[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14670-14698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6485]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 170 and 171
RIN 3150-AF07
Revision of Fee Schedules; 100% Fee Recovery, FY 1995
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend
the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants
and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which mandates that the NRC
recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal
Year (FY) 1995 less amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund
(NWF). The amount to be recovered for FY 1995 is approximately $503.6
million.
DATES: The comment period expires April 19, 1995. Comments received
after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
NRC is able to ensure only that comments received on or before this
date will be considered. Because Public Law 101-508 requires that NRC
collect the FY 1995 fees by September 30, 1995, requests for extensions
of the comment period will not be granted.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, ATTN: Docketing and
Service Branch.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm Federal workdays. (Telephone 301-
415-1678).
The agency workpapers that support these proposed changes to 10 CFR
Parts 170 and 171 may be examined at the NRC Public Document Room at
2120 L Street, NW. (Lower Level), Washington, DC 20555.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: C. James Holloway, Jr., Office of the
Controller, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555,
Telephone 301-415-6213.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background.
II. Proposed Action.
III. Section-by-Section Analysis.
IV. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement.
VI. Regulatory Analysis.
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
VIII. Backfit Analysis.
I. Background
Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990
(OBRA-90), enacted November 5, 1990, requires that the NRC recover
approximately 100 percent of its budget authority, less the amount
appropriated from the Department of Energy (DOE) administered NWF, for
FYs 1991 through 1995 by assessing fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to
extend the NRC's 100 percent fee recovery requirement through 1998.
The NRC assesses two types of fees to recover its budget authority.
First, license and inspection fees, established in 10 CFR part 170
under the authority of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act
(IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701, recover the NRC's costs of providing
individually identifiable services to specific applicants and
licensees. Examples of the services provided by the NRC for which these
fees are assessed are the review of applications for the issuance of
new licenses or approvals, and amendments to or renewal of licenses or
approvals. Second, annual fees, established in 10 CFR part 171 under
the authority of OBRA-90, recover generic and other regulatory costs
not recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees.
Subsequent to enactment of OBRA-90, the NRC published seven final
fee rules after evaluation of public comments. On July 10, 1991 (56 FR
31472), the NRC published a final rule in the Federal Register that
established the Part 170 professional hourly rate and the materials
licensing and inspection fees, as well as the Part 171 annual fees, to
be assessed to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY 1991 budget.
In addition to establishing the FY 1991 fees, the final rule
established the underlying basis and methodology for determining both
the 10 CFR part 170 hourly rate and fees and the 10 CFR part 171 annual
fees. The FY 1991 rule was challenged in Federal court by several
parties. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
rendered its decision on those challenges on March 16, 1993, in Allied-
Signal v. NRC, remanding two issues to the NRC for further
consideration (988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The court decision was
also extended to cover the FY 1992 fee rule by court order dated April
30, 1993.
On April 17, 1992 (57 FR 13625), the NRC published in the Federal
Register two limited changes to 10 CFR parts 170 and 171. The limited
changes became effective May 18, 1992. The limited change to 10 CFR
part 170 allowed the NRC to bill quarterly for those license fees that
were previously billed every six months. The limited change to 10 CFR
part 171 lowered in some cases the maximum annual fee of $1,800
assessed a materials licensee who qualifies as a small entity under the
NRC's size standards. A lower tier small entity fee of $400 per
licensed category was established for small business and non-profit
organizations with gross annual receipts of less than $250,000 and
small governmental jurisdictions with a population of less than 20,000.
On July 23, 1992 (57 FR 32691), July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666), and
July 20, 1994 (59 FR 36895), the NRC published final rules in the
Federal Register that established the licensing, inspection, and annual
fees necessary for the NRC to recover approximately 100 percent of its
budget authority for FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 respectively. The
basic methodology used in the FY 1992 and FY 1993 final rules was
unchanged from that used to calculate the 10 CFR part 170 professional
hourly rate, the specific materials licensing and inspection fees in 10
CFR Part 170, and the 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees in the final rule
published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31472). In FY 1994, the NRC directly
assigned additional effort to the reactor and materials programs for
the Office of Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, the Advisory
Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear
Waste. Resources for these activities had previously been included in
overhead, but were assigned directly to the class of licensees that
they support. Because this direct assignment resulted in a reduction of
overhead costs allocated to each FTE, the cost per full time equivalent
(FTE) was about 3 percent less than it would have been without the
additional direct assignment.
The methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was
changed in FY 1993 in response to the AlliedSignal v. NRC judicial
decision mentioned earlier. This change was explained in detail in the
FY 1993 final rule published July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38669-72). In brief,
the NRC created two groups--large waste generators and small waste
generators. Licensees within each group are charged a uniform fee. On
May 19, 1994 (59 FR 26097), the NRC amended its fee regulations in 10
CFR Part 171 to establish revised FY 1991 and FY 1992
[[Page 14671]] surcharges for NRC licensees based on this revised
method.
On March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12539), the NRC reinstated the annual fee
exemption for nonprofit educational institutions after notice and
comment. This exemption was also included in the FY 1994 final rule. In
response to the March 16, 1993, judicial decision, the exemption had
been eliminated in the final rule published by NRC on July 20, 1993 (58
FR 38666).
The American College of Nuclear Physicians and the Society of
Nuclear Medicine filed a Petition for Rulemaking which included a
request that the Commission exempt medical licensees from fees for
services provided in nonprofit institutions. The Commission denied that
request on March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12555).
II. Proposed Action
The NRC is proposing to amend its licensing, inspection, and annual
fees to recover approximately 100 percent of its FY 1995 budget
authority, including the budget authority for its Office of the
Inspector General, less the appropriations received from the NWF. For
FY 1995, the NRC's budget authority is $525.6 million of which
approximately $22.0 million has been appropriated from the NWF.
Therefore, OBRA-90 requires that the NRC collect approximately $503.6
million in FY 1995 through 10 CFR Part 170 licensing and inspection
fees and 10 CFR part 171 annual fees. This amount to be recovered for
FY 1995 is about $9.4 million less than the total amount to be
recovered for FY 1994 and $15.3 million less when compared to the
amount to be recovered for FY 1993. The NRC estimates that
approximately $137.7 million will be recovered in FY 1995 from the fees
assessed under 10 CFR Part 170. The remaining $365.9 million will be
recovered through the 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees established for FY
1995.
Recognizing that OBRA-90 may have resulted in certain fees that
were unfair or inequitable, Congress in Section 2903(c), of the Energy
Policy Act of 1992 (EPA-92), directed the NRC to review its annual fee
policy, solicit public comment on the need for changes to this policy,
and recommend to the Congress any changes to existing law needed to
prevent placing unfair burdens on NRC licensees. The NRC reviewed more
than 500 public comments submitted in response to the request for
comment published in the Federal Register on April 19, 1993 (58 FR
21116), and sent its report to Congress on February 23, 1994. A copy of
this report has been placed in the Public Document Room. This report
concluded that modifications to existing statutes governing NRC fees
are necessary to alleviate licensees' major concerns about fairness and
equity and to reduce the NRC administrative burden resulting from
assessing fees. The report recommended enactment of legislation that
would reduce the amount to be recovered from fees from 100 percent of
the NRC budget to approximately 90 percent of the budget and eliminate
the requirement that NRC assess 10 CFR part 170 fees.
In view of the fact that legislation has not been enacted to
address licensees' fairness and equity concerns and the concern about
the additional workload generated by 100 percent fee recovery, the
Commission has reexamined its existing fee policies to determine
whether they can be made more equitable. This reexamination was
undertaken with the goal of addressing, within the limitations of the
existing laws governing NRC fees, the concerns identified in the report
to Congress and improving other features of the NRC fee program. Based
on this reexamination, the NRC is proposing certain changes in 10 CFR
part 170 and 171 to partially alleviate the identified concerns and
improve the process of collecting NRC fees.
These proposed changes are summarized as follows and detailed in
the following sections.
1. Change the method for allocating the budgeted costs that cause
fairness and equity concerns. Approximately $56 million of NRC costs
either do not directly benefit NRC licensees or provide benefits to
non-NRC licensees. Currently, using three different methodologies,
these costs have been allocated to classes of licensees. Approximately
50 percent of these costs were paid by power reactors. Under the
proposed rule, these costs will instead be treated similar to overhead
and distributed to each class of licensees based on the percent of the
budget for that class. As a result, power reactors will pay a greater
percentage of these costs.
2. Eliminate the materials selected inspection fees (i.e., flat
fees and others with reasonable averages), hereinafter referred to as
``flat'' inspection fees in 10 CFR 170.31 and include the inspection
costs with the annual materials fees in 10 CFR 171.16(d). These
proposed actions would streamline the license fee process and provide
more predictable fees.
3. Change the methodology for calculating the professional hourly
rate to better align the budgeted costs with the major classes of
licensees. Two professional staff-hour rates are proposed instead of a
single rate.
4. Change the methodology for calculating annual fees for reactors,
fuel facilities and uranium recovery licensees to make annual fees more
closely reflect the cost of providing regulatory services to the
classes and subclasses of licensees and to improve efficiency.
5. Modify NRC small entity and lower-tier size standards for annual
fee purposes.
As a result of the reduced budget amount to be recovered for FY
1995 and these proposed changes, the annual fees for a large majority
of the licensees would be reduced. The following provides illustrative
examples of the changes in the annual fees.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed FY
FY 1994 annual 1995 annual
fee fee
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Class of Licensees:
Power Reactors...................... $3,078,000 $2,967,000
Nonpower Reactors................... 62,200 56,500
High Enriched Fuel Facility......... 3,231,770 2,569,000
Low Enriched Fuel Facility.......... 1,484,770 1,261,000
UF6 Conversion...................... 1,179,770 639,200
Uranium Mills....................... 74,670 60,900
Typical Material Licenses:
Radiographers....................... 19,170 14,000
Well Loggers........................ 12,870 8,100
Gauge Users......................... 2,470 1,700
Broad Scope Medical................. 32,570 23,400
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[[Page 14672]]
The NRC also notes that it plans to increase the use of
reimbursable agreements to avoid including certain costs that do not
benefit NRC licensees within the NRC budget. By doing this, the budget
will be reduced and the fees lowered. The NRC plans to exclude funds
for training, travel, and technical support to the Agreement States and
for review of Department of Energy (DOE)/Department of Defense (DOD)
defense related projects from the NRC budget, beginning in FY 1997.
This support would be provided to the Agreement States and DOE/DOD
through reimbursable agreements, which would eliminate the need to
recover the cost through fees assessed to NRC licensees. For FY 1995,
these costs will continue to be recovered through fees. Because this
change affects the budget and does not alter fee policies or methods,
it falls outside the scope of this proposed rulemaking and the
Commission is not soliciting comments on this policy change.
Although not a specific change in this rule, to help stabilize
fees, beginning in FY 1996, the NRC proposes that the annual fees be
adjusted only by the percent change in NRC's total budget. A base
annual fee would be established in FY 1995 using current methodology
modified by the changes in the final FY 1995 rule, and the percentage
change (plus or minus) in the NRC total FY 1995 budget would be applied
to all annual fees for the next four years (FY 1996-FY 1998 and FY 1999
if OBRA-90 is extended) unless there is a substantial change in the
total NRC budget or the magnitude of the budget allocated to a specific
class of licensees, in which case the annual fee base would be
reestablished. The decision on whether to establish a new baseline
would be made each year during budget formulation. For example, if the
total NRC budget is reduced by 3 percent and the number of licenses and
the amount estimated to be recovered under 10 CFR part 170 remains
constant in a given fiscal year, then all annual fees would be reduced
by approximately 3 percent. The NRC seeks comments on this approach in
this rulemaking.
The Commission notes that, if, based on public comments, the
Commission decides not to pursue some or all of these new proposed
policies, then the respective current fee policies would be continued
for FY 1995. Comments are also requested on whether the NRC should
continue any or all of its current fee policies in lieu of the policies
it proposes to change in this rule.
The NRC contemplates that any fees to be collected as a result of
this proposed rule will be assessed on an expedited basis to ensure
collection of the required fees by September 30, 1995, as stipulated in
OBRA-90. Therefore, as in FYs 1991-1994 the fees, if adopted, will
become effective 30 days after publication of the final rule in the
Federal Register. The NRC will send a bill for the amount of the annual
fee to the licensee or certificate, registration, or approval holder
upon publication of the final rule. Payment will be due on the
effective date of the FY 1995 rule.
The NRC will continue the proration of annual fees, established in
FY 1994, in accordance with the provisions of Section 171.17. The
annual fees for both reactor and material licensees are prorated based
on (1) the date applications are filed during the FY to terminate a
license or obtain a possession-only license (POL) and (2) the date new
licenses are issued during the FY.
A. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170: Fees for Facilities, Materials,
Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services
The NRC proposes four amendments to Part 170. These amendments do
not change the underlying basis for the regulation--that fees be
assessed to applicants, persons, and licensees for specific
identifiable services rendered. The proposed amendments also comply
with the guidance in the Conference Committee Report on OBRA-90 that
fees assessed under the Independent Offices Appropriation Act (IOAA)
recover the full cost to the NRC of identifiable regulatory services
each applicant or licensee receives.
First, the NRC is proposing to amend Sec. 170.11 of the
Commission's fee regulations to conform them to section 161 w. of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). That section of the AEA
currently allows the Commission to charge part 170 fees to power
reactors operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority or other Federal
government entities and to uranium enrichment facilities operated by
the United States Enrichment Corporation, as these reactors and
facilities are licensed or certified by the NRC. In all other cases,
the NRC is prevented from charging Part 170 fees to Federal agencies
for services rendered, due to a prohibition on such charges contained
in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 31 U.S.C. 9701.
Second, the NRC is proposing to revise the current method of
calculating the 10 CFR Part 170 professional hourly rate. Currently,
there is one professional hourly rate established in Sec. 170.20, which
is used to determine the fees assessed by the NRC. This professional
hourly rate was $133 per hour for FY 1994. The NRC proposes to
establish two professional hourly rates for FY 1995, which will be used
to determine the Part 170 fees. The NRC proposes to establish a rate of
$123 per hour ($214,765 per direct FTE) for the reactor program. This
rate is applicable to those licenses covered by 10 CFR part 170.21 of
the fee regulations. A second rate of $116 per hour ($203,096 per
direct FTE) is proposed for the nuclear materials and nuclear waste
program. This rate is applicable to those licenses covered by 10 CFR
Part 170.31 of the fee regulations. These rates are based on the FY
1995 direct FTEs and that portion of the FY 1995 budget that does not
constitute direct program support (contractual services costs) and is
not recovered through the appropriation from the NWF.
The two rates would be based on cost center concepts that are now
being used for NRC budgeting purposes. In implementing cost center
concepts, all budgeted resources for each cost center are assigned to
that center for analysis and license fee purposes to the extent they
can be separately distinguished. These costs include all salaries and
benefits, contract support, and travel that are required for each cost
center activity. Additionally, all resources for the Advisory Committee
on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste
(ACNW), the Office of Investigation (OI), the Office of Enforcement
(OE), and all program direct resources for the Office of the General
Counsel (OGC) will be assigned to cost centers. The NRC took a first
step in this direction in FY 1994 when it directly assigned additional
effort to the reactor and materials programs for OI, OE, ACRS and ACNW.
Commenters supported this change in FY 1994 indicating that such
assignment better defines the beneficiaries of certain regulatory
activities and more equitably allocates the fees for services provided
(59 FR 36897; July 20, 1994). The cost center concepts will be
discussed more fully in Section III--Section-by-Section Analysis.
Third, the NRC proposes that the current Part 170 licensing and
inspection fees in Secs. 170.21 and 170.31 for applicants and licensees
be revised to reflect both the revised hourly rates and the results of
the review required by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act. To
comply with the requirements of the CFO Act, the NRC has evaluated
historical professional staff hours used to process a licensing action
(new license, renewal, and amendment) for those materials licensees
whose fees are [[Page 14673]] based on the average cost method (flat
fees).
Evaluation of the historical data shows that the average number of
professional staff hours needed to complete materials licensing actions
should be increased in some categories and decreased in others to
reflect the costs incurred in completing the licensing actions. Thus,
the revised average professional staff hours reflect the changes in the
NRC licensing review program that have occurred since FY 1993. The
proposed licensing fees are based on the new average professional staff
hours needed to process the licensing actions multiplied by the
proposed nuclear materials professional hourly rate for FY 1995 of $116
per hour. The data for the average number of professional staff hours
needed to complete licensing actions were last updated in FY 1993 (58
FR 38666; July 20, 1993). For new licenses and amendments, the proposed
licensing fees for FY 1995 are reduced in approximately 50 percent of
the cases, while the proposed fees for renewals would increase in over
70 percent of the cases.
