table]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Category of materials licenses and type of
                   fees \1\                             Fees 2 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Special nuclear material: \11\
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of
     U-235 or plutonium for fuel fabrication
     activities.
            (a) Strategic Special Nuclear      Full Cost.
             Material (High Enriched Uranium)
             \6\ [Program Code(s): 21213].
            (b) Low Enriched Uranium in        Full Cost.
             Dispersible Form Used for
             Fabrication of Power Reactor
             Fuel \6\ [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.\6\
            (a) Facilities with limited        Full Cost.
             operations \6\ [Program Code(s):
             21240, 21310, 21320].
            (b) Gas centrifuge enrichment      Full Cost.
             demonstration facilities.\6\
             [Program Code(s): 21205].
            (c) Others, including hot cell     Full Cost.
             facilities.\6\ [Program Code(s):
             21130, 21133].
    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) \6\ [Program
     Code(s): 23200].
    C. Licenses for possession and use of      $1,300.
     special nuclear material of less than a
     critical mass as defined in Sec.   70.4
     in sealed sources contained in devices
     used in industrial measuring systems,
     including x-ray fluorescence
     analyzers.\4\ Application [Program
     Code(s): 22140].
    D. All other special nuclear material      $2,600.
     licenses, except licenses authorizing
     special nuclear material in sealed or
     unsealed form in combination that would
     constitute a critical mass, as defined
     in Sec.   70.4 of this chapter, for
     which the licensee shall pay the same
     fees as those under Category 1.A.\4\
     Application [Program Code(s): 22110,
     22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 22150,
     22151, 22161, 22170, 23100, 23300,
     23310].
    E. Licenses or certificates for            Full Cost.
     construction and operation of a uranium
     enrichment facility \6\ [Program
     Code(s): 21200].
    F. Licenses for possession and use of      Full Cost.
     special nuclear material greater than
     critical mass as defined in Sec.   70.4
     of this chapter, for development and
     testing of commercial products, and
     other non-fuel-cycle activities.4 6
     [Program Code(s): 22155].
2. Source material: \11\
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of  Full Cost.
     source material for refining uranium
     mill concentrates to uranium
     hexafluoride or for deconverting uranium
     hexafluoride in the production of
     uranium oxides for disposal.\6\ [Program
     Code(s): 11400].

[[Page 37272]]

 
        (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.\6\
            (a) Conventional and Heap Leach    Full Cost.
             facilities \6\ [Program Code(s):
             11100].
            (b) Basic In Situ Recovery         Full Cost.
             facilities \6\ [Program Code(s):
             11500].
            (c) Expanded In Situ Recovery      Full Cost.
             facilities\6\ [Program Code(s):
             11510].
            (d) In Situ Recovery Resin         Full Cost.
             facilities \6\ [Program Code(s):
             11550].
            (e) Resin Toll Milling facilities  Full Cost.
             \6\ [Program Code(s): 11555].
            (f) Other facilities \6\ [Program  Full Cost.
             Code(s): 11700].
        (3) Licenses that authorize the        Full Cost.
         receipt of 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) \6\ [Program Code(s): 11600,
         12000].
        (4) Licenses that authorize the        Full Cost.
         receipt of 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) \6\
         [Program Code(s): 12010].
    B. Licenses which authorize the            $1,200.
     possession, use, and/or installation of
     source material for shielding.7 8
     Application [Program Code(s): 11210].
    C. Licenses to distribute items            $4,300.
     containing source material to persons
     exempt from the licensing requirements
     of part 40 of this chapter. Application
     [Program Code(s): 11240].
    D. Licenses to distribute source material  $2,800.
     to persons generally licensed under part
     40 of this chapter. Application [Program
     Code(s): 11230, 11231].
    E. Licenses for possession and use of      $2,700.
     source material for processing or
     manufacturing of products or materials
     containing source material for
     commercial distribution. Application
     [Program Code(s): 11710].
    F. All other source material licenses.     $2,700.
     Application [Program Code(s): 11200,
     11220, 11221, 11300, 11800, 11810,
     11820].
3. Byproduct material: \11\
    A. Licenses of broad scope for the         $13,100.
     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. Number of
     locations of use: 1-5. Application
     [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213].
        (1). Licenses of broad scope for the   $17,400.
         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. Number of locations of
         use: 6-20. Application [Program
         Code(s): 04010, 04012, 04014].
        (2). Licenses of broad scope for the   $21,700.
         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. Number of locations of
         use: more than 20. Application
         [Program Code(s): 04011, 04013,
         04015].
    B. Other licenses for possession and use   $3,600.
     of byproduct material issued under part
     30 of this chapter for processing or
     manufacturing of items containing
     byproduct material for commercial
     distribution. Number of locations of
     use: 1-5. Application [Program Code(s):
     03214, 03215, 22135, 22162].
        (1). Other licenses for possession     $4,800.
         and use of byproduct material issued
         under part 30 of this chapter for
         processing or manufacturing of items
         containing byproduct material for
         commercial distribution. Number of
         locations of use: 6-20. Application
         [Program Code(s): 04110, 04112,
         04114, 04116].
        (2). Other licenses for possession     $6,000.
         and use of byproduct material issued
         under part 30 of this chapter for
         processing or manufacturing of items
         containing byproduct material for
         commercial distribution. Number of
         locations of use: more than 20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04111,
         04113, 04115, 04117].
    C. Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.        $5,200.
     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). Number of
     locations of use: 1-5. Application
     [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513].
        (1). Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.  $6,900.
           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).
         Number of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04210,
         04212, 04214].
        (2). Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.  $8,700.
           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).
         Number of locations of use: more
         than 20. Application [Program
         Code(s): 04211, 04213, 04215].
    D. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
    E. Licenses for possession and use of      $3,200.
     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, 03520].
    F. Licenses for possession and use of      $6,500.
     less than or equal to 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].

