29622 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

1The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, 

rescinds approximately $0.1 million of unobligated 

balances from funds previously transferred to the 

NRC from the United States Agency for 

International Development (USAID). The Joint 

Explanatory Statement for the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2018, includes an adjustment 

to the NRC’s fee recovery amount associated with 

this rescission. 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 

[NRC–2017–0026] 

RIN 3150–AJ95 

Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee 

Recovery for Fiscal Year 2018 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is amending the 

licensing, inspection, special project, 

and annual fees charged to its 

applicants and licensees. These 

amendments are necessary to 

implement the Omnibus Budget 

Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended 

(OBRA–90) which requires the NRC to 

recover approximately 90 percent of its 

annual budget through fees. 

DATES: This final rule is effective on 

August 24, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2017–0026 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information for this action. You may 

obtain publicly-available information 

related to this action by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2017–0026. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS 

Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS, 

please contact the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 

1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced (if it is available in 

ADAMS) is provided the first time that 

it is mentioned in this document. For 

the convenience of the reader, the 

ADAMS accession numbers and 

instructions about obtaining materials 

referenced in this document are 

provided in the ‘‘Availability of 

Documents’’ section of this document. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brian Harris, Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001, telephone: 301–415– 

6382, email: Brian.Harris@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Background; Statutory Authority 

II. Discussion 

III. Public Comment Analysis 

IV. Public Comments and NRC Response 

V. Regulatory Flexibility Certification 

VI. Regulatory Analysis 

VII. Backfitting and Issue Finality 

VIII. Plain Writing 

IX. National Environmental Policy Act 

X. Paperwork Reduction Act 

XI. Congressional Review Act 

XII. Voluntary Consensus Standards 

XIII. Availability of Guidance 

XIV. Availability of Documents 

I. Background; Statutory Authority 

The NRC’s fee regulations are 

primarily governed by two laws: (1) The 

Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 

1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 9701), and (2) 

OBRA–90 (42 U.S.C. 2214). The IOAA 

generally authorizes and encourages 

Federal regulatory agencies to recover— 

to the fullest extent possible—costs 

attributable to services provided to 

identifiable recipients. The OBRA–90 

requires the NRC to recover 

approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority for the fiscal year (FY) through 

fees; in FY 2018, amounts appropriated 

for waste-incidental-to-reprocessing 

(WIR), generic homeland security 

activities, advanced reactor regulatory 

infrastructure activities, international 

activities, and Inspector General (IG) 

services for the Defense Nuclear 

Facilities Safety Board are excluded 

from this fee-recovery requirement. The 

OBRA–90 requires the NRC to use its 

IOAA authority first to collect service 

fees for NRC work that provides specific 

benefits to identifiable applicants and 

licensees (such as licensing work, 

inspections, and special projects). The 

regulations at part 170 of title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 

authorize these fees. But, because the 

NRC’s fee recovery under the IOAA (10 

CFR part 170) does not equal 90 percent 

of the NRC’s budget authority for the 

fiscal year, the NRC also assesses 

‘‘annual fees’’ under 10 CFR part 171 to 

recover the remaining amount necessary 

to meet OBRA–90’s fee-recovery 

requirement. These annual fees recover 

costs that are not otherwise collected 

through 10 CFR part 170. 

II. Discussion 

FY 2018 Fee Collection—Overview 

The NRC is issuing the FY 2018 final 

fee rule based on the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115– 

141) (the enacted budget), in the amount 

of $922.0 million, an increase of $4.9 

million from FY 2017. As explained 

previously, certain portions of the 

NRC’s total budget are excluded from 

the NRC’s fee-recovery amount— 

specifically, these exclusions include: 

$1.3 million for WIR activities, $1.1 

million for IG services for the Defense 

Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, $10.0 

million for advanced reactor regulatory 

infrastructure activities, and $15.2 

million for generic homeland security 

activities. Also, for the first time, the 

enacted budget excludes $16.2 million 

for international activities from the feerecoverable budget. Additionally, 

OBRA–90 requires the NRC to recover 

approximately 90 percent of the 

remaining budget authority—10 percent 

of the remaining budget authority is not 

recovered through fees. The NRC refers 

to the activities included in this 10- 

percent as ‘‘fee-relief’’ activities. 

After accounting for the OBRA–90 

exclusions, the adjustment associated 

with the United States Agency for 

International Development (USAID) 

rescission,1 the fee-relief activities, and 

net billing adjustments (the sum of 

unpaid current year invoices (estimated) 

minus payments for prior year invoices), 

the NRC must bill approximately $789.3 

million in FY 2018 to licensees and 

applicants. Of this amount, the NRC 

estimates that $280.8 million will be 

recovered through 10 CFR part 170 user 

fees, which leaves approximately $508.5 

million to be recovered through 10 CFR 

part 171 annual fees. Table I 

summarizes the fee-recovery amounts 

for the FY 2018 final fee rule using the 

enacted budget and taking into account 

excluded activities, the fee-relief 

activities, and net billing adjustments 

(individual values may not sum to totals 

due to rounding). The Joint Explanatory 

Statement associated with the 

Consolidated Appropriations, Act 2018 

includes direction for the NRC to use 

$15.0 million in carryover funds. The 

use of carryover funds allows the NRC 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29623 

2For each table, numbers may not add due to 

rounding. 

3The adjustment to the NRC’s fee recovery 

amount associated with the USAID rescission is 

shown in Table 1. Because the USAID rescission 

amount was approximately $0.1 million, the 

proportion of the USAID rescission applicable to 

each fee class is not shown in the accompanying 

tables for each fee class. Additional information on 

the amount of the USAID rescission applicable to 

each fee class is available in the work papers 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML18135A044). 

to accomplish the work needed without 

additional costs to licensees because 

consistent with the requirements of 

OBRA–90, fees are calculated based on 

the budget authority enacted for the 

current FY and not carryover funds. 

TABLE I—BUDGET AND FEE RECOVERY AMOUNTS 2

[Dollars in millions] 

FY 2017 

final rule 

FY 2018 

final rule 

Percentage 

change 

Total Budget Authority ................................................................................................................. $917.1 $922.0 0.5 

Less Excluded Fee Items ............................................................................................................ ¥23.1 ¥43.8 89.6 

Balance ................................................................................................................................. 894.0 878.2 ¥1.7 

Fee Recovery Percent ................................................................................................................. 90 90 0.0 

Total Amount to be Recovered ................................................................................................... 804.6 790.4 ¥1.7 

Adjustment USAID Rescission 3 .................................................................................................. 0.0 ¥0.1 ¥100.0 

Total Amount to be Recovered Post USAID ............................................................................... 804.6 790.3 ¥1.8 

10 CFR Part 171 Billing Adjustments: 

Unpaid Current Year Invoices (estimated) ........................................................................... 6.2 6.5 4.8 

Less Payments Received in Current Year for Previous Year Invoices (estimated) ............ ¥4.9 ¥7.5 53.1 

Subtotal ......................................................................................................................... 1.3 ¥1.0 ¥176.9 

Amount to be Recovered through 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 Fees ......................................... 805.9 789.3 ¥2.0 

Less Estimated 10 CFR Part 170 Fees ...................................................................................... ¥297.3 ¥280.8 ¥1.2 

10 CFR Part 171 Fee Collections Required ........................................................................ 508.6 508.5 0.0

FY 2018 Fee Collection—Professional 

Hourly Rate 

The NRC uses a professional hourly 

rate to assess fees for specific services 

provided by the NRC under 10 CFR part 

170. The professional hourly rate also 

helps determine flat fees (which are 

used for the review of certain types of 

license applications). This rate will be 

applicable to all activities for which fees 

are assessed under §§ 170.21 and 

170.31. 

The NRC’s professional hourly rate is 

derived by adding budgeted resources 

for: (1) Mission-direct program salaries 

and benefits; (2) mission-indirect 

program support; and (3) agency 

support (corporate support and the IG), 

and then subtracting certain offsetting 

receipts, and dividing this total by the 

mission-direct full-time equivalents 

(FTE) converted to hours. The NRC is 

adding the definitions for ‘‘missiondirect program salaries and benefits,’’ 

‘‘mission-indirect program support,’’ 

and ‘‘agency support (corporate support 

and the IG)’’ to 10 CFR 170.3, 

‘‘Definitions.’’ The mission-direct FTE 

converted to hours is the product of the 

mission-direct FTE multiplied by the 

estimated annual mission-direct FTE 

productive hours. The only budgeted 

resources excluded from the 

professional hourly rate are those for 

mission-direct contract resources, which 

are generally billed to licensees 

separately. The following shows the 

professional hourly rate calculation (for 

this equation, ‘‘budgeted resources’’ 

does not include mission-direct contract 

resources): 

For FY 2018, the NRC is increasing 

the professional hourly rate from $263 

to $275. The 4.6 percent increase in the 

FY 2018 professional hourly rate is due 

primarily to the 7.3 percent decline in 

the number of mission-direct FTE 

compared to FY 2017, offset by a 2.4 

percent decline in budgeted resources 

and a small increase in productive 

hours. The 7.3 percent decline in the 

number of mission-direct FTE was 

larger than the decline projected in the 

proposed rule due primarily to the 

exclusion of advanced reactor regulatory 

infrastructure activities and 

international activities from the feerecoverable budget, which caused the 

mission-direct FTE assigned to these 

activities to be excluded from the 

professional hourly rate calculation. The 

FY 2018 estimated annual missiondirect FTE productive hours is 1,510 

hours, up from 1,500 hours in FY 2017. 

This estimate, also referred to as the 

productive hours assumption, reflects 

the average number of hours that a 

mission-direct employee spends on 

mission-direct work in a given year. 

This excludes hours charged to annual 

leave, sick leave, holidays, training, and 

general administration tasks. Table II 

shows the professional hourly rate 

calculation methodology. The FY 2017 

amounts are provided for comparison 

purposes. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2ER25JN18.008</GPH>
29624 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

4The fees collected by the NRC for Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) services and indemnity 

(financial protection required of licensees for public 

liability claims at 10 CFR part 140) are subtracted 

from the budgeted resources amount when 

calculating the 10 CFR part 170 professional hourly 

rate, per the guidance in Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) Circular A–25, User Charges. The 

budgeted resources for FOIA activities are allocated 

under the product for Information Services within 

the Corporate Support business line. The indemnity 

activities are allocated under the Licensing Actions 

and the Research & Test Reactors products within 

the Operating Reactors business line. 

5The NRC has also removed the language relating 

to international activities in §§ 171.15(d)(1)(ii) and 

171.16(e)(2) (which pertain to the fee-relief 

adjustment) because the enacted budget excludes 

international activities from the fee-recoverable 

budget and thus international activities are not 

included in fee relief under the FY 2018 final fee 

rule. 

TABLE II—PROFESSIONAL HOURLY RATE CALCULATION

[Dollars in millions, except as noted] 

FY 2017 

final rule 

FY 2018 

final rule 

Percentage 

change 

Mission-Direct Program Salaries & Benefits ............................................................................... $340.6 $325.7 ¥4.4 

Mission-Indirect Program Support ............................................................................................... 137.3 135.0 ¥1.7 

Agency Support (Corporate Support and the IG) ....................................................................... 309.6 308.1 ¥0.4 

Subtotal ................................................................................................................................. 787.5 768.8 ¥2.4 

Less Offsetting Receipts 4 ........................................................................................................... ¥0.1 0.0 100.0 

Total Budgeted Resources Included in Professional Hourly Rate ....................................... $787.4 $768.8 ¥2.4 

Mission-Direct FTE (Whole numbers) ......................................................................................... 1,996 1,851 ¥7.3 

Annual Mission-Direct FTE Productive Hours (Whole numbers) ................................................ 1,500 1,510 0.7 

Mission-Direct FTE Converted to Hours (Mission-Direct FTE multiplied by Annual MissionDirect FTE Productive Hours) (In Millions) .............................................................................. 3.0 2.8 ¥6.7 

Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budgeted Resources Included in Professional Hourly Rate 

Divided by Mission-Direct FTE Converted to Hours) (Whole Numbers) ................................. 263 275 4.6 

FY 2018 Fee Collection—Flat 

Application Fee Changes 

The NRC is amending the flat 

application fees that it charges to 

applicants for import and export 

licenses, applicants for materials 

licenses and other regulatory services, 

and holders of materials in its schedule 

of fees in §§ 170.21 and 170.31 to reflect 

the revised professional hourly rate of 

$275 and the exclusion of international 

activities from the fee-recoverable 

budget. The NRC calculates these flat 

fees by multiplying the average 

professional staff hours needed to 

process the licensing actions by the 

professional hourly rate for FY 2018. 

The NRC analyzes the actual hours 

spent performing licensing actions and 

then estimates the average professional 

staff hours that are needed to process 

licensing actions as part of its biennial 

review of fees, which is required by 

Section 205(a) of the Chief Financial 

Officers Act of 1990 (31 U.S.C. 

902(a)(8)). The NRC performed this 

review in FY 2017 and will perform this 

review again in FY 2019. The higher 

professional hourly rate of $275 is the 

primary reason for the increase in flat 

application fees. Please see the work 

papers for more detail (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML18135044). 

The NRC rounds these flat fees in 

such a way that ensures both 

convenience for its stakeholders and 

that any rounding effects are minimal. 

Accordingly, fees under $1,000 are 

rounded to the nearest $10, fees 

between $1,000 and $100,000 are 

rounded to the nearest $100, and fees 

greater than $100,000 are rounded to the 

nearest $1,000. 

The licensing flat fees are applicable 

for certain materials licensing actions 

(see fee categories 1.C. through 1.D., 2.B. 

through 2.F., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.B. 

through 5.A., 6.A. through 9.D., 10.B., 

15.A. through 15.L., 15.R., and 16 of 

§ 170.31). Because the enacted budget 

excludes international activities from 

the fee-recoverable budget, import and 

export licensing actions, wholly funded 

through the international activities 

product line, (see fee categories K.1. 

through K.5. of § 170.21 and fee 

categories 15.A. through 15.R. of 

§ 170.31) will not be charged fees under 

the final rule. To implement this, the 

NRC has revised fee categories K.1. 

through K.5. of § 170.21 and fee 

categories 15.A. 

through 15.R. of § 170.31 and 

included a new footnote in these 

tables.5 Applications filed on or after 

the effective date of the FY 2018 final 

fee rule will be subject to the revised 

fees in this final rule. 

FY 2018 Fee Collection—Fee-Relief and 

Low-Level Waste (LLW) Surcharge 

As previously noted, OBRA–90 

requires the NRC to recover 

approximately 90 percent of its annual 

budget authority for the fiscal year. The 

NRC applies the remaining 10 percent 

that is not recovered to offset certain 

budgeted activities—see Table III for a 

full listing of these ‘‘fee-relief’’ 

activities. If the amount budgeted for 

these fee-relief activities is greater or 

less than 10 percent of the NRC’s annual 

budget authority (less the fee-recovery 

exclusions), then the NRC applies a fee 

adjustment (either an increase or 

decrease) to all licensees’ annual fees, 

based on their percentage share of the 

NRC’s budget. 

In FY 2018, the amount budgeted for 

fee-relief activities is less than the 10- 

percent threshold—therefore, the NRC 

will assess a fee-relief credit that 

decreases all licensees’ annual fees 

based on their percentage share of the 

budget. The credit is due primarily to 

the exclusion of international activities 

from the fee-recoverable budget. Table 

III summarizes the fee-relief activities 

budgeted for FY 2018. The FY 2017 

amounts are provided for comparison 

purposes. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29625 

6 In prior years, this fee-relief category included 

amount includes international assistance activities. 

This fee-relief category also included conventions 

and treaty activities that are not attributable to an 

existing NRC licensee or class of licensees, and it 

included international cooperation activities that 

are not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or 

class of licensees. 

TABLE III—FEE-RELIEF ACTIVITIES

[Dollars in millions] 

Fee-relief activities 

FY 2017 

budgeted 

costs 

FY 2018 

budgeted 

costs 

Percentage 

change 

1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or class of licensees: 

a. International activities 6 ..................................................................................................... $13.8 $0.0 ¥100.0 

b. Agreement State oversight ............................................................................................... 12.9 13.5 4.5 

c. Scholarships and Fellowships .......................................................................................... 17.9 15.0 ¥16.2 

d. Medical Isotope Production Infrastructure ....................................................................... 4.2 3.9 ¥7.1 

2. Activities not assessed under 10 CFR part 170 service fees or 10 CFR part 171 annual 

fees based on existing law or Commission policy: 

a. Fee exemption for nonprofit educational institutions ....................................................... 9.7 8.7 ¥9.9 

b. Costs not recovered from small entities under § 171.16(c) ............................................. 7.4 6.6 ¥10.8 

c. Regulatory support to Agreement States ......................................................................... 18.5 17.4 ¥5.9 

d. Generic decommissioning/reclamation (not related to the power reactor and spent fuel 

storage fee classes) .......................................................................................................... 14.6 14.5 ¥1.0 

e. In Situ leach rulemaking and unregistered general licensees ......................................... 1.4 1.5 7.1 

f. Potential Department of Defense remediation program MOU activities ........................... 1.1 1.2 2.0 

g. Non-military radium sites .................................................................................................. N/A 1.7 N/A 

Total fee-relief activities ................................................................................................ 101.5 83.9 ¥17.3 

Less 10 percent of the NRC’s total FY budget (less the fee recovery exclusions) .................... ¥89.4 ¥87.8 1.8 

Fee-Relief Adjustment to be Allocated to All Licensees’ Annual Fees ............................... 12.1 ¥3.9 ¥132.6 

Table IV shows how the NRC 

allocates the $3.9 million fee-relief 

credit to each licensee fee class. Also, in 

accordance with the staff requirements 

memorandum (SRM) dated September 

7, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML17250A841), for SECY–17–0026, 

‘‘Policy Considerations and 

Recommendations for Remediation of 

Non-Military, Unlicensed Historic 

Radium Sites in Non-Agreement States’’ 

dated February 22, 2017 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML17130A783), the NRC 

has established a new fee-relief category 

for non-military sites contaminated due 

to historic uses of radium. 

In addition to the fee-relief credit, the 

NRC also assesses a generic LLW 

surcharge of $3.4 million. Disposal of 

LLW occurs at commercially operated 

LLW disposal facilities that are licensed 

by either the NRC or an Agreement 

State. Four existing LLW disposal 

facilities in the United States accept 

various types of LLW. All are located in 

Agreement States and, therefore, are 

regulated by an Agreement State, rather 

than the NRC. The NRC allocates this 

surcharge to its licensees based on data 

available in the U.S. Department of 

Energy’s (DOE’s) Manifest Information 

Management System (MIMS). This 

database contains information on total 

LLW volumes and NRC usage 

information from four generator classes: 

Academic, industrial, medical, and 

utility. The ratio of utility waste 

volumes to total LLW volumes over a 

period of time is used to estimate the 

portion of this surcharge that will be 

allocated to the power reactors, fuel 

facilities, and materials fee classes. The 

materials portion is adjusted to account 

for the fact that a large percentage of 

materials licensees are licensed by the 

Agreement States rather than the NRC. 

The LLW surcharge amounts have 

changed since the proposed rule. After 

the NRC published the proposed rule for 

public comment, DOE updated the 

MIMS system with 2017 data. As a 

result of the update, the LLW surcharge 

for Operating Power Reactors fee class 

increased from $1.4 million to $2.6 

million. For Fuel Facilities and Material 

Users, it decreased from $1.6 million to 

$0.7 million and from $0.4 million to 

$0.2 million, respectively. Additional 

details about these changes to the LLW 

surcharge resulting from DOE’s update 

to the MIMS system can be found in 

Section IV(I). 

Table IV shows the LLW surcharge 

and fee-relief credit, and its allocation 

across the various fee classes. 

TABLE IV—ALLOCATION OF FEE-RELIEF ADJUSTMENT AND LLW SURCHARGE, FY 2018 

[Dollars in millions] 

LLW surcharge Fee-relief adjustment Total 

Percent $ Percent $ $ 

Operating Power Reactors .................................................. 75.0 2.6 85.1 ¥3.4 ¥0.8 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning ................... 0.0 0.0 4.4 ¥0.2 ¥0.2 

Research and Test Reactors ............................................... 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 

Fuel Facilities ....................................................................... 20.0 0.7 4.6 ¥0.2 0.5 

Materials Users .................................................................... 5.0 0.2 3.4 ¥0.1 0.0 

Transportation ...................................................................... 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 

Rare Earth Facilities ............................................................ 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Uranium Recovery ............................................................... 0.0 0.0 1.7 ¥0.1 ¥0.1 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29626 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

7For each fee class, the FY 2017 fees and 

percentage change are shown for comparison 

purposes. 

8See Table VII for percentage change for each fee 

category. 

TABLE IV—ALLOCATION OF FEE-RELIEF ADJUSTMENT AND LLW SURCHARGE, FY 2018—Continued 

[Dollars in millions] 

LLW surcharge Fee-relief adjustment Total 

Percent $ Percent $ $ 

Total .............................................................................. 100.0 3.4 100.0 ¥3.9 ¥0.5 

FY 2018 Fee Collection—Revised 

Annual Fees 

In accordance with SECY–05–0164, 

‘‘Annual Fee Calculation Method,’’ 

dated September 15, 2005 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML052580332), the NRC 

rebaselines its annual fees every year. 

‘‘Rebaselining’’ entails analyzing the 

budget in detail and then allocating the 

budgeted costs to various classes or 

subclasses of licensees. It also includes 

updating the number of NRC licensees 

in its fee calculation methodology. 

The NRC revised its annual fees in 

§§ 171.15 and 171.16 to recover 

approximately 90 percent of the NRC’s 

FY 2018 budget authority (less the feerecovery exclusions and the estimated 

amount to be recovered through 10 CFR 

part 170 fees). The total estimated 10 

CFR part 170 collections for this final 

rule are $280.8 million, a decrease of 

$16.6 million from the FY 2017 fee rule. 

The NRC, therefore, must recover $508.5 

million through annual fees from its 

licensees; an amount identical to the 

annual fees collected by the FY 2017 

final fee rule. 

