NRC PROPOSES TO AMEND LICENSING, INSPECTION AND ANNUAL FEES RULE 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend its regulations for the 

licensing, inspection and annual fees it charges applicants and licensees for fiscal year (FY) 

2010. 

 The agency is required by Congress to recover for the U.S. Treasury most of its annual 

appropriated budget through two types of fees. One is for specific NRC services, such as 

licensing and inspection activities, that apply to a specific license; the other is an annual fee for 

generic regulatory expenses and other costs not recovered through fees for specific services. 

These fees are contained in NRC regulations in Title 10 (Energy) of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR) Part 170 (fees for license-specific services) and 10 CFR Part 171 (annual 

fees). These fees are paid to the U.S. Treasury and go into the general fund. 

 By law, the NRC must recover, through fees to applicants and licensees, 90 percent of its 

budget authority for FY 2010 (Oct. 1, 2009 - Sept. 30, 2010), less the amounts appropriated from 

the Nuclear Waste Fund for high-level radioactive waste activities and from general funds for 

waste-incidental-to-reprocessing and generic homeland security activities. The total amount of 

fees to be recovered by Sept. 30 is approximately $912.2 million, about 5 percent ($41.5 million) 

more than in FY 2009. 

 The increase in FY 2010 fees is mostly in response to increased activities for reactor 

oversight, new reactor programs, information technology support, homeland security issues, and 

licensing reviews for fuel facilities, non-power reactors and spent fuel storage. 

 Approximately 40 percent of the fees will be billed for specific services (Part 170) and 

the remaining 60 percent will be billed to annual fees (Part 171). The hourly rate for Part 170 

activities will increase nominally from $257 to $259 per hour. The increase is due primarily to 

increased infrastructure and support costs for the new reactor program, fuel facility reviews, 

reactor licensing renewal, and spent nuclear fuel storage and transportation activities. 

 The proposed rule includes several other changes. First, NRC will cut costs by no longer 

mailing hard copies of the proposed fee rule to all licensees, but will instead send a short 

summary with instructions on how to access complete documents on the Internet. Second, NRC 

will review its fee policies for power reactors, as it anticipates receiving additional applications 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 10-047 March 11, 2010
to license small and medium-sized commercial nuclear reactors. Third, in FY 2011 the agency 

plans to change its policy for issuing inspection bills to licensees. Currently, inspection costs are 

billed only after the inspections are completed. In some cases, this can result in inspection costs 

accumulating over several billing cycles. Instead, inspection hours will be billed on a quarterly 

basis as work is performed. 

 The NRC is continuing its efforts to keep its fees as low as possible by ensuring its 

programs are conducted efficiently and effectively and requesting from Congress only the 

resources necessary to perform its mission of protecting people and the environment. 

 The proposed FY 2010 annual fees are categorized by types of licensees/applicants and 

include the following: 

Class/Category FY 2010 Proposed Annual Fee

Operating Power Reactors (including Spent Fuel Storage/ 

Reactor Decommissioning annual fee) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,719,000 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $143,000 

Test and Research Reactors (Non-power reactors) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $81,800 

High-Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,442,000 

Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,048,000 

UF6 Conversion Facility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,112,000 

Conventional Mills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $38,300 

Radiographers. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $28,200 

Well Loggers . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12,000 

Gauge Users (Category 3P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,500 

Broad Scope Medical Licensees (Category 7B). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$45,100 

 NRC estimates that the FY 2010 annual fees will be paid by licensees of 104 nuclear 

power reactors, 4 non-power reactors, 19 spent nuclear fuel storage/reactor-in-decommissioning 

facilities, 12 fuel cycle facilities, 10 uranium recovery facilities, and approximately 3,150 nuclear 

material users. The FY 2010 proposed fee rule, published today in the Federal Register, 

includes fees based on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriation 

Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-85), signed by the President on October 28, 2009. 

 Comments on the proposed rule may be submitted within 30 days of the Federal Register

notice and needs to include Docket ID NRC-2009-033 in the subject line. Written comments 

should be addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 

20555- 0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. Comments may also be submitted 

by e-mail to rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov, faxed to (301) 415-1101 or submitted online via 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.Regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2009-0333. 

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