[[Page 37273]]

 
    G. Licenses for possession and use of      $62,300.
     greater 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): 03521].
    H. Licenses issued under subpart A of      $6,700.
     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,
     03255, 03257].
    I. Licenses issued under subpart A of      $11,600.
     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, 03251, 03252, 03253,
     03256].
    J. Licenses issued under subpart B of      $2,000.
     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,
     03241, 03243].
    K. Licenses issued under subpart B of      $1,100.
     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,
     03244].
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession  $5,500.
     and use of byproduct material issued
     under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter
     for research and development that do not
     authorize commercial distribution.
     Number of locations of use: 1-5.
     Application [Program Code(s): 01100,
     01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612,
     03613].
        (1) Licenses of broad scope for        $7,300.
         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. Number of
         locations of use: 6-20. Application
         [Program Code(s): 04610, 04612,
         04614, 04616, 04618, 04620, 04622].
        (2) Licenses of broad scope for        $9,100.
         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. Number of
         locations of use: more than 20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04611,
         04613, 04615, 04617, 04619, 04621,
         04623].
    M. Other licenses for possession and use   $8,300.
     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].
    N. Licenses that authorize services for    $8,900.
     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, 03225, 03226].
    O. Licenses for possession and use of      $6,400.
     byproduct material issued under part 34
     of this chapter for industrial
     radiography operations. Number of
     locations of use: 1-5. Application
     [Program Code(s): 03310, 03320].
        (1). Licenses for possession and use   $8,500.
         of byproduct material issued under
         part 34 of this chapter for
         industrial radiography operations.
         Number of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04310,
         04312].
        (2). Licenses for possession and use   $10,600.
         of byproduct material issued under
         part 34 of this chapter for
         industrial radiography operations.
         Number of locations of use: more
         than 20. Application [Program
         Code(s): 04311, 04313].
    P. All other specific byproduct material   $4,700.
     licenses, except those in Categories
     4.A. through 9.D.\9\ Number of locations
     of use: 1-5. Application [Program
     Code(s): 02400, 02410, 03120, 03121,
     03122, 03123, 03124, 03130, 03140,
     03220, 03221, 03222, 03800, 03810,
     22130].
        (1). All other specific byproduct      $6,300.
         material licenses, except those in
         Categories 4.A. through 9.D.\9\
         Number of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04410,
         04412, 04414, 04416, 04418, 04420,
         04422, 04424, 04426, 04428, 04430,
         04432, 04434, 04436, 04438].
        (2). All other specific byproduct      $7,900.
         material licenses, except those in
         Categories 4.A. through 9.D.\9\
         Number of locations of use: More
         than 20. Application [Program
         Code(s): 04411, 04413, 04415, 04417,
         04419, 04421, 04423, 04425, 04427,
         04429, 04431, 04433, 04435, 04437,
         04439].
    Q. Registration of a device(s) generally   $600.
     licensed under part 31 of this chapter.
     Registration.
    R. Possession of items or products         $2,600.
     containing radium-226 identified in 10
     CFR 31.12 which exceed the number of
     items or limits specified in that
     section.\5\ 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].
        2. Possession of quantities exceeding  $2,500.
         10 times the number of items or
         limits specified in 10 CFR
         31.12(a)(4) or (5). Application
         [Program Code(s): 02710].
    S. Licenses for production of accelerator- $14,300.
     produced radionuclides. Application
     [Program Code(s): 03210].
4. Waste disposal and processing: \11\
    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. Application
     [Program Code(s): 03231, 03233, 03236,
     06100, 06101].
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the   $6,900.
     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].