Table V shows the final rebaselined 

fees for FY 2018 for a representative list 

of license categories. The FY 2017 

amounts are provided for comparison 

purposes.7

TABLE V—REBASELINED ANNUAL FEES

Class/category of license 

FY 2017 

final annual 

fee 

FY 2018 

final annual 

fee 

Percentage 

change 

Operating Power Reactors .......................................................................................................... $4,308,000 $4,333,000 0.6 

+ Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning ........................................................................ 188,000 198,000 5.3 

Total, Combined Fee ............................................................................................................ 4,496,000 4,531,000 0.8 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning .......................................................................... 188,000 198,000 5.3 

Research and Test Reactors (Non-power Reactors) .................................................................. 81,400 81,300 ¥0.1 

High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility ........................................................................................... 7,255,000 7,346,000 1.3 

Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility ............................................................................................ 2,629,000 2,661,000 1.2 

UF6 Conversion and Deconversion Facility ................................................................................. 1,498,000 1,517,000 1.3 

Conventional Mills ........................................................................................................................ 38,900 38,800 ¥0.3 

Typical Materials Users: 

Radiographers (Category 3O) .............................................................................................. 27,000 25,000 ¥7.4 

Well Loggers (Category 5A) ................................................................................................. 16,000 14,900 ¥6.9 

All Other Specific Byproduct Material Licensees (Category 3P) ......................................... 9,300 8,600 ¥7.5 

Broad Scope Medical (Category 7B) ................................................................................... 33,800 30,900 ¥8.6 

The work papers that support this 

final rule show in detail how the NRC 

allocates the budgeted resources for 

each class of license and calculates the 

fees. 

Paragraphs a. through h. of this 

section describe budgeted resources 

allocated to each class of license and the 

calculations of the rebaselined fees. For 

more information about detailed fee 

calculations for each class, please 

consult the accompanying work papers. 

a. Fuel Facilities 

The NRC will collect $27.7 million in 

annual fees from the fuel facilities class. 

TABLE VI—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR FUEL FACILITIES

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources ............................................................................................................ $33.9 $35.2 3.8 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥9.6 ¥9.2 ¥4.2 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 24.3 26.0 7.0 

Allocated generic transportation .................................................................................................. 1.6 1.3 ¥1.9 

Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge ......................................................................................... 2.5 0.5 ¥80.0 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Total remaining required annual fee recovery 8 ................................................................... 28.4 27.7 ¥2.5 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29627 

9No licensees in this fee category in FY 2018. 

In FY 2018, the fuel facilities 

budgeted resources increased slightly 

due to a 5.3 percent increase in the fully 

costed FTE rate and the transfer of 1 

FTE of enforcement resources from the 

nuclear materials user fee class to the 

fuel facilities fee class to reflect the fee 

class benefiting from the work being 

performed by this FTE. The estimated 

10 CFR part 170 billings declined by 

$0.4 million as a result of completing 

license renewals for GE Vallecitos and 

Westinghouse, as well as declining 

inspection workload for Honeywell. 

There was also a reduction to the LLW 

surcharge allotment because of 

decreased usage of LLW by this fee class 

as a percentage of licensees. 

The NRC allocates annual fees to 

individual fuel facility licensees based 

on the effort/fee determination matrix 

developed in the FY 1999 final fee rule 

(64 FR 31447; June 10, 1999). To briefly 

recap, the matrix groups licensees 

within this fee class into various fee 

categories. The matrix lists processes 

conducted at licensed sites and assigns 

effort factors for the safety and 

safeguards activities associated with 

each process (these effort levels are 

presented in Table VII). The annual fees 

are then distributed across the fee class 

based on the regulatory effort reflected 

in the matrix. 

TABLE VII—EFFORT FACTORS FOR FUEL FACILITIES, FY 2018 

Facility type 

(fee category) 

Number of 

facilities 

Effort factors 

Safety Safeguards 

High-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a)) .................................................................................... 2 88 96 

Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b)) ..................................................................................... 3 70 30 

Limited Operations (1.A.(2)(a)) .................................................................................................... 0 0 0 

Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b)) .............................................................. 0 0 0 

Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c)) ................................................................................................. 0 0 0 

Uranium Enrichment (1.E.) .......................................................................................................... 1 21 23 

UF6 Conversion and Deconversion (2.A.(1)) ............................................................................... 1 12 7 

In FY 2018, the total remaining 

required annual fee recovery amount of 

$27.7 million is comprised of safety 

activities, safeguards activities and the 

fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge. 

For FY 2018, the total budgeted 

resources to be recovered as annual fees 

for safety activities are $15.0 million. To 

calculate the annual fee, the NRC 

allocates this amount to each fee 

category based on its percent of the total 

regulatory effort for safety activities. 

Similarly, the NRC allocates the 

budgeted resources to be recovered as 

annual fees for safeguards activities, 

$12.2 million, to each fee category based 

on its percent of the total regulatory 

effort for safeguards activities. Finally, 

the portion of the fee-relief adjustment/ 

LLW surcharge associated with the fuel 

facility fee class—$0.5 million—is 

allocated to each fee category based on 

its percentage of the total regulatory 

effort for both safety and safeguards 

activities. The annual fee per licensee is 

then calculated by dividing the total 

allocated budgeted resources for the fee 

category by the number of licensees in 

that fee category. In comparison to FY 

2017, there was a decrease of 2.5 

percent for the total remaining required 

annual fee recovery in FY 2018 (see 

Table VI). However, there was an 

increase of approximately 1.3 percent in 

each fee category in FY 2018. The 

differences in the changes to the total 

required annual fee recovery and the 

annual fees for each fee category is due 

to two licensees leaving the fee class in 

FY 2017. The fee for each facility is 

summarized in Table VIII. 

TABLE VIII—ANNUAL FEES FOR FUEL FACILITIES

Facility type 

(fee category) 

FY 2017 final 

annual fee 

FY 2018 

final annual 

fee 

Percentage 

change 

High-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a)) .................................................................................... $7,255,000 $7,346,000 1.3 

Low-Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b)) ..................................................................................... 2,629,000 2,661,000 1.2 

Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b)) .............................................................. 1,366,000 9 N/A N/A 

Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c)) ................................................................................................. 710,000 10 N/A N/A 

Uranium Enrichment (1.E.) .......................................................................................................... 3,470,000 3,513,000 1.2 

UF6 Conversion and Deconversion (2.A.(1)) ............................................................................... 1,498,000 1,517,000 1.3 

b. Uranium Recovery Facilities 

The NRC will collect $0.5 million in 

annual fees from the uranium recovery 

facilities fee class, a decrease of 50.0 

percent from FY 2017. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29628 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

10The Congress established the two programs, 

Title I and Title II, under UMTRCA to protect the 

public and the environment from uranium milling. 

The UMTRCA Title I program is for remedial action 

at abandoned mill tailings sites where tailings 

resulted largely from production of uranium for the 

weapons program. The NRC also regulates DOE’s 

UMTRCA Title II program, which is directed 

toward uranium mill sites licensed by the NRC or 

Agreement States in or after 1978. 

TABLE IX—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR URANIUM RECOVERY FACILITIES

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources ............................................................................................................ $14.3 $13.5 ¥5.6 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥13.5 ¥12.9 ¥4.4 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 0.8 0.6 ¥25.0 

Allocated generic transportation .................................................................................................. N/A N/A N/A 

Fee-relief adjustment ................................................................................................................... 0.2 ¥0.1 ¥150.0 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 1.0 0.5 ¥50.0 

In comparison to FY 2017, the FY 

2018 budgeted resources for uranium 

recovery licensees decreased due to 

reductions in associated licensing work, 

realignment of the Uranium Mill 

Tailings Radiation Control Act 

(UMTRCA) program, and completed 

reviews for license amendments for 

Strata Energy and Jane Dough, offset by 

increased workload for the Marsland 

license amendment review. 

The NRC computes the annual fee for 

the uranium recovery fee class by 

dividing the total annual fee recovery 

amount among DOE and the other 

licensees in this fee class. The annual 

fee decreased for the DOE/UMTRCA 

program due to the decreased budgeted 

resources and an increase in 10 CFR 

part 170 billings for the Atlantic 

Richfield Bluewater disposal site 

review. The annual fee decreased 

slightly for the remaining uranium 

recovery licensees due to the fee relief 

credit. This was offset by a decrease in 

estimated 10 CFR part 170 billings for 

completed reviews for license 

amendments for Strata Energy and Jane 

Dough. There was an increase in 10 CFR 

part 170 billings for the Marsland 

license amendment review, which also 

contributed to the slight decrease in 

annual fees. 

The NRC regulates DOE’s Title I and 

Title II activities under UMTRCA 10 and 

the annual fee to DOE includes the costs 

specifically budgeted for the NRC’s 

UMTRCA Title I and Title II activities, 

as well as 10 percent of the remaining 

budgeted costs for this fee class. The 

annual fee decreased for the overall fee 

class due to the decrease in budgeted 

resources. The NRC assesses the 

remaining 90 percent of its budgeted 

costs to the rest of the licensees in this 

fee class, as described in the work 

papers. This is reflected in Table X as 

follows: 

TABLE X—COSTS RECOVERED THROUGH ANNUAL FEES; URANIUM RECOVERY FEE CLASS

Summary of costs 

FY 2017 

final 

annual 

fee 

FY 2018 

final 

annual 

fee 

Percentage 

change 

DOE Annual Fee Amount (UMTRCA Title I and Title II) General Licenses: 

UMTRCA Title I and Title II budgeted costs less 10 CFR part 170 receipts ...................... $574,595 $80,921 ¥85.9 

10 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs ........................................... 19,079 47,723 150.1 

10 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief adjustment ......................................................... 21,940 ¥6,724 ¥130.6 

Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE (rounded) .............................................................. 616,000 122,000 ¥80.2 

Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses: 

90 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs less the amounts specifically budgeted for UMTRCA Title I and Title II activities ................................................. 171,714 429,509 150.1

90 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief adjustment ......................................................... 197,464 ¥60,517 ¥130.6 

Total Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses ............................... 369,178 368,992 ¥0.1 

Further, for the non-DOE licensees, 

the NRC continues to use a matrix to 

determine the effort levels associated 

with conducting the generic regulatory 

actions for the different licensees in this 

fee class; this is similar to the NRC’s 

approach for fuel facilities, described 

previously. 

The matrix methodology for uranium 

recovery licensees first identifies the 

licensee categories included within this 

fee class (excluding DOE). These 

categories are: Conventional uranium 

mills and heap leach facilities; uranium 

In Situ Recovery (ISR) and resin ISR 

facilities; mill tailings disposal facilities; 

and uranium water treatment facilities. 

The matrix identifies the types of 

operating activities that support and 

benefit these licensees, along with each 

activity’s relative weight (for more 

information, see the work papers). Table 

XI displays the benefit factors per 

licensee and per fee category, for each 

of the non-DOE fee categories included 

in the uranium recovery fee class as 

follows: 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29629 

11These contract costs were funded with prior 

year unobligated carryover in FY 2017, and thus, 

were not included in the FY 2017 final fee rule. 

TABLE XI—BENEFIT FACTORS FOR URANIUM RECOVERY LICENSES

Fee category Number of 

licensees 

Benefit factor 

per licensee 

Total 

value 

Benefit factor 

percent total 

Conventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a)) ............................................. 1 150 150 10.5 

Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b)) .................................................... 5 190 950 66.7 

Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(c)) ............................................ 1 215 215 15.1 

Section 11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites (2.A.(4)) ............. 1 85 85 6.0 

Uranium water treatment (2.A.(5)) ................................................................... 1 25 25 1.7 

Total .......................................................................................................... 9 665 1,425 100.0 

Applying these factors to the 

approximately $368,992 in budgeted 

costs to be recovered from non-DOE 

uranium recovery licensees results in 

the total annual fees for each fee 

category. The annual fee per licensee is 

calculated by dividing the total 

allocated budgeted resources for the fee 

category by the number of licensees in 

that fee category, as summarized in 

Table XII. 

TABLE XII—ANNUAL FEES FOR URANIUM RECOVERY LICENSEES

[Other than DOE] 

Facility type 

(fee category) 

FY 2017 

final annual 

fee 

FY 2018 

final annual 

fee 

Percentage 

change 

Conventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a)) ......................................................................... $38,900 $38,800 ¥0.3 

Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b)) ............................................................................... 49,200 49,200 0.0 

Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(c)) ........................................................................ 55,700 55,700 0.0 

Section 11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites (2.A.(4)) ......................................... 22,000 22,000 0.0 

Uranium water treatment (2.A.(5)) ............................................................................................... 6,500 6,500 0.0 

c. Operating Power Reactors 

The NRC will collect $428.9 million 

in annual fees from the power reactor 

fee class in FY 2018, as shown in Table 

XIII. The FY 2017 fees and percentage 

change are shown for comparison 

purposes. 

TABLE XIII—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR OPERATING POWER REACTORS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources ............................................................................................................ $670.3 $669.9 0.0 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥256.3 ¥239.6 ¥6.5 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 414.0 430.4 4.0 

Allocated generic transportation .................................................................................................. 0.3 0.3 0.0 

Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge ......................................................................................... 11.1 ¥0.8 ¥107.2 

Billing adjustment ......................................................................................................................... 1.1 ¥0.9 ¥181.8 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 426.5 428.9 0.6 

Total operating reactors ............................................................................................................... 99 99 0.0 

Annual fee per reactor ................................................................................................................. 4.308 4.333 0.6 

In comparison to FY 2017, the 

operating power reactors budgeted 

resources decreased slightly by $0.4 

million due to a decline in FTEs needed 

for Fukushima-related work and 

combined license reviews. This decline 

in FTEs, however, was offset by 

increases in contract costs associated 

with research in the areas of safety and 

security of digital systems, materials 

degradation, the aging of cables, and the 

effects of concrete degradation.11 In FY 

2018, contract costs also increased to 

support the new reactor design 

certification and early site permit 

reviews, as well as related infrastructure 

and technical assistance. 

Estimated billings under 10 CFR part 

170 also slightly declined primarily due 

to South Carolina Electric and Gas 

Company’s decision to abandon the 

construction of the two new nuclear 

units at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. 

The budgeted resources are divided 

equally among the 99 operating power 

reactors, resulting in an annual fee of 

$4,333,000 per reactor. Additionally, 

each licensed power reactor is assessed 

the FY 2018 spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning annual fee of 

$198,000 (see Table XIV and the 

discussion that follows). The combined 

FY 2018 annual fee for operating power 

reactors is, therefore, $4,531,000. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29630 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

On May 24, 2016, the NRC amended 

its licensing, inspection, and annual fee 

regulations to establish a variable 

annual fee structure for light-water 

small modular reactors (SMRs). Under 

the variable annual fee structure, 

effective June 23, 2016, an SMR’s 

annual fee would be calculated as a 

function of its licensed thermal power 

rating. Currently, there are no operating 

SMRs; therefore, the NRC will not assess 

an annual fee in FY 2018 for this type 

of licensee. 

d. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor 

Decommissioning 

The NRC will collect $24.2 million in 

annual fees from 10 CFR part 50 power 

reactors, and from 10 CFR part 72 

licensees that do not hold a 10 CFR part 

50 license, to collect the budgeted costs 

for spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning. 

TABLE XIV—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR THE SPENT FUEL STORAGE/REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING FEE

CLASS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources ............................................................................................................ $29.5 $33.8 14.6 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥7.9 ¥10.2 29.1 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 21.6 23.7 9.7 

Allocated generic transportation costs ........................................................................................ 0.8 0.7 12.5 

Fee-relief adjustment ................................................................................................................... 0.5 ¥0.2 ¥140.0 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.1 0.0 ¥100.0 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 23.0 24.2 5.2 

Total spent fuel storage facilities .......................................................................................... 122 122 0.0 

Annual fee per facility .................................................................................................................. 0.188 0.198 5.3 

Compared to FY 2017, the FY 2018 

budgeted resources for spent fuel 

storage/reactor decommissioning 

increased due to: (1) An increase in 

resources to support the safety, security, 

emergency preparedness, and 

environmental reviews for two 

applications for consolidated interim 

storage facilities; and (2) efforts to 

consolidate the standard review plan for 

all facilities in the fee class. For this fee 

class, estimated billings under 10 CFR 

part 170 increased slightly due to an 

anticipated increase in workload for the 

Holtec International consolidated 

interim storage facility application, a 

renewal request for DOE Idaho, and an 

amendment request by TN Americas. 

This increase in 10 CFR part 170 

estimated billings was partly offset due 

to suspension of the review for the 

Waste Control Specialists consolidated 

interim storage facility application. 

The required annual fee recovery 

amount is divided equally among 122 

licensees, resulting in an FY 2018 

annual fee of $198,000 per licensee. 

e. Research and Test Reactors (NonPower Reactors) 

The NRC will collect $0.325 million 

in annual fees from the research and test 

reactor licensee class. 

TABLE XV—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources ............................................................................................................ $1.982 $2.009 1.4 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥1.724 ¥1.698 ¥1.5 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 0.258 0.311 20.5 

Allocated generic transportation .................................................................................................. 0.034 0.027 -20.6 

Fee-relief adjustment ................................................................................................................... 0.031 ¥0.010 ¥67.7 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.003 ¥0.003 ¥200.0 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 0.326 0.325 ¥0.3 

Total research and test reactors ................................................................................................. 4 4 0.0 

Total annual fee per reactor ................................................................................................. 0.0814 0.0813 ¥0.1 

For this fee class, the budgeted 

resources increased due to an increase 

in the fully costed FTE rate. Despite the 

increase in budgeted resources, the final 

FY 2018 annual fee decreased due to an 

increase in the fee-relief credit and a 

reduction in generic transportation costs 

from FY 2017. These were offset by a 

decline in estimated 10 CFR part 170 

billings due to the lower than projected 

workload associated with the delayed 

construction and license application 

submission schedules of two medical 

isotope production facilities. This 

decline was offset by increases in 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29631 

estimated 10 CFR part 170 billings for 

Aerotest’s license renewal and 

continued project management activities 

for the four research and test reactor 

sites. 

The required annual fee-recovery 

amount is divided equally among the 

four research and test reactors subject to 

annual fees and results in an FY 2018 

annual fee of $81,300 for each licensee. 

f. Rare Earth 

The NRC has not allocated any 

budgeted resources to this fee class; 

therefore, the NRC is not issuing an 

annual fee in FY 2018. 

g. Materials Users 

The NRC will collect $32.4 million in 

annual fees from materials users 

licensed under 10 CFR parts 30, 40, and 

70. 

TABLE XVI—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR MATERIALS USERS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total budgeted resources for licensees not regulated by Agreement States ............................. $33.7 $32.1 ¥4.7 

Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts .................................................................................. ¥0.9 ¥0.9 0.0 

Net 10 CFR part 171 resources ........................................................................................... 32.8 31.1 ¥5.2 

Allocated generic transportation .................................................................................................. 1.6 1.3 ¥18.8 

Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge ......................................................................................... 0.9 0.0 ¥100.0 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.1 0.0 ¥100.0 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 35.4 32.4 ¥8.5 

The annual fee for these categories of 

materials users’ licenses is developed as 

follows: Annual Fee = Constant x 

[Application Fee + (Average Inspection 

Cost/Inspection Priority)] + Inspection 

Multiplier × (Average Inspection Cost/ 

Inspection Priority) + Unique Category 

Costs. The total annual fee recovery for 

FY 2018 consists of the following: $24.9 

million for general costs, $7.2 million 

for inspection costs, $0.3 million for 

unique costs for medical licenses, and 

$0.04 million for the fee relief 

adjustment/LLW surcharge. To 

equitably and fairly allocate the $32.4 

million required to be collected among 

approximately 2,600 diverse materials 

users licensees, the NRC continues to 

calculate the annual fees for each fee 

category within this class based on the 

10 CFR part 170 application fees and 

estimated inspection costs for each fee 

category. Because the application fees 

and inspection costs are indicative of 

the complexity of the materials license, 

this approach provides a proxy for 

allocating the generic and other 

regulatory costs to the diverse fee 

categories. This fee-calculation method 

also considers the inspection frequency 

(priority), which is indicative of the 

safety risk and resulting regulatory costs 

associated with the categories of 

licenses. 

The NRC is decreasing the annual fees 

for most materials licensees in this fee 

class in FY 2018 due to a reduction in 

budgeted resources for oversight 

activities through implementation of 

process enhancements and rebaselining 

of the materials program under Project 

Aim. 

The constant multiplier is established 

in order to recover the total general 

costs (including allocated generic 

transportation costs) of $24.9 million. 

To derive the constant multiplier, the 

general cost amount is divided by the 

product of all fee categories (application 

fee plus the inspection fee divided by 

inspection priority) then multiplied by 

the number of licensees. This 

calculation results in a constant 

multiplier of 1.36 for FY 2018. The 

average inspection cost is the average 

inspection hours for each fee category 

multiplied by the professional hourly 

rate of $275. The inspection priority is 

the interval between routine 

inspections, expressed in years. The 

inspection multiplier is established in 

order to recover the $7.2 million in 

inspection costs. To derive the 

inspection multiplier, the inspection 

costs amount is divided by the product 

of all fee categories (inspection fee 

divided by inspection priority) then 

multiplied by the number of licensees. 

This calculation results in an inspection 

multiplier of 1.39 for FY 2018. The 

unique category costs are any special 

costs that the NRC has budgeted for a 

specific category of licenses. For FY 

2018, unique category costs include 

approximately $0.3 million in budgeted 

costs for the implementation of revised 

10 CFR part 35, ‘‘Medical Use of 

Byproduct Material,’’ which has been 

allocated to holders of NRC human-use 

licenses. 

The annual fee assessed to each 

licensee also includes a share of the $0.1 

million fee-relief credit assessment 

allocated to the materials users fee class 

(see Table IV, ‘‘Allocation of Fee-Relief 

Adjustment and LLW Surcharge, FY 

2018,’’ in Section III, ‘‘Discussion,’’ of 

this document), and for certain 

categories of these licensees, a share of 

the approximately $0.2 million LLW 

surcharge costs allocated to the fee 

class. The annual fee for each fee 

category is shown in the revision to 

§ 171.16(d). 

h. Transportation 

The NRC will collect $1.1 million in 

annual fees to recover generic 

transportation budgeted resources. The 

FY 2017 values are shown for 

comparison purposes. 

