NRC ISSUES FINAL LICENSING, INSPECTION AND

ANNUAL FEES RULE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations to reflect the licensing, 

inspection and annual fees it will charge its applicants and licensees for fiscal year (FY) 2011.

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, approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority for FY 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 - Sept. 30, 2011), less the amounts appropriated from the 

Nuclear Waste Fund for high-level radioactive waste activities and from general funds for wasteincidental-to-reprocessing and generic homeland security activities (non-fee items). The NRC 

receives 10 percent of its budget authority (not including non-fee items) from the general fund each 

year to pay for the cost of agency activities that do not provide a direct benefit to NRC licensees, 

such as international assistance and Agreement State activities. The NRC’s total amount of fees to 

be recovered by Sept. 30 is approximately $915.8 million, about less than 1 percent ($3.6 million)

more than in FY 2010. 

The FY 2011 fee rule, published today in the Federal Register, includes fees based on the 

Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act 2011 signed by the President 

on April 15. Approximately 40 percent of the fees will be billed for specific services (Part 170) and 

the remaining 60 percent will be billed as annual fees (Part 171). The NRC is changing the FY 2011 

hourly rate to $273. This increase in the hourly rate is primarily due to a slight increase in the 

agency fee-based budget that will be recovered by fewer direct full time equivalents (FTEs).

In FY 2011, the NRC revised its budget structure. This new structure allows the agency to

more accurately identify all its direct and overhead costs. Under this new structure, more of the 

budgeted resources have been properly identified as overhead costs. The agency is using this 

information to further streamline its costs and make more efficient use of all its resources. 

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: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. 11-114 June 22, 2011
The annual fees for power reactors and uranium recovery facilities have decreased while 

fees for spent fuel storage facilities, non-power reactors, fuel facilities, most materials users and 

Department of Energy’s (DOE) uranium recovery and transportation increased. The final FY 2011

annual fees are categorized by types of licensees/applicants and include the following:

Class/Category of Licenses UFY 2011 Annual Fee

Operating Power Reactors (including Spent Fuel Storage/

Reactor Decommissioning annual fee) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,673,000

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $241,000

Test and Research Reactors (Non-power Reactors) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $86,300

High-Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,085,000

Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,290,000

UF6 Conversion Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,243,000

Conventional Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $31,900

Radiographers . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25,700

Well Loggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . $10,000

Gauge Users (Category 3P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,800

Broad Scope Medical licensees (Category 7B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45,400

The NRC estimates that the FY 2011 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.

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