[[Page 37274]]

 
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the   $5,000.
     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].
5. Well logging: \11\
    A. Licenses for possession and use of      $4,600.
     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, 03111, 03112].
    B. Licenses for possession and use of      Full Cost.
     byproduct material for field flooding
     tracer studies. Licensing [Program
     Code(s): 03113].
6. Nuclear laundries: \11\
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and  $22,200.
     laundry of items contaminated with
     byproduct material, source material, or
     special nuclear material. Application
     [Program Code(s): 03218].
7. Medical licenses: \11\
    A. Licenses issued under parts 30, 35,     $11,200.
     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. Number
     of locations of use: 1-5. Application
     [Program Code(s): 02300, 02310].
        (1). Licenses issued under parts 30,   $14,800.
         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. Number
         of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04510,
         04512].
        (2). Licenses issued under parts 30,   $18,500.
         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. Number
         of locations of use: more than 20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04511,
         04513].
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to       $8,700.
     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. Number of locations of
     use: 1-5. Application [Program Code(s):
     02110].
        (1). Licenses of broad scope issued    $11,600.
         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.
         Number of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04710].
        (2). Licenses of broad scope issued    $14,500.
         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.
         Number of locations of use: more
         than 20. Application [Program
         Code(s): 04711].
    C. Other licenses issued under parts 30,   $6,600.
     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.\10\
     Number of locations of use: 1-5.
     Application [Program Code(s): 02120,
     02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220,
     02230, 02231, 02240, 22160].
        (1). Other licenses issued under       $8,800.
         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.\10\ Number
         of locations of use: 6-20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04810,
         04812, 04814, 04816, 04818, 04820,
         04822, 04824, 04826, 04828].
        (2). Other licenses issued under       $10,900.
         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.\10\ Number
         of locations of use: More than 20.
         Application [Program Code(s): 04811,
         04813, 04815, 04817, 04819, 04821,
         04823, 04825, 04827, 04829].
8. Civil defense: \11\
    A. Licenses for possession and use of      $2,600.
     byproduct material, source material, or
     special nuclear material for civil
     defense activities. Application [Program
     Code(s): 03710].
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety
 evaluation:
    A. Safety evaluation of devices or         $10,900.
     products containing byproduct material,
     source material, or special nuclear
     material, except reactor fuel devices,
     for commercial distribution.
     Application--each device.
    B. Safety evaluation of devices or         $9,000.
     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.
    C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources     $5,300.
     containing byproduct material, source
     material, or special nuclear material,
     except reactor fuel, for commercial
     distribution. Application--each source.
    D. Safety evaluation of sealed sources     $1,100.
     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.
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.

[[Page 37275]]

 
        1. Users and Fabricators. Application  $4,200.
            Inspections......................  Full Cost.
        2. Users. Application................  $4,200.
            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,     Full Cost.
 pre-application/licensing activities, and
 inspections. Application [Program Code:
 25110].
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of  Full Cost.
 Compliance..
    B. Inspections related to storage of       Full Cost.
     spent fuel under Sec.   72.210 of this
     chapter.
14. Decommissioning/Reclamation: \11\
    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,
     including master materials licenses
     (MMLs). The transition to this fee
     category occurs when a licensee has
     permanently ceased principal activities.
     [Program Code(s): 03900, 11900, 21135,
     21215, 21325, 22200].
    B. Site-specific decommissioning           Full Cost.
     activities associated with unlicensed
     sites, including MMLs, regardless of
     whether or not the sites have been
     previously licensed.
15. Import and Export licenses: \12\
    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     N/A.
     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;
     or license exemption request.
    B. Application for export or import of     N/A.
     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 the 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; or license
     exemption request.
    C. Application for export of nuclear       N/A.
     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; or license
     exemption request.
    D. Application for export or import of     N/A.
     nuclear material not requiring
     Commission or Executive Branch review,
     or obtaining foreign government
     assurances. Application--new license, or
     amendment; or license exemption request.
    E. Minor amendment of any active export    N/A.
     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.
    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.).
Category 1 (Appendix P, 10 CFR Part 110)
 Exports:
    F. Application for export of appendix P    N/A.
     Category 1 materials requiring
     Commission review (e.g. exceptional
     circumstance review under 10 CFR
     110.42(e)(4)) and to obtain one
     government-to-government consent for
     this process. For additional consent see
     fee category 15.I. Application--new
     license, or amendment; or license
     exemption request.
    G. Application for export of appendix P    N/A.
     Category 1 materials requiring Executive
     Branch review and to obtain one
     government-to-government consent for
     this process. For additional consents
     see fee category 15.I. Application--new
     license, or amendment; or license
     exemption request.
    H. Application for export of appendix P    N/A.
     Category 1 materials and to obtain one
     government-to-government consent for
     this process. For additional consents
     see fee category 15.I. Application--new
     license, or amendment; or license
     exemption request.
    I. Requests for each additional            N/A.
     government-to-government consent in
     support of an export license application
     or active export license. Application--
     new license, or amendment; or license
     exemption request.
Category 2 (Appendix P, 10 CFR Part 110)
 Exports:
    J. Application for export of appendix P    N/A.
     Category 2 materials requiring
     Commission review (e.g. exceptional
     circumstance review under 10 CFR
     110.42(e)(4)). Application--new license,
     or amendment; or license exemption
     request.
    K. Applications for export of appendix P   N/A.
     Category 2 materials requiring Executive
     Branch review. Application--new license,
     or amendment; or license exemption
     request.
    L. Application for the export of Category  N/A.
     2 materials. Application--new license,
     or amendment; or license exemption
     request.
    M. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
    N. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
    O. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
    P. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
    Q. [Reserved]............................  N/A.
Minor Amendments (Category 1 and 2, Appendix
 P, 10 CFR Part 110, Export):
    R. Minor amendment of any active export    N/A.
     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.