TABLE XVII—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Total Budgeted Resources .......................................................................................................... $8.9 $7.9 ¥11.2 

Less Estimated 10 CFR part 170 Receipts ................................................................................. ¥3.1 ¥3.1 0.0 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29632 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

12New line item added to enhance clarity. 

TABLE XVII—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION—Continued 

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2017 

final 

FY 2018 

final 

Percentage 

change 

Net 10 CFR part 171 Resources ......................................................................................... 5.8 4.7 ¥19.0 

Less Generic Transportation Resources 12 ................................................................................. ¥4.5 ¥3.6 ¥20.0 

Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge ......................................................................................... 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Billing adjustments ....................................................................................................................... 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Total required annual fee recovery ...................................................................................... 1.5 1.1 ¥28.5 

In comparison to FY 2017, the total 

budgeted resources for FY 2018 for 

generic transportation activities 

decreased due to a decline in the 

expected number of major licensing 

actions to be completed in FY 2018 and 

a reduction in the Certificates of 

Compliance (CoCs) for DOE (from 22 to 

21). There was also a decline in 

budgeted resources within licensing and 

rulemaking support due to a transfer of 

certain budgeted resources to the spent 

fuel storage/reactor decommissioning 

fee class. 

Consistent with the policy established 

in the NRC’s FY 2006 final fee rule (71 

FR 30721; May 30, 2006), the NRC 

recovers generic transportation costs 

unrelated to DOE by including those 

costs in the annual fees for licensee fee 

classes. The NRC continues to assess a 

separate annual fee under § 171.16, fee 

category 18.A. for DOE transportation 

activities. The amount of the allocated 

generic resources is calculated by 

multiplying the percentage of total CoCs 

used by each fee class (and DOE) by the 

total generic transportation resources to 

be recovered. The final annual fee 

decrease for DOE is mainly due to a 

decrease in CoCs from 22 to 21 in FY 

2018. 

This resource distribution to the 

licensee fee classes and DOE is shown 

in Table XVIII. Note that for the research 

and test reactors fee class, the NRC 

allocates the distribution to only those 

licensees that are subject to annual fees. 

Although four CoCs benefit the entire 

research and test reactor class, only 4 

out of 31 research and test reactors are 

subject to annual fees. Consequently, 

the number of CoCs used to determine 

the proportion of generic transportation 

resources allocated to research and test 

reactors annual fees has been adjusted 

to 0.5 so the research and test reactors 

subject to annual fees are charged a fair 

and equitable portion of the total. For 

more information, see the work papers. 

TABLE XVIII—DISTRIBUTION OF TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES, FY 2018 

[Dollars in millions] 

Licensee fee class/DOE 

Number of CoCs 

benefiting fee 

class or DOE 

Percentage 

of total 

CoCs 

Allocated generic 

transportation 

resources 

Materials Users ................................................................................................................ 25.0 27.9 $1.3 

Operating Power Reactors .............................................................................................. 5.0 5.6 0.3 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor ............................................................................................

Decommissioning ............................................................................................................. 14.0 15.6 0.7 

Research and Test Reactors ........................................................................................... 0.5 0.6 0.0 

Fuel Facilities ................................................................................................................... 24.0 26.8 1.3 

Sub-Total of Generic Transportation Resources ..................................................... 68.5 76.5 3.6 

DOE ................................................................................................................................. 21.0 23.5 1.1 

Total .......................................................................................................................... 89.5 100.0 4.7 

The NRC assesses an annual fee to 

DOE based on the 10 CFR part 71 CoCs 

it holds. The NRC, therefore, does not 

allocate these DOE-related resources to 

other licensees’ annual fees because 

these resources specifically support 

DOE. 

FY 2018—Policy Change 

The NRC makes one policy change for 

FY 2018: 

Changes to Small Materials Users Fee 

Categories for Locations of Use 

The NRC adds new fee subcategories 

to seven existing fee categories under 10 

CFR 170.31, ‘‘Schedule of Fees for 

Materials Licenses and Other Regulatory 

Services, Including Inspections, and 

Import and Export Licenses,’’ and 10 

CFR 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.’’ Generally speaking, 10 CFR 

170.31 assigns the same fee to each 

licensee in the fee category, regardless 

of the number of locations where the 

licensee is authorized to work. Yet for 

some of these fee categories, the NRC 

staff recently determined that it spends 

a disproportionate amount of time on 

licensees with six or more locations 

compared to licensees in the same fee 

category with fewer than six locations. 

Therefore, the NRC is revising its fee 

categories so that these fees better align 

with the actual costs of providing 

regulatory services. 

Previously—in the FY 2015 final fee 

rule—the NRC added three fee 

subcategories under one fee category, 

3.L. (research and development broad 

scope) for licenses with six or more 

locations of use. Although there are 14 

additional fee categories that could be 

modified, the NRC determined that most 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29633 

13The change identified as item No.10 is not 

being made as part of the final rule. 

affected licenses are covered under 7 of 

the 14 fee categories. Accordingly, the 

NRC is adding subcategories to these 

seven fee categories: 

• Manufacturing broad scope licenses 

under fee category 3.A. 

• Other manufacturing licenses under 

fee category 3.B. 

• Medical product distribution 

licenses under fee category 3.C. 

• Industrial radiography licenses 

under fee category 3.O. 

• Other byproduct licenses (e.g., 

portable and fixed gauges, measuring 

systems) under fee category 3.P. 

• Medical licenses under fee 

categories 7.A. and 7.B. 

To more accurately reflect the cost of 

services provided by the NRC, this 

change results in each fee category 

having subcategories for 1–5, 6–20, and 

more than 20 locations of use. The NRC 

is also amending footnotes 9, 18, and 19, 

as numbered in the final rule, in 

§ 171.16 and footnotes 7, 9, and 10 in 

§ 170.31 to reflect the new fee 

subcategories. 

FY 2018—Administrative Changes 

The NRC is making ten 13 of the 

eleven proposed administrative changes 

in this final rule: 

1. Revise the methodology of charging 

licensees for overhead time for project 

managers (PMs) and resident inspectors 

(RIs). 

The NRC is revising the methodology 

for charging licensees for overhead time 

for PMs and RIs. The prior approach 

was that the NRC included an overhead 

cost of 6 percent of direct billable costs 

to all licensees’ invoices. The overhead 

charge was intended to recover the full 

cost for PM and RI activities that 

provide a direct benefit to the assigned 

licensee or site. 

In FY 2015 to FY 2017, this 6-percent 

value was based on the analysis of 4 

years of billing data (FY 2011 to FY 

2014) for overhead activities recorded in 

the time and labor system by a PM or 

RI and billed to the dockets to which the 

PM or the RI were officially assigned. 

The NRC has reviewed the process and, 

as a process enhancement, created 

docket-related fee-billable cost activity 

codes to replace the prior 6-percent 

approach. Consistent with 10 CFR 

170.12(c)(1), which requires the NRC to 

assess fees to recover full cost for each 

RI (including the senior RI) assigned to 

a specific plant or facility (i.e., ‘‘all time 

in a non-leave status,’’ excluding time 

spent in support of activities at another 

site), RIs (including senior RIs) will 

begin recording time to these new 

docket-related fee-billable cost activity 

codes at the end of FY 2018. These new 

docket-related fee-billable cost activity 

codes will not be used by PMs. Agency 

efforts have significantly reduced the 

use of non-fee-billable overhead 

associated with PMs through 

improvements in the timekeeping 

system, additional staff training, and 

more robust control of hours recorded to 

the cost activity codes by the PMs. The 

agency continues to monitor the proper 

use of the limited range of indirect 

activities. 

The first invoice without the 6- 

percent overhead charge will be issued 

in January 2019. Instead, the licensee 

invoices will include the actual hours 

for RI activities that support and 

directly benefit the assigned licensee or 

site. The licensees should expect to see 

a cost activity code on their invoices 

which references these RI indirect 

hours. 

2. Add definitions for inputs in the 

professional hourly rate calculation in 

10 CFR part 170, ‘‘Fees for Facilities, 

Materials, Import and Export Licenses, 

and Other Regulatory Services under the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 

Amended.’’ 

In response to the recommendations 

in the U.S. Government Accountability 

Office (GAO) report titled ‘‘Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission: Regulatory FeeSetting Calculations Need Greater 

Transparency’’ (GAO–17–232), dated 

February 2, 2017, the NRC committed to 

add definitions for the professional 

hourly rate components in 10 CFR part 

170 during the FY 2018 fee rulemaking. 

The NRC, therefore, adds the definitions 

for ‘‘agency support (corporate support 

and the IG),’’ ‘‘mission-direct program 

salaries and benefits,’’ and ‘‘missionindirect program support’’ to 10 CFR 

170.3, ‘‘Definitions.’’ 

3. Delete the definition of ‘‘overhead 

and general and administrative costs’’ 

from 10 CFR 170.3 and 10 CFR 171.5. 

The term ‘‘overhead and general and 

administrative costs’’ is currently 

defined in 10 CFR 170.3 and 10 CFR 

171.5, but it is not used in 10 CFR parts 

170 and 171. Nor do the subordinate 

elements of the definition— 

‘‘Government benefits,’’ ‘‘travel costs,’’ 

‘‘overhead,’’ ‘‘administrative support 

costs,’’ and ‘‘indirect costs’’—appear 

elsewhere in 10 CFR parts 170 and 171. 

The NRC, therefore, deletes these 

definitions to enhance clarity. 

4. Amend language under 10 CFR 

170.11, ‘‘Exemptions,’’ to add a new 

paragraph to include the timeframe in 

which a request for a fee exemption 

must be submitted to the Chief 

Financial Officer (CFO) under 10 CFR 

part 170. 

The NRC is amending its exemption 

requirements to specify that a request 

for a fee exemption under 10 CFR 

170.11(a)(1) must be submitted to the 

CFO within 90 days of the date of the 

NRC’s receipt of the work. 

5. Amend language under 10 CFR 

170.31, ‘‘Schedule of Fees for Materials 

Licenses and Other Regulatory Services, 

Including Inspections, and Import and 

Export Licenses,’’ and 10 CFR 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,’’ to enhance clarity. 

When a materials license (or part of a 

materials license) changes from 

operational to decommissioning status, 

it transitions to fee category 14.A. There 

are two aspects of the fee treatment that 

follows transition to fee category 14.A. 

First, the materials license (or part of a 

materials license) that transitions to fee 

category 14.A is assessed full cost fees 

under 10 CFR part 170, even if, before 

the transition to this fee category, the 

licensee was assessed flat fees under 10 

CFR part 170. Second, the materials 

license (or part of a materials license) 

that transitions to fee category 14.A is 

not assessed annual fees under 10 CFR 

part 171. If only part of a materials 

license is transitioned to fee category 

14.A, the licensee may be charged 

annual fees (and any applicable 10 CFR 

part 170 fees) for other activities 

authorized under the license that are not 

in decommissioning status. This final 

rule adds a new footnote to the table in 

10 CFR 170.31 and to the table in 10 

CFR 171.16 to emphasize the fee 

treatment that follows a transition to fee 

category 14.A. 

The NRC also adds new language to 

the description of fee category 14.A. in 

both 10 CFR 170.31 and 171.16 in order 

to enhance clarity regarding when a 

materials license (or part of a materials 

license) transitions to fee category 14.A. 

Specifically, this transition occurs when 

a licensee has permanently ceased 

principal activities. For guidance on 

what constitutes ‘‘permanently ceasing 

principal activities,’’ please see 

Regulatory Issue Summary 2015–19, 

‘‘Decommissioning Timeliness Rule 

Implementation and Associated 

Regulatory Relief’’ (September 27, 2016, 

ADAMS Accession No. ML16008A242). 

6. Amend language under 10 CFR 

171.3 and 10 CFR 171.16(a) to clarify 

when the assessment of annual fees 

begins for uranium recovery and fuel 

facility licensees. 

Both uranium recovery and fuel 

facilities licenses include a condition 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29634 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

that the NRC must complete a postconstruction, pre-operational inspection 

to authorize a licensee to possess and 

use source material. In the FY 2007 final 

fee rule, the NRC added language to 10 

CFR 171.3 and 10 CFR 171.16(a) to 

codify its policy that annual fees for 

uranium enrichment facilities will be 

assessed after the NRC verifies through 

inspection that the facility has been 

constructed in accordance with the 

requirements of the license. The NRC is 

amending those sections to codify the 

policy that the assessment of annual 

fees for uranium recovery or fuel facility 

licensees, including uranium 

enrichment facility licensees, begins 

after the NRC inspection verifies that 

the facility has been constructed in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

license. 

7. Amend footnote 9 to the table in 10 

CFR 171.16(d) for clarity. 

The NRC revises footnote 9 to clarify 

that nuclear medicine licensees under 

fee category 7.A. are not assessed a 

separate annual fee for pacemaker 

licenses. 

8. Delete footnote 15 to the table in 10 

CFR 171.16(d). 

The NRC deletes footnote 15 because 

footnote 16 is more comprehensive and 

already includes the relevant 

information from footnote 15. The 

current footnote 16 is renumbered as 

footnote 15, and the footnotes that 

follow current footnote 16 are 

renumbered. All references to these 

footnotes in fee categories are adjusted 

accordingly. 

9. Amend footnote 16 to the table in 

10 CFR 171.16(d) for clarity. 

The NRC renumbers footnote 16 as 

footnote 15, as indicated, and revises it 

to clarify that licensees paying fees 

under fee category 17 are not subject to 

additional fees listed in the table. 

10. Proposal to add a new footnote to 

the table in 10 CFR 171.16(d) for clarity. 

In the proposed fee rule, the NRC 

proposed to add a new footnote 

(footnote 20 in the proposed fee rule) to 

clarify when licensees are exempt from 

paying annual fees under a specific fee 

category when they are licensed under 

multiple fee categories. Specifically, the 

NRC proposed to add references to the 

new footnote 20 for fee categories 2.B., 

3.N., and 3.P. The NRC, however, 

determined that the proposed footnote 

20 was redundant to footnotes 17 and 18 

for fee category 2B; to footnote 19 for fee 

category 3.P., as well as new fee 

categories 3.P(1) and 3.P(2). The 

language in the proposed footnote 20 

was also determined to be redundant to 

the description for fee category 3.N. 

Therefore, the NRC does not add this 

footnote to the table in § 171.16(d). 

11. Amend language under 10 CFR 

171.17, ‘‘Proration,’’ to add a new 

sentence on the proration of fees. 

This final rule revises language 

regarding (1) reactors; (2) licensees 

under 10 CFR part 72, ‘‘Licensing 

Requirements for the Independent 

Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, HighLevel Radioactive Waste, and ReactorRelated Greater Than Class C Waste,’’ 

who do not hold 10 CFR part 50, 

‘‘Domestic Licensing of Production and 

Utilization Facilities,’’ licenses; and (3) 

materials licensees with annual fees of 

$100,000 or greater for a single fee 

category. The NRC is basing the 

proration of annual fees for terminated 

and downgraded licensees on the fee 

rule in effect at the time the termination 

or downgrade action is official. The 

NRC bases the determinations on the 

proration requirements under 10 CFR 

171.17(a)(2) and (3). 

Prior to this final rule, proration was 

based on the fee rule for the current 

fiscal year. This prevents the NRC from 

accurately billing the licensee at the 

time the termination or downgrade 

action is official based on the proration 

requirements under 10 CFR 171.17(a)(2) 

and (3). The NRC had wait until the 

current year’s fee rule was effective 

(typically during the fourth quarter of a 

fiscal year) to either bill additional 

amounts or process refunds to the 

licensee based on the new fee rule 

amount. 

This amendment allows the NRC to 

prorate annual fees based on the fee rule 

in effect at the time the termination or 

downgrade action is official based on 

the proration requirements under 10 

CFR 171.17(a)(2) and (3), thereby 

providing improved transparency for fee 

adjustments in the fourth quarter of the 

fiscal year. This change supports the fair 

and equitable assessment of fees 

because it ties annual fee proration to 

when the license actually becomes 

downgraded or terminated. 

Update to the Fees Transformation 

Initiative 

The SRM, dated October 19, 2016 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML16293A902), 

for SECY–16–0097, ‘‘Fee Setting 

Improvements and Fiscal Year 2017 

Proposed Fee Rule’’ (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML16194A365) directed staff to 

explore, as a voluntary pilot, whether a 

flat fee structure could be established 

for routine licensing matters in the area 

uranium recovery, and to accelerate the 

fees setting process improvements 

including the transition to an electronic 

billing system. With respect to the 

voluntary flat fees pilot, the staff has 

developed a project plan and is on target 

to complete this activity by September 

2020. With respect to the fees setting 

process improvements, all 14 of the 

activities scheduled for FY 2017 and an 

additional 3 scheduled for FY 2018 

were completed in FY 2017. These 

improvements included adding 

additional content to the FY 2018 

Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ) 

to help licensees understand how the 

planned workload in the budget 

impacted fees, validating the budgeting 

process by comparing budgeted 

amounts with actual amounts in the 

CBJ, posting the estimated cost of 

various licensing actions for both the 

Reactors and Materials programs on the 

NRC’s public website, and modifying 

the calculation of full-cost fees to 

facilitate publishing the proposed and 

final fee rules earlier. 

Two remaining fee setting 

improvements are scheduled to be 

completed for FY 2018. First, the change 

to the methodology for recovering RI/ 

PM overhead costs is discussed in this 

document. Second, the NRC is adding 

an additional tab to the final fee rule 

work papers to improve transparency 

with the part 170 estimates impact on 

part 171 annual fees by disclosing the 

ratios of the estimated part 170 to part 

171 collections for each fee class with 

the actual ratio of collections for FY 

2017. 

For the remaining process changes 

recommended for future consideration, 

the NRC is well-positioned to complete 

them on schedule. For more 

information, please see the fees 

transformation accomplishments 

schedule, located on the license fees 

website at: https://www.nrc.gov/aboutnrc/regulatory/licensing/feestransformation-accomplishments.html. 

III. Public Comment Analysis 

Overview of Public Comments 

The NRC received 13 written 

comment submissions on the proposed 

rule. A comment submission for the 

purpose of this rule is defined as a 

written communication or document 

submitted to the NRC by an individual 

or entity, with one or more distinct 

comments addressing a subject or an 

issue. A comment, on the other hand, 

refers to a statement made in the 

submission addressing a subject or 

issue. In general, the commenters were 

supportive of the specific proposed 

regulatory changes, although most 

commenters expressed concerns about 

broader fee-policy issues related to 

transparency, fairness, and overall size 

of the budget. 

The commenters are listed in Table 

XIX. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29635 

TABLE XIX—FY 2018 PROPOSED FEE RULE COMMENTER SUBMISSIONS

Commenter Affiliation ADAMS 

Accession No. Acronym 

John Snider ..................................... Anderson Engineering .............................................................................. ML18038B689 AE 

Aaron Ahern .................................... Unknown ................................................................................................... ML18046A092 AA 

W. B. Smith ..................................... Unknown ................................................................................................... ML18052B512 WBS 

Stephen Cowne ............................... URENCO USA ......................................................................................... ML18053A945 UUSA 

David Shafer ................................... U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management ................... ML18053A946 DOE 

J. Bradley Fewell ............................. Exelon Generation Co. LLC ..................................................................... ML18054B354 EXN 

Duane Bollig .................................... Water Remediation Technology LLC ....................................................... ML18057B073 WRT 

Joyce Goldfield ................................ Unknown ................................................................................................... ML18057B550 JG 

Douglas Weaver .............................. Westinghouse Electric Co ........................................................................ ML18057B551 WEC 

Joseph Pollock ................................ Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) ................................................................. ML18058A206 NEI–1 

Pamela Cowan ................................ NEI ............................................................................................................ ML18058A247 NEI–2 

Tyson R. Smith ............................... Honeywell International Inc ...................................................................... ML18058A305 HW 

Richard J. Freudenberger ............... Nuclear Fuel Services Inc ........................................................................ ML18068A693 NFS 

Information about obtaining the 

complete text of the comment 

submissions is available in Section XIV, 

‘‘Availability of Documents,’’ of this 

document. 

IV. Public Comments and NRC 

Responses 

The NRC has carefully considered the 

public comments received on the 

proposed rule. The comments have been 

organized by topic. Comments from 

multiple commenters raising similar 

specific concerns were combined to 

capture the common essential issues 

raised by the commenters. Comments 

from a single commenter have been 

quoted to ensure accuracy; brackets 

within those comments are used show 

changes that have been made to the 

quoted comments. The NRC responses 

are preceded by a short summary of the 

issues raised by the commenters. 

A. Transparency and Public 

Participation 

Comment: To ensure a meaningful 

opportunity to comment on proposed 

fees, the commenters request that the 

NRC re-issue the proposed rule to reflect 

any final FY 2018 appropriations. If 

timing constrains the NRC’s ability to 

re-issue the proposed rule, the 

commenter requests that the NRC make 

publicly available as soon as possible a 

document reflecting how any FY 2018 

appropriation will alter FY 2018 fees. 

Doing so will allow licensees to plan 

their internal budgets with more fidelity 

than continuing to rely on a proposed 

fee rule that is no longer valid. (EXN, 

NEI–1, NEI–2, NFS) 

Response: Several commenters 

expressed a general desire for the NRC 

to re-publish the proposed rule for 

comment based on the final enacted 

appropriations; alternatively, the 

commenters wanted the newly 

determined fees based on the final 

appropriations to be made publicly 

available in advance of the final rule. 

The NRC disagrees with these 

comments. The NRC strives to ensure 

that the proposed fee rule is as accurate 

as possible and explains its assumptions 

about the budgetary resources in order 

to provide the best information available 

regarding the fiscal year’s proposed fees. 