Fourth, the NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program and
improve the predictability of fees by eliminating the materials
``flat'' inspection fees in 170.31 and including the cost of the
inspections in 10 CFR Part 171. Eliminating the 10 CFR Part 170
materials ``flat'' fees would recognize that the ``regulatory service''
to licensees, referred to in OBRA-90, comprises the total regulatory
activities that NRC determines are needed to regulate a class of
licensees. These regulatory services include not only inspections, but
also research, rulemaking, orders, enforcement actions, responses to
allegations, incident investigations, and other activities necessary to
regulate classes of licensees. This proposed action would not result in
any net fee increases for affected licensees and would provide those
licensees with greater fee predictability, a frequent request made in
licensees' comments on past fee rules. The proposed materials annual
fees, which include the 10 CFR Part 170 inspection fees, would become
effective for FY 1995, and those materials licensees who paid a
``flat'' 10 CFR Part 170 inspection fee for inspections conducted in FY
1995 would receive a credit for those payments towards the FY 1995
annual fee assessed under 10 CFR Part 171. Because there is no annual
fee for licensees operating under reciprocity in non-Agreement States,
the reciprocity inspection fee has been combined with the application
fee.
In summary, the NRC is proposing to (1) establish two 10 CFR Part
170 hourly rates; (2) revise the licensing fees assessed under 10 CFR
Part 170 in order to comply with the CFO Act's requirement that fees be
revised to reflect the cost of the agency of providing the service; and
(3) eliminate the materials ``flat'' inspection fees in Sec. 170.31 and
include the costs of inspections with the materials annual fees in
Sec. 171.16(d), or with the reciprocity application fee in fee category
Sec. 170.31, Category 16.
Assessing Fees for Final Design Approval (FDA) and Design Certification
(DC) Reviews
During FY 1994, the question was raised by several standard design
vendors concerning the NRC's policy on assessment of 10 CFR part 170
licensing fees beyond issuance of the FDA. The Commission has examined
this issue and has decided to continue assessing fees to vendors for
its review costs incurred following the issuance of the FDA. This would
include fees to recover NRC costs for preparation of the Design Control
Document, review of comments on a proposed certification rule, and
preparation of a final certification rule. 10 CFR Part 170 fees will
not be assessed to the vendor for costs incurred for any contested
hearing before the Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) during
the design certification review and rulemaking.
While the NRC understands the impact of fees on its applicants and
licensees, it has concluded that 10 CFR part 170 review fees should
continue to be assessed beyond the FDA issuance, because the vendor,
who applies for a certification, is the principal beneficiary of the
certification. The fundamental policy underlying 10 CFR part 170 fees,
which are based on the requirements of the Independent Offices
Appropriation Act of 1952, as amended, is that the principal
beneficiary of a regulatory service should bear the cost of providing
that service. Applicants for design certifications will not be charged
10 CFR part 170 fees for any hearings held before an ASLBP under 10 CFR
52.51(b), which offers an opportunity for a hearing on a proposed
certification. It has long been the policy of the NRC not to charge
part 170 fees for hearings which are not mandated by law, and the NRC
has maintained this policy despite its recent obligation to recover 100
percent of the budget through fees. Thus, for example, the NRC does not
charge part 170 fees for power reactor operating license, amendment, or
enforcement hearings. The costs of such hearings are recovered through
the annual fees assessed to NRC licensees under 10 CFR part 171.
The NRC bills all design certification (DC) applicants for staff
hours and contractual expenses incurred by the Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation (NRR) in support of design certification and
approval review activities as stipulated in 10 CFR part 170. The Office
of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) staff and contractual expenses
related to advanced reactor designs have been billed under 10 CFR part
171 to holders of operating reactor licenses. Although NRR is
responsible for these advanced reactor reviews and licensing
determinations, certain activities performed by RES can be essential
elements of these reviews. If, for example, the review can be conducted
more efficiently by RES due to experience of its staff, NRR would
request that RES perform the review and provide the safety evaluation
report input. In conducting recent DC reviews, NRR and RES have
coordinated their activities to enhance the effectiveness and
efficiency of the reviews. In specific technical areas (e.g.,
evaluation of DC applicant test programs), RES staff expertise and
contractual resources provide direct support to NRR's licensing review.
As such, some RES activities involve direct review of advanced reactor
designs and provide input to the safety and licensing conclusions for
design certification. The NRC believes that some adjustments to the fee
policy are necessary to properly assess the applicant fees for design
certification review activities performed by RES. Beginning with the
effective date of the FY 1995 fee rule, the NRC plans to bill the
applicants for RES's direct review and evaluation of the standard
design in support of NRC's FDA and design certification. Direct review
includes evaluation of the applicant's test programs, vendor codes and
topical reports, standard safety analysis reports, and other supporting
design and analysis information. Under this approach, fee assessment
for RES costs would be treated identically to NRR charges for staff
full-time equivalent (FTE) employees or contractors associated with the
FDA/DC review. Billing vendors for RES activities that are in direct
review of the applicant's design is consistent with the major principle
of 10 CFR part 170 of assessing fees to the principal beneficiary of
the NRC regulatory activity (i.e., vendor receipt of an FDA/DC). The
applicant would not be assessed fees for confirmatory research related
to the designs. The budget for confirmatory research would continue
[[Page 14674]] to be recovered from annual fees assessed to operating
power reactor licensees under 10 CFR part 171.
B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: Annual Fees for Reactor Operating
Licenses, and Fuel Cycle Licenses and Materials Licenses, Including
Holders of Certificates of Compliance, Registrations, and Quality
Assurance Program Approvals and Government Agencies Licensed by NRC
The NRC proposes nine amendments to 10 CFR part 171. First, the NRC
is proposing to modify its method for recovering certain budgeted
costs. The report to Congress in response to EPA-92 identified fairness
and equity concerns regarding the fees charged to recover the cost of
certain NRC activities. Many licensees believed it was unfair to charge
them fees for activities and policies undertaken by the NRC that did
not benefit them and were not requested by them. The NRC is proposing
to modify its current policies for allocating the budgeted costs for
these and other activities that cause fairness and equity concerns,
including international activities, the nonprofit educational
exemption, the 10 CFR part 170 statutory exemption for Federal
agencies, the small entity annual fee reduction resulting from
implementing the Regulatory Flexibility Act, certain Site
Decommissioning Management Program (SDMP), generic decommissioning and
reclamation activities, and regulatory activities that support both NRC
and Agreement State licensees. It is proposed that the budgeted costs
of approximately $56 million for these activities be borne by all NRC
licensees because the activities are necessary for the NRC to carry out
its responsibilities but, in most instances, go beyond the regulation
of those licensees or applicants that pay fees. Thus, the NRC proposes
to allocate the approximately $56 million in fees for activities that
raise fairness and equity concerns to all licensees, based on the
budgeted dollars for each class of licensees. By allocating the costs
in this way, the entire population of NRC licensees would pay the
costs. The allocation would be based on the amount of the budget
directly attributable to a class of licensees. This would result in
operating power reactors paying approximately 89 percent of the costs
of the activities in question with the other classes of licensees
paying their respective share of these costs as follows: 3 percent to
fuel facilities, 5 percent to materials, and 1 percent to each of the
spent fuel, uranium recovery and transportation classes of licensees.
Second, 10 CFR 171.13 would be amended to provide that the NRC will
publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register as early as is
practicable but no later than the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Currently, the regulations provide for issuance of the proposed rule
during the first quarter of the fiscal year.
Third, NRC proposes to amend Secs. 171.15 and 171.16 to revise the
annual fees for FY 1995 to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY
1995 budget authority, less fees collected under 10 CFR Part 170 and
funds appropriated from the NWF.
Fourth, the annual fees for operating power reactors in
Sec. 171.15(d) would be revised to reflect a single uniform annual fee.
The NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program by assessing one
uniform annual fee for all operating power reactors. During the past
four years, the NRC has followed a somewhat lengthy and time-consuming
process in determining power reactor annual fees. The annual fees have
been determined in three ways. First, within the operating power
reactor class, a distinction was made between the four vendor groups,
that is, Babcock & Wilcox, Combustion Engineering, General Electric,
and Westinghouse. Second, within each vendor group, a distinction was
made using the type of containment, for example, General Electric Mark
I, II or III. Third, a distinction was made based on the location of
the reactor, that is, whether or not it is located east or west of the
Rocky Mountains. The NRC indicated in the FY 1991 rule (56 FR 31479;
July 10, 1991), and again in its request for public comment on NRC fee
policy (58 FR 21119; April 19, 1993) that it would reexamine this
approach with a view toward simplifying the method for determining
annual fees and streamlining the fee process without causing an unfair
burden. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its report on
license fees dated October 26, 1993, indicated that the fee process is
very detailed and labor intensive and that substantial effort is
expended in attempting to make the process equitable and the costs
reasonable. The OIG report stated that the determination of Part 171
fees could be simplified by eliminating/streamlining much of the
detailed analyses performed as part of the process. The NRC, for FY
1995, calculated the reactor annual fees using both the current method
and the proposed uniform method. For FY 1995, the lowest annual fee
using the current method is about $20,000 less than the proposed
uniform fee of about $3 million for an operating reactor. The NRC
believes that this difference is small enough, relative to the size of
the annual fee, to justify moving to a uniform annual fee particularly
in light of administrative savings that will follow. Therefore, in an
effort to streamline the fee program consistent with the OIG report on
fees and for ease of administration, whereby a single annual fee can be
used for fee billing purposes, the NRC is proposing to establish a
uniform annual fee for each operating power reactor.
Fifth, as discussed earlier, the annual fees for materials licenses
in Sec. 171.16(d) would include the budgeted costs for certain
materials inspections which were previously recovered under 10 CFR Part
170.31.
Sixth, the NRC is proposing to refine the method for calculating
the annual fees for fuel facilities and uranium recovery facilities.
The NRC indicated in its final FY 1994 fee rule that given the
questions raised by B&W Fuel Company, General Atomics and other fuel
facilities, it would reexamine the fuel facility subclass
categorizations, and include any restructuring resulting from this
reexamination in the FY 1995 proposed rule for notice and comment (59
FR 36901; July 20, 1994). Having conducted its own reexamination, the
NRC is therefore proposing revised methodologies for determining annual
fees for both fuel facility and uranium recovery licensees. These
revised methodologies have been used to determine the proposed FY 1995
annual fees. The use of the revised methodologies results in the annual
fee more accurately reflecting the cost of providing regulatory
services to each fuel facility and uranium recovery licensee. The
proposed methodologies are explained in more detail in Section III--
Section-by-Section Analysis.
Seventh, the NRC is proposing to modify the lower-tier size
standard for those licensees that qualify as a small entity under the
NRC's proposed size standards, published on November 30, 1994 (59 FR
61293). On April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business
Administration (SBA) issued a final rule changing its size standards.
The SBA adjusted its receipts-based size standard levels to mitigate
the effects of inflation from 1984 to 1994. On November 30, 1994 (59 FR
61293), the NRC published a proposed rule to amend the NRC's size
standards. The NRC proposed to adjust its receipts-based size standards
from $3.5 million to $5 million to accommodate inflation and to conform
to the SBA final rule. The NRC also proposed to eliminate the separate
$1 million size standard for private practice physicians and to apply
the receipts-based size standard of $5 [[Page 14675]] million to this
class of licensees. This mirrors the revised SBA standard of $5 million
for medical practitioners. The NRC also proposed to establish a size
standard of 500 or fewer employees for business concerns that are
manufacturing entities. This standard is the most commonly used SBA
employee standard and would apply to the types of manufacturing
industries that hold an NRC license. After evaluating the two comments
received, a final rule that would revise the NRC's size standards as
proposed has been developed and sent to the SBA for review and
approval. The NRC expects to publish the final rule before the final
fee rule becomes effective.
The NRC intends to use the revised standards in the final FY 1995
fee rule. The small entity fee categories in Sec. 171.16(c) of this
proposed fee rule have been modified to reflect the proposed changes in
the NRC's size standards. The existing maximum small entity annual fee
of $1800 will be continued for all small entities except those defined
as lower-tier small entities in this rule. The existing lower-tier
small entity fee of $400 will be assessed for those manufacturing
industries and educational institutions not State or publicly supported
with less than 35 employees, small governmental jurisdictions with a
population of less than 20,000, and non-manufacturing entities with
gross receipts of less than $350,000, a higher threshold than the
current lower-tier level of $250,000 in gross receipts.
Eighth, the NRC is proposing to modify Footnote 1 of 10 CFR
171.16(d) to provide for a waiver of the FY 1995 annual fees for those
materials licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations, and
approvals who either filed for termination of their licenses or
approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses prior to
October 1, 1994, and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely by
September 30, 1994. All other licensees and approval holders who held a
license or approval on October 1, 1994, are subject to FY 1995 annual
fees. This change is in recognition of the fact that since the final FY
1994 rule was published in July 1994, licensees have continued to file
requests for termination of their licenses or certificates with the
NRC. Other licensees have either called or written to the NRC since the
FY 1994 final rule became effective requesting further clarification
and information concerning the annual fees assessed. The NRC is
responding to these requests as quickly as possible. However, the NRC
was unable to respond and take action on all of the requests before the
end of the fiscal year on September 30, 1994. Similar situations
existed after the FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 rules were published,
and in those cases, NRC provided an exemption from the requirement that
the annual fee is waived only when a license is terminated before
October 1 of each fiscal year.
Ninth, the NRC is proposing to amend Sec. 171.19 to credit the
quarterly partial annual fee payments and ``flat'' inspection fee
payments for FY 1995 inspections already made by certain licensees in
FY 1995 either toward their total annual fee to be assessed or to make
refunds, if necessary.
The amounts to be collected through annual fees in the amendments
to 10 CFR Part 171 are based on the two proposed revised professional
hourly rates discussed previously in the summary of the proposed
changes to 10 CFR Part 170. The amendments to 10 CFR Part 171 do not
change the underlying basis for 10 CFR Part 171; that is, charging a
class of licensees for NRC costs attributable to that class of
licensees. The changes are consistent with the Congressional guidance
in the Conference Committee Report on OBRA-90, which states that the
``conferees contemplate that the NRC will continue to allocate generic
costs that are attributable to a given class of licensees to such
class'' and the ``conferees intend that the NRC assess the annual
charge under the principle that licensees who require the greatest
expenditures of the agency's resources should pay the greatest annual
fee'' (136 Cong. Rec. at H12692-93). For those NRC costs not
attributable to a class of licensees, the proposed amendments to 10 CFR
Part 171 follow the conferees' guidance which states that ``the
Commission should assess the charges for these costs as broadly as
practicable in order to minimize the burden for these costs on any
licensee or class of licensees . . .'' (136 Cong. Rec. at H12692-3).
C. FY 1995 Budgeted Costs
The FY 1995 budgeted costs, by major activity, that will be
recovered through 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 fees are shown in Table I.
Table I.--Recovery of NRC's FY 1995 Budget Authority
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
Recovery method amount
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nuclear Waste Fund........................................... $22.0
Part 170 (license and inspection fees)....................... 137.7
Other receipts............................................... .1
Part 171 (annual fees):
Power Reactors............................................. 265.3
Nonpower Reactors.......................................... .3
Fuel Facilities............................................ 10.1
Spent Fuel Storage......................................... 1.7
Uranium Recovery........................................... 1.8
Transportation............................................. 4.2
Material Users\1\.......................................... 24.91
Rare Earth Facilities...................................... .1
----------
Subtotal Part 171...................................... 308.4
Costs remaining to be recovered not identified above......... 57.4
==========
Total.................................................. 525.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Includes $5.8 million that will not be recovered from small materials
licensees because of the reduced small entity fees.
In addition to the $57.4 million remaining to be recovered in Table
I, approximately $5.8 million must be collected as a result of
continuing the $1,800 maximum fee for small entities and the lower-tier
small entity fee of $400 for certain licensees. The composition of the
$63.2 million is as follows:
Table II.--Activities to be Recovered Through Assessment of a Surcharge
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dollars
Activities in
millions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Agency Exemption...................................... $1.6
Nonprofit Educational Exemption............................... 6.1
International Activities...................................... 10.5
Small Entity Subsidy.......................................... 5.8
Agreement State Oversight..................................... 6.2
Regulatory Support to Agreement States........................ 14.2
Site Decommissioning Management Plan.......................... 6.2
Generic Decommissioning and Reclamation....................... 5.6
Generic Low Level Waste (LLW)................................. 7.0
63.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRC is proposing to continue the existing policy for recovering
the $7 million for generic LLW activities from licensees that generate
significant LLW. The revised method of allocation, described in detail
in the FY 1993 final rule (58 FR 38669; July 20, 1994) allocates the
LLW costs between two groups: large generators (power reactors and
large fuel facilities) and small generators (all other LLW-producing
[[Page 14676]] licensees). The remaining $56.2 million would be
distributed to virtually all classes of licensees based on the
percentage of the total budget directly allocated to each class. The
resulting allocations of the $63.2 million are as follows:
$55.2 million to operating power reactors;
$2.2 million to fuel facilities;
$.6 million to spent fuel storage licensees;
$.6 million to transportation licensees;
$.6 million to uranium recovery facilities; and
$4.0 million to other materials licensees.
III. Section-by-Section Analysis
The following analysis of those sections that are affected under
this proposed rule provides additional explanatory information. All
references are to Title 10, Chapter I, U.S. Code of Federal
Regulations.
Part 170
Section 170.11 Exemptions
This section would be amended to conform the fee regulations to
section 161 w. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). That
section of the AEA currently allows the Commission to charge Part 170
fees to power reactors operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority or
other Federal government entities and to uranium enrichment facilities
operated by the United States Enrichment Corporation, as these reactors
and facilities are licensed or certified by the NRC. In all other
cases, the NRC is prevented from charging Part 170 fees to Federal
agencies for services rendered, due to a prohibition on such charges
contained in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 31 U.S.C. 9701.