[[Page 37276]]

 
16. Reciprocity:
    Agreement State licensees who conduct      $2,100.
     activities under the reciprocity
     provisions of 10 CFR 150.20. Application.
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope   Full Cost.
 issued to Government agencies. Application
 [Program Code(s): 03614]
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         Full Cost.
     Control 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.
(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 nonroutine 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 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 fee 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.
\4\ Licensees paying fees under categories 1.A., 1.B., and 1.E. are not
  subject to fees under categories 1.C., 1.D. and 1.F. for sealed
  sources authorized in the same license, except for an application that
  deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license.
\5\ 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.)
\6\ Licensees subject to fees under fee categories 1.A., 1.B., 1.E., or
  2.A. must pay the largest applicable fee and are not subject to
  additional fees listed in this table.
\7\ Licensees paying fees under 3.C., 3.C.1, or 3.C.2 are not subject to
  fees under 2.B. for possession and shielding authorized on the same
  license.
\8\ Licensees paying fees under 7.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B.
  for possession and shielding authorized on the same license.
\9\ Licensees paying fees under 3.N. are not subject to paying fees
  under 3.P., 3.P.1, or 3.P.2 for calibration or leak testing services
  authorized on the same license.
\10\ Licensees paying fees under 7.B., 7.B.1, or 7.B.2 are not subject
  to paying fees under 7.C., 7.C.1, or 7.C.2. for broad scope 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
  authorized on the same license.
\11\ A materials license (or part of a materials license) that
  transitions to fee category 14.A is assessed full-cost fees under 10
  CFR part 170, but is not assessed an annual fee under 10 CFR part 171.
  If only part of a materials license is transitioned to fee category
  14.A, the licensee may be charged annual fees (and any applicable 10
  CFR part 170 fees) for other activities authorized under the license
  that are not in decommissioning status.
\12\ Because the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, excludes
  international activities from the fee-recoverable budget in FY 2020,
  import and export licensing actions will not be charged fees.

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
5. The authority citation for part 171 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 11, 161(w), 223, 
234 (42 U.S.C. 2014, 2201(w), 2273, 2282); Energy Reorganization Act 
of 1974, sec. 201 (42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 U.S.C. 2214; 44 U.S.C. 3504 
note.

0
6. Revise Sec.  171.3 to read as follows:


Sec.  171.3  Scope.

    The regulations in this part apply to any person holding an 
operating license for a test reactor or research reactor issued under 
part 50 of this chapter, and to any person holding an operating license 
for a power reactor licensed under 10 CFR part 50 or a combined license 
issued under 10 CFR part 52 that has provided notification to the NRC 
that the licensee has successfully completed power ascension testing. 
The regulations in this part also apply to any person holding a 
materials license as defined in this part, a Certificate of Compliance, 
a sealed source or device registration, a quality assurance program 
approval, and to a Government agency as defined in this part. 
Notwithstanding the other provisions in this section, the regulations 
in this part do not apply to uranium recovery and fuel facility 
licensees until after the Commission verifies through inspection that 
the

[[Page 37277]]

facility has been constructed in accordance with the requirements of 
the license.

0
7. In Sec.  171.15, revise paragraphs (a), (b)(1), (b)(2) introductory 
text, (c)(1), (c)(2) introductory text, (d)(1) introductory text, 
(d)(2) and (3), and (f) to read as follows:


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

    (a) Each person holding an operating license for a test or research 
reactor; each person holding an operating license for a power reactor 
licensed under 10 CFR part 50 or a combined license under 10 CFR part 
52 that has provided notification to the NRC that the licensee has 
successfully completed power ascension testing; each person holding a 
10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 power reactor license that is in 
decommissioning or possession only status, except those that have no 
spent fuel onsite; and each person holding a 10 CFR part 72 license who 
does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 license and provides 
notification in accordance with 10 CFR 72.80(g), shall pay the annual 
fee for each license held during the Federal fiscal year in which the 
fee is due. This paragraph (a) does not apply to test or research 
reactors exempted under Sec.  171.11(b).
    (b)(1) The FY 2020 annual fee for each operating power reactor that 
must be collected by September 30, 2020, is $4,621,000.
    (2) The FY 2020 annual fees are 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 fuel storage/
reactor decommissioning base annual fee are shown in paragraphs 
(c)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 
2020 fee-relief adjustment are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this 
section. The activities comprising the FY 2020 base annual fee for 
operating power reactors are as follows:
* * * * *
    (c)(1) The FY 2020 annual fee for each power reactor holding a 10 
CFR part 50 license or combined license issued under 10 CFR part 52 
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 or a 10 CFR part 52 
combined license, is $188,000.
    (2) The FY 2020 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 a fee-relief adjustment. The activities comprising the FY 
2020 fee-relief adjustment are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this 
section. The activities comprising the FY 2020 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 (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 (iii) of this section for a given 
fiscal year, annual fees will be reduced. The activities comprising the 
FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are as follows:
* * * * *
    (2) The total FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the 
operating power reactor class of licenses is a $1,152,477 fee-relief 
credit, not including the amount allocated to the spent fuel storage/
reactor decommissioning class. The FY 2020 operating power reactor fee-
relief adjustment to be assessed to each operating power reactor is 
approximately a $12,131 fee-relief credit. This amount is calculated by 
dividing the total operating power reactor fee-relief credit, 
$1,152,477, by the number of operating power reactors (95).
    (3) The FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the spent fuel 
storage/reactor decommissioning class of licenses is a $71,443 fee-
relief credit. The FY 2020 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 spent fuel storage 10 
CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license, is a 
$586 fee-relief credit. This amount is calculated by dividing the total 
fee-relief credit by the total number of power reactors 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.
* * * * *
    (f) The FY 2020 annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a 
research or test (non-power) reactor licensed under 10 CFR part 50, 
unless the reactor is exempted from fees under Sec.  171.11(b), are as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research reactor.......................................         $81,300
Test reactor...........................................         $81,300
------------------------------------------------------------------------


0
8. In Sec.  171.16, revise paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) introductory 
text to read as follows:


Sec.  171.16  Annual fees: Materials licensees, holders of certificates 
of compliance, holders of sealed source and device registrations, 
holders of quality assurance program approvals, and government agencies 
licensed by the NRC.

* * * * *
    (c) A licensee who is required to pay an annual fee under this 
section, in addition to 10 CFR part 72 licenses, 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 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
             NRC small entity classification                 licensed
                                                             category
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing (Average
 gross receipts over last 3 completed fiscal years):
    $485,000 to $7 million..............................          $4,500
    Less than $485,000..................................             900
Small Not-For-Profit Organizations (Annual Gross
 Receipts):
    $485,000 to $7 million..............................           4,500

[[Page 37278]]

 
    Less than $485,000..................................             900
Manufacturing Entities that Have An Average of 500
 Employees or Fewer:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           4,500
    Fewer than 35 employees.............................             900
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
 supported educational institutions) (Population):
    20,000 to 49,999....................................           4,500
    Fewer than 20,000...................................             900
Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly
 Supported, and have 500 Employees or Fewer:
    35 to 500 employees.................................           4,500
    Fewer than 35 employees.............................             900
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (d) The FY 2020 annual fees are comprised of a base annual fee and 
an allocation for fee-relief adjustment. The activities comprising the 
FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are shown for convenience in paragraph 
(e) of this section. The FY 2020 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          $5,067,000
         Enriched Uranium) \15\ [Program Code(s): 21213]
        (b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Form           1,717,000
         Used for Fabrication of Power Reactor Fuel \15\
         [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 \15\                  N/A
         [Program Code(s): 21310, 21320]................
        (b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration                  N/A
         facility \15\ [Program Code(s): 21205].........
        (c) Others, including hot cell facility \15\                 N/A
         [Program Code(s): 21130, 21133]................
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel                N/A
     and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC)
     waste at an independent spent fuel storage
     installation (ISFSI) 11 15 [Program Code(s): 23200]
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special                  2,800
     nuclear material of less than a critical mass, as
     defined in Sec.   70.4 of this chapter, 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,                7,000
     except licenses authorizing special nuclear
     material in sealed or unsealed form in combination
     that would constitute a critical mass, as defined
     in Sec.   70.4 of this chapter, for which the
     licensee shall pay the same fees as those under
     Category 1.A. [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111,
     22120, 22131, 22136, 22150, 22151, 22161, 22170,
     23100, 23300, 23310]...............................
    E. Licenses or certificates for the operation of a         2,208,000
     uranium enrichment facility \15\ [Program Code(s):
     21200].............................................
    F. Licenses for possession and use of special                  5,100
     nuclear materials greater than critical mass, as
     defined in Sec.   70.4 of this chapter, for
     development and testing of commercial products, and
     other non-fuel cycle activities.\4\ [Program Code:
     22155].............................................
2. Source material:
    A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of source             510,000
     material for refining uranium mill concentrates to
     uranium hexafluoride or for deconverting uranium
     hexafluoride in the production of uranium oxides
     for disposal.\15\ [Program Code: 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 facilities.\15\              N/A
         [Program Code(s): 11100].......................
        (b) Basic In Situ Recovery facilities.\15\                49,200
         [Program Code(s): 11500].......................
        (c) Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities \15\                N/A
         [Program Code(s): 11510].......................
        (d) In Situ Recovery Resin facilities.\15\               \5\ N/A
         [Program Code(s): 11550].......................
        (e) Resin Toll Milling facilities.\15\ [Program          \5\ N/A
         Code(s): 11555]................................
        (f) Other facilities \6\ [Program Code(s):               \5\ N/A
         11700].........................................
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct         \5\ N/A
     material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the
     Atomic Energy Act, from other persons for
     possession and disposal, except those licenses
     subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category
     2.A.(4).\15\ [Program Code(s): 11600, 12000].......
    (4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct             N/A
     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).\15\ [Program Code(s): 12010]..............
    B. Licenses which authorize the possession, use, and/          3,100
     or installation of source material for shielding.16
     17 Application [Program Code(s): 11210]............
    C. Licenses to distribute items containing source              7,700
     material to persons exempt from the licensing
     requirements of part 40 of this chapter. [Program
     Code: 11240].......................................
    D. Licenses to distribute source material to persons           6,000
     generally licensed under part 40 of this chapter.
     [Program Code(s): 11230 and 11231].................