However, the NRC must comply with 

statutory requirements, including 

OBRA–90 and the Administrative 

Procedure Act (APA). The OBRA–90 

requires the NRC to collect 

approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority through fees assessed by the 

end of the fiscal year. Because the Office 

of Management and Budget has found 

the fee rule to be a major rule under the 

Congressional Review Act, the effective 

date of the final rule cannot be less than 

60 days from the date of publication but 

must allow timely final billing prior to 

the end of the fiscal year. Because 

section 553 of the APA requires the NRC 

to give the public an opportunity to 

comment on a republished proposed 

rule, the NRC cannot republish the FY 

2018 proposed fee rule, and meet its 

statutory requirement. No changes were 

made to the final rule as a result of these 

comments. 

B. Budget Formulation 

Comment: In today’s economic 

environment, NRC licensees are 

collectively taking actions to reduce the 

operating costs to secure continued 

operations. As reactors shut down, 

licensees idle facilities, and others delay 

operations, the NRC should take 

commensurate actions to reduce its 

budget, pursue meaningful efficiencies 

in operations, develop appropriate 

metrics, and improve the transparency 

and process for developing its budgets. 

(EXN, NEI–1, NEI–2, NFS, WEC) 

Response: Several commenters 

expressed concern regarding the NRC’s 

budget related to the loss of licensees 

from particular fee classes, the challenge 

to fees that result from potentially larger 

budgets, the proper use of metrics and 

methods to determine the appropriate 

budget size and justifications, and a 

request for a public comment period on 

the proposed budget. 

The fees assessed to licensees and 

applicants by the NRC must conform to 

OBRA–90, which requires the NRC to 

collect approximately 90 percent of its 

annual budget authority (less certain 

excluded items) through both user fees 

and annual fees. The NRC can assess 

these annual fees only to licensees or 

certificate holders, and the annual fee 

schedule must be fair and equitably 

allocate annual fees among the NRC’s 

many licensees. To ensure compliance 

with OBRA–90, the NRC makes 

continual organizational improvements 

to align the resources needed to support 

its regulatory activities. These actions 

help mitigate impacts on the remaining 

licensees from licensees that leave a fee 

class by helping the NRC continue to 

develop budgets that account for 

regulating a fee class with a declining 

number of licensees. 

The NRC continues to examine and 

pursue improvements to its process and 

increases in efficiency that will allow it 

to meet its statutory responsibilities as 

the industry changes. The NRC 

continues to develop methods that 

would allow for more rapid adaption to 

future needs, changes to the technology, 

and the size of the licensed community. 

With regard to the request for a public 

comment period on the proposed 

budget, the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) establishes the Executive 

Branch budget process through 

circulars, memoranda, and guidance 

documents. The OMB Circular No. A–11 

(Circular A–11) is updated annually and 

contains extensive instructions and 

schedules for agency submission of 

budget requests and justification 

materials to OMB. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29636 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of these comments. 

C. Work Papers 

Comment: Both the proposed rule and 

the work papers state that the operating 

power reactor annual fee increases in 

part due to increased support for new 

reactor design certification and early 

site permit reviews. However, neither 

document provides any more 

explanation as to the reason this work 

is increasing. Instead, one must consult 

the FY2018 Congressional Budget 

Justification to understand the purpose 

of this work (and even then, it remains 

at a fairly high level). Exelon 

recommends that at least the same level 

of explanation in the Congressional 

Budget Justification also be included in 

the proposed fee rule. 

The proposed rule and work papers 

list contract and Full Time Equivalent 

resources for general areas of research 

(e.g., ‘‘engineering research’’ and ‘‘risk 

analysis’’), but provides no explanation 

of the exact research activities being 

conducted. Breaking down these general 

research areas into more specific topics 

(with associated costs) would give 

licensees a more fulsome understanding 

of the NRC activities that our fees are 

funding. Moreover, the NRC should 

make clear how these research activities 

advance the agency’s goals and 

objectives as set forth in its Strategic 

Plan. 

Similarly, the proposed rule states 

that certain mission-direct non-labor 

contract costs increased in FY[ ]2018 

because those activities were funded in 

FY[ ]2017 with prior year unobligated 

carryover. However, the proposed rule 

and work papers do not describe 

whether the total contract costs for FY 

2018 are increasing compared to FY 

2017 (irrespective of the funding 

source). Since the work papers reflect 

these contract costs as having zero 

resources allocated in FY 2017 (due to 

being funded by carryover), it is 

impossible to tell if more (or less) work 

is being done in these areas relative to 

last year. Exelon requests that, to the 

extent possible, in future final fee rules 

or work papers, the NRC identify which 

activities will be funded with carryover, 

and the amount of carryover allocated to 

each of those activities. This will enable 

licensees to compare total costs 

associated with NRC activities from year 

to year, regardless of how they were 

funded. (EXN) 

Response: The commenter is 

requesting additional detail in the work 

papers in order to better understand the 

change in work being performed, 

improved clarity regarding the use of 

carryover funding, and additional 

information regarding research efforts. 

Different information is provided in 

different publications, including the 

work papers and the CBJ because these 

documents serve different purposes. 

The fee rule and the supporting work 

papers, for instance, are published in 

order for the public and licensees to 

understand how fees are determined for 

a fee class and a fee category. Because 

consistent with the requirements of 

OBRA–90, fees are calculated based on 

the budget authority enacted for the 

current FY and not carryover, the fee 

rule and supporting work papers do not 

include information pertaining to 

carryover and including such 

information in these documents could 

cause confusion. The CBJ, alternatively, 

provides the agency explanation and 

justification for the resources being 

requested for the next FY to allow the 

agency to complete its mission, and it 

provides the reasoning for changes in 

the agency resource requests. 

Further, with respect to providing 

additional information regarding exact 

research activities, there are some 

limitations regarding the level of detail 

that can be shared on specific contracts. 

The NRC is preparing additional 

guidance for project managers on types 

of information that can be shared with 

contracts specifically assigned to 

licensee efforts. The CBJ provides an 

overview of the research activities being 

conducted during FY 2018. These 

activities include accident tolerant fuel 

confirmatory research, digital systems, 

materials degradation, cable aging, and 

concrete degradation. Additional 

information on research efforts is also 

available from the NRC’s website at 

https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/ 

regulatory/research.html. Including this 

information in the work papers for the 

proposed fee rule in future years is more 

likely to cause confusion regarding the 

scope of the fee rule. Additional 

information regarding the costs 

associated with research can be derived 

by comparing the work papers from the 

proposed fee rule to the final fee rule, 

which would allow the impact 

associated with the use of carryover to 

be identified between FYs. Work papers 

for the proposed and final fee rules for 

the last several years can be readily 

accessed at https://www.nrc.gov/aboutnrc/regulatory/licensing/fees.html. 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of this comment. 

Comment: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) has reviewed the 

proposed 10 CFR 170 and 171 fee 

schedule for fiscal year 2018. DOE finds 

that the basis for the total annual fee 

amount and the level of effort to support 

the general licenses for Uranium Mill 

Tailings Radiation Control Act 

[(UMTRCA)] sites is not presented in 

the proposed rule or the associated work 

papers. Additionally, the bases for 

allocation percentages for DOE and 

other uranium recovery licensees and 

the generic/other uranium recovery 

costs in the proposed rule and work 

papers are not presented. DOE requests 

that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) clarify the rationale 

for the various fee components that are 

used to determine the total charge. This 

will help DOE evaluate whether the 

proposed NRC scope is consistent with 

anticipated DOE activities and establish 

the basis for DOE’s estimate of annual 

uranium licensee fees in its budget 

request to Congress. (DOE) 

Response: The NRC described the 

overall methodology for determining 

fees for uranium recovery facilities, 

including DOE, in the FY 2002 fee rule 

(67 FR 42625; June 24, 2002), and the 

NRC continues to use this methodology. 

As the NRC explained in the proposed 

fee rule, the NRC recovers fees from 

DOE through both user fees charged 

under 10 CFR part 170 for specific 

UMTRCA oversight activities and 

annual fees charged under 10 CFR part 

171 for generic and other costs related 

to UMTRCA and other uranium 

recovery activities. As shown in the 

work papers referenced in the proposed 

fee rule, the NRC calculated the total 

amount of budgeted resources for 

UMTRCA activities related to DOE sites 

in the FY 2018 CBJ by computing the 

cost of staff hours budgeted to conduct 

the work (in terms of full-time 

equivalent, or FTE) and the budgeted 

contract costs. The total amount of 

budgeted resources was reduced by the 

amount expected to be recovered by part 

170 user fees for site-specific UMTRCA 

activities. The NRC estimated the 

amount of part 170 user fees by 

analyzing billing data and the actual 

contractual work charged to DOE for the 

previous four quarters. The estimate, 

therefore, reflects any recent reductions 

in NRC oversight activities. The 

remainder of the UMTRCA budgeted 

amount related to DOE sites is charged 

to DOE for generic activities. In addition 

to those generic costs, DOE is charged 

for 10 percent of the overall generic 

costs attributable to the uranium 

recovery program. In other words, the 

DOE fee includes the costs of generic 

activities related to DOE sites and 10 

percent of the overall generic costs 

attributable to the uranium recovery 

program. The remaining 90 percent of 

the overall generic costs is charged to 

other members of the uranium recovery 

class. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29637 

The proposed fee rule described the 

methodology used by the NRC staff to 

determine the annual fees for uranium 

recovery facilities. In addition, Tables 

IX through XII of the proposed rule 

show the application of the NRC’s 

rebaselining methodology. The 

supporting work papers for the fee 

calculations provided detail on the FTE 

and contract resources for each product 

activity that were allocated to uranium 

recovery fee class. The work papers also 

provided information on all the values 

of the effort/benefit factors used in the 

uranium recovery matrix for FY 2018. 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of this comment. 

D. Small Business Standards 

Comment: [Because the NRC has a 

different definition for small business in 

comparison to the Small Business 

Administration (SBA), i]t makes it 

difficult to keep track of [the] same 

definition creating additional 

recordkeeping which is not necessary 

and does not add to creation of 

business. The definition defined by the 

SBA better reflects the intent of a ‘‘small 

business.’’ The NRC [should] update its 

definition of small business for license 

purposes to [be the] same as SBA. (AE) 

Response: One commenter expressed 

concern regarding the NRC’s small 

business definition. Under the SBA’s 

regulations, other federal agencies may, 

at their discretion, establish their own 

standards through notice and comment 

rulemaking. The NRC updated its small 

business standards through notice and 

comment rulemaking, and those 

standards are separately codified at 

§ 2.810. Comments with respect to the 

NRC’s size standards, therefore, are 

outside the scope of this rulemaking. No 

changes were made to the final rule as 

a result of this comment. 

Comment: To ensure consistency 

between Part 171 and Part 170 annual 

fees, NRC/[Office of the Chief Financial 

officer (OCFO)] should enact a process 

that addresses whether NRC has 

recognized a uranium water treatment 

licensee as a small entity for Part 171 

fees, and if so, these licensees should be 

billed for the Part 170 annual fees in an 

amount that is commensurate with its 

small-entity designation. [Waste 

Remediation Technology (WRT)] is 

currently designated as a small entity 

under NRC regulations. It makes logical 

sense to designate small entities for 

fixed-fee amounts as they have limited 

employees, market share, and revenue. 

Coupled with the items noted above, the 

argument for changing the Part 170 fee 

category to a fixed-fee amount for 

entities such as WRT appears to make 

sense. (WRT) 

Response: The NRC’s small business 

standards only apply to 10 CFR part 171 

fees. Fees under 10 CFR part 170 are set 

as either full cost recovery (billed by the 

hour at the professional hourly rate of 

$275) or at a fixed fee depending on the 

fee class and fee category. As part of the 

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, the 

NRC reviews the actual hours expended 

performing licensing actions and 

develops estimates of the average 

professional staff hours needed to 

process licensing actions. The most 

recent review was perform in FY 2017 

and the next review is scheduled for FY 

2019. Each year, the NRC calculates new 

flat fees for specific licensing actions 

based on the estimated average hours 

and the new professional hourly rate. As 

such, flat fees recover the full costs for 

a particular licensing action on average. 

No changes were made to the final rule 

as a result of this comment. 

E. Fee Exemptions 

Comment: WRT disagrees with NRC’s 

proposal that would limit the timeframe 

in which a request for a fee exemption 

must be submitted; limiting it to within 

ninety (90) days of the date of the NRC’s 

receipt of the work. An applicant or a 

licensee should not be restricted 

regarding when it can request an 

exemption. In the case of a full-cost fee 

category, if the limit was set at within 

90 days of receipt of an application or 

the work, that would allow for no more 

than one (1) quarterly invoice cycle 

from NRC. That is not enough time into 

the work for the applicant to assess 

billings and whether it has a need to 

request an exemption. An applicant 

should not be restricted as to when in 

the timeline it can request an 

exemption. In the alternative, if NRC 

sees fit to establish a timeline, a licensee 

should be permitted 180 days to appeal 

thereby allowing for a thorough review 

of two quarterly invoices. Without such 

a timeframe, any licensee would have 

the incentive to dispute every single 

quarterly invoice and delay payment 

until a ruling is rendered by OCFO. 

WRT does not support abuse of the 

appeal process and believes this 

solution provides a disincentive to do so 

while maintaining fairness in the 

process. (WRT) 

Response: The proposed 90-day 

timing requirement applies to only 

those exemption requests submitted 

under § 170.11(a)(1)—therefore, this 90- 

day timeframe is limited to only those 

who are seeking fee exemptions after 

submitting a request or report to the 

NRC. Because the basis for a fee 

exemption under § 170.11(a)(1) exists at 

the time the entity submits the request/ 

report to the NRC, the new 90-day 

timeframe will help ensure 

administrative efficiency and 

timeliness. Relatedly, because the basis 

for a fee exemption under § 170.11(a)(1) 

exists at the time the entity submits the 

request/report to the NRC, providing 

additional time to review invoices 

would not result in any material change 

to whether an exemption should be 

granted. Notably, this new timing 

requirement does not apply to 

applicants that submit an application 

for the NRC to review—those applicants 

remain free to seek a fee exemption at 

any time. No changes were made to the 

final rule as a result of this comment. 

F. Uranium Recovery 

Comment: WRT is also aware of a 

planned pilot program to be initiated for 

several of NRC’s classes of licensees to 

establish fixed fees for certain activities 

such as National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) processes. WRT fully 

supports the use of fixed fee programs 

to assure licensees or would-belicensees of the amount of human and 

financial resources that will be 

necessary for obtaining and maintaining 

an NRC license, especially in the case of 

where a company such as WRT 

generates no revenue from the uranium 

source material generated by its services 

and the [Community Water Systems] 

that are being forced to comply with an 

unfunded federal mandate. To the 

extent practicable, WRT would like to 

offer its input and/or participate in this 

program to determine what 

accommodations can be made for it in 

the future in the event license 

amendments are sought or the next 

license renewal is required. (WRT) 

Response: The commenter appears to 

be referencing the flat fee pilot program 

that the NRC is currently in the process 

of developing for uranium recovery 

licensees. No licensees are actively 

participating in the flat fee pilot 

program at this time. At this point, the 

NRC has developed a new data 

reporting structure, trained staff on its 

use, and is actively collecting data on 

licensing costs in order to develop 

information that would allow the 

development of recommendations to the 

Commission regarding a potential flat 

fee program. The NRC expects to 

complete its data collection by the end 

of FY 2018. The staff expects to engage 

the public on whether to implement any 

flat fee program for uranium recovery 

licensees and applicants as part of the 

FY 2020 fee rulemaking. No changes 

were made to the final rule as a result 

of this comment. 

Comment: If Wyoming becomes an 

Agreement State for the purposes of 

regulating uranium recovery by the 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29638 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

beginning of FY 2019 (October 1, 2018) 

as NRC has stated, the remaining three 

licensees are not—nor should they be 

placed—in a position to pay for the 

current NRC programmatic 

infrastructure associated with this 

category of licensee. NRC has assured 

stakeholders that they are considering 

various funding options to avoid this 

potential outcome; yet, industry has had 

no visibility of what could be a 

significant NRC policy and fee rule 

decision which will impact licensees’ 

purses in less than 8 months. We urge 

you to engage the potentially remaining 

NRC licensees on this matter today. 

Further, it is unclear whether 

conducting a ‘‘flat fee’’ pilot for this 

category of licensees in FY 2020, as 

stated by NRC during the February 12, 

2018 meeting, is the best use of limited 

NRC and industry resources. NRC 

should consult with the potentially 

remaining licensees and revisit this 

decision. (NEI–1) 

Response: The NRC is aware of the 

challenge and is currently evaluating 

options to ensure that annual fees for 

the uranium recovery fee class remain 

fair and equitable if Wyoming becomes 

an Agreement State in FY 2019. The 

NRC plans to share the results of the 

evaluation with stakeholders once it is 

complete. With respect to the flat fee 

pilot program, the NRC has already 

developed and implemented the new 

data structure necessary to collect 

information that would be used to 

inform recommendations that the staff 

would provide to the Commission on 

the uranium recovery fee class. Only a 

minimal effort is required to complete 

the collection of data. The data 

collection process is expected to be 

completed by November 2018. Based on 

Wyoming’s status and the collected 

data, the staff will evaluate how best to 

proceed and whether the flat fee pilot 

program continues to be a good use of 

resources or whether other changes 

should be pursued. No changes were 

made to the final rule as a result of this 

comment. 

Comment: WRT asserts that the fee 

category for uranium drinking water 

treatment licensees should be changed 

from its current designation 2.A. (5), 

with the associated ‘‘full-cost’’ fee, to a 

category with a fixed annual fee. WRT 

suggests category 2.F. (Program Codes 

11200 or 11300), All Other Source 

Material Licenses, or similar. Charging a 

full-cost fee to either a company like 

WRT, or an individual community 

water system (CWS) is unsustainable for 

them to comply with the radionuclidetreatment mandate of the [Safe Drinking 

Water Act (SDWA)]. These types of 

costs, licensing or otherwise, likely are 

a primary reason why many CWSs do 

not treat their water or resort to 

alternative and, potentially less 

protective, approaches such as blending 

water. 

The basic premise that uranium 

drinking water treatment should be in 

the same overall fee category (the 2.A. 

activities) with uranium recovery 

activities is misguided. All the licensed 

activities in this category are identified 

as licensees processing and/or 

recovering uranium source material for 

the inherent value of the source 

material, primarily for introduction to or 

refining in the commercial nuclear fuel 

cycle—that is where these activities 

derive their income. Many of these 

identified licensees also generate 11e. 

(2) Byproduct material and other kinds 

of regulated wastes, whereas WRT does 

not. The action phrases of these various 

identified licensees and/or activities 

listed in the 2.A. category of the 

Schedule speak directly to this point— 

refining uranium mill concentrates, 

uranium recovery operations such as 

milling, ISR, etc. Even the sourcematerial byproduct activities of 2.A. (3) 

and (4) are activities that are subsequent 

to uranium recovery or processing 

operations. All such licensed activities 

are designed for the licensee to derive 

their income from the value of the 

uranium source material and are fuelcycle or similar such facilities. Further, 

the level of risk associated with these 

licensed activities is very low, but those 

associated with WRT are even lower, 

and this low level of risk has been 

demonstrated through the Agreement 

State-licensed uranium water treatment 

systems data submitted in WRT’s 2016 

license renewal application. 

Now, compare these activities above 

with the action phrase of drinking water 

treatment currently in category 2.A. 

(5)—‘‘removal of source material 

contaminants.’’ This uranium source 

material has no inherent value; 

[Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA)] deemed it a contaminant under 

the SDWA that needed to be removed 

(not recovered) from drinking water 

sources based on concerns for public 

health and safety. The public and 

private CWSs that must deal with this 

issue derive no income from the 

uranium, but instead, it costs them to 

comply with an unfunded federal 

mandate. Thus, either WRT or a CWS 

choosing to perform its own uranium 

water treatment must bear these costs. 

As a result, WRT cannot sustain these 

full-cost fees on its own based on the 

business model used by the licensee, 

and CWSs cannot sustain such costs on 

their own, whether WRT passes such 

costs on to them for payment, or if such 

CWSs elect to perform such activities 

themselves and are forced to pay such 

costs as an NRC licensee. 

It can similarly be argued that WRT is 

not a ‘‘producer’’ of source material, but 

rather a ‘‘service provider’’ consistent 

with NRC regulations and guidance. 

Indeed, WRT’s initial license 

application and the format of its current 

license shows that the identified 

licensed activities in this license are 

services provided to third-party entities 

such as CWSs and not as a part of a 

mining/milling operation conducted by 

the same licensee. 

Therefore, WRT believes it would be 

a great source of relief to CWSs 

requiring uranium water treatment in 

accord with an unfunded federal 

mandate or entities such as WRT 

seeking to assist such CWSs in these 

endeavors if the fee category for WRT or 

other similar licensees was revised to a 

reasonable fixed fee amount. 

In the case of WRT’s license, support 

for using the ‘‘other source material’’ 

designation of fee category 2.F. comes 

from the fact that nearly all of the 

Agreement State licenses (seven (7)— 

CA, GA, IL, NM, NC, TX, WI) that WRT 

holds for uranium and/or radium water 

treatment have both a fee category 

similar to NRC’s ‘‘other’’ category 2.F., 

and a reasonable fixed fee. Two other 

Agreement States, Colorado and New 

Jersey, have issued WRT serviceprovider licenses, both with reasonable 

fixed annual fees, also similar to that of 

NRC fee category 2.F. Indeed, the use of 

the term ‘‘other’’ when describing 

certain source material licensees fits 

squarely within the way NRC 

regulations address WRT. For example, 

in addition to having the only NRC 

license of its kind through its 

performance-based, multi-site nature, 

NRC’s most recent rulemaking regarding 

small quantities of source material or 

the rule that address the amount of 

source material that may be possessed at 

any one time and during a calendar year 

in total (i.e., 10 CFR . . . 40.22) reduced 

the amount of such possessed source 

material from fifteen (15) pounds at any 

one time and 150 pounds in a calendar 

year to much lower limits based on 

identified entities that were not 

considered in previous rulemaking and 

in an attempt to protect public health 

and safety. However, in this rulemaking, 

NRC specifically identified licensees 

such as WRT as excluded from such 

lower limits and allowed a general 

license to remain in effect under the 

previous 15/150 limits. Thus, by this 

exclusion, NRC specifically identified 

WRT as a licensee with extremely low 

risk and capable of handling such levels 

of source material. Further, the low 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29639 

level of risk and low requirements for 

license maintenance (e.g., site 

registration) are further supported by 

technical and environmental data in 

WRT’s license renewal application 

showing the previously projected health 

and safety risks are indeed extremely 

conservative and the actual risk is much 

lower. These unique factors further 

support treating WRT in a manner 

different from other 2.A licensees. 