Section 170.20 Average Cost Per Professional Staff Hour
This section would be amended to establish two professional staff-
hour rates based on FY 1995 budgeted costs--one for the reactor program
and one for the nuclear material and nuclear waste program.
Accordingly, the NRC reactor professional staff-hour rate for FY 1995
for all fee categories that are based on full cost under Sec. 170.21 is
$123 per hour, or $214,765 per direct FTE. The NRC nuclear material and
nuclear waste professional staff-hour rate for all materials fee
categories that are based on full cost under Sec. 170.31 is $116 per
hour, or $203,096 per direct FTE. The rates are based on the FY 1995
direct FTEs and NRC budgeted costs that are not recovered through the
appropriation from the NWF. As noted earlier in this proposed rule, the
NRC has used cost center concepts in reallocating certain costs to the
reactor and materials programs in order to more closely align the
budgeted costs with specific classes of licensees. The method used to
determine the two professional hourly rates is as follows:
1. The direct program FTE levels are identified for both the
reactor program and the nuclear material and waste program.
2. Direct contract support, which is the use of contract or other
services in support of the line organization's direct program, is
excluded from the calculation of the hourly rate because these support
costs are charged directly through the various categories of fees.
3. All other direct program costs (i.e., Salaries and Benefits,
Travel) represent ``in-house'' costs and are to be collected by
dividing them uniformly by the total number of direct FTEs for the
program. In addition, Salary and Benefits plus contracts for General
and Administrative Support are allocated to each program based on that
program's salary and benefits. This method results in the following
costs, to be included in the hourly rates.
Table III.--FY 1995 Budget Authority to be Included in Hourly Rates
[Dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reactor Materials
Salary and benefits program program
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Program..................................... $148.5 $43.5
Allocated Agency Management & Support....... $39.9 $11.7
---------------------------
Subtotal.............................. $188.4 $55.2
General and Administrative Support (G&A):
Program Travel and Other Support........ $13.3 $2.7
Allocated Agency Management and Support. $73.6 $21.6
---------------------------
Subtotal.............................. $86.9 $24.3
Less offsetting receipts................ .1
===========================
Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate.. $275.2 $79.5
Program Direct FTEs......................... 1,281.6 391.6
Rate per Direct FTE......................... $214,765 $203,096
Professional Hourly Rate.................... $123 $116
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dividing the $275.2 million budget for the reactor program by the
number of reactor program direct FTEs (1281.6) results in a rate for
the reactor program of $214,765 per FTE for FY 1995. Dividing the $79.5
million budget for the nuclear materials and nuclear waste program by
the number of program direct FTEs (391.6) results in a rate of $203,096
per FTE for FY 1995. The Direct FTE Hourly Rate for the reactor program
is $123 per hour (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). This rate is
calculated by dividing the cost per direct FTEs ($214,765) by the
number of productive hours in one year (1744 hours) as indicated in OMB
Circular A-76, ``Performance of Commercial Activities.'' The Direct FTE
Hourly Rate for the materials program is $116 per hour (rounded to the
nearest whole dollar). This rate is calculated by dividing the cost per
direct FTEs ($203,096) by the number of productive hours in one year
(1744 hours).
Section 170.21 Schedule of Fees for Production and Utilization
Facilities, Review of Standard Reference Design Approvals, Special
Projects, Inspections and Import and Export Licenses
The NRC is proposing to revise the licensing and inspection fees in
this section, which are based on full-cost recovery, to reflect the FY
1995 budgeted costs and to recover costs incurred by the NRC in
providing licensing and inspection services to identifiable recipients.
The fees assessed [[Page 14677]] for services provided under the
schedule are based on the professional hourly rate, as shown in
Sec. 170.20, for the reactor program and any direct program support
(contractual services) costs expended by the NRC. Any professional
hours expended on or after the effective date of this rule will be
assessed at the FY 1995 hourly rate for the reactor program as shown in
Sec. 170.20. Although the average amounts of time to review import and
export licensing applications have not changed, the fees in
Sec. 170.21, facility Category K, have decreased from FY 1994 as a
result of the decrease in the hourly rate.
For those applications currently on file and pending completion,
footnote 2 of Sec. 170.21 is revised to provide that the professional
hours expended up to the effective date of the final rule will be
assessed at the professional rates in effect at the time the service
was rendered. For topical report applications currently on file which
are still pending completion of the review and for which review costs
have reached the applicable fee ceiling established by the July 2, 1990
rule, the costs incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached
through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any
professional hours expended for the review of topical report
applications, amendments, revisions, or supplements to a topical report
on or after August 9, 1991, are assessed at the applicable rate
established by Sec. 170.20.
Section 170.31 Schedule of Fees for Materials Licenses and Other
Regulatory Services, Including Inspections and Import and Export
Licenses
The licensing and inspection fees in this section, which are based
on full-cost recovery, would be modified to recover the FY 1995 costs
incurred by the NRC in providing licensing and inspection services to
identifiable recipients. The fees assessed for services provided under
the schedule would be based on both the professional hourly rate as
shown in Sec. 170.20 for the materials program and any direct program
support (contractual services) costs expended by the NRC. Those
licensing fees, which are based on the average time to review an
application (``flat'' fees), would be adjusted to reflect both the
revised average professional staff hours needed to process a licensing
action (new license, renewal, and amendment) and the decrease in the
professional hourly rate from $133 per hour in FY 1994 to $116 per hour
in FY 1995. The ``flat'' materials inspection fees in Sec. 170.31 would
be eliminated and combined with the materials annual fees in
Sec. 171.16(d). Because there is no annual fee for licensees operating
under reciprocity in non-Agreement States, the application fee would
include the costs of inspections.
As previously indicated, the CFO Act requires that the NRC conduct
a review, on a biennial basis, of fees and other charges imposed by the
agency for its services and revise those charges to reflect the costs
incurred in providing the services. Consistent with the CFO Act
requirement, the NRC has completed its most recent review of license
and inspection fees assessed by the agency. The review focused on the
flat fees that are charged to nuclear materials users for licensing
actions (new licenses, renewals, and amendments) and for inspections.
The full cost license and inspection fees (e.g., for fuel facilities)
and annual fees were not included in this biennial review because the
hourly rate for full cost fees and the annual fees are reviewed and
updated annually in order to recover 100 percent of the NRC budget
authority.
To determine the licensing and inspection flat fees for materials
licensees and applicants, the NRC uses historical data to determine the
average number of professional hours required to perform a licensing
action or inspection for each license category. These average hours are
multiplied by the proposed materials program professional hourly rate
of $116 per hour for FY 1995. Because the professional hourly rate is
updated annually and the NRC is proposing to eliminate materials
``flat'' inspection fees, the biennial review examined only the average
number of hours per licensing action with regard to the 10 CFR part 170
fees. The review indicated that the NRC needed to modify the average
number of hours on which the current licensing flat fees are based in
order to recover the cost of providing licensing services. The average
number of hours required for licensing actions was last reviewed and
modified in 1993 (58 FR 38666; July 20, 1993). Thus the revised hours
used to determine the proposed fees for FY 1995 reflect the changes in
the licensing program that have occurred since that time; for example,
new initiatives underway for certain types of licenses and management
guidance that reviewers conduct more detailed reviews of certain
renewal applications based on historical enforcement actions in order
to insure public health and safety have been incorporated into the
revised fees. For new licenses and amendments, the proposed licensing
fees for FY 1995 are reduced in approximately 50 percent of the cases,
while the proposed fees for renewals have increased in over 70 percent
of the cases.
The amounts of the licensing flat fees were rounded by applying
standard rules of arithmetic so that the amounts rounded would be de
minimus and convenient to the user. Fees that are greater than $1,000
are rounded to the nearest $100. Fees under $1,000 are rounded to the
nearest $10.
The proposed licensing flat fees are applicable to fee categories
1.C and 1.D; 2.B and 2.C; 3.A through 3.P; 4.B through 9.D, 10.B, 15A
through 15E and 16. The fees would be assessed for applications filed
on or after the effective date of the final rule. Although the average
amounts of time to review import and export licensing applications have
not changed, the fees in Category 15 have decreased from FY 1994 as a
result of the decrease in the hourly rate.
For those licensing, inspection, and review fees assessed that are
based on full-cost recovery (cost for professional staff hours plus any
contractual services), the proposed materials program hourly rate of
$116, as shown in Sec. 170.20, would apply to those professional staff
hours expended on or after the effective date of the final rule.
Part 171
Section 171.13 Notice
The language in this section is revised to reflect when the NRC
could more realistically expect to publish the proposed fee rule. The
NRC's experience indicates that the agency has been unable to publish
the proposed rule during the first quarter of the fiscal year as
indicated in the current FY 1994 rule. Therefore, this section will be
revised to indicate that the NRC will publish the proposed rule
(notice) in the Federal Register as early as is practicable but no
later than the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Section 171.15 Annual Fee: Reactor Operating Licenses
The annual fees in this section would be revised to reflect FY 1995
budgeted costs. Paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(1), (c)(2), (d), and (e)
would be revised to comply with the requirement of OBRA-90 to recover
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget for FY 1995. Table IV shows
the budgeted costs that have been allocated directly to operating power
reactors as part of the base annual fee. They have been expressed in
terms of the NRC's FY 1995 programs and cost centers. The resulting
total base annual fee amount for power reactors is shown, as well as
the one proposed uniform [[Page 14678]] annual fee to be assessed to
all operating reactors.
The NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program by assessing one
uniform annual fee for all operating power reactors. During the past
four years, the NRC has followed a somewhat lengthy and time consuming
process in calculating the amount of the power reactor annual fees. The
annual fees were determined in three ways. First, within the operating
power reactor class, a distinction was made between the four vendor
groups, that is, Babcock & Wilcox, Combustion Engineering, General
Electric and Westinghouse. Second, within each vendor group, a
distinction was made using the type of containment, for example,
General Electric Mark I, II or III. Third, a distinction was made based
on the location of the reactor: whether or not it is located east or
west of the Rocky Mountains. The NRC indicated in the FY 1991 rule (56
FR 31479; July 10, 1991) and again in its request for public comment on
NRC fee policy (58 FR 21119; April 19, 1993) that it would be
reexamining this approach with a view toward simplifying the method for
determining annual fees without causing an unfair burden. The NRC
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its report dated October 26,
1993, on license fees, described the fee process as very detailed and
labor intensive and stated that substantial effort is expended in
attempting to make the process equitable and the costs reasonable. The
OIG stated that the determination of the Part 171 fees could be
simplified by eliminating and streamlining much of the detailed
analyses performed as part of the process. This detailed breakdown of
the reactor annual fees was implemented when there were significant
differences in the NRC research funding for the various types of
reactors. This is no longer the case. The NRC for FY 1995, calculated
the reactor annual fees using both the current method (different fees
for different types of reactors) and the uniform method. The difference
between the lowest fee under the current method and the uniform fee is
about $20,000, which is less than 1 percent of the $3 million proposed
annual fee for an operating power reactor. Because of this extremely
small difference, the NRC believes that a single uniform annual fee
should be established for each operating power reactor. Not only will
this not cause an unfair burden, but it will allow the NRC to
streamline the fee program and simplify the fee process.
Table IV.--Allocation of NRC FY 1995 Budget to Power Reactors' Base Fees\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allocated to power reactors
------------------------------------------------------
Program total Program Program
support Direct FTE support Direct FTE
($,K) ($,K)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reactor Program
Cost Center: Reactor Regulation:
Inspections.......................................... $4,350 471.4 $4,350 471.4
Reactor Oversight.................................... 11,615 357.0 11,615 357.0
Reactor and Site Licensing........................... 1,660 26.3 1,660 26.3
Reactor Aging and Renewal............................ 19,973 54.7 19,973 54.7
Safety Assessment and Regulatory Development......... 33,687 69.5 33,687 69.5
Independent Analysis of Operational Experience....... 7,939 47.0 7,939 47.0
Technical Training and Qualification................. 4,728 19.0 4,728 19.0
Investigations, Enforcement and Legal Advice......... 11 59.0 11 59.0
Independent Review................................... 536 42.0 536 42.0
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $84,499 1,145.9
======================================================
Cost Center: Standard Reactor Designs:
Design Certification................................. 6,873 91.6 6,873 91.6
Safety Assessment.................................... 14,885 19.7 14,885 19.7
Legal Advice......................................... ........... 3.0 ........... 3.0
Independent Review................................... 86 10.0 86 10.0
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $21,844 124.3
======================================================
Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Waste Program
Cost Center: Fuel Facilities:
Licensing and Inspection............................. 1,304 28.5 ........... .1
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:
Licensing and Inspection............................. 50 2.6 ........... .9
Reactor Decommissioning.............................. 100 6.7 100 6.7
Radiological Surveys................................. 1,653 ........... 331 ..............
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $431 7.6
======================================================
Management and Support Programs
Cost Center: Special Technical Programs:
Educational Grants................................... 1,050 ........... 1,050 ..............
Small Business Innovation Research................... 1,844 ........... 1,844 ..............
Nuclear Materials Mgt. and Safeguards System......... 1,165 1.0 850 .7
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $3,744 .7
------------------------------------------------------
Reactor Program Total.............................. ........... ........... $110,518 1,278.6
======================================================
[[Page 14679]]
Total Base Fee Amount Allocated to Power Reactors.. ........... ........... ........... \2\$385.0
million
Less Estimated Part 170 Power Reactor Fees......... ........... ........... ........... $119.8 million
------------------------------------------------------
Part 171 Amount for Operating Power Reactors....... ........... ........... ........... $265.2 million
Part 171 Base Fee For Each Operating Reactor....... ........... ........... ........... 265.2 million
------------------------------------------------------
........... ........... ........... 108 reactors =
$2,456,000 per
reactor
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fees include all costs attributable to the operating power reactor class of licensees. The base
fees do not include costs allocated to power reactors for policy reasons.
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($214,765) and adding the program
support funds.
Paragraph (b)(3) would be revised to change the fiscal year
references from FY 1994 to FY 1995.
Paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) would be amended to show the amount of
the budget allocated for policy reasons (surcharge) to operating
reactors for FY 1995. This surcharge is added to the base annual fee
for each operating power reactor. The purpose of this surcharge is to
recover those NRC budgeted costs that are not directly or solely
attributable to operating power reactors but nevertheless must be
recovered to comply with the requirements of OBRA-90.
The FY 1995 budgeted costs that are to be recovered in the
surcharge from all licensees are as follows:
Table V
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 1995
budgeted
Category of costs costs ($ in
millions)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee
or class of licensee:
a. International cooperative safety program and
international safeguards activities;.................. $10.5
b. Agreement State oversight........................... 6.2
c. Low-level waste disposal generic activities; and.... 7.0
d. Site decommissioning management plan activities not
recoverable under 10 CFR Part 170..................... 5 6
2. Activities not assessed Part 170 licensing and
inspection fees or Part 171 annual fees based existing law
or Commission policy:
a. Fee Exemption of nonprofit educational institutions; 6.1
b. Licensing and inspection activities associated with
other Federal agencies;............................... 1.6
c. Costs not recovered from Part 171 for small entities 5.8
3. Activities supporting NRC operating licensees and
Others:
a. Regulatory support to Agreement States.............. $14.2
b. Decommissioning/Reclamation......................... 6.2
------------
Total Budgeted Costs................................. $63.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excluding low-level waste costs totalling $7 million, the current
policy allocates the remaining $56.2 million based on three different
methods. First, 100 percent of costs for certain activities (e.g.,
international activities and the nonprofit educational institution
exemption) are allocated to operating power reactors, based on the
guidance in the Conference Committee report accompanying OBRA-90 which
stated that these types of costs may be recovered from such licensees
as the Commission determines can fairly, equitably and practicably
contribute to their payment. The second method prorates the costs of
some activities (e.g., small entity subsidy and Agreement State
oversight) to all licensees under the implicit assumption that no one
class of licensees should have to bear the full cost. Under the third
method, 100 percent of the costs of some activities (e.g., SDMP and
regulatory support to Agreement States) are allocated to the class of
licensees to which the activities relate, independent of whether the
activities are needed for current licensees/applicants or support non-
NRC licensees. In addition to being based on three different
principles, the current policy creates significant annual fee problems
for classes of licensees with a small or declining number of licensees.
For example, as more states become Agreement States, the relatively
fixed costs for generic regulatory activities (e.g., rulemaking,
research, evaluation of operational data and policy development) that
support both NRC and Agreement State licensees would be allocated to a
smaller number of materials licensees, causing the NRC materials
licensees' annual fees to increase substantially. For example, if the
four States who have expressed interest in becoming Agreement States do
so within the next few years, then the remaining NRC materials
licensees' annual fees would increase by about 30 percent from current
levels.