[[Page 37279]]

 
    E. Licenses for possession and use of source                   7,400
     material for processing or manufacturing of
     products or materials containing source material
     for commercial distribution. [Program Code: 11710].
    F. All other source material licenses. [Program                9,100
     Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11300, 11800, 11810,
     11820].............................................
3. Byproduct material:
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of          27,900
     byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
     this chapter for processing or manufacturing of
     items containing byproduct material for commercial
     distribution. Number of locations of use: 1-5.
     [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213].............
        (1). Licenses of broad scope for the possession           37,100
         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. Number of
         locations of use: 6-20. [Program Code(s):
         03211, 03212, 03213]...........................
        (2). Licenses of broad scope for the possession           46,300
         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. Number of
         locations of use: More than 20. [Program
         Code(s): 04011, 04013, 04015]..................
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of                   11,300
     byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
     chapter for processing or manufacturing of items
     containing byproduct material for commercial
     distribution. Number of locations of use: 1-5.
     [Program Code(s): 03214, 03215, 22135, 22162]......
        (1). Other licenses for possession and use of             15,000
         byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
         chapter for processing or manufacturing of
         items containing byproduct material for
         commercial distribution. Number of locations of
         use: 6-20. [Program Code(s): 04110, 04112,
         04114, 04116]..................................
        (2). Other licenses for possession and use of             18,700
         byproduct material issued under part 30 of this
         chapter for processing or manufacturing of
         items containing byproduct material for
         commercial distribution. Number of locations of
         use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04111,
         04113, 04115, 04117]...........................
    C. Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72 and/or            10,500
     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). Number of locations of use: 1-5.
     [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513].............
        (1). Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72             13,800
         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). Number of locations of
         use: 6-20. [Program Code(s): 04210, 04212,
         04214].........................................
        (2). Licenses issued under Sec.  Sec.   32.72             17,400
         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). Number of locations of
         use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04211,
         04213, 04215]..................................
    D. [Reserved].......................................         \5\ N/A
    E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct               11,700
     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 or            10,700
     equal to 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 greater than            85,200
     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):
     03521].............................................
    H. Licenses issued under subpart A of part 32 of              10,700
     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, 03257].....
    I. Licenses issued under subpart A of part 32 of              16,900
     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               4,100
     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].............................
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of          15,000
     byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of
     this chapter for research and development that do
     not authorize commercial distribution. Number of
     locations of use: 1-5. [Program Code(s): 01100,
     01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612, 03613]..........
        (1). Licenses of broad scope for possession and           19,800
         use of product material issued under parts 30
         and 33 of this chapter for research and
         development that do not authorize commercial
         distribution. Number of locations of use: 6-20.
         [Program Code(s): 04610, 04612, 04614, 04616,
         04618, 04620, 04622]...........................