(WRT) 

Response: While WRT’s comment 

articulates a number of arguments to 

support changing the current fee 

category designation for uranium 

drinking water treatment licensees, the 

NRC considers this change to be outside 

the scope of this rulemaking because 

members of the public would not have 

had sufficient notice of the change 

requested by the commenter. Further, 

the NRC would need additional 

information not currently available to it 

in order to determine whether a flat fee 

would be appropriate and provide a 

method for setting the fee at an 

appropriate level in order to recover the 

NRC costs. The staff will take this 

comment into consideration as it 

prepares the policy paper in support of 

the FY 2019 proposed fee rule. As a 

result, the NRC expects to seek public 

comment on this issue as part of the FY 

2019 fee rulemaking, and that would 

provide sufficient notice to the public 

and an opportunity to provide 

comments on the fee category. For FY 

2018, WRT requested and was granted 

a partial fee-waiver (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML18102A477) in relation to the 

NRC’s review of its license renewal 

application. No changes were made to 

the final rule as a result of this 

comment. 

G. Variance Between Proposed Fee Rule 

and Final Fee Rule Amounts 

Comment: [T]here appears to be 

greater variance between the annual fees 

in the proposed and final fee rules in 

recent years. These fluctuations make it 

more difficult to manage costs 

associated with NRC activities over the 

course of each year. Accordingly, we 

would welcome any improvements to 

developing the fee rule that lead to less 

variability between the proposed and 

final rules. (HW) 

Response: One commenter expressed 

concern over the recent variance 

between the proposed rule and the final 

rule fee amounts. The agency strives to 

produce fees that accurately reflect the 

information available to it at the time 

that the proposed rule is issued for 

public comment. In the absence of an 

enacted appropriation, the agency uses 

the best information available, including 

the CBJ, information regarding historic 

appropriations, and a discussion of 

assumptions used in developing the 

budgetary resources used to calculate 

fees. Further, the NRC strives to provide 

conservative estimates in its proposed 

rule in order to provide licensees and 

applicants with information regarding 

the potential highest fees. Even with the 

NRC’s effort to include conservative 

estimates in the proposed rule, changes 

associated with the enacted 

appropriations (including direction to 

use carryover, exclusion of activities 

from the fee-recoverable budget, and 

other changes) can cause the final fees 

to be different than the proposed rule. 

As a result of the FY 2018 enacted 

appropriations, the total annual fees to 

be recovered for fuel facilities is $27.7 

million, which is a 2.5 percent decrease 

from FY 2017. However, average annual 

fees for each fee category in this fee 

class increased varied from 1.2 to 1.3 

percent due to the loss of two licensees. 

No changes were made to the final rule 

as a result of this comment. 

H. Invoicing 

Comment: As Westinghouse 

understands the new [Enterprise Project 

Identifier (EPID)/Cost Activity Code 

(CAC)] structure, it is provided to 

increase visibility on the NRC charges. 

The EPIDs identify individual projects 

and the CACs are generically identified 

and defined by the Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer (OCFO); based on the 

new structure, there is the possibility for 

one EPID to have multiple CACs. Based 

on the Westinghouse invoice, we are 

seeing mixed results in terms of 

transparency. In some areas, there are 

EPIDs with multiple CACs (for example, 

inspections are divided into 

preparation, travel, and performing the 

inspection), which we understand is the 

expectation to increase transparency on 

the invoices. However, in most areas, 

there is one CAC per EPID, so there is 

no further breakdown of the changes 

within the project and does not increase 

the transparency on the invoices. We 

would expect that the NRC offices 

would abide by the OCFO’s new process 

and adopt more than one CAC per EPID. 

(WEC) 

Response: This comment is outside 

the scope of this rulemaking because the 

purpose of the NRC’s annual fee 

recovery rulemaking is to update the 

NRC’s fee schedules to recover 

approximately 90 percent of the NRC’s 

budget authority for the current fiscal 

year, and to make other necessary 

corrections or appropriate changes to 

specific aspects of the NRC’s fee 

regulations. However, as an 

informational update, the NRC notes 

that the use and guidance for EPIDs 

continues to be improved across the 

agency, which should continue to 

provide additional transparency to 

licensees and applicants. No changes 

were made to the final rule as a result 

of this comment. 

Comment: Recent improvements in 

the clarity and transparency of invoices 

issued to licensees are greatly 

appreciated. However, additional action 

is needed to address remaining areas of 

concern. One such area occurs in billing 

of inspection costs. Estimates of direct 

inspection hours are available for each 

inspection (totaling approximately 1,863 

hours/site under the baseline inspection 

program), but invoices currently do not 

distinguish between direct inspection 

hours and inspection support activities. 

The cost for these support activities, 

which include documentation, 

preparation, travel and significance 

determination efforts, are in many cases 

double or triple the cost of direct 

inspection hours (Average 3,488 hours/ 

site). The absence of estimates for 

support activities necessary for each 

inspection and a clear identification of 

support hours presents a challenge for 

accountability and tracking of 

inspection costs. Invoices should 

identify costs associated with the 

separate and distinct aspects of 

inspections (e.g., direct inspection 

hours, preparation, documentation, 

travel, significance determination 

process). (NEI–2) 

Response: This comment is outside 

the scope of this rulemaking because the 

purpose of the NRC’s annual fee 

recovery rulemaking is to update the 

NRC’s fee schedules to recover 

approximately 90 percent of the NRC’s 

budget authority for the current fiscal 

year, and to make other necessary 

corrections or appropriate changes to 

specific aspects of the NRC’s fee 

regulations. However, as an 

informational update, the NRC remains 

dedicated to improving transparency in 

its fee billing. On January 30, 2015, the 

staff submitted SECY–15–0015, ‘‘Project 

Aim 2020 Report and 

Recommendations’’ (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML15012A594), to the Commission. 

That paper included, in part, 

recommendations associated with 

simplifying how the NRC calculates its 

fees, improving transparency in the fee 

billing process, and improving the 

timeliness of the NRC’s communications 

about fee changes. The Commission 

approved these recommendations and 

since that time, the staff has been 

actively implementing them. 

The NRC is implementing a number 

of initiatives in response to the 

Commission’s direction to provide 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29640 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

better fee billing information to 

licensees, including information related 

to the costs of inspections. For example: 

(a) As part of the fee transformation 

initiative, the agency posted resource 

estimate summaries, which were based 

on historical inspection data, at https:// 

www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1727/ 

ML17271A262.pdf (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML17271A262). These summaries 

include information related to direct 

inspection costs. The table also includes 

a line item for documentation, 

preparation, travel to and from the site, 

plant status, etc. Actual effort may vary 

based on regional and site needs. 

(b) As noted on the NRC’s website at 

https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/ 

regulatory/licensing/sample-invoice.pdf, 

the bill to the licensee includes the 

names of the inspectors for the invoice 

period, the hours charged, the hourly 

rate, and total amount billed to the 

licensee in the invoice period. The bill 

also includes the cost activity code that 

the inspectors charged to. The cost 

activity code distinguishes the 

inspection-related work from the 

inspection support-related work. 

(c) The agency increased 

standardization of the financial charging 

system used by inspectors and all NRC 

personnel. The new system allows the 

grouping of costs for a single inspection 

or other project so that costs are no 

longer commingled within the invoice 

for multiple projects, and consolidates 

all the charges under a given project for 

the invoice period. 

(d) The Division of Inspection and 

Regional Support within the NRC’s 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation is 

also working on a new document that 

will be made publicly available to 

explain the highlights and overall 

structure of the Reactor Oversight 

Process budget model. 

The NRC also notes that each 

inspection procedure includes the direct 

inspection resource estimates, in hours, 

required to complete the inspection. 

Because inspections also include 

necessary indirect inspection resources 

such as preparation, documentation and 

travel, and can vary in complexity 

depending on the issue being evaluated, 

the associated hours may deviate from 

the estimates in the inspection 

procedure in some cases. The agency 

looks for trends and biennially evaluates 

every baseline inspection procedure to 

determine if resource estimates need to 

be reallocated. 

In summary, the agency provides 

anticipated hours for inspections 

through the inspection procedure 

resource estimates and has taken action 

to provide better detail and 

transparency in the invoice. No changes 

were made to the final rule as a result 

of this comment. 

I. Low-Level Waste Surcharge 

Comment: [W]e believe the staff 

should validate the ‘‘Low Level Waste 

Surcharge’’ (LLW) figures in table IV of 

the proposed rule (page 3411 of the 

Federal Register Notice). Specifically, it 

seems illogical that the fuel facilities 

would be allocated the highest LLW 

surcharge percentage considering the 

number of facilities and plants 

nationwide in some stage of 

decommissioning. Since NRC fees are 

based in part on the LLW surcharge, 

NRC should work with the Department 

of Energy to ensure the accuracy, 

completeness and timeliness of data 

entered into DOE’s Manifest Information 

Management System (MIMS). MIMS 

contains data on four generator classes, 

and it is unclear whether fuel cycle 

facilities are aligned with the class 

generically identified as ‘‘industrial.’’ 

(NEI–1) 

Response: The DOE was required by 

law (42 U.S.C. 2021g(a)) to establish a 

computerized database to monitor lowlevel radioactive wastes. The DOE 

created and is responsible for the MIMS 

database that was created to monitor the 

management of commercial LLW in the 

United States. The LLW surcharge 

percentages included in Table IV in the 

proposed FY 2018 fee rule for Operating 

Power Reactors, Fuel Facilities, and 

Materials Users reflect the 5-year 

average of the data available in MIMS 

for the relevant licensees. Fuel facilities 

are aligned with the MIMS Class 

identified as ‘‘Industry’’ and the Fuel 

Facilities percentage is based on a 

fraction of the 5-year average for the 

Industry Class. 

At the time the proposed FY 2018 fee 

rule was issued, the most recent data 

available from the MIMS database was 

from 2016. The final FY 2018 fee rule 

includes updated LLW surcharge 

percentages which account for the 2017 

MIMS data that was recently populated 

into the database by DOE. The 2017 data 

included a significant increase to the 

volume reported under the ‘‘Utility’’ 

Class, which is used to determine the 

percentage for Power Reactors. The 

increase to the volume reported under 

the Utility Class in 2017 shifted the 

percentages for Fuel Facilities and 

Power Reactors as seen in Table IV, 

‘‘Allocation of Fee-Relief and LLW 

Surcharge FY 2018.’’ As a result, 

compared to the proposed FY 2018 fee 

rule, the percentage of the LLW 

surcharge for Operating Power Reactors 

increased from 41.0 percent to 75 

percent, Fuel Facilities decreased from 

46 percent to 20 percent, and Material 

Users decreased from 13 percent to 5 

percent. Please refer to Table IV and the 

accompanying discussion for additional 

details. 

J. Efficiency 

Comment: The NRC needs to continue 

to pursue improvements in efficient 

operations. Over several years, the NRC 

has pursued efficiency improvements 

through Project AIM and other 

initiatives that has resulted in small 

declines of support functions included 

in the professional hourly rate. These 

improvements have not translated into 

the professional hourly rate or annual 

fees. (NEI–1, NEI–2, WEC) 

Response: This comment pertains to 

agency efficiency and is therefore 

outside the scope of this rulemaking 

because the purpose of the NRC’s 

annual fee rulemaking is to update the 

NRC’s fee schedules to recover 

approximately 90 percent of the NRC’s 

budget authority for the current fiscal 

year, and to make other necessary 

corrections or appropriate changes to 

specific aspects of the NRC’s fee 

regulations. However, as an 

informational update, the NRC notes 

that it has completed several initiatives 

to improve the efficiency of the agency, 

some of which include: Reducing the 

size of the agency through early buyouts and retirements, as well as 

reducing corporate support. The NRC 

continues to look for additional 

methods to improve the efficiency and 

flexibility. No changes were made to the 

final rule as a result of these comments. 

Comment: In the Proposed Fee Rule, 

NRC proposes eleven administrative 

changes. The first change is to ‘‘revise 

the methodology of charging licensees 

for overhead time for project managers 

(PMs) and resident inspectors (Rls).’’ 

The revised methodology proposes 

removing the 6% of direct billable costs 

added as an overhead cost to all 

licensees’ invoices, and replace with the 

‘‘actual hours for activities that support 

and directly benefit the assigned 

licensee or site.’’ 

While Westinghouse applauds NRC 

for removing the unnecessary allocation, 

it is unclear how the replacement 

system (i.e., ‘‘docket-related fee-billable 

cost activity codes’’) will drive efficient 

work from project managers. We would 

expect that, to the maximum extent 

practical, activities that support and 

directly benefit Westinghouse would be 

assigned to a specific Enterprise Project 

Identifier (EPID), rather than a general 

‘‘project management’’ EPID/Cost 

Activity Code (CAC). Based on 

Westinghouse’s most recently received 

invoices, the project manager was 

responsible for between 24% and 99% 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29641 

of the invoiced charges to a given 

docket, so it seems unnecessary to have 

a separate ‘‘project management’’ EPID/ 

CAC. Additionally, Westinghouse 

requests publically available guidance 

to the staff on what is ‘‘fee-billable.’’ 

(WEC) 

Response: This comment appears to 

address four distinct issues: (1) Removal 

of the 6-percent charge; (2) replacement 

methodology for the 6-percent charge; 

(3) use of the project management CAC/ 

EPID; and (4) publicly available 

guidance on fee-billable activities. 

While the first two items are within the 

scope of the rule, items 3 and 4 are 

outside the scope of this rulemaking 

because the purpose of the NRC’s 

annual fee recovery rulemaking is to 

update the NRC’s fee schedules to 

recover approximately 90 percent of the 

NRC’s budget authority for the current 

fiscal year, and to make other necessary 

corrections or appropriate changes to 

specific aspects of the NRC’s fee 

regulations. However, the NRC will 

provide an informational update on 

items 3 and 4. 

First, the commenter, like other 

commenters, appears to be generally 

supportive of the removal of the 

6-percent overhead charge for the part 

170 bills. 

Second, the commenter expresses 

concern that the replacement system 

described in the proposed fee rule (i.e., 

using new docket-related fee-billable 

CACs) will not result in efficient work 

from PMs. For PMs, the NRC has 

decided that no new CACs will be 

implemented as part of the replacement 

system; only RIs will be using the new 

CACs established to replace the 

6-percent charge. The replacement 

system is discussed in more detail above 

under ‘‘FY 2018—Administrative 

Changes, 1. Revise the Methodology of 

charging licensees for overhead time for 

project managers (PMs) and resident 

inspectors (RIs).’’ 

Third, the commenter requests that 

activities that support and directly 

benefit Westinghouse be assigned to a 

specific EPID and not assigned to a 

general project management CAC/EPID. 

As an informational update, the NRC 

notes that PMs typically use the general 

project management CAC/EPID 

combination (e.g., 000958/L–2017– 

PMP–0023) to capture direct fee-billable 

services that are not associated with a 

specific request or activity. Such 

activities include, for example, time that 

the PM for a facility spends in 

discussions with the licensee regarding 

licensee operations, licensee plans for 

future license amendment and license 

renewal submittals, as well as other 

issues. The use of a more specific EPID 

would refer to a specific request or 

activity, and the work recorded under 

that CAC/EPID combination (e.g., 

000958/L–2012–TOP–002) would 

indicate substantive work on that 

specific request or activity. When 

looking at all of the CAC/EPID 

combinations, time spent on fee-billable 

general project management activities 

account for significantly less of the total 

part 170 fees charged to a particular 

docket. The NRC, however, appreciates 

the confusion that could be caused by 

the general project management CAC 

description and will consider whether 

improvements can be made with respect 

to the CAC. 

Fourth, the commenter requests 

publicly available fee-billable guidance 

for the staff. As an informational update, 

the NRC notes that the use and guidance 

for EPIDs continues to be improved 

across the agency, which should 

continue to provide additional 

transparency to licensees and 

applicants. At this time, the NRC does 

not intend to make additional guidance 

publically available. In 10 CFR part 170, 

the regulations identify the specific 

types of the activities that will incur 

fees for services. 

K. Fuel Facilities 

Comment: Several commenters raised 

concerns regarding the ratio of part 170 

fees for service to the part 171 annual 

fees for the Fuel Facilities fee class. 

They raised concerns regarding the 

differences in these ratios between 

different fee classes including the higher 

ratio of part 170 billing in the Operating 

Power Reactor fee class. They 

questioned the reason for these higher 

non-direct services in the Fuel Facilities 

fee class and whether the activities are 

reasonable and appropriate, and 

requested that the NRC provide 

additional information regarding these 

non-direct services. (HW, UUSA) 

Response: All NRC fee classes have 

slightly different ratios of 10 CFR part 

170 fees versus 10 CFR part 171 fees 

because the amount of fees collected by 

the agency under 10 CFR part 170 are 

directly impacted by licensee decisions. 

For the power reactors, for instance, the 

NRC has been working on new reactor 

application and design certification 

reviews, and Fukushima-related 

activities, license renewal activities, and 

other complex license amendments 

such as extended power-up rates have 

been completed or are winding down. 

These activities contribute to the lower 

ratio of 10 CFR part 170 fees versus 10 

CFR part 171 fees for the power reactor 

fee class. By contrast, licensees in the 

fuel facilities fee class have indicated 

that they have no desire to make 

changes to their licenses, which reduces 

the amount of fees that can be collected 

under 10 CFR part 170. Further, in a fee 

class with a small number of licensees 

(like fuel facilities), these licensing 

decisions can have a much larger impact 

on the ratio than with large fee classes 

(like the power reactors). 

With regard to the request for 

additional information, in public 

meetings conducted on February 12, 

2018, and March 27, 2018, the NRC staff 

provided an overview of the fuel 

facilities budget and an illustrative 

breakdown of NRC costs recovered by 

10 CFR part 170 services fees and 10 

CFR part 171 annual fees. Slides from 

these public meetings are available in 

ADAMS under Accession Nos. 

ML18040A317 and ML18082A599, 

respectively. Also you can view them at 

https://adams.nrc.gov/wba/. 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of these comments. 

Comment: Several commenters raised 

concerns regarding the prioritization of 

resources in the fuel facilities fee class 

to the most safety significant issues. 

They requested that the NRC improve 

the timeliness of license amendments 

and renewals, transition routine 

inspections to the resident inspectors, 

where applicable, reduce inspection 

frequencies to reflect historical 

inspection results, and eliminate 

unnecessary rulemaking initiatives, and 

maintenance of guidance documents. 

(NEI–1, NEI–2) 

Response: The NRC staff agrees that 

regulatory initiatives that are of the most 

benefit in terms of safety or safeguards 

should be given higher priority. The 

agency carefully considers the benefits 

of regulatory initiatives it pursues. For 

example, the rulemaking process 

(including associated guidance 

documents) is a very deliberate and 

open public process that invites input 

and feedback from a broad range of 

stakeholders. We do appreciate that 

stakeholders may have different views 

regarding the need for, or benefit to be 

derived from, various regulatory 

initiatives. The NRC carefully considers 

all stakeholder input in its 

determination of whether or not to 

recommend proceeding with a given 

initiative. For rulemakings, this 

determination is documented in a 

regulatory analysis which informs the 

Commission’s decision on whether or 

not to ultimately proceed. In addition, 

public meetings with licensees on the 

cumulative effects of regulation have 

been an effective forum for dialogue on 

regulatory initiatives being considered 

and taken by the NRC. No changes were 

made to the final rule as a result of these 

comments. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29642 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

Comment: Several commenters 

provided views regarding the effort 

factors matrix, including requests to 

maintain the current matrix, requests to 

change the existing matrix’s calculation 

methodology, and proposed changes to 

the classification of a licensee’s specific 

effort factors. (HW, NFS, UUSA) 

Response: In response to industry 

concerns about the fairness and equity 

of annual fees charged to fuel facilities, 

the NRC analyzed its past practice of 

using an effort factors matrix to 

calculate annual fees for the fuel 

facilities fee class to determine if 

revisions to the current method may be 

warranted. The NRC held two public 

meetings to discuss possible alternative 

approaches to the method of calculating 

annual fees for the fuel facility fee class 

including changes to the effort factors 

matrix. As part of that process, the NRC 

received numerous comments on the 

current and alternative methods for 

determining annual fees. The comments 

were mixed as to whether NRC should 

continue working on changes to the 

methodology for calculating annual fees. 

Some stakeholders indicated that NRC 

should continue with this effort, while 

others stated that NRC should consider 

alternatives, such as a reduction of 

budgeted resources, before changing the 

current fuel facility effort factors matrix. 

During the meetings, the staff 

indicated that it did not intend to make 

any changes to the method of 

calculating annual fees in the FY 2018 

fee rule since it is in the process of 

engaging stakeholders, and any 

recommendations related to the effort 

factors matrix would be addressed as 

part of recommendations for the FY 

2019 proposed fee rule. The NRC staff 

will consider these comments, and any 

other comments on the effort factors 

matrix, as it prepares the proposed fee 

rule for FY 2019. No changes were made 

to the final rule as a result of these 

comments. 

L. Comments Regarding the Size of the 

Fuel Facilities Budget 

Comment: Several commenters 

expressed concern that the fuel facility 

business line’s budget is too large given 

the activities performed and the number 

of licensees. One commenter expressed 

concern that the level of resources 

assigned to the fuel facilities fee class 

was too large in light of the risk profile 

for the facilities. (HW, NEI–1, NFS, 

UUSA, WEC) 

Response: The fuel facilities business 

line is responsible for ensuring the 

safety and security of fuel cycle and 

greater than critical mass facilities. The 

business line leads the licensing and 

oversight of these facilities, as well as 

domestic material control and 

accounting and international safeguards 

implementation activities for the NRC. 

The business line also supports 

rulemaking and environmental review 

activities for fuel facilities. 

