NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. 00-093 June 5, 2000

NRC AMENDS LICENSING, INSPECTION AND ANNUAL FEES RULE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations for the licensing, inspection

and annual fees it charges to licensees for fiscal year 2000.

The agency is statutorily required to collect nearly all of its operating budget through two types

of fees. One type is for NRC services such as licensing and inspection activities. The other is an

annual fee paid by all licensees, which recovers generic regulatory expenses and other costs not

recovered through fees for service. These fees are contained in Commission regulations 10 CFR Part

170 (licensing and inspection services) and 10 CFR Part 171 (annual fees).

For fiscal year 2000, the Commission must recover $447.0 million in fees. This excludes

$19.15 million appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund for high-level waste activities and $3.85

million appropriated for NRC’s activities related to selected reviews for the Department of Energy and

other federal agencies.

The total amount to be recovered in fees this year is about $2.6 million less than that recovered

for fiscal year 1999. However, the final FY 2000 annual fees are about 1.4 percent higher than the

previous year for a number of reasons. An overcollection of $4.1 million from FY 1998 was available

to reduce the amount to be recovered through annual fees for FY 1999. There is no overcollection

from FY 1999 to reduce the FY 2000 annual fees. In addition, the number of licensees paying annual

fees has decreased. There are about 530 fewer materials licensees paying annual fees because they

were transferred from NRC to Ohio which, as an Agreement State, assumed regulatory oversight of the

materials licensees operating in the state.

Also, there is a $3 increase over FY 1999 in hourly rates for NRC inspection and other

professional staff services. This results primarily from the pay raises given to all federal employees.

The final hourly rates are $144 for reactor program activities and $143 for the nuclear materials

program activities.

In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act that requires agencies to minimize impacts of

rule changes on small businesses, the NRC reviewed its fees established in 1991 and 1992 for such

businesses. Changes in economic circumstances, the NRC fee structure, and other factors call for an

increase.
The NRC is increasing the maximum annual fees for small entities -- those businesses that

qualify for paying reduced annual fees -- from the current $1,800 to $2,300, and the maximum annual

fee for such businesses with relatively low gross receipts or supporting populations, from the current

$400 to $500.

The final FY 2000 annual fees for some licensees are as follows:

Categories of Licensees FY 2000 Annual Fee FY 1999 Annual Fee

Power Reactors (including spent fuel $2,815,000 $2,776,000

storage/reactor decommissioning

annual fee)

High-enriched Uranium Fuel Facility 3,327,000 3,281,000

Low-enriched Uranium Fuel Facility 1,116,000 1,100,000

Radiographers 14,900 14,700

Broad Scope Medical 28,100 27,800

Distribution of Radiopharmaceuticals 3,800 3,800

The final rule will be published with additional details in an upcoming edition of The Federal

Register.

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