[[Page 37280]]

 
        (2). Licenses of broad scope for possession and           24,700
         use of byproduct material issued under parts 30
         and 33 of this chapter for research and
         development that do not authorize commercial
         distribution. Number of locations of use: More
         than 20. [Program Code(s): 04611, 04613, 04615,
         04617, 04619, 04621, 04623]....................
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of                   14,400
     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                 18,100
     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.\21\ [Program
     Code(s): 03219, 03225, 03226]......................
    O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct               29,900
     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
     Number of locations of use: 1-5. [Program Code(s):
     03310, 03320]......................................
        (1). Licenses for possession and use of                   40,000
         byproduct 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. Number of locations of
         use: 6-20. [Program Code(s): 04310, 04312].....
        (2). Licenses for possession and use of                   49,800
         byproduct 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. Number of locations of
         use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04311,
         04313].........................................
    P. All other specific byproduct material licenses,             9,700
     except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.\18\
     Number of locations of use: 1-5. [Program Code(s):
     02400, 02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123, 03124,
     03140, 03130, 03220, 03221, 03222, 03800, 03810,
     22130].............................................
        (1). All other specific byproduct material                13,000
         licenses, except those in Categories 4.A.
         through 9.D.\18\ Number of locations of use: 6-
         20. [Program Code(s): 04410, 04412, 04414,
         04416, 04418, 04420, 04422, 04424, 04426,
         04428, 04430, 04432, 04434, 04436, 04438]......
        (2). All other specific byproduct material                16,300
         licenses, except those in Categories 4.A.
         through 9.D.\18\ Number of locations of use:
         More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04411, 04413,
         04415, 04417, 04419, 04421, 04423, 04425,
         04427, 04429, 04431, 04433, 04435, 04437,
         04439].........................................
    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                7,000
         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 [Program Code(s): 02700].............
        (2). Possession of quantities exceeding 10 times           7,300
         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            30,300
     radionuclides [Program Code(s): 03210].............
4. Waste disposal and processing:
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of           31,900
     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           18,100
     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           10,200
     prepackaged waste byproduct material, source
     material, or special nuclear material from other
     persons. The licensee will dispose of the material
     by transfer to another person authorized to receive
     or dispose of the material. [Program Code(s):
     03232].............................................
5. Well logging:
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct               14,300
     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          34,000
     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          25,300
     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.\9\
     Number of locations of use: 1-5. [Program Code(s):
     02300, 02310]......................................
        (1). Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and          33,600
         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. This
         category also includes the possession and use
         of source material for shielding when
         authorized on the same license.\9\ Number of
         locations of use: 6-20. [Program Code(s):
         04510, 04512]..................................

[[Page 37281]]

 
        (2). Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and          42,000
         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. This
         category also includes the possession and use
         of source material for shielding when
         authorized on the same license.\9\ Number of
         locations of use: More than 20. [Program
         Code(s): 04511, 04513].........................
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                  30,800
     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\ Number of
     locations of use: 1-5. [Program Code(s): 02110]....
        (1). Licenses of broad scope issued to medical            41,100
         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\ Number of
         locations of use: 6-20. [Program Code(s):
         04710].........................................
        (2). Licenses of broad scope issued to medical            51,200
         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\ Number of
         locations of use: More than 20. [Program
         Code(s): 04711]................................
    C. Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and          14,800
     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 19 Number of locations of use:
     1[dash]5. [Program Code(s): 02120, 02121, 02200,
     02201, 02210, 02220, 02230, 02231, 02240, 22160]...
        (1). Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35,            19,700
         40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of
         byproduct material, source material, and/or
         special nuclear material, except licenses for
         byproduct material, source material, or special
         nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
         teletherapy devices. This category also
         includes the possession and use of source
         material for shielding when authorized on the
         same license.9 19 Number of locations of use: 6-
         20. [Program Code(s): 04810, 04812, 04814,
         04816, 04818, 04820, 04822, 04824, 04826,
         04828].........................................
        (2). Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35,            24,500
         40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of
         byproduct material, source material, and/or
         special nuclear material, except licenses for
         byproduct material, source material, or special
         nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
         teletherapy devices. This category also
         includes the possession and use of source
         material for shielding when authorized on the
         same license.9 19 Number of locations of use:
         More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04811, 04813,
         04815, 04817, 04819, 04821, 04823, 04825,
         04827, 04829]..................................
8. Civil defense:
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                7,000
     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          13,800
     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          11,400
     devices or products containing byproduct material,
     source material, or special nuclear material
     manufactured in accordance with the unique
     specifications of, and for use by, a single
     applicant, except reactor fuel devices.............
    C. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of           6,700
     sealed sources containing byproduct material,
     source material, or special nuclear material,
     except reactor fuel, for commercial distribution...
    D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of           1,400
     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 [Program Code(s): 25110]...........         \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 20 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, including master
     materials licenses (MMLs). The transition to this
     fee category occurs when a licensee has permanently
     ceased principal activities. [Program Code(s):
     03900, 11900, 21135, 21215, 21325, 22200]..........
    B. Site-specific decommissioning activities                  \7\ N/A
     associated with unlicensed sites, including MMLs,
     whether or not the sites have been previously
     licensed...........................................