The NRC has taken steps to right-size 

the fuel facilities budget to ensure that 

it reflects the reduced workload in the 

business line. A peak workload was 

experienced in FY 2012. The FY 2018 

fuel facilities budget of $35.1 million is 

a third less than the FY 2012 fuel 

facilities budget of $54.4 million. 

Further, the 114 FTE in the FY 2018 fuel 

facilities budget is over a third less than 

the 184 FTE in the FY 2012 fuel 

facilities budget. 

The NRC’s FY 2018 fuel facilities 

budget has increased slightly from the 

FY 2017 fuel facilities budget. This 

small increase resulted from (a) the 

transfer of 1 FTE of enforcement 

resources from the nuclear materials 

users fee class to the fuel facilities fee 

class to reflect the fee class benefiting 

from the work being performed by this 

FTE, and (b) an increase in the NRC 

fully costed FTE rate. However, the 

‘‘Congressional Budget Justification, 

Fiscal Year 2019,’’ (NUREG–1100, 

Volume 34) includes a decrease of 6 

FTE for the fuel facilities business line 

budget relative to the FY 2018 CBJ, 

which continues the overall downward 

trend in the fuel facilities budget. 

In public meetings conducted on 

February 12, 2018, and March 27, 2018, 

the NRC provided an overview of the 

fuel facilities budget and an illustrative 

breakdown of NRC costs recovered by 

10 CFR part 170 services fees and 10 

CFR part 171 annual fees. Slides from 

these public meetings are available in 

ADAMS under Accession Nos. 

ML18040A317 and ML18082A599, 

respectively. 

Regarding the assertion that the NRC 

should reduce its budget commensurate 

with the reduction in the number of fuel 

facilities that pay fees, the NRC agrees, 

but that reduction is not linearly 

proportional as there is a cost for the 

infrastructure that must be maintained 

independent of the number of 

operational fuel facilities. These 

infrastructure costs include indirect 

services and the business line portion of 

corporate support. Indirect services 

include rulemaking, maintaining 

guidance for licensees, maintaining 

procedures for NRC staff, training, and 

travel. Corporate support includes, for 

example, the cost for information 

management, information technology, 

security, facilities management, rent, 

utilities, financial management, 

acquisitions, human resources, and 

policy support. 

The NRC continues to actively 

evaluate resource requirements, both in 

terms of overall budget numbers and 

FTEs, to address changes that occur 

between budget formulation and 

execution. The NRC will continue to 

assess resource requirements and 

evaluate programmatic efficiencies that 

could result in additional resource 

reductions, and make changes as 

appropriate during budget execution. 

One commenter expressed concern 

regarding the total number of FTEs 

assigned to a business line. The 

commenter stated that the resources 

supporting fuel facilities were 82 FTEs 

in FY 2017, and the resources increased 

to 114 FTEs in FY 2018. The numbers 

identified by the commenter refer to 

different categories of personnel and are 

not directly comparable. In FY 2017, 

81.7 FTEs were identified as missiondirect resources. In FY 2018, the 

mission-direct resources increased to 

82.7 FTEs. This is the 1 FTE increase 

discussed previously. The 114 FTEs 

identified by the commenter refers to 

the FTE included in the FY 2018 CBJ, 

which includes both mission-direct and 

mission-indirect resources. 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of these comments. 

M. Decline in Part 170 Fee Collections 

Comment: There are eight operating 

commercial nuclear power plants that 

have announced premature closings 

between now and 2025. As power 

reactors announce premature 

shutdowns and 10 CFR part 170 user fee 

collections decrease, the remaining 

operating power reactors will bear the 

burden of increased annual fees unless 

the fee-recoverable portion of the NRC’s 

budget authority decreases. This 

disparity between lower 10 CFR part 

170 user fees and rising 10 CFR part 171 

annual fees cannot be maintained and 

must be promptly corrected. (NEI–2, 

EXN) 

Response: The NRC is aware of and 

accounts for the decreasing number of 

nuclear power reactor licensees. For 

instance, as part of our budgeting 

process, the NRC tracks licensee plans 

to cease operations and adjusts its 

budget requests to reflect the anticipated 

work and ensure that agency will 

continue to meet its statutory 

requirements. 

The NRC, however, must comply with 

OBRA–90, which requires the NRC to 

collect approximately 90 percent of its 

annual budget authority (less certain 

excluded items) through both user fees 

and annual fees. The NRC can assess 

these annual fees only to licensees or 

certificate holders, and the annual fee 

schedule must be fair and must 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29643 

equitably allocate annual fees among the 

NRC’s many licensees. To ensure 

compliance with OBRA–90, the NRC 

makes continual organizational 

improvements to budget only the 

resources needed to support its 

regulatory activities. 

The amount of user fees collected 

under 10 CFR part 170 depends on a 

number of different factors including 

the professional hourly rate, licensee 

and applicant decisions to pursue 

licensing actions, and the amount of 

hours necessary to resolve any licensing 

actions. Due to OBRA–90 requirements, 

examining changes in the 10 CFR part 

170 fees and the 10 CFR part 171 fees 

separately may not account for the 

overall decreases in the fee class budget 

or the realized efficiencies. Over the last 

several years, the fee class budget for the 

Operating Power Reactors fee class has 

decreased from $762.1 million in FY 

2015 to $669.9 million in the FY 2018 

final rule. In the ‘‘Congressional Budget 

Justification: Fiscal Year 2019’’ 

(NUREG–1100, Volume 34), the Nuclear 

Reactor Safety program shows 

continuing declines in requested 

budgetary resources for FY 2019. 

Despite the decreasing number of 

operating nuclear power plants, the 

number of licensing actions completed 

per year has slightly increased over the 

past two fiscal years and demonstrates 

the improving efficiencies realized from 

the Project Aim initiatives including 

reductions in FTEs and improved 

management focus on process 

improvements. The NRC continues to 

pursue additional improvements to 

efficiency and ensuring that its 

budgetary request accurately reflects the 

anticipated work. 

No changes were made to the final 

rule as a result of these comments. 

Comment: Several commenters 

expressed concern regarding the 

declining fraction of fees recovered 

under 10 CFR part 170 (Service Fees) 

relative to 10 CFR part 171 (Annual 

Fees), as well as the NRC’s overall 

budget for the Fuel Facilities Fee Class. 

The commenters noted that these fees 

were being borne by a decreasing 

number of facilities with a decreasing 

number of licensing actions. They also 

asked for more information on what 

specific activities contribute to the nondirect portion of the budget that is 

recovered in the annual fees charged to 

licensees. (NEI–1, UUSA, WEC) 

Response: The NRC is aware of the 

current economic state of the fuel cycle 

industry and remains mindful of the 

impact of its budget on the fees for 

licensees. The Fuel Facilities Fee Class 

supports the activities of the fuel 

facilities business line, including both 

direct-billable licensing actions and 

those general activities that indirectly 

support the agency’s mission in these 

areas. The overall budget for the fuel 

facilities business line has decreased 

significantly in recent years. For 

example, the number of budgeted staff 

positions in the fuel facilities business 

line has decreased from 184 FTE in FY 

2012 to 114 FTE in FY 2018, or 38 

percent. The NRC continues to adjust its 

proposed budget in line with 

anticipated work load for the business 

line. 

Since FY 2012, services billed directly 

to individual fuel facility licensees 

under 10 CFR part 170 have decreased. 

The reasons for this include: Fewer 

applications for new licenses, license 

renewals, and license amendments; 

fewer inspections; and less construction 

inspection activity. The decrease in 10 

CFR part 170 collections in recent years 

has meant that the amount to be 

recovered by annual fees has not 

decreased commensurate with the 

overall decrease in the budget for the 

fuel facilities business line. Further, the 

decline in the number of operating fuel 

facilities (from ten in FY 2012 to seven 

in FY 2018) has led to an increase in the 

annual fee burden for the remaining fuel 

facilities, even though the total 

budgeted resources for this fee class 

have dropped during that time period. 

The business line must maintain 

certain minimum requirements in order 

to meet the NRC’s regulatory and 

statutory oversight role. This includes 

maintaining expertise in a number of 

technical areas, including: Integrated 

safety analysis, radiation protection, 

criticality safety, chemical safety, fire 

safety, emergency management, 

environmental protection, 

decommissioning, management 

measures, material control and 

accounting, physical protection, and 

information security. Budgeted 

resources in technical areas are 

recovered through annual fees as well as 

user fees. 

In a public meeting on March 27, 

2018, the NRC staff discussed how the 

annual fees support other activities that 

are necessary for the Fuel Facilities Fee 

Class as a whole. The presentations 

from the meeting address these areas 

and are available in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML18082A604. 

As discussed in the meeting, these 

activities include, among others, fuel 

facilities’ proportion of corporate 

support functions for the NRC (for 

example, infrastructure, financial and 

information services, and other 

administrative functions), supervisory 

and management functions, and nonbillable licensing and oversight 

activities (for example, program 

development and program 

maintenance). The cost of these areas 

together constitute about three-quarters 

of what is recovered through 10 CFR 

part 171 annual fees, and thus about 

half of the total business line budget. 

The remainder of the annual fee portion 

includes small amounts to support 

rulemaking and guidance development, 

staff training and related travel, and 

event response. Further detail is 

presented in the slides on stakeholder 

feedback from the March 27, 2018 

meeting (available in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML18082A604). No 

changes were made to this final rule as 

a result of these comments. 

N. Comments Generally Supporting 

Actions of the Agency 

Several commenters expressed 

comments generally in favor of actions 

that the agency is taking with respect to 

fees, billing, and other aspects of the fee 

rule process. Comments generally in 

favor of the agency’s actions included 

comments supporting the public 

meetings on the proposed fee rule and 

invoicing, the move to new formats for 

invoices, plans to support e-billing, and 

the removal of the 6-percent overhead 

charge for the 10 CFR part 170 bills. No 

new or different information was 

developed as a result of these 

comments, and thus, no changes to the 

rule were made because of these 

comments. 

O. Comments on Matters Not Related to 

This Rulemaking 

Several commenters raised issues 

outside the scope of the FY 2018 fee 

rule. Commenters raised concerns with 

the agency’s budgeting process and 

requesting public meetings on the 

agency’s proposed budget. Other 

commenters were concerned with the 

agency’s overall size. A few commenters 

raised concerns regarding the fees that 

are assessed as part of §§ 11.15(e) and 

25.17(f); however, those portions of the 

NRC’s regulations are not within the 

scope of the FY 2018 fee rule. Another 

commenter raised concerns regarding 

copyright and tort reform for small 

businesses, and a commenter requested 

a ban on offsite drilling. 

These matters are outside the scope of 

this rulemaking. The primary purpose of 

the NRC’s annual fee recovery final rule 

is to update the NRC’s fee schedules to 

recover approximately 90 percent of the 

NRC’s budgeted authority for the 

current fiscal year, and to make other 

necessary corrections or appropriate 

changes to specific aspects of the NRC’s 

fee regulations in order to ensure 

compliance with OBRA–90. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29644 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

14 5 U.S.C. 603. The RFA, 5 U.S.C. 601–612, has 

been amended by the Small Business Regulatory 

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, Public Law 104– 

121, Title II, 110 Stat. 847 (1996). 

The NRC takes very seriously the 

importance of examining and improving 

the efficiency of its operations and the 

prioritization of its regulatory activities. 

Recognizing the importance of 

continuous reexamination and 

improvement of the way the agency 

does business, the NRC has undertaken, 

and continues to undertake, a number of 

significant initiatives aimed at 

improving the efficiency of NRC 

operations and enhancing the agency’s 

approach to regulating. Though 

comments addressing these issues may 

not be within the scope of this final 

rule, the NRC will consider this input in 

its future program operations. 

V. Regulatory Flexibility Certification 

As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(RFA),14 the NRC has prepared a 

regulatory flexibility analysis relating to 

this rule. The regulatory flexibility 

analysis is available as indicated in 

Section XIV, Availability of Documents, 

of this document. 

VI. Regulatory Analysis 

Under OBRA–90, the NRC is required 

to recover approximately 90 percent of 

its budget authority in FY 2018. The 

NRC established fee methodology 

guidelines for 10 CFR part 170 in 1978, 

and established additional fee 

methodology guidelines for 10 CFR part 

171 in 1986. In subsequent rulemakings, 

the NRC has adjusted its fees without 

changing the underlying principles of 

its fee policy to ensure that the NRC 

continues to comply with the statutory 

requirements for cost recovery in 

OBRA–90. 

In this rulemaking, the NRC continues 

this long-standing approach. Therefore, 

the NRC did not identify any 

alternatives to the current fee structure 

guidelines and did not prepare a 

regulatory analysis for this rulemaking. 

VII. Backfitting and Issue Finality 

The NRC has determined that the 

backfit rule, 10 CFR 50.109 (and similar 

provisions in the NRC’s regulations for 

other licensee fee classes), does not 

apply to this final rule and that a backfit 

analysis is not required. A backfit 

analysis is not required because these 

amendments do not require the 

modification of, or addition to, systems, 

structures, components, or the design of 

a facility, or the design approval or 

manufacturing license for a facility, or 

the procedures or organization required 

to design, construct, or operate a 

facility. 

VIII. Plain Writing 

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. 

L. 111–274) requires Federal agencies to 

write documents in a clear, concise, and 

well-organized manner. The NRC has 

written this document to be consistent 

with the Plain Writing Act as well as the 

Presidential Memorandum, ‘‘Plain 

Language in Government Writing,’’ 

published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31885). 

IX. National Environmental Policy Act 

The NRC has determined that this 

rule amends the NRC’s administrative 

requirements in 10 CFR part 170 and 10 

CFR part 171. Therefore, this action is 

categorically excluded from needing 

environmental review as described in 10 

CFR 51.22(c)(1). Consequently, neither 

an environmental impact statement nor 

an environmental assessment has been 

prepared for this final rule. 

X. Paperwork Reduction Act 

This rule does not contain a collection 

of information as defined in the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and, therefore, is not 

subject to the requirements of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

Public Protection Notification 

The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, 

and a person is not required to respond 

to, a collection of information unless the 

document requesting or requiring the 

collection displays a currently valid 

OMB control number. 

XI. Congressional Review Act 

This final rule is a rule as defined in 

the Congressional Review Act of 1996 

(5 U.S.C. 801–808). The Office of 

Management and Budget has found it to 

be a major rule as defined in the 

Congressional Review Act. 

XII. Voluntary Consensus Standards 

The National Technology Transfer 

and Advancement Act of 1995, Public 

Law 104–113, requires that Federal 

agencies use technical standards that are 

developed or adopted by voluntary 

consensus standards bodies unless the 

use of such a standard is inconsistent 

with applicable law or otherwise 

impractical. In this final rule, the NRC 

amends the licensing, inspection, and 

annual fees charged to its licensees and 

applicants, as necessary, to recover 

approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority in FY 2018, as required by 

OBRA–90. This action does not 

constitute the establishment of a 

standard that contains generally 

applicable requirements. 

XIII. Availability of Guidance 

The Small Business Regulatory 

Enforcement Fairness Act requires all 

Federal agencies to prepare a written 

compliance guide for each rule for 

which the agency is required by 5 U.S.C. 

604 to prepare a regulatory flexibility 

analysis. The NRC, in compliance with 

the law, prepared the ‘‘Small Entity 

Compliance Guide’’ for the FY 2017 

proposed fee rule. The NRC plans to 

continue to use this compliance guide 

for FY 2018 and has relabeled the 

compliance guide to reflect the current 

fiscal year. The FY 2018 version of the 

compliance guide is available as 

indicated in Section XIV, Availability of 

Documents, of this document. The next 

compliance guide will be developed 

when the NRC completes the next small 

entity biennial review in FY 2019. 

XIV. Availability of Documents 

The documents identified in the 

following table are available to 

interested persons through one or more 

of the following methods, as indicated. 

Document ADAMS Accession No./weblink 

SECY–16–0009, ‘‘Recommendations Resulting from the Integrated Prioritization and 

Re-Baselining of Agency Activities,’’ February 9, 2016.

ML16104A158. 

SECY–16–0097, ‘‘Fee Setting Improvements and Fiscal Year 2017 Proposed Fee 

Rule,’’ August 22, 2016.

ML16194A365. 

SECY–17–0026, ‘‘Policy Considerations and Recommendations for Remediation of 

Non-Military, Unlicensed Historic Radium Sites in Non-Agreement States’’ February 

22, 2017.

ML17130A783. 

Staff Requirements Memorandum for SECY–17–0026, September 7, 2017 ................. ML17250A841. 

FY 2018 Final Rule Work Papers .................................................................................... ML18135A044. 

FY 2018 Regulatory Flexibility Analysis .......................................................................... ML17319A288. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29645 

Document ADAMS Accession No./weblink 

FY 2018 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Small Entity Compliance Guide ........... ML17319A291. 

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled ‘‘Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Regulatory Fee-Setting Calculations Need Greater Transparency’’ (GAO– 

17–232), February 2, 2017.

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-232. 

Regulatory Issue Summary 2015–19, ‘‘Decommissioning Timeliness Rule Implementation and Associated Regulatory Relief,’’ September 27, 2016.ML16008A242. 

NUREG–1100, Volume 33, ‘‘Congressional Budget Justification: Fiscal Year 2018’’ 

(May 2017).

ML17137A246. 

NUREG–1100, Volume 34, ‘‘Congressional Budget Justification: Fiscal Year 2019’’ 

(February 2018).

ML18023B460. 

NRC Form 526, Certification of Small Entity Status for the Purposes of Annual Fees 

Imposed under 10 CFR Part 171.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/forms/ 

nrc526.pdf. 

SECY–05–0164, ‘‘Annual Fee Calculation Method,’’ dated September 15, 2005 .......... ML052580332. 

OMB’s Circular A–25, ‘‘User Charges’’ ........................................................................... https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_default. 

Fees Transformation Accomplishments .......................................................................... https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing/feestransformaton-accomplishments.html. 

FY 2018 Proposed Fee Rule ........................................................................................... ML17313A419. 

FY 2018 Proposed Rule Work Papers ............................................................................ ML17348A377. 

List of Subjects 

10 CFR Part 170 

Byproduct material, Import and 

export licenses, Intergovernmental 

relations, Non-payment penalties, 

Nuclear energy, Nuclear materials, 

Nuclear power plants and reactors, 

Source material, Special nuclear 

material. 

10 CFR Part 171 

Annual charges, Approvals, 

Byproduct material, Holders of 

certificates, Intergovernmental relations, 

Nonpayment penalties, Nuclear 

materials, Nuclear power plants and 

reactors, Registrations, Source material, 

Special nuclear material. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble and under the authority of the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; 

the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 

as amended; and 5 U.S.C. 552 and 553, 

the NRC is adopting the following 

amendments to 10 CFR parts 170 and 

171: 

PART 170—FEES FOR FACILITIES, 

MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT 

LICENSES, AND OTHER 

REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE 

ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1954, AS 

AMENDED 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 170 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 11, 161(w) (42 U.S.C. 2014, 2201(w)); 

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, sec. 201 

(42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 U.S.C. 2214; 31 U.S.C. 

901, 902, 9701; 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

■ 2. In § 170.3, add the definitions for 

Agency support (corporate support and 

the IG), Mission-direct program salaries 

and benefits, and Mission-indirect 

program support in alphabetical order 

and remove the definition of Overhead 

and general and administrative costs to 

read as follows: 

§ 170.3 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Agency support (corporate support 

and the IG) means resources located in 

executive, administrative, and other 

support offices such as the Office of the 

Commission, the Office of the Secretary, 

the Office of the Executive Director for 

Operations, the Offices of Congressional 

and Public Affairs, the Office of the 

Inspector General, the Office of 

Administration, the Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer, the Office of the Chief 

Information Officer, the Office of the 

Chief Human Capital Officer and the 

Office of Small Business and Civil 

Rights. These resources administer the 

corporate or shared efforts that more 

broadly support the activities of the 

agency. These resources also include 

information technology services, human 

capital services, financial management, 

and administrative support. 

* * * * * 

Mission-direct program salaries and 

benefits means resources that are 

allocated to perform core work activities 

committed to fulfilling the agency’s 

mission of protecting the public health 

and safety, promoting the common 

defense and security, and protecting the 

environment. These resources include 

the core work activities assigned within 

the major program business lines 

(Operating Reactors, New Reactors, Fuel 

Facilities, Nuclear Materials Users, 

Decommissioning and Low-Level Waste, 

and Spent Fuel Storage and 

Transportation). 

Mission-indirect program support 

means resources that support the core 

mission-direct activities. These 

resources include supervisory and 

nonsupervisory support and mission 

travel and training. Supervisory and 

nonsupervisory support and mission 

travel and training resources assigned 

under direct business line structure are 

considered mission-indirect due to their 

supporting role of the core mission 

activities. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 170.11, add paragraph (c) to 

read as follows: 

§ 170.11 Exemptions. 

* * * * * 

(c) For purposes of paragraph (a)(1) of 

this section, a request for a fee 

exemption must be submitted to the 

CFO within 90 days of the date of the 

NRC’s receipt of the work. 

■ 4. Revise § 170.20 to read as follows: 

§ 170.20 Average cost per professional 

staff-hour. 

Fees for permits, licenses, 

amendments, renewals, special projects, 

10 CFR part 55 re-qualification and 

replacement examinations and tests, 

other required reviews, approvals, and 

inspections under §§ 170.21 and 170.31 

will be calculated using the professional 

staff-hour rate of $275 per hour. 

■ 5. In § 170.21, in the table, revise fee 

category K. to read as follows: 

§ 170.21 Schedule of fees for production 

or utilization facilities, review of standard 

referenced design approvals, special 

projects, inspections, and import and 

export licenses. 

* * * * * 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29646 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

SCHEDULE OF FACILITY FEES

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Facility categories and type of fees Fees 1 2

*******

K. Import and export licenses: 6

Licenses for the import and export only of production or utilization facilities or the export only of components for production

or utilization facilities issued under 10 CFR part 110. 