For the above reasons, the NRC is proposing to change the current
policy for allocating the costs for activities [[Page 14680]] which
have raised fairness and equity concerns among many NRC licensees. The
proposed changes are based on the premise that these costs should be
borne by all NRC licensees, because while the activities are necessary
for the NRC to carry out its responsibilities, in most instances, they
go beyond the regulation of those licensees or applicants that pay
fees. Thus, the NRC proposes to allocate the costs in question to the
entire population of NRC licensees that pay annual fees. The allocation
would be based on the amount of the budget directly attributable to a
class of licensees and would result in, for instance, operating power
reactors paying 89 percent of the cost of these activities, compared to
approximately 50 percent of these costs in the FY 1994 rule.
This proposed change is consistent with the guidance in the
Conference Committee Report that accompanied OBRA-90. First, by
allocating these costs to all licensees, this proposed change is
consistent with the Conference Report guidance that: ``The Commission
should assess the charge for these activities as broadly as practicable
in order to minimize the burden for these costs on any licensee or
class of licensees so as to establish as fair and equitable a system as
is feasible.'' Second, allocating a higher percentage of these costs to
operating power reactors as opposed to other classes of licensees is
also consistent with the Conference Report guidance that: ``These
expenses may be recovered from such licensees as the Commission, in its
discretion, determines can fairly, equitable and practicably contribute
to their payment.'' Allocating these costs to the universe of NRC
licenses would minimize the impact of the declining numbers of licenses
in any specific class, because the costs would be allocated over the
maximum number of licensees. It would also put in place both a policy
that would help mitigate future fee concerns associated with declining
number of licenses, and a single methodology for allocating these types
of costs, something that has been requested in comments submitted on
previous proposed fee rules.
The annual additional charge for each operating power reactor is
determined as follows:
[GRAPHIC][TIFF OMITTED]TP20MR95.002
Based on the information in Tables IV and V, each operating power
reactor, except Big Rock Point, would pay a base annual fee of
$2,456,000 and an additional charge of $511,000 for a total FY 1995
annual fee of $2,967,000.
With respect to Big Rock Point, a smaller older reactor, the NRC
proposes to grant a similar partial exemption from the FY 1995 annual
fees similar to FY 1994 based on a request filed with the NRC in
accordance with Sec. 171.11.
Paragraph (d) would be revised to show, in summary form, the amount
of the total FY 1995 annual fee, including the surcharge, to be
assessed to each operating power reactor.
Paragraph (e) would be revised to show the amount of the FY 1995
annual fee for nonpower (test and research) reactors. In FY 1995,
$339,000 in costs are attributable to those commercial and non-exempt
Federal government organizations that are licensed to operate test and
research reactors. Applying these costs uniformly to those nonpower
reactors subject to fees results in an annual fee of $56,500 per
operating license. The Energy Policy Act established an exemption for
certain Federally-owned research reactors that are used primarily for
educational training and academic research purposes, where the design
of the reactor satisfies certain technical specifications set forth in
the legislation. Consistent with this legislative requirement, the NRC
granted an exemption from annual fees for FY 1992 and FY 1993 to the
Veterans Administration Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S.
Geological Survey for its reactor in Denver, Colorado, and the Armed
Forces Radiobiological Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, for its
research reactor. This exemption was initially codified in the July 20,
1993 (58 FR 38695) final fee rule at Sec. 171.11(a) and more recently
in the March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12543) final rule at Sec. 171.11(a)(2).
The NRC amended Sec. 171.11(a)(2) on July 20, 1994 (59 FR 36895) to
exempt from annual fees the research reactor owned by the Rhode Island
Atomic Energy Commission. The NRC intends to continue to grant
exemptions from the annual fee to those Federally-owned and State owned
research and test reactors who meet the exemption criteria specified in
Sec. 171.11.
Section 171.16 Annual Fees: Materials Licensees, Holders of
Certificates of Compliance, Holders of Sealed Source and Device
Registrations, Holders of Quality Assurance Program Approvals, and
Government Agencies Licensed by the NRC
Section 171.16(c) covers the fees assessed for those licensees that
can qualify as small entities under NRC size standards. On April 7,
1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a
final rule changing its size standards. The SBA adjusted its receipts-
based size standard levels to mitigate the effects of inflation from
1984 to 1994. On November 30, 1994 (59 FR 61293), the NRC published a
proposed rule to amend its size standards. The comment period expired
December 30, 1994. The proposed size standards are as follows:
(a) A small business is a for-profit concern and is a--
(1) Concern that provides a service or a concern not engaged in
manufacturing with average gross receipts of $5 million or less over
its last three completed fiscal years; or
(2) Manufacturing concern with an average number of 500 or fewer
employees based upon employment during each pay period for the
preceding 12 calendar months.
(b) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which is
independently owned and operated and has annual gross receipts of $5
million or less.
(c) A small governmental jurisdiction is a government of a city,
county, town, township, village, school district, or special district
with a population of less than 50,000.
(d) A small educational institution is one that is--
(1) Supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction; or
(2) Not state or publicly supported and has 500 or fewer employees.
[[Page 14681]]
(e) For purposes of this section, the NRC shall use the Small
Business Administration definition of receipts to include ``all revenue
in whatever form received or accrued from whatever source * * *'' (13
CFR 402(b)(2)). A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large entity does
not qualify as a small entity for purposes of this section.
The NRC has evaluated the comments received on the proposed rule,
prepared a draft final rule that will adopt these size standards and
submitted the final rule for the approval of the Administrator, Small
Business Administration, as required by statute.
Pending SBA approval, the NRC intends to use these size standards
in the final FY 1995 fee rule. Therefore, the small entity categories
in Sec. 171.16(c) of this proposed fee rule have been modified to
reflect the proposed changes in the NRC's size standards. Consistent
with the establishment of an employee size standard for manufacturers,
the NRC is also proposing that a new maximum small entity fee for
manufacturing industries with 35 to 500 employees be established at
$1,800 and a lower-tier small entity fee of $400 be instituted for
those manufacturing industries and educational institutions not State
or publicly supported with less than 35 employees. The lower-tier
receipts-based threshold of $250,000 has been raised to $350,000 to
reflect approximately the same percentage adjustment as that made by
the SBA when they adjusted the receipts-based standard from $3.5
million to $5 million.
Section 171.16(d) would be revised to reflect the FY 1995 budgeted
costs for materials licensees, including Government agencies, licensed
by the NRC. These fees are necessary to recover the FY 1995 generic and
other regulatory costs totalling $42.8 million that apply to fuel
facilities, uranium recovery facilities, rare earth facilities, spent
fuel facilities, holders of transportation certificates and QA program
approvals, and other materials licensees, including holders of sealed
source and device registrations.
Tables VI and VII show the NRC programs, cost centers, and
resources that are attributable to fuel facilities and materials users,
respectively. The costs attributable to the uranium recovery class of
licensees are those associated with uranium recovery licensing,
inspection, and generic activities. For transportation, the costs are
those budgeted for transportation licensing, inspection, and generic
activities. Similarly, the budgeted costs for spent fuel storage are
those for spent fuel storage licensing, inspection and generic
activities.
Table VI.--Allocation of NRC FY 1995 Budget to Fuel Facility Base Fees\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total program element Allocated to fuel facility
------------------------------------------------------
Program Program
support $,K FTE support $,K FTE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center: Fuel Facilities:
Fuel Fabricators Oversight and Inspections........... $1,698 59.0 $1,486 56.1
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:
Decommissioning...................................... 4,447 50.0 325 1.7
Cost Center: Other Nuclear Materials and Waste:
Independent Analysis of Operating Experience......... 346 8.0 69 1.6
Technical Training and Qualification................. 692 2.0 138 .4
Adjudicatory Reviews................................. ........... 1.0 ........... .5
Investigations, Enforcement, Legal Advice............ 11 39.0 1 1.6
Cost Center: Special Technical Program:
Nuclear Materials Mgt. and Safeguards System......... 1,165 1.0 47 ..............
------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. ........... ........... $2,066 61.9
======================================================
Total Base Fee Amount Allocated to Fuel Facilities. ........... ........... ........... \2\$14.6
million
Less Part 170 Fuel Facility Fees................... ........... ........... ........... 4.5 million
------------------------------------------------------
Part 171 Base Fees For Fuel Facilities............. ........... ........... ........... $10.1 million
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the fuel facility class of licensees. The base fee does
not include costs allocated to fuel facilities for policy reasons.
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($203,096) and adding the program
support funds.
Table VII.--Allocation of FY 1995 Budget to Material Users' Base Fees\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allocated to materials users
------------------------------------------------------
Total program element Program Program
support $,K FTE support $,K FTE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nuclear Materials & Nuclear Waste Program
Cost Center: Materials Users:
Licensing/Inspection of Materials Users.............. 2,436 113.0 721 82.3
Materials Licensee Performance....................... 700 1.8 189 .5
Materials Regulatory Standards....................... 1,494 12.8 403 3.5
Radiation Protection/Health Effects.................. 1,621 5.3 438 1.4
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $1,751 87.7
======================================================
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:
Licensing & Inspections.............................. 50 2.6 ........... .2
Decommissioning...................................... 214 32.8 69 3.5
[[Page 14682]]
Radiological Surveys................................. 1,653 ........... 372 ..............
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... 441 3.7
======================================================
Cost Center: Other Nuclear Materials:
Analysis of Operational Experience................... $346 8.0 184 1.7
Technical Training................................... 692 2.0 498 1.4
Adjudicatory Reviews................................. ........... 1.0 ........... .5
Investigations/Enforcement........................... 11 39.0 9 24.4
Event Evaluation..................................... ........... 16.0 ........... 4.4
------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center Total.................................. ........... ........... $691 32.4
======================================================
Total Program...................................... ........... ........... $2,883 123.8
Management and Support Program
Cost Center: Special Technical Programs:
Nuclear Material Management and Safeguard Systems.... 1,165 1.0 74 .1
------------------------------------------------------
Total All Programs................................. ........... ........... $2,957 123.9
======================================================
Base Amount Allocated to Materials Users........... ........... ........... ........... \2\$28.1
million
Less Part 170 Material Users Fees.................. ........... ........... ........... 3.2 million
Part 171 Base Fees for Material Users.............. ........... ........... ........... $24.9 million
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the materials class of licensees. The base fee does not
include costs allocated to materials licensees for policy reasons.
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($203,096) and adding the program
support funds.
The allocation of the NRC's $10.1 million in budgeted costs to the
individual fuel facilities is based on the revised methodologies
indicated earlier. The NRC indicated in its final FY 1994 fee rule that
given the questions raised by B&W Fuel Company, General Atomics and
other fuel facilities it would reexamine the fuel facility subclass
categorizations and that any restructuring resulting from this
reexamination would be included in the FY 1995 proposed rule for notice
and comment (59 FR 36901; July 20, 1994). The NRC is therefore
proposing a revised methodology for determining annual fees for fuel
facilities. The revised methodology has been used to determine the
proposed FY 1995 annual fees. The objective of revising the methodology
is to reflect more precisely agency generic costs attributable to fuel
facility licensees. This new methodology results in the creation of
five fuel facility license fee categories. Licenses are grouped into
these categories according to their license (nuclear type, enrichment,
form, quantity, and use/associated activity) and according to the level
scope, depth of coverage and rigor of generic regulatory programmatic
effort applicable to each category. This methodology can be applied to
determine fees for new licenses, current licenses and for licensees in
unique license situations. In each case, the existing license was used
to determine values for licensed nuclear material and its use without
regard for current or planned licensee activities, which are at the
discretion of the licensee.
The methodology is amenable to changes in the number of licenses,
licensed material/activities, and total programmatic resources to be
recovered through annual fees. When a license is modified, given that
NRC recovers approximately 100 percent of its generic regulatory
program costs through fee recovery, this revised fuel facility fee
methodology may result in a change in fee category and may have an
effect on the fees assessed to other licensees. For example, if a fuel
facility licensee amended its license so as to avoid Part 171 fees for
fuel facilities, the budget for the safety component would be spread
only among those remaining licensees, resulting in a higher annual fee
for those licensees.
Therefore, the methodology is applied as follows. First, a fee
category is assigned based on certain criteria and the licensed nuclear
material and use/associated activity. Although a licensee may choose
not to fully utilize a license, the license is still used as the source
for determining authorized nuclear material and use/associated
activity. Next, the category/license information is used to determine
where the license will fit into the matrix. The matrix depicts the
categorization of licenses by authorized material and use/activity and
the relative programmatic effort associated with each category. The
programmatic effort (expressed as a value in the matrix) reflects the
safety or safeguards significance associated with the authorized
nuclear material and use/activity, and the commensurate generic
regulatory program (i.e., scope, depth and rigor). The relative
weighted factors per facility for the various subclasses are as
follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relative weight per
Number of facility
facilities ---------------------
Safety Safeguards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Fuel.................... 2 1.00 1.00
Low Enriched Fuel..................... 4 .52 .34
Limited Operations Facility........... 1 .20 .11
UF6 Conversion........................ 1 .30 ..........
Others................................ 3 .12 .09
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above weighted factors for the safety and safeguards portion
are applied to the $10.1 million base fee. To this base fee, the LLW
and other surcharges are added. The resulting annual fee for each fuel
facility, including the additional charge (surcharge) is shown below.
[[Page 14683]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed
Type of facility annual fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Fuel:
Babcock & Wilcox...................................... $2,569,000
Nuclear Fuel Services................................. 2,569,000
Low Enriched Fuel:
Combustion Engineering (Hematite)..................... 1,261,000
General Electric...................................... 1,261,000
Siemens Nuclear Power................................. 1,261,000
Westinghouse.......................................... 1,261,000
Limited Operation Facilities:
B&W Fuel Company...................................... $501,700
UF6 Conversion:
AlliedSignal Corp..................................... $639,200
Other Fuel Facilities:
Babcock & Wilcox...................................... $340,700
General Atomics....................................... $340,700
General Electric...................................... $340,700
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the $2.3 million ($1.8 million in base budget plus $0.5 million
in surcharge) attributable to the uranium recovery class of licensees,
approximately $1.9 million will be assessed to the Department of Energy
(DOE) to recover the costs associated with DOE facilities under the
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA). In
September 1993, DOE became a general licensee of the NRC because post-
reclamation closure of the Spook, Wyoming site had been achieved. There
are two additional UMTRCA sites now under the general license: Burrell,
Pennsylvania and Loman, Idaho.
As indicated earlier, the NRC has refined its methodology for
establishing Part 171 annual fees for uranium recovery licenses. The
methodology identifies three categories of licenses: (1) Conventional
uranium mills; (2) solution mining uranium mills; and (3) mill tailings
disposal facilities, each of which benefits from the generic uranium
recovery program. In order to determine the benefits to each uranium
recovery category, a matrix was established to relate the category and
the level of benefit, by program element and subelement. The two major
program elements of the generic uranium recovery program are activities
related to facility operations and those related to facility closure.
Each of these elements was further divided into three subelements. The
three major subelements of generic activities related to uranium
facility operations are activities related to: (1) The operation of the
mill; (2) the handling and disposal of waste; and (3) prevention of
groundwater contamination. The three major subelements of generic
activities related to uranium facility closure are activities related
to: (1) Decommissioning of facilities and cleanup of land; (2)
reclamation and closure of the tailings impoundment; and (3) cleanup of
contaminated groundwater. Weighted factors were assigned to each
program element and subelement.
The two existing categories of mills, those that perform
conventional milling and those that perform solution mining and
milling, are continued. The existing category for licenses whose
purpose is to dispose of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material is also
continued. The matrix also contains a category for conventional mills
with Possession Only Licenses that are also authorized to dispose of
more than 5,000 cubic yards of byproduct material, as defined in
section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, from
other facilities. Currently, there are three mills authorized for such
waste disposal. The applicability of the generic program in each
subelement to each uranium recovery category was qualitatively
estimated as either significant, some, minor, or none.
The resulting relative weighted factor per facility for the various
subclasses is as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relative
No. of weight
facilities per
facility
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class I facilities............................... 3 1.00
Class II facilities.............................. 6 .57
11e.(2) disposal................................. 1 .73
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings
sites........................................... 3 .13
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using this refined approach, the remaining $0.4 million not
recovered from DOE results in annual fees for each class of licensees
as follows:
2.A.(2) -- Class I facilities: $60,900
2.A.(2) -- Class II facilities: $34,400
2.A.(2) -- Other facilities: $22,000
2.A.(3) -- 11e(2) disposal: $44,700
2.A.(4) -- 11e(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings site: $7,900
Because rare earth facilities are now budgeted for separately, a
separate class has been established for these licensees in this
proposed rule. For rare earth facilities, the generic and other
regulatory costs of $66,000 have been spread uniformly among licensees
who have a specific license for receipt and processing of source
material. This results in an annual fee of $22,000 for each facility.
For spent fuel storage licenses, the costs of $2.3 million ($1.7
million in base budget plus $0.6 million in surcharge) have been spread
uniformly among those licensees who hold specific or general licenses
for receipt and storage of spent fuel at an ISFSI. This results in an
annual fee of $291,500 for each facility. This represents a fee
decrease compared to FY 1994 because there are now more licensees in
this class.