[[Page 37282]]

 
15. Import and Export licenses..........................         \8\ N/A
16. Reciprocity.........................................         \8\ N/A
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to           312,000
 Government agencies.\15\ [Program Code(s): 03614]......
18. Department of Energy:
    A. Certificates of Compliance.......................  \10\ 1,007,000
    B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act               120,000
     (UMTRCA) activities [Program Code(s): 03237, 03238]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\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 of the current FY, 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.
\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 fee categories 7.A, 7.A.1, 7.A.2, 7.B., 7.B.1, 7.B.2,
  7.C, 7.C.1, or 7.C.2.
\10\ This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to the U.S.
  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.)
\15\ Licensees subject to fees under categories 1.A., 1.B., 1.E., 2.A.,
  and licensees paying fees under fee category 17 must pay the largest
  applicable fee and are not subject to additional fees listed in this
  table.
\16\ Licensees paying fees under 3.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B.
  for possession and shielding authorized on the same license.
\17\ Licensees paying fees under 7.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B.
  for possession and shielding authorized on the same license.
\18\ Licensees paying fees under 3.N. are not subject to paying fees
  under 3.P., 3.P.1, or 3.P.2 for calibration or leak testing services
  authorized on the same license.
\19\ Licensees paying fees under 7.B., 7.B.1, or 7.B.2 are not subject
  to paying fees under 7.C., 7.C.1, or 7.C.2 for broad scope license
  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 authorized on the same license.
\20\ No annual fee is charged for a materials license (or part of a
  materials license) that has transitioned to this fee category because
  the decommissioning costs will be recovered through 10 CFR part 170
  fees, but annual fees may be charged for other activities authorized
  under the license that are not in decommissioning status.
\21\ Licensees paying fees under 4.A., 4.B. or 4.C. are not subject to
  paying fees under 3.N. licenses that authorize services for other
  licensees authorized on the same license.

    (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 (3) of this section, as 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 (e)(2) 
and (3) of this section for a given fiscal year, a negative fee-relief 
adjustment (or annual fee reduction) will be allocated to annual fees. 
The activities comprising the FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are as 
follows:
* * * * *

0
9. In Sec.  171.17, revise paragraphs (a) introductory text and (a)(1) 
and (2) to read as follows:


Sec.  171.17  Proration.

* * * * *
    (a) Reactors, 10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold 10 CFR part 
50 or 10 CFR part 52 licenses, and materials licenses with annual fees 
of $100,000 or greater for a single fee category. The NRC will base the 
proration of annual fees for terminated and downgraded licenses on the 
fee rule in effect at the time the action is official. The NRC will 
base the determinations on the proration requirements under paragraphs 
(a)(2) and (3) of this section.
    (1) New licenses. (i) The annual fees for new licenses for power 
reactors that are subject to fees under this part, for which the 
licensee has notified the NRC on or after October 1 of a fiscal year 
(FY) that the licensee has successfully completed power ascension 
testing, are prorated on the basis of the number of days remaining in 
the FY. Thereafter, the full annual fee is due and payable each 
subsequent FY.
    (ii) The annual fees for new licenses for non-power reactors, 10 
CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 
licenses, and

[[Page 37283]]

materials licenses with annual fees of $100,000 or greater for a single 
fee category for the current FY, that are subject to fees under this 
part and are granted a license to operate on or after October 1 of a 
FY, are prorated on the basis of the number of days remaining in the 
FY. Thereafter, the full annual fee is due and payable each subsequent 
FY.
    (2) Terminations. The base operating power reactor annual fee for 
operating reactor licensees who have requested amendment to withdraw 
operating authority permanently during the FY will be prorated based on 
the number of days during the FY the license was in effect before 
docketing of the certifications for permanent cessation of operations 
and permanent removal of fuel from the reactor vessel or when a final 
legally effective order to permanently cease operations has come into 
effect. The spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee for 
reactor licensees who permanently cease operations and have permanently 
removed fuel from the site during the FY will be prorated on the basis 
of the number of days remaining in the FY after docketing of both the 
certifications of permanent cessation of operations and permanent 
removal of fuel from the site. The spent fuel storage/reactor 
decommissioning annual fee will be prorated for those 10 CFR part 72 
licensees who do not hold a10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 license who 
request termination of the 10 CFR part 72 license and permanently cease 
activities authorized by the license during the FY based on the number 
of days the license was in effect before receipt of the termination 
request. The annual fee for materials licenses with annual fees of 
$100,000 or greater for a single fee category for the current FY will 
be prorated based on the number of days remaining in the FY when a 
termination request or a request for a possession-only license is 
received by the NRC, provided the licensee permanently ceased licensed 
activities during the specified period.
* * * * *

    Dated: June 5, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cherish K. Johnson,
Chief Financial Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-13031 Filed 6-18-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P