1. Application for import or export of production or utilization facilities 4 (including reactors and other facilities) and exports of components requiring Commission and Executive Branch review, for example, actions under 10 CFR 

110.40(b). Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ....................................................... N/A 

2. Application for export of reactor and other components requiring Executive Branch review, for example, those actions under 10 CFR 110.41(a). Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ...................... N/A 

3. Application for export of components requiring the assistance of the Executive Branch to obtain foreign government 

assurances. Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request .................................................... N/A 

4. Application for export of facility components and equipment not requiring Commission or Executive Branch review, 

or obtaining foreign government assurances. Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request N/A 

5. Minor amendment of any active export or import license, for example, to extend the expiration date, change domestic information, or make other revisions which do not involve any substantive changes to license terms or conditions 

or to the type of facility or component authorized for export and, therefore, do not require in-depth analysis or review 

or consultation with the Executive Branch, U.S. host state, or foreign government authorities. Minor amendment to license ................................................................................................................................................................................. N/A 

1Fees will not be charged for orders related to civil penalties or other civil sanctions issued by the Commission under § 2.202 of this chapter or 

for amendments resulting specifically from the requirements of these orders. For orders unrelated to civil penalties or other civil sanctions, fees 

will be charged for any resulting licensee-specific activities not otherwise exempted from fees under this chapter. Fees will be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision of the Commission’s regulations under title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (e.g., 10 

CFR 50.12, 10 CFR 73.5) and any other sections in effect now or in the future, regardless of whether the approval is in the form of a license 

amendment, letter of approval, safety evaluation report, or other form. 2Full 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 August 24, 2018 will be determined at the professional rates in effect when the service was provided. 

* * * * * * * 4 Imports only of major components for end-use at NRC-licensed reactors are authorized under NRC general import license in 10 CFR 110.27. 

******* 6Because the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, excludes international activities from the fee-recoverable budget in fiscal year 2018, import and export licensing actions will not be charged fees. 

■ 6. In § 170.31, revise the table to read 

as follows: 

§ 170.31 Schedule of fees for materials 

licenses and other regulatory services, 

including inspections, and import and 

export licenses. 

* * * * * 

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: 11

A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of U–235 or plutonium for fuel fabrication activities. 

(a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material (High Enriched Uranium) 6 [Program Code(s): 21213] ........................................... Full Cost. 

(b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Form Used for Fabrication of Power Reactor Fuel 6 [Program Code(s): 21210] Full Cost. 

(2) All other special nuclear materials licenses not included in Category 1.A. (1) which are licensed for fuel cycle activities.6

(a) Facilities with limited operations 6 [Program Code(s): 21240, 21310, 21320] ................................................................ Full Cost. 

(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration facilities.6 [Program Code(s): 21205] .......................................................... Full Cost. 

(c) Others, including hot cell facilities.6 [Program Code(s): 21130, 21133] ......................................................................... Full Cost. 

B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste at an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) 6 [Program Code(s): 23200].Full Cost. 

C. Licenses for possession and use of special nuclear material of less than a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 in sealed 

sources contained in devices used in industrial measuring systems, including x-ray fluorescence analyzers.4

$1,300. 

Application [Program Code(s): 22140]. 

D. All other special nuclear material licenses, except licenses authorizing special nuclear material in sealed or unsealed 

form in combination that would constitute a critical mass, as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter, for which the licensee shall 

pay the same fees as those under Category 1.A.4

$2,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 22150, 22151, 22161, 22170, 23100, 23300, 

23310]. 

E. Licenses or certificates for construction and operation of a uranium enrichment facility [Program Code(s): 21200] ............ Full Cost. 

F. Licenses for possession and use of special nuclear material greater than critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter, for development and testing of commercial products, and other non-fuel-cycle activities.4 6 [Program Code(s): 22155].Full Cost. 

2. Source material: 11

A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of source material for refining uranium mill concentrates to uranium hexafluoride or 

for deconverting uranium hexafluoride in the production of uranium oxides for disposal.6 [Program Code(s): 11400].

Full Cost. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29647 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee 2 3

(2) Licenses for possession and use of source material in recovery operations such as milling, in-situ recovery, heap-leaching, ore buying stations, ion-exchange facilities, and in processing of ores containing source material for extraction of 

metals other than uranium or thorium, including licenses authorizing the possession of byproduct waste material (tailings) 

from source material recovery operations, as well as licenses authorizing the possession and maintenance of a facility in 

a standby mode.6

(a) Conventional and Heap Leach facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11100] ............................................................................ Full Cost. 

(b) Basic In Situ Recovery facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11500] ......................................................................................... Full Cost. 

(c) Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11510] ................................................................................. Full Cost. 

(d) In Situ Recovery Resin facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11550] ........................................................................................ Full Cost. 

(e) Resin Toll Milling facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11555] .................................................................................................. Full Cost. 

(f) Other facilities 6 [Program Code(s): 11700] ..................................................................................................................... Full Cost. 

(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, from 

other persons for possession and disposal, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category 

2.A.(4) 6 [Program Code(s): 11600, 12000].

Full Cost. 

(4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, from 

other persons for possession and disposal incidental to the disposal of the uranium waste tailings generated by the licensee’s milling operations, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) 6 [Program Code(s): 12010].

Full Cost. 

(5) Licenses that authorize the possession of source material related to removal of contaminants (source material) from 

drinking water 6 [Program Code(s): 11820].

Full Cost. 

B. Licenses which authorize the possession, use, and/or installation of source material for shielding 7 8 ................................. $1,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11210]. 

C. Licenses to distribute items containing source material to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 40 of 

this chapter. 

$2,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11240]. 

D. Licenses to distribute source material to persons generally licensed under part 40 of this chapter ..................................... $2,700. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11230, 11231]. 

E. Licenses for possession and use of source material for processing or manufacturing of products or materials containing 

source material for commercial distribution. 

$2,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11710]. 

F. All other source material licenses. $2,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11300, 11800, 11810]. 

3. Byproduct material: 11

A. Licenses of broad scope for the possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter 

for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations 

of use: 1–5. 

$12,900. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213]. 

(1) Licenses of broad scope for the possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this 

chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number 

of locations of use: 6–20. 

$17,100. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04010, 04012, 04014]. 

(2) Licenses of broad scope for the possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this 

chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number 

of locations of use: More than 20. 

$21,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04011, 04013, 04015]. 

B. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 1–5. $3,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03214, 03215, 22135, 22162]. 

(1) Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or 

manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 6–20. 

$4,700. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04110, 04112, 04114, 04116]. 

(2) Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or 

manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: More 

than 20. 

$5,900. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04111, 04113, 04115, 04117]. 

C. Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing byproduct 

material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: 1–5. 

$5,100. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513]. 

(1) Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and 

distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing 

byproduct material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: 6–20. 

$6,800. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04210, 04212, 04214]. 

(2) Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and 

distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing 

byproduct material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: More than 20. 

$8,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04211, 04213, 04215]. 

D. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29648 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee 2 3

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. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03510, 03520]. 

F. Licenses for possession and use of less than or equal to 10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed sources for irradiation of materials in which the source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also includes underwater 

irradiators for irradiation of materials where the source is not exposed for irradiation purposes. 

$6,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03511]. 

G. Licenses for possession and use of greater than 10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed sources for irradiation of 

materials in which the source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also includes underwater irradiators for 

irradiation of materials where the source is not exposed for irradiation purposes. 

$61,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03521]. 

H. Licenses issued under 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. The category does not include specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons exempt 

from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter. 

$6,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03254, 03255, 03257]. 

I. Licenses issued under 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. This category does not include specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter. 

$9,800. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03250, 03251, 03252, 03253, 03256]. 

J. Licenses issued under 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. This category does not 

include specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons generally 

licensed under part 31 of this chapter. 

$2,000. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03240, 03241, 03243]. 

K. Licenses issued under 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. This category does not include specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter. 

$1,100. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03242, 03244]. 

L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for 

research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 1–5. 

$5,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 01100, 01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612, 03613]. 

(1) Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 6–20. $7,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04610, 04612, 04614, 04616, 04618, 04620, 04622]. 

(2) Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: More 

than 20. 

$9,000. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04611, 04613, 04615, 04617, 04619, 04621, 04623]. 

M. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. $7,000. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03620]. 

N. Licenses that authorize services for other licensees, except: $7,200. 

(1) Licenses that authorize only calibration and/or leak testing services are subject to the fees specified in fee Category 3.P.; and 

(2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal services are subject to the fees specified in fee Categories 4.A., 4.B., and 

4.C. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03219, 03225, 03226]. 

O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography 

operations. Number of locations of use: 1–5. 

$3,100. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03310, 03320]. 

(1) Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography operations. Number of locations of use: 6–20. $4,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04310, 04312]. 

(2) Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography operations. Number of locations of use: More than 20. $5,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04311, 04313]. 

P. All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.9 Number of locations of use: 

1–5. 

$3,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02400, 02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123, 03124, 03130, 03140, 03220, 03221, 

03222, 03800, 03810, 22130]. 

(1) All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.9 Number of locations of 

use: 6–20. 

$4,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04410, 04412, 04414, 04416, 04418, 04420, 04422, 04424, 04426, 04428, 04430, 

04432, 04434, 04436, 04438]. 

(2) All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.9 Number of locations of 

use: More than 20. 

$5,700. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29649 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee 2 3

Application [Program Code(s): 04411, 04413, 04415, 04417, 04419, 04421, 04423, 04425, 04427, 04429, 04431, 

04433, 04435, 04437, 04439]. 

Q. Registration of a device(s) generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter. Registration. $700. 

R. Possession of items or products containing radium-226 identified in 10 CFR 31.12 which exceed the number of items or 

limits specified in that section.5

1. Possession of quantities exceeding the number of items or limits in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4) or (5) but less than or equal 

to 10 times the number of items or limits specified. 

$2,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02700]. 

2. Possession of quantities exceeding 10 times the number of items or limits specified in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4) or (5). $2,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02710]. 

S. Licenses for production of accelerator-produced radionuclides ............................................................................................. $14,100. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03210]. 

4. Waste disposal and processing: 11

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. 

Full Cost. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03231, 03233, 03236, 06100, 06101]. 

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. 

$6,800. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03234]. 

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. 

$5,000. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03232]. 

5. Well logging: 11

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. 

$4,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03110, 03111, 03112]. 

B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material for field flooding tracer studies. ...................................................... Full Cost. 

Licensing [Program Code(s): 03113].

6. Nuclear laundries: 11

A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of items contaminated with byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material. $21,900. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03218]. 

7. Medical licenses: 11

A. Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy devices, or 

similar beam therapy devices. Number of locations of use: 1–5. 

$11,000. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02300, 02310]. 

(1) Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy 

devices, or similar beam therapy devices. Number of locations of use: 6–20. 

$14,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04510, 04512]. 

(2) Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy 

devices, or similar beam therapy devices. Number of locations of use: More than 20. 

$18,300. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04511, 04513]. 

B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of 

this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This 

category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license. 

Number of locations of use: 1-5. 

$8,600. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02110]. 

(1) Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 

70 of this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license. Number of locations of use: 6-20. 

$11,400. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04710]. 

(2) Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 

70 of this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license. Number of locations of use: More than 20. 

$14,200. 

Application [Program Code(s): 04711]. 

C. Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, and/or special nuclear material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material 

in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices.10

$5,500. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29650 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee 2 3

Application [Program Code(s): 02120, 02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220, 02230, 02231, 02240, 22160]. 

8. Civil defense: 11

A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material for civil defense activities. $2,500. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03710]. 

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. $5,400. 

Application—each device. 

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. $8,900. 

Application—each device. 

C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources containing byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material, except 

reactor fuel, for commercial distribution. 

$5,200. 

Application—each source. 

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. $1,000. 

Application—each source. 

10. Transportation of radioactive material: 

A. Evaluation of casks, packages, and shipping containers. 

1. Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium air packages ........................................................................................... Full Cost. 

2. Other Casks ...................................................................................................................................................................... Full Cost. 

B. Quality assurance program approvals issued under part 71 of this chapter. 

1. Users and Fabricators. Application .................................................................................................................................. $4,200. 

Inspections ............................................................................................................................................................................ Full Cost. 

2. Users. Application ............................................................................................................................................................. $4,200. 

Inspections ............................................................................................................................................................................ Full Cost. 

C. Evaluation of security plans, route approvals, route surveys, and transportation security devices (including immobilization devices).Full Cost. 

11. Review of standardized spent fuel facilities .................................................................................................................................. Full Cost. 

12. Special projects: Including approvals, pre-application/licensing activities, and inspections ........................................................ Full Cost. 

Application [Program Code: 25110]. 

13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of Compliance .................................................................................................................. Full Cost. 

B. Inspections related to storage of spent fuel under § 72.210 of this chapter .................................................................................. Full Cost. 

14. Decommissioning/Reclamation 11

A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material licenses and other approvals authorizing decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site restoration activities under parts 30, 40, 70, 72, and 76 of this chapter, including master materials licenses (MMLs). The transition to this fee category occurs when a licensee has permanently ceased principal activities. [Program Code(s): 03900, 11900, 21135, 21215, 21240, 21325, 22200].Full Cost. 

B. Site-specific decommissioning activities associated with unlicensed sites, including MMLs, regardless of whether or not 

the sites have been previously licensed.

Full Cost. 

15. Import and Export licenses: 12

Licenses issued under part 110 of this chapter for the import and export only of special nuclear material, source material, tritium and other byproduct material, and the export only of heavy water, or nuclear grade graphite (fee categories 15.A. 

through 15.E.). 

A. Application for export or import of nuclear materials, including radioactive waste requiring Commission and Executive 

Branch review, for example, those actions under 10 CFR 110.40(b). 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

B. Application for export or import of nuclear material, including radioactive waste, requiring Executive Branch review, but 

not Commission review. This category includes applications for the export and import of radioactive waste and requires 

the NRC to consult with domestic host state authorities (i.e., Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission, the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, etc.). 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

C. Application for export of nuclear material, for example, routine reloads of low enriched uranium reactor fuel and/or natural uranium source material requiring the assistance of the Executive Branch to obtain foreign government assurances. N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

D. Application for export or import of nuclear material not requiring Commission or Executive Branch review, or obtaining 

foreign government assurances. 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

E. Minor amendment of any active export or import license, for example, to extend the expiration date, change domestic information, or make other revisions which do not involve any substantive changes to license terms and conditions or to 

the type/quantity/chemical composition of the material authorized for export and, therefore, do not require in-depth analysis, review, or consultations with other Executive Branch, U.S. host state, or foreign government authorities. Minor 

amendment. 

N/A. 

Licenses issued under part 110 of this chapter for the import and export only of Category 1 and Category 2 quantities of radioactive material listed in appendix P to part 110 of this chapter (fee categories 15.F. through 15.R.). Category 1 (Appendix P, 

10 CFR Part 110) Exports: 

F. Application for export of appendix P Category 1 materials requiring Commission review (e.g., exceptional circumstance 

review under 10 CFR 110.42(e)(4)) and to obtain one government-to-government consent for this process. For additional 

consent see fee category 15.I. 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29651 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee 2 3

G. Application for export of appendix P Category 1 materials requiring Executive Branch review and to obtain one government-to-government consent for this process. For additional consents see fee category 15.I. N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

H. Application for export of appendix P Category 1 materials and to obtain one government-to-government consent for this 

process. For additional consents see fee category 15.I. 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

I. Requests for each additional government-to-government consent in support of an export license application or active export license. N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

Category 2 (Appendix P, 10 CFR Part 110) Exports: 

J. Application for export of appendix P Category 2 materials requiring Commission review (e.g., exceptional circumstance 

review under 10 CFR 110.42(e)(4)). 

N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

K. Applications for export of appendix P Category 2 materials requiring Executive Branch review .......................................... N/A. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. 

L. Application for the export of Category 2 materials. Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request. N/A. 

M. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 

N. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 

O. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 

P. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 

Q. [Reserved] ............................................................................................................................................................................... N/A. 

Minor Amendments (Category 1 and 2, Appendix P, 10 CFR Part 110, Export): 

R. Minor amendment of any active export license, for example, to extend the expiration date, change domestic information, 

or make other revisions which do not involve any substantive changes to license terms and conditions or to the type/ 

quantity/chemical composition of the material authorized for export and, therefore, do not require in-depth analysis, review, or consultations with other Executive Branch, U.S. host state, or foreign authorities. Minor amendment.

N/A. 

16. Reciprocity: Agreement State licensees who conduct activities under the reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20. Application.$1,800. 

17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to Government agencies ................................................................................ Full Cost. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03614]. 

18. Department of Energy: 

A. Certificates of Compliance. Evaluation of casks, packages, and shipping containers (including spent fuel, high-level 

waste, and other casks, and plutonium air packages).

Full Cost. 

B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) activities .......................................................................................... Full Cost. 

1Types of fees—Separate charges, as shown in the schedule, will be assessed for pre-application consultations and reviews; applications for 

new licenses, approvals, or license terminations; possession-only licenses; issuances of new licenses and approvals; certain amendments and 

renewals to existing licenses and approvals; safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices; generally licensed device registrations; and certain inspections. The following guidelines apply to these charges: 

(a) Application and registration fees. Applications for new materials licenses and export and import licenses; applications to reinstate expired, 

terminated, or inactive licenses, except those subject to fees assessed at full costs; applications filed by Agreement State licensees to register 

under the general license provisions of 10 CFR 150.20; and applications for amendments to materials licenses that would place the license in a 

higher fee category or add a new fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee for each category. 

(1) Applications for licenses covering more than one fee category of special nuclear material or source material must be accompanied by the 

prescribed application fee for the highest fee category. 

(2) Applications for new licenses that cover both byproduct material and special nuclear material in sealed sources for use in gauging devices 

will pay the appropriate application fee for fee category 1.C. only. 

(b) Licensing fees. Fees for reviews of applications for new licenses, renewals, and amendments to existing licenses, pre-application consultations and other documents submitted to the NRC for review, and project manager time for fee categories subject to full cost fees are due upon 

notification by the Commission in accordance with § 170.12(b). 

(c) Amendment fees. Applications for amendments to export and import licenses must be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for 

each license affected. An application for an amendment to an export or import license or approval classified in more than one fee category must 

be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for the category affected by the amendment, unless the amendment is applicable to two or 

more fee categories, in which case the amendment fee for the highest fee category would apply. 

(d) Inspection fees. Inspections resulting from investigations conducted by the Office of Investigations and nonroutine inspections that result 

from third-party allegations are not subject to fees. Inspection fees are due upon notification by the Commission in accordance with § 170.12(c). 

(e) Generally licensed device registrations under 10 CFR 31.5. Submittals of registration information must be accompanied by the prescribed 

fee. 2Fees will not be charged for orders related to civil penalties or other civil sanctions issued by the Commission under 10 CFR 2.202 or for 

amendments resulting specifically from the requirements of these orders. For orders unrelated to civil penalties or other civil sanctions, fees will 

be charged for any resulting licensee-specific activities not otherwise exempted from fees under this chapter. Fees will be charged for approvals 

issued under a specific exemption provision of the Commission’s regulations under title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (e.g., 10 CFR 

30.11, 40.14, 70.14, 73.5, and any other sections in effect now or in the future), regardless of whether the approval is in the form of a license 

amendment, letter of approval, safety evaluation report, or other form. In addition to the fee shown, an applicant may be assessed an additional 

fee for sealed source and device evaluations as shown in fee categories 9.A. through 9.D. 3Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff time multiplied by the appropriate professional hourly rate established in 

§ 170.20 in effect when the service is provided, and the appropriate contractual support services expended. 4 Licensees paying fees under categories 1.A., 1.B., and 1.E. are not subject to fees under categories 1.C., 1.D. and 1.F. for sealed sources 

authorized in the same license, except for an application that deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license. 5Persons who possess radium sources that are used for operational purposes in another fee category are not also subject to the fees in this 

category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources are possessed for storage only.) 6 Licensees subject to fees under fee categories 1.A., 1.B., 1.E., or 2.A. must pay the largest applicable fee and are not subject to additional 

fees listed in this table. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29652 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

7 Licensees paying fees under 3.C., 3.C.1, or 3.C.2 are not subject to fees under 2.B. for possession and shielding authorized on the same license. 8 Licensees paying fees under 7.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B. for possession and shielding authorized on the same license. 9 Licensees paying fees under 3.N. are not subject to paying fees under 3.P., 3.P.1, or 3.P.2 for calibration or leak testing services authorized 

on the same license. 10 Licensees paying fees under 7.B., 7.B.1, or 7.B.2 are not subject to paying fees under 7.C. for broad scope licenses issued under parts 30, 

35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, and/or special nuclear material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices authorized on the same license. 11A materials license (or part of a materials license) that transitions to fee category 14.A is assessed full-cost fees under 10 CFR part 170, but 

is not assessed an annual fee under 10 CFR part 171. If only part of a materials license is transitioned to fee category 14.A, the licensee may be 

charged annual fees (and any applicable 10 CFR part 170 fees) for other activities authorized under the license that are not in decommissioning 

status. 12Because the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, excludes international activities from the fee-recoverable budget in fiscal year 2018, import and export licensing actions will not be charged fees. 

PART 171—ANNUAL FEES FOR 

REACTOR LICENSES AND FUEL 

CYCLE LICENSES AND MATERIALS 

LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF 

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE, 

REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY 

ASSURANCE PROGRAM APPROVALS 

AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 

LICENSED BY THE NRC 

■ 7. The authority citation for part 171 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 11, 161(w), 223, 234 (42 U.S.C. 2014, 

2201(w), 2273, 2282); Energy Reorganization 

Act of 1974, sec. 201 (42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 

U.S.C. 2214; 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

■ 8. In § 171.3, revise the last sentence 

to read as follows: 

§ 171.3 Scope. 

* * * Notwithstanding the other 

provisions in this section, the 

regulations in this part do not apply to 

uranium recovery and fuel facility 

licensees until after the Commission 

verifies through inspection that the 

facility has been constructed in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

license. 

§ 171.5 [Amended] 

■ 9. In § 171.5, remove the definition of 

Overhead and general and 

administrative costs. 

■ 10. In § 171.15, revise paragraphs 

(b)(1), (b)(2) introductory text, (c)(1), 

(c)(2) introductory text, (d)(1) 

introductory text, (d)(1)(ii), (d)(2) and 

(3), and (f) to read as follows: 

§ 171.15 Annual fees: Reactor licenses 

and independent spent fuel storage 

licenses. 