To equitably and fairly allocate the $24.9 million directly
attributable to the approximately 6,200 diverse material users and
registrants plus the materials share ($2.8 million) of the surcharge,
the NRC has continued to base the annual fee on the Part 170
application fees and an estimated cost for inspections. Because the
application fees and inspection costs are indicative of the complexity
of the license, this approach continues to provide a proxy for
allocating the generic and other regulatory costs to the diverse
categories of licensees based on how much it costs NRC to regulate each
category. The fee calculation also continues to consider the inspection
frequency, which is indicative of the safety risk and resulting
regulatory costs associated with the categories of licensees. In
summary, the annual fee for these categories of licenses is developed
as follows:
Annual Fee = (Application Fee + Average Inspection Cost/Inspection
Priority) x Constant + (Unique Category Costs).
The constant is the multiple necessary to recover $27.7 million and
is 2.2 for FY 1995. The unique costs are any special costs that the NRC
has budgeted for a specific category of licensees. For FY 1995, unique
costs of approximately $1.0 million were identified for the medical
improvement program which is attributable to medical licensees.
For the first time, the NRC is proposing to combine the ``flat''
material inspection fees in 10 CFR part 170 with the annual fees in 10
CFR Part 171. This is being done to recognize that the ``regulatory
service'' to licensees referred to in OBRA-90, comprises the total
regulatory activities that NRC determines are needed to regulate a
class of licensees. These regulatory services include not only ``flat''
fee inspections but also research, rulemaking, orders, enforcement
actions, responses to allegations, incident investigations and other
activities necessary to regulate classes of licensees. In addition to
being consistent with the regulatory service concept in OBRA-90, the
NRC believes that materials licensees' ``flat'' inspection fees could
be combined with their annual fees without creating any significant
questions of fairness. This is because the concept of the annual fee,
including the inspection fee, has, in effect, already been implemented
for most materials licensees. First, materials [[Page 14684]] licensees
pay a ``flat fee'' per inspection based on the average cost of an
inspection for their fee category, and second, the routine inspection
frequency is identical for most licensees in the same fee category.
Furthermore, past experience suggests that less than 10 percent of the
materials inspections for these licensees are nonroutine. Thus,
licensees in the same materials license fee category pay essentially
the same average annual cost for inspections. Therefore, combining
inspection and annual fees results in essentially the same average cost
per license over time. Additionally, this approach will provide
materials licensees with simpler and more predictable NRC fee charges
as there will be no additional fees paid for periodic inspections. The
proposed materials annual fees would become effective for FY 1995, and
those materials licensees who paid a ``flat'' 10 CFR part 170
inspection fee for inspections conducted in FY 1995, would receive a
credit for those payments towards their FY 1995 annual fee assessed
under 10 CFR part 171. Those Agreement States licensees that paid an
inspection fee would not receive a credit because they pay no annual
fee.
Materials annual fees for FY 1995 have decreased compared to the FY
1994 annual fees. There are two basic reasons for this. First, the FY
1995 budgeted amount attributable to materials licensees is about 35
percent lower than the comparable FY 1994 amount, based on the
reallocation of certain materials budgeted costs to all NRC licensees
rather than to materials licensees as discussed earlier. The
professional hourly rate for the materials program has decreased from
$133 per hour to $116 per hour, due to the use of cost center concepts
in allocating NRC budgeted costs. These decreases are partially offset
by a decrease in the number of licensees to be assessed annual fees in
FY 1995 (from about 6,500 to about 6,200) and the inclusion of the
average annual inspection costs with the annual fee. For example, if an
inspection is performed every three years, one- third of the flat
inspection fee would be included in the annual fee.
A materials licensee may pay a reduced annual fee if the licensee
qualifies as a small entity under the NRC's size standards and
certifies that it is a small entity using NRC Form 526.
To recover the $4.7 million attributable to the transportation
class of licensees, $1.2 will be assessed to the Department of Energy
(DOE) to cover all of its transportation costs under Category 18. The
remaining transportation costs for generic activities ($3.5 million)
are allocated to holders of approved QA plans. The annual fee for
approved QA plans is $77,800 for users and fabricators and $1,000 for
users only.
The amount or range of the proposed FY 1995 annual fees for all
materials licensees is summarized as follows:
Materials Licenses--Annual Fee Ranges
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of license Annual fees
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 70--High enriched fuel....................... $2,569,000
Part 70--Low enriched fuel........................ 1,261,000
Part 40--UF6 conversion........................... 639,200
Part 40--Uranium recovery......................... 22,000 to 60,900
Part 30--Byproduct Material....................... 490 to 23,400\1\
Part 71--Transportation of Radioactive Material... 1,000 to 77,800
Part 72--Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel 291,500
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Excludes the annual fee for a few military ``master'' materials
licenses of broad-scope issued to Government agencies, which is
$417,700.
Section 171.16(e) would be amended to establish the additional
charge which is included in the annual fees shown in Section 171.16(d)
of this final rule. The Commission is continuing the approach used in
FY 1993 to assess the budgeted low-level waste (LLW) costs to two broad
categories of licensees (large LLW generators and small LLW generators)
based on historical disposal data. This surcharge is included in the
annual fees for the applicable categories in Section 171.16(d).
Although these NRC LLW disposal regulatory activities are not directly
attributable to regulation of NRC materials licensees, the costs
nevertheless must be recovered in order to comply with the requirements
of OBRA-90. For FY 1995, the additional charge recovers approximately
18 percent of the NRC budgeted costs of $7.0 million relating to LLW
disposal generic activities from small generators, which are comprised
of materials licensees that dispose of LLW. The percentage distribution
reflects the deletion of costs for LLW disposed of by Agreement State
licensees. The FY 1995 budgeted costs related to the additional charge
for LLW and the amount of the charge are calculated as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 1995
budgeted
Category of costs costs ($
in
millions)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or
class of licensee, i.e., LLW disposal generic activities.... $7.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the $7.0 million in budgeted costs shown above for LLW
activities, 82 percent of the amount ($5.7 million) are allocated to
the 119 large waste generators (reactors and fuel facilities) included
in 10 CFR Part 171. This results in an additional charge of $48,000 per
facility. Thus, the LLW charge will be $48,000 per HEU, LEU, UF6
facility, and each of the other three fuel facilities. The remaining
$1.3 million is allocated to the materials licensees in categories that
generate low-level waste (895 licensees) as follows: $1,400 per
materials license except for those in Category 17. Those licensees that
generate a significant amount of low-level waste for purposes of the
calculation of the $1,400 surcharge are in fee Categories 1.B, 1.D,
2.C, 3.A, 3.B, 3.C, 3.L, 3.M, 3.N, 4.A, 4.B, 4.C, 4.D, 5.B, 6.A, and
7.B. The surcharge for licenses in fee Category 17, which also generate
and/or dispose of low-level waste, is $21,000.
On the basis of this calculation, a fuel facility (a high-enriched
fuel fabrication licensee, for example) pays an annual fee of
$2,546,000 and an additional charge of $48,000 for LLW activities and
small entity costs. A medical center with a broad-scope program pays a
base annual fee of $22,000 and an additional charge of $1,400, for a
total FY 1995 annual fee of $23,400.
Footnote 1 of 10 CFR 171.16(d) would be amended to provide for a
waiver of the annual fees for those materials licensees, and holders of
certificates, registrations, and approvals who either filed for
termination of their licenses or approvals, or filed for possession
only/storage only licenses before October 1, 1994, and permanently
ceased licensed activities entirely by September 30, 1994. All other
licensees and approval holders who held a license or approval on
October 1, 1994 are subject to the FY 1995 annual fees.
Section 171.19 Payment
This section would be revised to give credit for partial payments
made by certain licensees in FY 1995 toward their FY 1995 annual fees.
The NRC anticipates that the first, second, and third quarterly
payments for FY 1995 will have been made by operating power reactor
licensees and some materials [[Page 14685]] licensees before the final
rule is effective. Therefore, the NRC would credit payments received
for those quarterly annual fee assessments toward the total annual fee
to be assessed. The NRC also expects that certain materials licensees
would have paid inspection fees for inspections that were performed in
FY 1995, whereas the rule proposes to include such costs in the annual
fee. The FY 1995 annual fee bills will reflect a credit for these
inspection fee payments. The NRC would adjust the fourth quarterly bill
in order to recover the full amount of the revised annual fee, or to
make refunds, as necessary. As in FY 1994, payment of the annual fee is
due on the effective date of the rule and interest accrues from the
effective date of the rule. However, interest will be waived if payment
is received within 30 days from the effective date of the rule.
During the past four years many licensees have indicated that
although they held a valid NRC license authorizing the possession and
use of special nuclear, source, or byproduct material, they were in
fact either not using the material to conduct operations or had
disposed of the material and no longer needed the license. In
responding to licensees about this matter, the NRC has stated that
annual fees are assessed based on whether a licensee holds a valid NRC
license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive material.
Whether or not a licensee is actually conducting operations using the
material is a matter of licensee discretion. The NRC cannot control
whether a licensee elects to possess and use radioactive material once
it receives a license from the NRC. Therefore, the NRC reemphasizes
that the annual fee will be assessed based on whether a licensee holds
a valid NRC license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive
material. To remove any uncertainty, the NRC issued minor clarifying
amendments to 10 CFR 171.16, footnotes 1 and 7 on July 20, 1993 (58 FR
38700).
IV. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion
The NRC has determined that this proposed rule is the type of
action described in categorical exclusion 10 CFR 51.22(c)(1).
Therefore, neither an environmental impact statement nor an
environmental impact assessment has been prepared for the proposed
regulation.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
This proposed rule contains no information collection requirements
and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
VI. Regulatory Analysis
With respect to 10 CFR Part 170, this proposed rule was developed
pursuant to Title V of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of
1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 9701) and the Commission's fee guidelines. When
developing these guidelines the Commission took into account guidance
provided by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 4, 1974, in its decision of
National Cable Television Association, Inc. v. United States, 415 U.S.
36 (1974) and Federal Power Commission v. New England Power Company,
415 U.S. 345 (1974). In these decisions, the Court held that the IOAA
authorizes an agency to charge fees for special benefits rendered to
identifiable persons measured by the ``value to the recipient'' of the
agency service. The meaning of the IOAA was further clarified on
December 16, 1976, by four decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia, National Cable Television Association v.
Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1094 (D.C. Cir. 1976);
National Association of Broadcasters v. Federal Communications
Commission, 554 F.2d 1118 (D.C. Cir. 1976); Electronic Industries
Association v. Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1109 (D.C.
Cir. 1976) and Capital Cities Communication, Inc. v. Federal
Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1135 (D.C. Cir. 1976). These
decisions of the Courts enabled the Commission to develop fee
guidelines that are still used for cost recovery and fee development
purposes.
The Commission's fee guidelines were upheld on August 24, 1979, by
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Mississippi Power
and Light Co. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 601 F.2d 223 (5th
Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1102 (1980). The Court held that--
(1) The NRC had the authority to recover the full cost of providing
services to identifiable beneficiaries;
(2) The NRC could properly assess a fee for the costs of providing
routine inspections necessary to ensure a licensee's compliance with
the Atomic Energy Act and with applicable regulations;
(3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting
environmental reviews required by NEPA;
(4) The NRC properly included the costs of uncontested hearings and
of administrative and technical support services in the fee schedule;
(5) The NRC could assess a fee for renewing a license to operate a
low-level radioactive waste burial site; and
(6) The NRC's fees were not arbitrary or capricious.
With respect to 10 CFR Part 171, on November 5, 1990, the Congress
passed Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1990 (OBRA-90) which required that for FYs 1991 through 1995,
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget authority be recovered
through the assessment of fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to extend
the 100 percent fee recovery requirement for NRC through 1998. To
accomplish this statutory requirement, the NRC, in accordance with
Sec. 171.13, is publishing the proposed amount of the FY 1995 annual
fees for operating reactor licensees, fuel cycle licensees, materials
licensees, and holders of Certificates of Compliance, registrations of
sealed source and devices and QA program approvals, and Government
agencies. OBRA-90 and the Conference Committee Report specifically
state that--
(1) The annual fees be based on the Commission's FY 1995 budget of
$525.6 million less the amounts collected from Part 170 fees and the
funds directly appropriated from the NWF to cover the NRC's high level
waste program;
(2) The annual fees shall, to the maximum extent practicable, have
a reasonable relationship to the cost of regulatory services provided
by the Commission; and
(3) The annual fees be assessed to those licensees the Commission,
in its discretion, determines can fairly, equitably, and practicably
contribute to their payment.
When developing the annual fees for operating power reactors, the
NRC is proposing a uniform annual fee rather than an annual fee that
considers the various vendors, the types of containment, and the
location of the operating power reactors. The NRC believes the
difference in fees of about $20,000 is small enough relative to the
size of the $3 million annual fees, to justify moving to a uniform
annual fee particularly in light of the administrative savings that
will follow. The annual fees for fuel cycle licensees, materials
licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations and approvals and
for licenses issued to Government agencies take into account the type
of facility or approval and the classes of the licensees.
10 CFR Part 171, which established annual fees for operating power
reactors effective October 20, 1986 (51 FR 33224; September 18, 1986),
was challenged and upheld in its entirety in Florida
[[Page 14686]] Power and Light Company v. United States, 846 F.2d 765
(D.C. Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1045 (1989).
10 CFR Parts 170 and 171, which established fees based on the FY
1989 budget, were also legally challenged. As a result of the Supreme
Court decision in Skinner v. Mid-American Pipeline Co., 109 S. Ct. 1726
(1989), and the denial of certiorari in Florida Power and Light, all of
the lawsuits were withdrawn.
The NRC's FY 1991 annual fee rule was largely upheld by the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (D.C.
Cir. 1993).
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The NRC is required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1990 to recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority
through the assessment of user fees. OBRA-90 further requires that the
NRC establish a schedule of charges that fairly and equitably allocates
the aggregate amount of these charges among licensees.
This proposed rule establishes the schedules of fees that are
necessary to implement the Congressional mandate for FY 1995. The
proposed rule results in an decrease in the annual fees charged to most
licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals,
including those licensees who are classified as small entities under
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The Regulatory Flexibility Analysis,
prepared in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 604, is included as Appendix A to
this proposed rule.
VIII. Backfit Analysis
The NRC has determined that the backfit rule, 10 CFR 50.109, does
not apply to this proposed rule and that a backfit analysis is not
required for this proposed rule. The backfit analysis is not required
because these proposed amendments do not require the modification of or
additions to systems, structures, components, or design of a facility
or the design approval or manufacturing license for a facility or the
procedures or organization required to design, construct or operate a
facility.
List of Subjects
10 CFR Part 170
Exports, Imports, Intergovernmental relations, Nuclear materials,
Nuclear power plants and reactors, Penalties.
10 CFR Part 171
Intergovernmental relations, Nuclear materials, Nuclear power
plants and reactors, Penalties
.For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and 5 U.S.C. 553, the NRC is
proposing to adopt the following amendments to 10 CFR parts 170 and
171.
PART 170--FEES FOR FACILITIES, MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT
LICENSES, AND OTHER REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE ATOMIC ENERGY ACT
OF 1954, AS AMENDED
1. The authority citation for Part 170 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701, 96 Stat. 1051; sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-
314, 86 Stat. 222 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-4381, 88
Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 205, Pub. L. 101-576,
104 Stat. 2842, (31 U.S.C. 901).
2. In Sec. 170.11, paragraph (a)(5) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 170.11 Exemptions.
(a) * * *
(5) A construction permit, license, certificate of compliance, or
other approval applied for by, or issued to, a Government agency,
except where the Commission is authorized by statute to charge such
fees.
* * * * *
3. Section 170.20 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 170.20 Average Cost Per Professional Staff-Hour.
Fees for permits, licenses, amendments, renewals, special projects,
Part 55 requalification and replacement examinations and tests, other
required reviews, approvals, and inspections under Secs. 170.21 and
170.31 that are based upon the full costs for the review or inspection
will be calculated using the following applicable professional staff-
hour rates:
Reactor Program................................... $123 per hour.
Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Waste Program....... $116 per hour.
4. In Section 170.21, the introductory text, Category J, Category
K, and footnotes 1 and 2 to the table are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 170.21 Schedule of Fees for Production and Utilization
Facilities, Review of Standard Referenced Design Approvals, Special
Projects, Inspections and Import and Export Licenses.
Applicants for construction permits, manufacturing licenses,
operating licenses, import and export licenses, approvals of facility
standard reference designs, requalification and replacement
examinations for reactor operators, and special projects and holders of
construction permits, licenses, and other approvals shall pay fees for
the following categories of services.
Schedule of Facility Fees
[See footnotes at end of table]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facility categories and type of fees Fees\1\\2\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * *
* * *
J. Special Projects:\4\
Approvals and preapplication/licensing Full Cost.
activities.
Inspections\3\................................ Full Cost.
K. Import and export licenses:
Licenses for the import and export only of
production and utilization facilities or the
import and export only of components for
production and utilization facilities issued
pursuant to 10 CFR part 110:
1. Application for import or export of
reactors and other facilities and components
which must be reviewed by the Commission and
the Executive Branch, for example, actions
under 10 CFR 110.40(b):
Application-new license....................... $7,500
Amendment..................................... $7,500
2. Application for import or export of reactor
components and initial exports of other
equipment requiring Executive Branch review
only, for example, those actions under 10 CFR
110.41(a)(1)-(8):
Application-new license................... $4,600
Amendment................................. $4,600
[[Page 14687]]
3. Application for export of components
requiring foreign government assurances only:
Application-new license................... $2,900
Amendment................................. $2,900
4. Application for export or import of other
facility components and equipment not
requiring Commission review, Executive Branch
review, or foreign government assurances:
Application-new license................... $1,200
Amendment................................. $1,200
5. Minor amendment of any export or import
license to extend the expiration date, change
domestic information, or make other revisions
which do not require analysis or review:
Amendment $120
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
to Sec. 2.202 of this chapter or for amendments resulting specifically
from the requirements of these types of Commission orders. Fees will
be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision
of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (e.g. Secs. 50.12, 73.5) and any other sections now or
hereafter in effect regardless of whether the approval is in the form
of a license amendment, letter of approval, safety evaluation report,
or other form. Fees for licenses in this schedule that are initially
issued for less than full power are based on review through the
issuance of a full power license (generally full power is considered
100 percent of the facility's full rated power). Thus, if a licensee
received a low power license or a temporary license for less than full
power and subsequently receives full power authority (by way of
license amendment or otherwise), the total costs for the license will
be determined through that period when authority is granted for full
power operation. If a situation arises in which the Commission
determines that full operating power for a particular facility should
be less than 100 percent of full rated power, the total costs for the
license will be at that determined lower operating power level and not
at the 100 percent capacity.
\2\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff
time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For
applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
the final rule will be determined at the professional rates in effect
at the time the service was provided. For those applications currently
on file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling
established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules but are
still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any
applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be
billed to the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above
those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the
applicable rates established by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except
for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed
$50,000 for any topical report, amendment, revision or supplement to a
topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989,
through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any
professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be
assessed at the applicable rate established in Sec. 170.20. In no
event will the total review costs be less than twice the hourly rate
shown in Sec. 170.20.
\3\Inspections covered by this schedule are both routine and non-routine
safety and safeguards inspections performed by NRC for the purpose of
review or followup of a licensed program. Inspections are performed
throughout the full term of the license to ensure that the authorized
activities are being conducted in accordance with the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, as amended, other legislation, Commission regulations or
orders, and the term and conditions of the license. Non-routine
inspections that result from third-party allegations will not be
subject to fees.
\4\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC:
1. In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result
in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an
alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
Letter, or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;
2. In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director level
or above) to resolve an identified safety or environmental issue, or
to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory guide, policy
statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or
3. As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations
and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory
improvements or efforts.
5. Section 170.31 is revised to read as follows:
Section 170.31 Schedule of fees for materials licenses and other
regulatory services, including inspections, and import and export
licenses.
Applicants for materials licenses, import and export licenses, and
other regulatory services and holders of materials licenses, or import
and export licenses shall pay fees for the following categories of
services. This schedule includes fees for health and safety and
safeguards inspections where applicable.
Schedule of Materials Fees
[See footnotes at end of table]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of materials licenses and type of fees\1\ Fee\2\\3\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Special nuclear material:
A. Licenses for possession and use of 200
grams or more of plutonium in unsealed form
or 350 grams or more of contained U-235 in
unsealed form or 200 grams or more of U-233
in unsealed form. This includes applications
to terminate licenses as well as licenses
authorizing possession only:
License, Renewal, Amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent
fuel at an independent spent fuel storage
installation (ISFSI):
License, Renewal, Amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
C. Licenses for possession and use of special
nuclear material in sealed sources contained
in devices used in industrial measuring
systems, including x-ray fluorescence
analyzers:\4\
Application--New license.................. $530.
Renewal................................... $720.
Amendment................................. $290.
[[Page 14688]]
D. All other special nuclear material
licenses, except licenses authorizing special
nuclear material in unsealed form in
combination that would constitute a critical
quantity, as defined in Sec. 150.11 of this
chapter, for which the licensee shall pay the
same fees as those for Category 1A:\4\
Application--New license.................. $580
Renewal................................... $650.
Amendment................................. $280.
E. Licenses for construction and operation of
a uranium enrichment facility:
Application............................... $125,000.
License, Renewal, Amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
2. Source material:
A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of
source material in recovery operations such
as milling, in-situ leaching, heap-leaching,
refining uranium mill concentrates to uranium
hexafluoride, ore buying stations, ion
exchange facilities and in processing of ores
containing source material for extraction of
metals other than uranium or thorium,
including licenses authorizing the possession
of byproduct waste material (tailings) from
source material recovery operations, as well
as licenses authorizing the possession and
maintenance of a facility in a standby mode:
License, Renewal, Amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
(2) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from
other persons, of byproduct material as
defined in section 11e(2) of the Atomic
Energy Act for possession and disposal except
those licenses subject to fees in Category
2.A.(1).
License, renewal, amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from
other persons, of byproduct material as
defined in section 11e(2) of the Atomic
Energy Act for possession and disposal
incidental to the disposal of the uranium
waste tailings generated by the licensee's
milling operations, except those licenses
subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(1).
License, renewal, amendment............... Full Cost.
B. Licenses which authorize the possession,
use and/or installation of source material
for shielding:
Application--New license.................. $150.
Renewal................................... $170.
Amendment................................. $230.
C. All other source material licenses:
Application--New license.................. $2,700.
Renewal................................... $1,500.
Amendment................................. $400.
3. Byproduct material:
A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and
use of byproduct material issued pursuant to
parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for
processing or manufacturing of items
containing byproduct material for commercial
distribution:
Application--New license.................. $2,900.
Renewal................................... $1,900.
Amendment................................. $530.
B. Other licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30
of this chapter for processing or
manufacturing of items containing byproduct
material for commercial distribution:
Application--New license.................. $1,200.
Renewal................................... $2,400.
Amendment................................. $560.
C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72,
32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter
authorizing the processing or manufacturing
and distribution or redistribution of
radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent
kits and/or sources and devices containing
byproduct material:
Application--New license.................. $3,900.
Renewal................................... $3,100.
Amendment................................. $500.
D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to
Secs. 32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this
chapter authorizing distribution or
redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals,
generators, reagent kits and/or sources or
devices not involving processing of byproduct
material:
Application--New license.................. $1,500.
Renewal................................... $480.
Amendment................................. $420.
E. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material in sealed sources for
irradiation of materials in which the source
is not removed from its shield (self-shielded
units):
Application--New license.................. $1,200.
Renewal................................... $820.
Amendment................................. $350.
F. Licenses for possession and use of less
than 10,000 curies of byproduct material in
sealed sources for irradiation of materials
in which the source is exposed for
irradiation purposes. This category also
includes underwater irradiators for
irradiation of materials where the source is
not exposed for irradiation purposes.
Application--New license.................. $1,500.
Renewal................................... $1,100.
Amendment................................. $360.
[[Page 14689]]
G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000
curies or more of byproduct material in
sealed sources for irradiation of materials
in which the source is exposed for
irradiation purposes. This category also
includes underwater irradiators for
irradiation of materials where the source is
not exposed for irradiation purposes.
Application--New license.................. $5,800.
Renewal................................... $5,200.
Amendment................................. $750.
H. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of
part 32 of this chapter to distribute items
containing byproduct material that require
device review to persons exempt from the
licensing requirements of part 30 of this
chapter, except specific licenses authorizing
redistribution of items that have been
authorized for distribution to persons exempt
from the licensing requirements of part 30 of
this chapter:
Application--New license.................. $2,300.
Renewal................................... $2,700.
Amendment................................. $990.
I. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of
part 32 of this chapter to distribute items
containing byproduct material or quantities
of byproduct material that do not require
device evaluation to persons exempt from the
licensing requirements of part 30 of this
chapter, except for specific licenses
authorizing redistribution of items that have
been authorized for distribution to persons
exempt from the licensing requirements of
part 30 of this chapter:
Application--New license.................. $4,300.
Renewal................................... $2,600.
Amendment................................. $840.
J. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of
part 32 of this chapter to distribute items
containing byproduct material that require
sealed source and/or device review to persons
generally licensed under part 31 of this
chapter, except specific licenses authorizing
redistribution of items that have been
authorized for distribution to persons
generally licensed under part 31 of this
chapter:
Application--New license.................. $1,500.
Renewal................................... $1,500.
Amendment................................. $280.
K. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of
part 32 of this chapter to distribute items
containing byproduct material or quantities
of byproduct material that do not require
sealed source and/or device review to persons
generally licensed under part 31 of this
chapter, except specific licenses authorizing
redistribution of items that have been
authorized for distribution to persons
generally licensed under part 31 of this
chapter:
Application--New license.................. $1,300.
Renewal................................... $1,300.
Amendment................................. $300.
L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and
use of byproduct material issued pursuant to
parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for research
and development that do not authorize
commercial distribution:
Application--New license.................. $4,100.
Renewal................................... $3,300.
Amendment................................. $640.
M. Other licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30
of this chapter for research and development
that do not authorize commercial
distribution:
Application--New license.................. $1,500.
Renewal................................... $1,700.
Amendment................................. $590.
N. Licenses that authorize services for other
licensees, except: (1) Licenses that
authorize only calibration and/or leak
testing services are subject to the fees
specified in fee Category 3P and (2) Licenses
that authorize waste disposal services are
subject to the fees specified in fee
Categories 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D:
Application--New license.................. $1,800.
Renewal................................... $1,900.
Amendment................................. $570.
O. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to part 34
of this chapter for industrial radiography
operations:
Application--New license.................. $3,700.
Renewal................................... $3,000.
Amendment................................. $700.
P. All other specific byproduct material
licenses, except those in Categories 4A
through 9D:
Application--New license.................. $530.
Renewal................................... $720.
Amendment................................. $290.
4. Waste disposal and processing:
A. Licenses specifically authorizing the
receipt of waste byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material from
other persons for the purpose of contingency
storage or commercial land disposal by the
licensee; or licenses authorizing contingency
storage of low-level radioactive waste at the
site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses
for receipt of waste from other persons for
incineration or other treatment, packaging of
resulting waste and residues, and transfer of
packages to another person authorized to
receive or dispose of waste material:
License, renewal, amendment............... Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
B. Licenses specifically authorizing the
receipt of waste byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material from
other persons for the purpose of packaging or
repackaging the material. The licensee will
dispose of the material by transfer to
another person authorized to receive or
dispose of the material:
Application--New license.................. $3,200.
[[Page 14690]]
Renewal................................... $2,300.
Amendment................................. $390.
C. Licenses specifically authorizing the
receipt of prepackaged waste byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material from other persons. The licensee
will dispose of the material by transfer to
another person authorized to receive or
dispose of the material:
Application--New license.................. $1,700.
Renewal................................... $1,200.
Amendment................................. $280.
5. Well logging:
A. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material, source material, and/or
special nuclear material for well logging,
well surveys, and tracer studies other than
field flooding tracer studies:
Application--New license.................. $3,100.
Renewal................................... $4,000.
Amendment................................. $610.
B. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material for field flooding tracer
studies:
License, renewal, amendment............... Full Cost
6. Nuclear laundries:
A. Licenses for commercial collection and
laundry of items contaminated with byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material:
Application--New license.................. $4,900.
Renewal................................... $1,900.
Amendment................................. $770.
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special
nuclear material:
A. Licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35,
40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of
byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material in sealed sources
contained in teletherapy devices:
Application--New license.................. $2,700.
Renewal................................... $1,400.
Amendment................................. $450.
B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical
institutions or two or more physicians
pursuant to parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of
this chapter authorizing research and
development, including human use of byproduct
material, except licenses for byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material in sealed sources contained in
teletherapy devices:
Application--New license.................. $2,900.
Renewal................................... $5,700.
Amendment................................. $560.
C. Other licenses issued pursuant to parts 30,
35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use
of byproduct material, source material, and/
or special nuclear material, except licenses
for byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material in sealed sources
contained in teletherapy devices:
Application--New license.................. $1,300.
Renewal................................... $1,400.
Amendment................................. $430.
8. Civil defense:
A. Licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material for civil defense
activities:
Application--New license.................. $730.
Renewal................................... $630.
Amendment................................. $340.
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety
evaluation:
A. Safety evaluation of devices or products
containing byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material, except
reactor fuel devices, for commercial
distribution:
Application--each device.................. $3,200.
Amendment--each device.................... $1,200.
B. Safety evaluation of devices or products
containing byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material
manufactured in accordance with the unique
specifications of, and for use by, a single
applicant, except reactor fuel devices:
Application--each device.................. $1,600.
Amendment--each device.................... $580.
C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources
containing byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material, except
reactor fuel, for commercial distribution:
Application--each source.................. $700.
Amendment--each source.................... $230.
D. Safety evaluation of sealed sources
containing byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material,
manufactured in accordance with the unique
specifications of, and for use by, a single
applicant, except reactor fuel:
Application--each source.................. $350.
Amendment--each source.................... $120.
10. Transportation of radioactive material:
A. Evaluation of casks, packages, and shipping
containers:
Approval, Renewal, Amendment.............. Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
B. Evaluation of 10 CFR Part 71 quality
assurance programs:
Application--Approval..................... $320.
Renewal................................... $340.
[[Page 14691]]
Amendment................................. $240.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
11. Review of standardized spent fuel facilities:
Approval, Renewal, Amendment.............. Full Cost.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
12. Special projects:\5\
Approvals and preapplication/licensing Full Cost.
activities.
Inspections............................... Full Cost.
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of
Compliance:
Approvals................................. Full Cost.
Amendments, revisions, and supplements.... Full Cost.
Reapproval................................ Full Cost.
B. Inspections related to spent fuel storage Full Cost.
cask Certificate of Compliance.
C. Inspections related to storage of spent Full Cost.
fuel under Sec. 72.210 of this chapter.
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material
licenses and other approvals authorizing
decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or
site restoration activities pursuant to 10 CFR
parts 30, 40, 70, and 72 of this chapter:
Approval, Renewal, Amendment.................. Full Cost.
Inspections................................... Full Cost.
15. Import and Export licenses:
Licenses issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 110 of
this chapter for the import and export only
of special nuclear material, source material,
byproduct material, heavy water, tritium, or
nuclear grade graphite.
A. Application for import or export of HEU and
other materials which must be reviewed by the
Commission and the Executive Branch, for
example, those actions under 10 CFR
110.40(b).
Application--new license.................. $7,500.
Amendment................................. $7,500.
B. Application for import or export of special
nuclear material, heavy water, nuclear grade
graphite, tritium, and source material, and
initial exports of materials requiring
Executive Branch review only, for example,
those actions under 10 CFR 110.41(a)(2)-(8).
Application--new license.................. $4,600.
Amendment................................. $4,600.
C. Application for export of routine reloads
of LEU reactor fuel and exports of source
material requiring foreign government
assurances only.
Application--new license.................. $2,900.
Amendment................................. $2,900.
D. Application for export or import of other
materials not requiring Commission review,
Executive Branch review or foreign government
assurances.
Application--new license.................. $1,200.
Amendment................................. $1,200.
E. Minor amendment of any export or import
license to extend the expiration date, change
domestic information or make other revisions
which do not require analysis or review.
Amendment................................. $120.
16. Reciprocity:
Agreement State licensees who conduct
activities in a non-Agreement State under the
reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.
Application (initial filing of Form 241).. $1,100.
Renewal................................... N/A.
Revisions................................. $200.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Types of fees--Separate charges, as shown in the schedule, will be
assessed for preapplication consultations and reviews and applications
for new licenses and approvals, issuance of new licenses and
approvals, amendments and renewals to existing licenses and approvals,
safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices, and certain
inspections. The following guidelines apply to these charges:
(a) Application fees--Applications for new materials licenses and
approvals; applications to reinstate expired, terminated or inactive
licenses and approvals except those subject to fees assessed at full
cost; and applications filed by Agreement State licensees to register
under the general license provisions of 10 CFR 150.20, must be
accompanied by the prescribed application fee for each category,
except that:
(1) Applications for licenses covering more than one fee category of
special nuclear material or source material must be accompanied by the
prescribed application fee for the highest fee category and
(2) Applications for licenses under Category 1E must be accompanied by
an application fee of $125,000.
(b) License/approval/review fees--Fees for applications for new licenses
and approvals and for preapplication consultations and reviews subject
to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E, 2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11,
12, 13A, and 14) are due upon notification by the Commission in
accordance with Sec. 170.12(b), (e), and (f).
(c) Renewal/reapproval fees--Applications for renewal of licenses and
approvals must be accompanied by the prescribed renewal fee for each
category, except that fees for applications for renewal of licenses
and approvals subject to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E,
2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14) are due upon notification by
the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(d).
(d) Amendment/Revision Fees--
(1) Applications for amendments to licenses and approvals and revisions
to reciprocity initial applications, except those subject to fees
assessed at full costs, must be accompanied by the prescribed
amendment/revision fee for each license/revision affected. An
application for an amendment to a license or approval classified in
more than one fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed
amendment fee for the category affected by the amendment unless the
amendment is applicable to two or more fee categories in which case
the amendment fee for the highest fee category would apply. For those
licenses and approvals subject to full costs (fee Categories 1A, 1B,
1E, 2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14), amendment fees are due
upon notification by the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(c).
(2) An application for amendment to a materials license or approval that
would place the license or approval in a higher fee category or add a
new fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee
for the new category.
(3) An application for amendment to a license or approval that would
reduce the scope of a licensee's program to a lower fee category must
be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for the lower fee
category.
[[Page 14692]]
(4) Applications to terminate licenses authorizing small materials
programs, when no dismantling or decontamination procedure is
required, are not subject to fees.
(e) Inspection fees--Inspections resulting from investigations conducted
by the Office of Investigations and nonroutine inspections that result
from third-party allegations are not subject to fees. The fees
assessed at full cost will be determined based on the professional
staff time required to conduct the inspection multiplied by the rate
established under Sec. 170.20 plus any applicable contractual support
services costs incurred. Inspection fees are due upon notification by
the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(g).
\2\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
to 10 CFR 2.202 or for amendments resulting specifically from the
requirements of these types of Commission orders. However, fees will
be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision
of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (e.g., 10 CFR 30.11, 40.14, 70.14, 73.5, and any other
sections now or hereafter in effect) regardless of whether the
approval is in the form of a license amendment, letter of approval,
safety evaluation report, or other form. In addition to the fee shown,
an applicant may be assessed an additional fee for sealed source and
device evaluations as shown in Categories 9A through 9D.
\3\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff
time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For those
applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
the final rule will be determined at the professional rates in effect
at the time the service was provided. For applications currently on
file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling
established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules, but are
still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any
applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be
billed to the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above
those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the
applicable rates established by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except
for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed
$50,000 for each topical report, amendment, revision, or supplement to
a topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989,
through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any
professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be
assessed at the applicable rate established in Sec. 170.20. The
minimum total review cost is twice the hourly rate shown in Sec.
170.20.
\4\Licensees paying fees under Categories 1A, 1B, and 1E are not subject
to fees under Categories 1C and 1D for sealed sources authorized in
the same license except in those instances in which an application
deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license.
Applicants for new licenses or renewal of existing licenses that cover
both byproduct material and special nuclear material in sealed sources
for use in gauging devices will pay the appropriate application or
renewal fee for fee Category 1C only.
\5\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC:
(a) In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result
in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an
alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
Letter or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;
(b) In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director
level or above) to resolve an identified safety or environmental
issue, or to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory guide, policy
statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or
(c) As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations
and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory
improvements or efforts.
PART 171--ANNUAL FEES FOR REACTOR OPERATING LICENSES AND FUEL CYCLE
LICENSES AND MATERIALS LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF CERTIFICATES
OF COMPLIANCE, REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM
APPROVALS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY THE NRC
6. The authority citation for Part 171 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: Sec. 7601, Pub. L. 99-272, 100 Stat. 146, as amended
by sec. 5601, Pub. L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330, as amended by sec.
3201, Pub. L. 101-239, 103 Stat. 2106 as amended by sec. 6101, Pub.
L. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388, (42 U.S.C. 2213); sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-
314, 86 Stat. 222 (42 U.S.C. 2201(w)); sec. 201, 88 Stat. 1242, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 2903, Pub. L. 102-486, 106 Stat.
3125, (42 U.S.C. 2214 note).
7. Section 171.13 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 171.13 Notice.
The annual fees applicable to an operating reactor and to a
materials licensee, including a Government agency licensed by the NRC,
subject to this part and calculated in accordance with Secs. 171.15 and
171.16, will be published as a notice in the Federal Register as soon
as is practicable but no later than the third quarter of FY 1996
through 1998. The annual fees will become due and payable to the NRC in
accordance with Sec. 171.19 except as provided in Sec. 171.17.
Quarterly payments of the annual fees of $100,000 or more will continue
during the fiscal year and be based on the applicable annual fees as
shown in Secs. 171.15 and 171.16 of the regulations until a notice
concerning the revised amount of the fees for the fiscal year is
published by Commission.
8. In Sec. 171.15, paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(1), (c)(2), (d), and
(e) are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 171.15 Annual fees: Reactor operating licenses.
(a) Each person licensed to operate a power, test, or research
reactor shall pay the annual fee for each unit for which the person
holds an operating license at any time during the Federal FY in which
the fee is due, except for those test and research reactors exempted in
Sec. 171.11(a)(1) and (a)(2).
(b) * * *
(3) Generic activities required largely for NRC to regulate power
reactors, e.g., updating Part 50 of this chapter, or operating the
Incident Response Center. The base FY 1995 annual fee for each
operating power reactor subject to fees under this section and which
must be collected before September 30, 1995, is $2,456,000. The total
annual fee to be assessed to each operating power reactor which would
include the surcharge for each reactor is shown in paragraph (d) of
this section.
(c)(1) An additional charge will be established and added to the
base annual fee for each operating power reactor. The amount of the
surcharge is the sum of the budgeted costs for each FY for the
following:
(i) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or
classes of licensees; e.g., international cooperative safety program
and international safeguards activities; support for the Agreement
State program; site decommissioning management plan (SDMP) activities
and approximately 82 percent of the low-level waste disposal generic
activities, and
(ii) Activities not currently assessed under 10 CFR Part 170
licensing and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission
policy, e.g., reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit
educational institutions and Federal agencies; activities related to
decommissioning and reclamation and costs that would not be collected
from small entities based on Commission policy in accordance with the
Regulatory Flexibility Act.
(2) The FY 1995 surcharge to be added to each operating power
reactor is $511,000. This amount is calculated by dividing the total
cost for these activities ($55.2 million) by the number of operating
power reactors (108).
(d) The FY 1995 Part 171 annual fee for each operating power
reactor, which includes the surcharge in paragraph (c)(2) of this
section, is $2,967,000. Thereafter, annual fees will be assessed in
accordance with Sec. 171.13.
(e) The annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a nonpower
(test and research) reactor licensed under part 50 of this chapter,
except for those reactors exempted from fees under Sec. 171.11(a), are
as follows:
[[Page 14693]]
Research reactor.............................................. $56,500
Test reactor.................................................. $56,500
* * * * *
9. In Sec. 171.16, the introductory text of paragraph (c) and
paragraphs (c)(4), (d), and (e) are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 171.16 Annual fees: Materials licensees, holders of certificates
of compliance, holders of sealed source and device registrations,
holders of quality assurance program approvals and Government agencies
licensed by the NRC.
* * * * *
(c) A licensee who is required to pay an annual fee under this
section may qualify as a small entity. If a licensee qualifies as a
small entity and provides the Commission with the proper certification,
the licensee may pay reduced annual fees for FY 1995 as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maximum annual
fee per
licensed
category
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small businesses not engaged in manufacturing and small
not-for-profit organizations (gross annual receipts):
$350,000 to $5 million................................ $1,800
Less than $350,000.................................... 400
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500
employees or less:
35 to 500 employees................................... 1,800
Less than 35 employees................................ 400
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly
supported educational institutions) (Population):
20,000 to 50,000...................................... 1,800
Less than 20,000...................................... 400
Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly
Supported, and have 500 Employees or Less:
35 to 500 employees................................... 1,800
Less than 35 employees................................ 400
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
(4) For FY 1995, the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus
surcharge) a small entity is required to pay is $1,800 for each
category applicable to the license(s).
(d) The FY 1995 annual fees, including the surcharges shown in
paragraph (e) of this section, for materials licensees and holders of
certificates, registrations or approvals subject to fees under this
section are as follows:
Schedule of Materials Annual Fees and Fees for Government Agencies
Licensed by NRC
[See footnotes at end of table]
Annual
Category of materials licenses Fees\1\\2\\3\
1. Special nuclear material:
A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of U-235 or
plutonium for fuel fabrication activities.
(a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material.
Babcock & Wilcox.................................................. SNM-42 $2,569,000
Nuclear Fuel Services............................................. SNM-124 2,569,000
(b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersable Form Used for Fabrication of
Power Reactor Fuel
Combustion Engineering (Hematite)................................. SNM-33 1,261,000
General Electric Company.......................................... SNM-1097 1,261,000
Siemens Nuclear Power............................................. SNM-1227 1,261,000
Westinghouse Electric Company..................................... SNM-1107 1,261,000
(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:
B&W Fuel Company.................................................. SNM-1168 501,700
(b) All Others:
Babcock & Wilcox.................................................. SNM-414 340,700
General Atomics................................................... SNM-696 340,700
General Electric.................................................. SNM-960 340,700
B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel at
an independent spent fuel storage installation
(ISFSI)............................................ 291,500
C. Licenses for possession and use of special
nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
devices used in industrial measuring systems,
including x-ray fluorescence analyzers............. 1,300
D. All other special nuclear material licenses,
except licenses authorizing special nuclear
material in unsealed form in combination that would
constitute a critical quantity, as defined in Sec.
150.11 of this chapter, for which the licensee
shall pay the same fees as those for Category
1.A.(2)............................................ 3,000
E. Licenses for the operation of a uranium
enrichment facility................................ \11\N/A
2. Source Material
A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of source
material for refining uranium mill concentrates to
uranium hexafluoride............................... 639,200
(2) Licenses for possession and use of source
material in recovery operations such as milling, in-
situ leaching, heap-leaching, ore buying stations,
ion exchange facilities and in processing of ores
containing source material for extraction of metals
other than uranium or thorium, including licenses
authorizing the possession of byproduct waste
material (tailings) from source material recovery
operations, as well as licenses authorizing the
possession and maintenance of a facility in a
standby mode
Class I facilities\4\........................... 60,900
Class II facilities\4\.......................... 34,400
Other facilities................................ 22,000
(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other
persons, of byproduct material as defined in
Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for
possession and disposal, except those licenses
subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category
2.A.(4)............................................ 44,700
(4) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other
persons, of byproduct material as defined in
Section 11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for
possession and disposal incidental to the disposal
of the uranium waste tailings generated by the
licensee's milling operations, except those
licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2)... 7,900
[[Page 14694]]
B. Licenses which authorize only the possession,
use and/or installation of source material for
shielding...................................... 490
C. All other source material licenses........... 8,700
3. Byproduct material:
A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to parts 30 and
33 of this chapter for processing or manufacturing
of items containing byproduct material for
commercial distribution............................ 16,500
B. Other licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 30 of
this chapter for processing or manufacturing of
items containing byproduct material for commercial
distribution....................................... 5,500
C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72, 32.73,
and/or 32.74 of this chapter authorizing the
processing or manufacturing and distribution or
redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators,
reagent kits and/or sources and devices containing
byproduct material. This category also includes the
possession and use of source material for shielding
authorized pursuant to Part 40 of this chapter when
included on the same license....................... 11,200
D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to Secs.
32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter
authorizing distribution or redistribution of
radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits and/
or sources or devices not involving processing of
byproduct material. This category also includes the
possession and use of source material for shielding
authorized pursuant to part 40 of this chapter when
included on the same license....................... 4,400
E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct
material in sealed sources for irradiation of
materials in which the source is not removed from
its shield (self-shielded units)................... 3,200
F. Licenses for possession and use of less than
10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed
sources for irradiation of materials in which the
source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This
category also includes underwater irradiators for
irradiation of materials in which the source is not
exposed for irradiation purposes................... 3,800
G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000 curies
or more of byproduct material in sealed sources for
irradiation of materials in which the source is
exposed for irradiation purposes. This category
also includes underwater irradiators for
irradiation of materials in which the source is not
exposed for irradiation purposes................... 19,600
H. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of part 32
of this chapter to distribute items containing
byproduct material that require device review to
persons exempt from the licensing requirements of
part 30 of this chapter, except specific licenses
authorizing redistribution of items that have been
authorized for distribution to persons exempt from
the licensing requirements of part 30 of this
chapter............................................ 5,000
I. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of part 32
of this chapter to distribute items containing
byproduct material or quantities of byproduct
material that do not require device evaluation to
persons exempt from the licensing requirements of
part 30 of this chapter, except for specific
licenses authorizing redistribution of items that
have been authorized for distribution to persons
exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30
of this chapter.................................... 8,800
J. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of part 32
of this chapter to distribute items containing
byproduct material that require sealed source and/
or device review to persons generally licensed
under part 31 of this chapter, except specific
licenses authorizing redistribution of items that
have been authorized for distribution to persons
generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter... 3,800
K. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of part 31
of this chapter to distribute items containing
byproduct material or quantities of byproduct
material that do not require sealed source and/or
device review to persons generally licensed under
Part 31 of this chapter, except specific licenses
authorizing redistribution of items that have been
authorized for distribution to persons generally
licensed under part 31 of this chapter............. 3,200
L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to parts 30 and
33 of this chapter for research and development
that do not authorize commercial distribution...... 12,200
M. Other licenses for possession and use of
byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30 of
this chapter for research and development that do
not authorize commercial distribution.............. 5,400
N. Licenses that authorize services for other
licensees, except:
(1) Licenses that authorize only calibration
and/or leak testing services are subject to the
fees specified in fee Category 3P and
(2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal
services are subject to the fees specified in
fee Categories 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D 6,000
O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct
material issued pursuant to Part 34 of this chapter
for industrial radiography operations. This
category also includes the possession and use of
source material for shielding authorized pursuant
to Part 40 of this chapter when authorized on the
same license....................................... 14,000
P. All other specific byproduct material licenses,
except those in Categories 4A through 9D........... 1,700
4. Waste disposal and processing:
A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of
waste byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material from other persons for the
purpose of contingency storage or commercial land
disposal by the licensee; or licenses authorizing
contingency storage of low-level radioactive waste
at the site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses
for receipt of waste from other persons for
incineration or other treatment, packaging of
resulting waste and residues, and transfer of
packages to another person authorized to receive or
dispose of waste material.......................... \5\101,600
B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of
waste byproduct material, source material, or
special nuclear material from other persons for the
purpose of packaging or repackaging the material.
The licensee will dispose of the material by
transfer to another person authorized to receive or
dispose of the material............................ 14,400
C. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of
prepackaged waste byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material from other
persons. The licensee will dispose of the material
by transfer to another person authorized to receive
or dispose of the material......................... 7,600
5. Well logging:
A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct
material, source material, and/or special nuclear
material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer
studies other than field flooding tracer studies... 8,100
B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct
material for field flooding tracer studies......... 13,100
6. Nuclear laundries:
A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of
items contaminated with byproduct material, source
material, or special nuclear material.............. 14,600
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special nuclear
material.
A. Licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35, 40, and
70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy
devices. This category also includes the possession
and use of source material for shielding when
authorized on the same license..................... 10,200
[[Page 14695]]
B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical
institutions or two or more physicians pursuant to
parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter
authorizing research and development, including
human use of byproduct material except licenses for
byproduct material, source material, or special
nuclear material in sealed sources contained in
teletherapy devices. This category also includes
the possession and use of source material for
shielding when authorized on the same license...... \9\23,300
C. Other licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35,
40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of
byproduct material, source material, and/or special
nuclear material except licenses for byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy
devices. This category also includes the possession
and use of source material for shielding when
authorized on the same license..................... \9\4,700
8. Civil defense:
A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct
material, source material, or special nuclear
material for civil defense activities.............. 1,800
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety evaluation:
A. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of
devices or products containing byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material,
except reactor fuel devices, for commercial
distribution....................................... 7,200
B. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of
devices or products containing byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material
manufactured in accordance with the unique
specifications of, and for use by, a single
applicant, except reactor fuel devices............. 3,700
C. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of
sealed sources containing byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material,
except reactor fuel, for commercial distribution... 1,600
D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of
sealed sources containing byproduct material,
source material, or special nuclear material,
manufactured in accordance with the unique
specifications of, and for use by, a single
applicant, except reactor fuel..................... 780
10. Transportation of radioactive material:
A. Certificates of Compliance or other package
approvals issued for design of casks, packages, and
shipping containers.
Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium air
packages....................................... \6\N/A
Other Casks..................................... \6\N/A
B. Approvals issued of 10 CFR part 71 quality
assurance programs.
Users and Fabricators........................... 77,800
Users........................................... 1,000
11. Standardized spent fuel facilities.................. \6\N/A
12. Special Projects.................................... \6\N/A
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of Compliance \6\N/A
B. General licenses for storage of spent fuel under
10 CFR 72.210...................................... 291,500
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material
licenses and other approvals authorizing
decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site
restoration activities pursuant to 10 CFR parts 30, 40,
70, and 72............................................. \7\N/A
15. Import and Export licenses.......................... \8\N/A
16. Reciprocity......................................... \8\N/A
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to
Government agencies.................................... 417,700
18. Department of Energy:
A. Certificates of Compliance....................... \10\1,200,000
B. Uranium Mill Tailing Radiation Control Act
(UMTRCA) activities................................ 1,937,000
\1\Annual fees will be assessed based on whether a licensee held, during
the fiscal year, a valid license with the NRC authorizing possession
and use of radioactive material. However, the annual fee is waived for
those materials 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 prior to
October 1, 1994 and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely by
September 30, 1994. Annual fees for licensees who filed for
termination of a license or for a POL during the fiscal year and for
new licenses issued during the fiscal year will be prorated in
accordance with the provisions of Sec. 171.17. If a person holds more
than one license, certificate, registration, or approval, the annual
fee(s) will be assessed for each license, certificate, registration,
or approval held by that person. For licenses that authorize more than
one activity on a single license (e.g., human use and irradiator
activities), annual fees will be assessed for each category applicable
to the license. Licensees paying annual fees under Category 1.A.(1).
are not subject to the annual fees of category 1.C and 1.D for sealed
sources authorized in the license and licensees paying annual fees
under Category 2.A(2) are not subject to the annual fees for Category
4.D.
\2\Payment of the prescribed annual fee does not automatically renew the
license, certificate, registration, or approval for which the fee is
paid. Renewal applications must be filed in accordance with the
requirements of Parts 30, 40, 70, 71, or 72 of this chapter.
\3\For FYs 1996 through 1998, fees for these materials licenses will be
calculated and assessed in accordance with Sec. 171.13 and will be
published in the Federal Register for notice and comment.
\4\A Class I license includes mill licenses issued for the extraction of
uranium from uranium ore. A Class II license includes solution mining
licenses (in-situ and heap leach) issued for the extraction of uranium
from uranium ores including research and development licenses. An
``other'' license includes licenses for extraction of metals, heavy
metals, and rare earths.
\5\Two licenses have been issued by NRC for land disposal of special
nuclear material. Once NRC issues a LLW disposal license for byproduct
and source material, the Commission will consider establishing an
annual fee for this type of license.
\6\Standardized spent fuel facilities, part 71 and 72 Certificates of
Compliance, and special reviews, such as topical reports, are not
assessed an annual fee because the generic costs of regulating these
activities are primarily attributable to the users of the designs
certificates, and topical reports.
\7\Licensees in this category are not assessed an annual fee because
they are charged an annual fee in other categories while they are
licensed to operate.
\8\No annual fee is charged because it is not practical to administer
due to the relatively short life or temporary nature of the license.
\9\Separate annual fees will not be assessed for pacemaker licenses
issued to medical institutions who also hold nuclear medicine licenses
under Categories 7B or 7C.
\10\This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to DOE that are not
under the Nuclear Waste Fund.
\11\No annual fee has been established because there are currently no
licensees in this particular fee category.
(e) A surcharge is added for each category for which a base annual fee
is required. The surcharge consists of the following:
(1) To recover costs relating to LLW disposal generic activities, an
additional charge of $48,000 has been added to fee Categories 1.A.(1),
1.A.(2) and 2.A.(1); an additional charge of $1,400 has been added to
fee Categories 1.B., 1.D., 2.C., 3.A., 3.B., 3.C., 3.L., 3.M., 3.N.,
4.A., 4.B., 4.C., 4.D., 5.B., 6.A., and 7.B.; and an additional charge
of $21,000 has been added to fee Category 17.
(2) To recover these budgeted costs that are not directly or solely
attributable to materials licensees and holders of certificates,
registrations or approvals a surcharge has been added for the
following:
(i) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or classes
of licensees; e.g., international cooperative safety program and
international safeguards activities; support for the Agreement State
program; site decommissioning management plan (SDMP) activities and
[[Page 14696]]
(ii) Activities not currently assessed under 10 CFR part 170 licensing
and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission policy, e.g.,
reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit educational
institutions and Federal agencies; activities related to
decommissioning and reclamation and costs that would not be collected
from small entities based on Commission policy in accordance with the
Regulatory Flexibility Act.
10. In Section 171.19, paragraphs (b) and (c) are revised to read
as follows:
Sec. 171.19 Payment.
* * * * *
(b) For FY 1995 through FY 1998, the Commission will adjust the
fourth quarterly bill for operating power reactors and certain
materials licensees to recover the full amount of the revised annual
fee. If the amounts collected in the first three quarters exceed the
amount of the revised annual fee, the overpayment will be refunded. The
NRC will also adjust the FY 1995 annual fee bills to reflect a credit
for any payments received for those FY 1995 inspection costs that are
included in the FY 1995 annual fee. All other licensees, or holders of
a certificate, registration, or approval of a QA program will be sent a
bill for the full amount of the annual fee upon publication of the
final rule. Payment is due on the effective date of the final rule and
interest accrues from the effective date of the final rule. However,
interest will be waived if payment is received within 30 days from the
effective date of the final rule.
(c) For FYs 1995 through 1998, annual fees in the amount of
$100,000 or more and described in the Federal Register notice pursuant
to Sec. 171.13 must be paid in quarterly installments of 25 percent as
billed by the NRC. The quarters begin on October 1, January 1, April 1,
and July 1 of each fiscal year. Annual fees of less than $100,000 must
be paid once a year as billed by the NRC.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of March, 1995.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James M. Taylor,
Executive Director for Operations.
Appendix A to This Proposed Rule Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for
the Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170 (License Fees) and 10 CFR Part 171
(Annual Fees)
I. Background
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
establishes as a principle of regulatory practice that agencies
endeavor to fit regulatory and informational requirements,
consistent with applicable statutes, to a scale commensurate with
the businesses, organizations, and government jurisdictions to which
they apply. To achieve this principle, the Act requires that
agencies consider the impact of their actions on small entities. If
the agency cannot certify that a rule will not significantly impact
a substantial number of small entities, then a regulatory
flexibility analysis is required to examine the impacts on small
entities and the alternatives to minimize these impacts.
To assist in considering these impacts under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, the NRC adopted size standards for determining
which NRC licensees qualify as small entities (50 FR 50241; December
9, 1985). These size standards were clarified November 6, 1991 (56
FR 56672). On April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business
Administration (SBA) issued a final rule changing its size
standards. The SBA adjusted its receipts-based size standards levels
to mitigate the effects of inflation from 1984 to 1994. On November
30, 1994 (59 FR 61293), the NRC published a proposed rule to amend
its size standards. The NRC proposed to adjust its receipts-based
size standards from $3.5 million to $5 million to accommodate
inflation and to conform to the SBA rule. The NRC also proposed to
eliminate the separate $1 million size standard for private practice
physicians and to apply a receipts-based size standard of $5 million
to this class of licensees. This mirrors the revised SBA standard of
$5 million for medical practitioners. The NRC also proposed to
establish a size standard of 500 or fewer employees for business
concerns that are manufacturing entities. This standard is the most
commonly used SBA employee standard and would be the standard
applicable to the types of manufacturing industries that hold an NRC
license. The final rule that would revise the NRC's size standards
has been sent to the SBA for review and approval. The NRC intends to
adopt the revised standards in the final FY 1995 fee rule. The small
entity fee categories in Sec. 171.16(c) of this proposed rule have
been modified to reflect the proposed changes in the size standards.
It is proposed that a new maximum small entity fee for manufacturing
industries with 35 to 500 employees be established at $1,800 and a
lower-tier small entity fee of $400 be established for those
manufacturing industries with less than 35 employees. The receipts-
based lower-tier of $250,000 has been raised to $350,000 to maintain
the lower-tier at the same relative amount of the new small entity
size standard of $5 million. The NRC proposed size standards are as
follows:
(a) A small business is a for-profit concern and is a--
(1) Concern that provides a service or a concern not engaged in
manufacturing with average gross receipts of $5 million or less over
its last three completed fiscal years; or
(2) Manufacturing concern with an average number of 500 or fewer
employees based upon employment during each pay period for the
preceding 12 calendar months.
(b) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which
is independently owned and operated and has annual gross receipts of
$5 million or less.
(c) A small governmental jurisdiction is a government of a city,
county, town, township, village, school district, or special
district with a population of less than 50,000.
(d) A small educational institution is one that is--
(1) Supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction;
or
(2) Not state or publicly supported and has 500 or fewer
employees.
(e) For purposes of this section, the NRC shall use the Small
Business Administration definition of receipts to include ``all
revenues in whatever form received or accrued from whatever source *
* *'' (13 CFR 402(b)(2)). A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large
entity does not qualify as a small entity for purposes of this
section.
Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1990 (OBRA-90), requires that the NRC recover approximately 100
percent of its budget authority, less appropriations from the
Nuclear Waste Fund, for Fiscal Years (FY) 1991 through 1995 by
assessing license and annual fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to
extend the 100 percent recovery requirement for NRC through 1998.
For FY 1991, the amount collected was approximately $445 million;
for FY 1992, approximately $492.5 million; for FY 1993 about $518.9
million; for FY 1994 about $499.6 million and the amount to be
collected in FY 1995 is approximately $503.6 million.
To comply with OBRA-90, the Commission amended its fee
regulations in 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 in FY 1991 (56 FR 31472;
July 10, 1991); in FY 1992 (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992); in FY 1993
(58 FR 38666; July 20, 1993); and in FY 1994 (59 FR 36895; July 20,
1994) based on a careful evaluation of over 1,000 comments. These
final rules established the methodology used by NRC in identifying
and determining the fees assessed and collected in FY 1991, FY 1992,
FY 1993 and FY 1994. The NRC has used the same methodology
established in the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993 and FY 1994 rulemakings
to establish the proposed fees to be assessed for FY 1995 with the
following exceptions: (1) the Commission has reinstated the annual
fee exemption for nonprofit educational institutions; (2) in the FY
1994 final rule, the NRC directly assigned additional effort to the
reactor and materials programs for the Office of Investigations, the
Office of Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards,
and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; and (3) for FY 1995,
the NRC is proposing the use of cost center concepts, now being used
for budgeting purposes, to develop the fees. The NRC is also
proposing: (1) To change the method for allocating the budgeted
costs (about $56 million) that cause fairness and equity concerns;
(2) eliminate the materials ``flat'' inspection fees in 10 CFR
170.31 and include the inspections with the annual fees in 10 CFR
171.16(d); and (3) establish two professional hourly rates to better
align the budgeted costs with the major classes of licensees. For FY
1995, the methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was
changed in FY 1993 based on the U.S. Court of Appeals decision dated
March 16, 1993 (988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The FY 1993
[[Page 14697]] LLW allocation method has been continued in the FY
1995 final rule.
II. Impact on Small Entities
The comments received on the proposed FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993,
and FY 1994 fee rule revisions and the small entity certifications
received in response to the final FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY
1994 fee rules indicate that NRC licensees qualifying as small
entities under the NRC's size standards are primarily those licensed
under the NRC's materials program. Therefore, this analysis will
focus on the economic impact of the annual fees on materials
licensees.
The Commission's fee regulations result in substantial fees
being charged to those individuals, organizations, and companies
that are licensed under the NRC materials program. Of these
materials licensees, about 18 percent (approximately 1,300
licensees) have requested small entity certification in the past. In
FY 1993, the NRC conducted a survey of its materials licensees. The
results of this survey indicated that about 25 percent of these
licensees could qualify as small entities under the current NRC size
standards.
The commenters on the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994
proposed fee rules indicated the following results if the proposed
annual fees were not modified:
Large firms would gain an unfair competitive advantage over
small entities. One commenter noted that a small well-logging
company (a ``Mom and Pop'' type of operation) would find it
difficult to absorb the annual fee, while a large corporation would
find it easier. Another commenter noted that the fee increase could
be more easily absorbed by a high-volume nuclear medicine clinic. A
gauge licensee noted that, in the very competitive soils testing
market, the annual fees would put it at an extreme disadvantage with
its much larger competitors because the proposed fees would be the
same for a two-person licensee as for a large firm with thousands of
employees.
--Some firms would be forced to cancel their licenses. One
commenter, with receipts of less than $500,000 per year, stated that
the proposed rule would, in effect, force it to relinquish its soil
density gauge and license, thereby reducing its ability to do its
work effectively. Another commenter noted that the rule would force
the company and many other small businesses to get rid of the
materials license altogether. Commenters stated that the proposed
rule would result in about 10 percent of the well-logging licensees
terminating their licenses immediately and approximately 25 percent
terminating their licenses before the next annual assessment.
--Some companies would go out of business. One commenter noted that
the proposal would put it, and several other small companies, out of
business or, at the very least, make it hard to survive.
--Some companies would have budget problems. Many medical licensees
commented that, in these times of slashed reimbursements, the
proposed increase of the existing fees and the introduction of
additional fees would significantly affect their budgets. Another
noted that, in view of the cuts by Medicare and other third party
carriers, the fees would produce a hardship and some facilities
would experience a great deal of difficulty in meeting this
additional burden.
Over the past four years, approximately 2,900 license, approval,
and registration terminations have been requested. Although some of
these terminations were requested because the license was no longer
needed or licenses or registrations could be combined, indications
are that other termination requests were due to the economic impact
of the fees.
The NRC continues to receive written and oral comments from
small materials licensees. These comments indicate that the $3.5
million threshold for small entities is not representative of small
businesses with gross receipts in the thousands of dollars. These
commenters believe that the $1,800 maximum annual fee represents a
relatively high percentage of gross annual receipts for these ``Mom
and Pop'' type businesses. Therefore, even the reduced annual fee
could have a significant impact on the ability of these types of
businesses to continue to operate.
To alleviate the continuing significant impact of the annual
fees on a substantial number of small entities, the NRC considered
alternatives, in accordance with the RFA. These alternatives were
evaluated in the FY 1991 rule (56 FR 31472; July 10, 1991) in the FY
1992 rule (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992), in the FY 1993 rule (58 FR
38666; July 20, 1993) and in the FY 1994 rule (59 FR 36895; July 20,
1994). The alternatives considered by the NRC can be summarized as
follows.
--Base fees on some measure of the amount of radioactivity possessed
by the licensee (e.g., number of sources).
--Base fees on the frequency of use of the licensed radioactive
material (e.g., volume of patients).
--Base fees on the NRC size standards for small entities.
The NRC has reexamined the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY
1994 evaluation of the these alternatives. Based on that
reexamination, the NRC continues to support the previous conclusion.
That is, the NRC continues to believe that establishment of a
maximum fee for small entities is the most appropriate option to
reduce the impact on small entities.
The NRC established, and is continuing for FY 1995, a maximum
annual fee for small entities. The RFA and its implementing guidance
do not provide specific guidelines on what constitutes a significant
economic impact on a small entity. Therefore, the NRC has no
benchmark to assist it in determining the amount or the percent of
gross receipts that should be charged to a small entity. For FY
1995, the NRC will rely on the analysis previously completed that
established a maximum annual fee for a small entity and the amount
of cost that must be received from other NRC licensees as a result
of establishing the maximum annual fees. The NRC continues to
believe that license and inspection fees, or any adjustments to
these fees during the past year, do not have a significant impact on
small entities. In issuing this proposed rule for FY 1995, the NRC
concludes that the materials license fees do not have a significant
impact on a substantial number of small entities and that the
maximum annual small entity fee of $1,800 be continued.
By maintaining the maximum annual fee for small entities at
$1,800, the annual fee for many small entities will be reduced while
at the same time materials licensees, including small entities, pay
for most of the FY 1995 costs ($27.1 million of the total $32.9
million) attributable to them. The costs not recovered from small
entities are allocated to other materials licensees and to operating
power reactors. However, the amount that must be recovered from
other licensees as a result of maintaining the maximum annual fee is
not expected to increase. Therefore, the NRC is continuing, for FY
1995, the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus surcharge) for
certain small entities at $1,800 for each fee category covered by
each license issued to a small entity.
While reducing the impact on many small entities, the Commission
agrees that the proposed maximum annual fee of $1,800 for small
entities, when added to the part 170 license fees, may continue to
have a significant impact on materials licensees with annual gross
receipts in the thousands of dollars. Therefore, as in FY 1992, FY
1993, and FY 1994, the NRC proposes to continue the lower-tier small
entity annual fee of $400 for small entities with relatively low
gross annual receipts. The lower-tier small entity fee of $400 will
also apply to manufacturing concerns and educational institutions
not State or publicly supported with less than 35 employees. This
lower-tier small entity fee was first established in the final rule
published in the Federal Register on April 17, 1992 (57 FR 13625)
and would now include manufacturing companies with a relatively
small number of licensees.
In establishing the annual fee for lower-tier small entities,
the NRC continues to retain a balance between the objectives of the
RFA and OBRA-90. This balance can be measured by: (1) The amount of
costs attributable to small entities that is transferred to larger
entities (the small entity subsidy); (2) the total annual fee small
entities pay, relative to this subsidy; and (3) how much the annual
fee is for a lower-tier small entity. Based on this proposed rule,
the amount of the small entity subsidy is lower than last year.
Thus, no change is proposed.
III. Summary
The NRC has determined the annual fee significantly impacts a
substantial number of small entities. A maximum fee for small
entities strikes a balance between the requirement to collect 100
percent of the NRC budget and the requirement to consider means of
reducing the impact of the proposed fee on small entities. On the
basis of its regulatory flexibility analyses, the NRC concludes that
a proposed maximum annual fee of $1,800 for small entities and a
proposed lower-tier small entity annual fee of $400 for small
businesses and not-for-profit organizations with gross annual
receipts of less than $350,000, small governmental jurisdictions
with a population of less than 20,000, small manufacturing entities
that [[Page 14698]] have less than 35 employees and educational
institutions that are not State or publicly supported and have less
than 35 employees will reduce the impact on small entities. At the
same time, these reduced annual fees are consistent with the
objectives of OBRA-90. Thus, the revised fees for small entities
maintain a balance between the objectives of OBRA-90 and the RFA.
The NRC has used the methodology and procedures developed for the FY
1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 fee rules in this proposed rule
except those noted in Section II, in establishing the FY 1995 fees.
Therefore, the analysis and conclusions established in the FY 1991,
FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 rules remain valid for this proposed
rule for FY 1995.
[FR Doc. 95-6485 Filed 3-17-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