* * * * * 

(b)(1) The FY 2018 annual fee for each 

operating power reactor that must be 

collected by September 30, 2018, is 

$4,333,000. 

(2) The FY 2018 annual fees are 

comprised of a base annual fee for 

power reactors licensed to operate, a 

base spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning annual fee, and 

associated additional charges (fee-relief 

adjustment). The activities comprising 

the spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning base annual fee are 

shown in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) and (ii) of 

this section. The activities comprising 

the FY 2018 fee-relief adjustment are 

shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this 

section. The activities comprising the 

FY 2018 base annual fee for operating 

power reactors are as follows: 

* * * * * 

(c)(1) The FY 2018 annual fee for each 

power reactor holding a 10 CFR part 50 

license that is in a decommissioning or 

possession-only status and has spent 

fuel onsite, and for each independent 

spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 

licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR 

part 50 license, is $198,000. 

(2) The FY 2018 annual fee is 

comprised of a base spent fuel storage/ 

reactor decommissioning annual fee 

(which is also included in the operating 

power reactor annual fee shown in 

paragraph (b) of this section) and a feerelief adjustment. The activities 

comprising the FY 2018 fee-relief 

adjustment are shown in paragraph 

(d)(1) of this section. The activities 

comprising the FY 2018 spent fuel 

storage/reactor decommissioning 

rebaselined annual fee are: 

* * * * * 

(d)(1) The fee-relief adjustment 

allocated to annual fees includes a 

surcharge for the activities listed in 

paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section, plus 

the amount remaining after total 

budgeted resources for the activities 

included in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and 

(iii) of this section are reduced by the 

appropriations the NRC receives for 

these types of activities. If the NRC’s 

appropriations for these types of 

activities are greater than the budgeted 

resources for the activities included in 

paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and (iii) of this 

section for a given fiscal year, annual 

fees will be reduced. The activities 

comprising the FY 2018 fee-relief 

adjustment are as follows: 

* * * * * 

(ii) Activities not attributable to an 

existing NRC licensee or class of 

licenses (e.g., support for the Agreement 

State program); and 

* * * * * 

(2) The total FY 2018 fee-relief 

adjustment allocated to the operating 

power reactor class of licenses is a 

$3,349,085 fee-relief credit, not 

including the amount allocated to the 

spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning class. The FY 2018 

operating power reactor fee-relief 

adjustment to be assessed to each 

operating power reactor is 

approximately a $33,829 fee-relief 

credit. This amount is calculated by 

dividing the total operating power 

reactor fee-relief adjustment, 

$3,349,085, by the number of operating 

power reactors (99). 

(3) The FY 2018 fee-relief adjustment 

allocated to the spent fuel storage/ 

reactor decommissioning class of 

licenses is a $172,641 fee-relief credit. 

The FY 2018 spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning fee relief adjustment 

to be assessed to each operating power 

reactor, each power reactor in 

decommissioning or possession-only 

status that has spent fuel onsite, and to 

each independent spent fuel storage 10 

CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold 

a 10 CFR part 50 license, is a $1,415 feerelief credit. This amount is calculated 

by dividing the total fee-relief 

adjustment costs allocated to this class 

by the total number of power reactors 

licenses, except those that permanently 

ceased operations and have no fuel 

onsite, and 10 CFR part 72 licensees 

who do not hold a 10 CFR part 50 

license. 

* * * * * 

(f) The FY 2018 annual fees for 

licensees authorized to operate a 

research or test (non-power) reactor 

licensed under 10 CFR part 50, unless 

the reactor is exempted from fees under 

§ 171.11(a), are as follows: 

Research reactor .................. $81,300 

Test reactor .......................... 81,300 

■ 11. In § 171.16, revise paragraphs 

(a)(2), (d), (e) introductory text, and 

(e)(2) to read as follows: 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29653 

§ 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. 

(a) * * * 

(2) Notwithstanding the other 

provisions in this section, the 

regulations in this part do not apply to 

uranium recovery and fuel facility 

licensees until after the Commission 

verifies through inspection that the 

facility has been constructed in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

license. 

* * * * * 

(d) The FY 2018 annual fees are 

comprised of a base annual fee and an 

allocation for fee-relief adjustment. The 

activities comprising the FY 2018 feerelief adjustment are shown for 

convenience in paragraph (e) of this 

section. The FY 2018 annual fees for 

materials licensees and holders of 

certificates, registrations, or approvals 

subject to fees under this section are 

shown in the following table: 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS ANNUAL FEES AND FEES FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY NRC 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual 

fees 123

1. Special nuclear material: 

A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of U–235 or plutonium for fuel fabrication activities. 

(a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material (High Enriched Uranium) 15 [Program Code(s): 21130] .......................................... $7,346,000 

(b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersible Form Used for Fabrication of Power Reactor Fuel 15 [Program Code(s): 

21210] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 2,661,000 

(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 15 [Program Code(s): 21310, 21320] ........................................................................... N/A 

(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration facility 15 ....................................................................................................... N/A 

(c) Others, including hot cell facility 15 .................................................................................................................................. N/A 

B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste at an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) 11,15 [Program Code(s): 23200] ..................................................................... N/A 

C. Licenses for possession and use of special nuclear material of less than a critical mass, as defined in § 70.4 of this 

chapter, in sealed sources contained in devices used in industrial measuring systems, including x-ray fluorescence analyzers. [Program Code(s): 22140] ............................................................................................................................................. 2,900 

D. All other special nuclear material licenses, except licenses authorizing special nuclear material in sealed or unsealed 

form in combination that would constitute a critical mass, as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter, for which the licensee shall 

pay the same fees as those under Category 1.A. [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 22150, 22151, 

22161, 22170, 23100, 23300, 23310] ...................................................................................................................................... 7,500 

E. Licenses or certificates for the operation of a uranium enrichment facility 15 [Program Code(s): 21200] .............................. 3,513,000 

F. Licenses for possession and use of special nuclear materials greater than critical mass, as defined in § 70.4 of this 

chapter, for development and testing of commercial products, and other non-fuel cycle activities.4 [Program Code: 22155] 5,500 

2. Source material: 

A. (1) Licenses for possession and use of source material for refining uranium mill concentrates to uranium hexafluoride or 

for deconverting uranium hexafluoride in the production of uranium oxides for disposal.15 [Program Code: 11400] ............ 1,517,000 

(2) Licenses for possession and use of source material in recovery operations such as milling, in-situ recovery, heapleaching, ore buying stations, ion-exchange facilities and in-processing of ores containing source material for extraction of metals other than uranium or thorium, including licenses authorizing the possession of byproduct waste material (tailings) from source material recovery operations, as well as licenses authorizing the possession and maintenance of a facility in a standby mode. 

(a) Conventional and Heap Leach facilities 15 [Program Code(s): 11100] .................................................................... 38,800 

(b) Basic In Situ Recovery facilities 15 [Program Code(s): 11500] ................................................................................ 49,200 

(c) Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities 15 [Program Code(s): 11510] ......................................................................... 55,700 

(d) In Situ Recovery Resin facilities 15 [Program Code(s): 11550] ................................................................................ 5 N/A 

(e) Resin Toll Milling facilities 15 [Program Code(s): 11555] ................................................................................................ 5 N/A 

(3) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, 

from other persons for possession and disposal, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or 

Category 2.A.(4) 15 [Program Code(s): 11600, 12000] ..................................................................................................... 5 N/A 

(4) Licenses that authorize the receipt of byproduct material, as defined in Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, 

from other persons for possession and disposal incidental to the disposal of the uranium waste tailings generated by 

the licensee’s milling operations, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) 15 [Program Code(s): 

12010] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 22,000 

(5) Licenses that authorize the possession of source material related to removal of contaminants (source material) 

from drinking water 15 [Program Code(s): 11820] ............................................................................................................. 6,500 

B. Licenses that authorize possession, use, and/or installation of source material for shielding.16 17 [Program Code: 11210] 3,200 

C. Licenses to distribute items containing source material to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 40 of 

this chapter. [Program Code: 11240] ....................................................................................................................................... 5,200 

D. Licenses to distribute source material to persons generally licensed under part 40 of this chapter [Program Code(s): 

11230 and 11231] ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6,000 

E. Licenses for possession and use of source material for processing or manufacturing of products or materials containing 

source material for commercial distribution. [Program Code: 11710] ...................................................................................... 7,400 

F. All other source material licenses. [Program Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11300, 11800, 11810] ................................... 9,200 

3. Byproduct material: 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29654 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS ANNUAL FEES AND FEES FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY NRC—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual 

fees 123

A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for 

processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of 

use: 1–5. [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213] ................................................................................................................ 30,700 

(1) Licenses of broad scope for the possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this 

chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number 

of locations of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 04010, 04012, 04014] ............................................................................... 40,600 

(2) Licenses of broad scope for the possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this 

chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number 

of locations of use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04011, 04013, 04015] ................................................................. 50,600 

B. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program 

Code(s): 03214, 03215, 22135, 22162] .................................................................................................................................... 11,400 

(1) Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or 

manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 6–20. 

[Program Code(s): 04110, 04112, 04114, 04116] ............................................................................................................ 15,100 

(2) Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or 

manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: More 

than 20. [Program Code(s): 04111, 04113, 04115, 04117] .............................................................................................. 18,900 

C. Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing byproduct 

material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513] ....... 11,500 

(1) Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and 

distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing 

byproduct material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 

04210, 04212, 04214] ........................................................................................................................................................ 15,200 

(2) Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter that authorize the processing or manufacturing and 

distribution or redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits, and/or sources and devices containing 

byproduct material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). Number of locations of use: More than 20. [Program 

Code(s): 04211, 04213, 04215] ......................................................................................................................................... 18,800 

D. [Reserved] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 N/A 

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) [Program Code(s): 03510, 03520] .......................................................... 10,100 

F. Licenses for possession and use of less than or equal to 10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed sources for irradiation of materials in which the source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also includes underwater 

irradiators for irradiation of materials in which the source is not exposed for irradiation purposes [Program Code(s): 

03511] ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11,000 

G. Licenses for possession and use of greater than 10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed sources for irradiation of 

materials in which the source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This category also includes underwater irradiators for 

irradiation of materials in which the source is not exposed for irradiation purposes [Program Code(s): 03521] ................... 91,000 

H. Licenses issued under 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 [Program Code(s): 03254, 03255, 03257] ............................................................................ 11,100 

I. Licenses issued under 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 [Program Code(s): 03250, 03251, 03252, 

03253, 03256] ........................................................................................................................................................................... 15,500 

J. Licenses issued under 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 [Program Code(s): 03240, 03241, 03243] ........................................................................................................ 4,300 

K. Licenses issued under 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 [Program Code(s): 03242, 03244] ................................................. 3,100 

L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for 

research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program 

Code(s): 01100, 01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612, 03613] ............................................................................................... 14,600 

(1) Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of product material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter 

for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 04610, 04612, 04614, 04616, 04618, 04620, 04622] .............................................................................. 19,300 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29655 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS ANNUAL FEES AND FEES FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY NRC—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual 

fees 123

(2) Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of byproduct material issued under parts 30 and 33 of this chapter 

for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. Number of locations of use: More than 

20. [Program Code(s): 04611, 04613, 04615, 04617, 04619, 04621, 04623] .................................................................. 24,000 

M. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution [Program Code(s): 03620] .............................................................. 13,300 

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 3.P.; and (2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal services are subject to the fees specified in fee categories 4.A., 4.B., and 4.C. [Program Code(s): 03219, 03225, 03226] ....... 17,600 

O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography operations. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding authorized under part 40 of 

this chapter when authorized on the same license Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program Code(s): 03310, 03320] .... 25,000 

(1) Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography operations. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding authorized 

under part 40 of this chapter when authorized on the same license. Number of locations of use: 6–20. [Program 

Code(s): 04310, 04312] ..................................................................................................................................................... 33,400 

(2) Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 34 of this chapter for industrial radiography operations. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding authorized 

under part 40 of this chapter when authorized on the same license. Number of locations of use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04311, 04313] ........................................................................................................................................... 41,600 

P. All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.18 Number of locations of use: 

1–5. [Program Code(s): 02400, 02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123, 03124, 03140, 03130, 03220, 03221, 03222, 

03800, 03810, 22130] ............................................................................................................................................................... 8,600 

(1) All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.18 Number of locations 

of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 04410, 04412, 04414, 04416, 04418, 04420, 04422, 04424, 04426, 04428, 04430, 

04432, 04434, 04436, 04438] ........................................................................................................................................... 11,400 

(2) All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D.18 Number of locations 

of use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04411, 04413, 04415, 04417, 04419, 04421, 04423, 04425, 04427, 04429, 

04431, 04433, 04435, 04437, 04439] ............................................................................................................................... 14,400 

Q. Registration of devices generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter ............................................................................... 13 N/A 

R. Possession of items or products containing radium–226 identified in 10 CFR 31.12 which exceed the number of items or 

limits specified in that section: 14

(1) Possession of quantities exceeding the number of items or limits in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4) or (5) but less than or 

equal to 10 times the number of items or limits specified [Program Code(s): 02700] ..................................................... 7,100 

(2) Possession of quantities exceeding 10 times the number of items or limits specified in 10 CFR 31.12(a)(4) or (5) 

[Program Code(s): 02710] ................................................................................................................................................. 7,500 

S. Licenses for production of accelerator-produced radionuclides [Program Code(s): 03210] ................................................... 30,200 

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 [Program Code(s): 03231, 03233, 

03235, 03236, 06100, 06101] ................................................................................................................................................... 5 N/A 

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 [Program Code(s): 03234] ................................ 18,900 

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 [Program Code(s): 03232] ................................................................................................. 10,800 

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 [Program Code(s): 03110, 03111, 03112] ............. 14,900 

B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material for field flooding tracer studies. [Program Code(s): 03113] ........... 5 N/A 

6. Nuclear laundries: 

A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of items contaminated with byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material [Program Code(s): 03218] ....................................................................................................................... 35,600 

7. Medical licenses: 

A. Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy devices, or 

similar beam therapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when 

authorized on the same license.9 Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program Code(s): 02300, 02310] ................................ 20,600 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
29656 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS ANNUAL FEES AND FEES FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY NRC—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual 

fees 123

(1) Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy 

devices, or similar beam therapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for 

shielding when authorized on the same license.9 Number of locations of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 04510, 

04512] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 30,100 

(2) Licenses issued under 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 gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units, teletherapy 

devices, or similar beam therapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for 

shielding when authorized on the same license.9 19 Number of locations of use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 

04511, 04513] .................................................................................................................................................................... 34,100 

B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of 

this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This 

category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license.9

Number of locations of use: 1–5. [Program Code(s): 02110] .................................................................................................. 30,900 

(1) Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 

70 of this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license.9 Number of locations of use: 6–20. [Program Code(s): 04710] ............................................. 40,700 

(2) Licenses of broad scope issued to medical institutions or two or more physicians under parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 

70 of this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license.9 Number of locations of use: More than 20. [Program Code(s): 04711] ............................... 50,500 

C. Other licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, and/or special nuclear material, except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in 

sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material 

for shielding when authorized on the same license.9 19 [Program Code(s): 02120, 02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220, 

02230, 02231, 02240, 22160] ................................................................................................................................................... 13,900 

8. Civil defense: 

A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material for civil defense activities [Program Code(s): 03710] ............................................................................................................................................. 7,100 

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 .................................................................. 7,300 

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 ....................................................................................................................................................... 12,100 

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 ..................................................................................... 7,000 

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 .................................................................................................................................................................... 1,400 

10. Transportation of radioactive material: 

A. Certificates of Compliance or other package approvals issued for design of casks, packages, and shipping containers. 

1. Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium air packages ........................................................................................... 6 N/A 

2. Other Casks ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6N/A 

B. Quality assurance program approvals issued under part 71 of this chapter. 

1. Users and Fabricators ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 N/A 

2. Users ................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 N/A 

C. Evaluation of security plans, route approvals, route surveys, and transportation security devices (including immobilization 

devices) ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 N/A 

11. Standardized spent fuel facilities ................................................................................................................................................... 6 N/A 

12. Special Projects [Program Code(s): 25110] .................................................................................................................................. 6 N/A 

13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of Compliance .................................................................................................................. 6 N/A 

B. General licenses for storage of spent fuel under 10 CFR 72.210 .......................................................................................... 12 N/A 

14. Decommissioning/Reclamation: 

A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material licenses and other approvals authorizing decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site restoration activities under parts 30, 40, 70, 72, and 76 of this chapter, including master materials licenses (MMLs). The transition to this fee category occurs when a licensee has permanently ceased principal activities. [Program Code(s): 03900, 11900, 21135, 21215, 21240, 21325, 22200] ....................................................................... 7 20 0

B. Site-specific decommissioning activities associated with unlicensed sites, including MMLs, whether or not the sites have 

been previously licensed .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 N/A 

15. Import and Export licenses ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 N/A 

16. Reciprocity ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 N/A 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 122 / Monday, June 25, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 29657 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS ANNUAL FEES AND FEES FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY NRC—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual 

fees 123

17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to Government agencies.15 [Program Code(s): 03614] ................................. 320,000 

18. Department of Energy: 

A. Certificates of Compliance ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 1,082,000 

B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) activities .......................................................................................... 122,000 

1 Annual fees will be assessed based on whether a licensee held a valid license with the NRC authorizing possession and use of radioactive 

material during the current FY. The annual fee is waived for those materials licenses and holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals who 

either filed for termination of their licenses or approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses before October 1 of the current FY, and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely before this date. Annual fees for licensees who filed for termination of a license, downgrade of a license, or for a possession-only license during the FY and for new licenses issued during the FY will be prorated in accordance with the provisions of § 171.17. If a person holds more than one license, certificate, registration, or approval, the annual fee(s) will be assessed for each license, certificate, registration, or approval held by that person. For licenses that authorize more than one activity on a single license (e.g., 

human use and irradiator activities), annual fees will be assessed for each category applicable to the license. 2 Payment of the prescribed annual fee does not automatically renew the license, certificate, registration, or approval for which the fee is paid. 

Renewal applications must be filed in accordance with the requirements of parts 30, 40, 70, 71, 72, or 76 of this chapter. 3 Each FY, fees for these materials licenses will be calculated and assessed in accordance with § 171.13 and will be published in the FEDERAL

REGISTER for notice and comment. 4 Other facilities include licenses for extraction of metals, heavy metals, and rare earths. 5 There are no existing NRC licenses in these fee categories. If NRC issues a license for these categories, the Commission will consider establishing an annual fee for this type of license. 6 Standardized spent fuel facilities, 10 CFR parts 71 and 72 Certificates of Compliance and related Quality Assurance program approvals, and 

special reviews, such as topical reports, are not assessed an annual fee because the generic costs of regulating these activities are primarily attributable to users of the designs, certificates, and topical reports. 7Licensees in this category are not assessed an annual fee because they are charged an annual fee in other categories while they are licensed to operate. 8 No annual fee is charged because it is not practical to administer due to the relatively short life or temporary nature of the license. 9 Separate annual fees will not be assessed for pacemaker licenses issued to medical institutions that also hold nuclear medicine licenses 

under fee categories 7.A, 7.A.1, 7.A.2, 7.B., 7.B.1, 7.B.2, or 7.C. 10 This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to the U.S. Department of Energy that are not funded from the Nuclear Waste Fund. 11 See § 171.15(c). 12 See § 171.15(c). 13 No annual fee is charged for this category because the cost of the general license registration program applicable to licenses in this category will be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees. 14 Persons who possess radium sources that are used for operational purposes in another fee category are not also subject to the fees in this 

category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources are possessed for storage only.) 15Licensees subject to fees under categories 1.A., 1.B., 1.E., 2.A., and licensees paying fees under fee category 17 must pay the largest applicable fee and are not subject to additional fees listed in this table. 16 Licensees paying fees under 3.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B. for possession and shielding authorized on the same license. 17 Licensees paying fees under 7.C. are not subject to fees under 2.B. for possession and shielding authorized on the same license. 18 Licensees paying fees under 3.N. are not subject to paying fees under 3.P., 3.P.1, or 3.P.2 for calibration or leak testing services authorized 

on the same license. 19 Licensees paying fees under 7.B., 7.B.1, or 7.B.2 are not subject to paying fees under 7.C. for broad scope license licenses issued under 

parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, and/or special nuclear material, except licenses for 

byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices authorized on the same license. 20 No annual fee is charged for a materials license (or part of a materials license) that has transitioned to this fee category because the decommissioning costs will be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees, but annual fees may be charged for other activities authorized under the license that are not in decommissioning status. 

(e) The fee-relief adjustment allocated 

to annual fees includes the budgeted 

resources for the activities listed in 

paragraph (e)(1) of this section, plus the 

total budgeted resources for the 

activities included in paragraphs (e)(2) 

and (3) of this section, as reduced by the 

appropriations the NRC receives for 

these types of activities. If the NRC’s 

appropriations for these types of 

activities are greater than the budgeted 

resources for the activities included in 

paragraphs (e)(2) and (3) of this section 

for a given fiscal year, a negative feerelief adjustment (or annual fee 

reduction) will be allocated to annual 

fees. The activities comprising the FY 

2018 fee-relief adjustment are as 

follows: 

* * * * * 

(2) Activities not attributable to an 

existing NRC licensee or class of 

licenses (e.g., support for the Agreement 

State program); and 

* * * * * 

■ 12. In § 171.17, revise paragraph (a) 

introductory text to read as follows: 

§ 171.17 Proration. 

* * * * * 

(a) Reactors, 10 CFR part 72 licensees 

who do not hold 10 CFR part 50 

licenses, and materials licenses with 

annual fees of $100,000 or greater for a 

single fee category. The NRC will base 

the proration of annual fees for 

terminated and downgraded licensees 

on the fee rule in effect at the time the 

action is official. The NRC will base the 

determinations on the proration 

requirements under paragraphs (a)(2) 

and (3) of this section. 

* * * * * 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day 

of June 2018. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Maureen E. Wylie, 

Chief Financial Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–13320 Filed 6–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES2