[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14670-14698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6485]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 170 and 171

RIN 3150-AF07


Revision of Fee Schedules; 100% Fee Recovery, FY 1995

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend 
the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants 
and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the 
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which mandates that the NRC 
recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal 
Year (FY) 1995 less amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund 
(NWF). The amount to be recovered for FY 1995 is approximately $503.6 
million.

DATES: The comment period expires April 19, 1995. Comments received 
after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
NRC is able to ensure only that comments received on or before this 
date will be considered. Because Public Law 101-508 requires that NRC 
collect the FY 1995 fees by September 30, 1995, requests for extensions 
of the comment period will not be granted.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, ATTN: Docketing and 
Service Branch.
    Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 
20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm Federal workdays. (Telephone 301-
415-1678).
    The agency workpapers that support these proposed changes to 10 CFR 
Parts 170 and 171 may be examined at the NRC Public Document Room at 
2120 L Street, NW. (Lower Level), Washington, DC 20555.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: C. James Holloway, Jr., Office of the 
Controller, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, 
Telephone 301-415-6213.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background.
II. Proposed Action.
III. Section-by-Section Analysis.
IV. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement.
VI. Regulatory Analysis.
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
VIII. Backfit Analysis.

I. Background

    Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 
(OBRA-90), enacted November 5, 1990, requires that the NRC recover 
approximately 100 percent of its budget authority, less the amount 
appropriated from the Department of Energy (DOE) administered NWF, for 
FYs 1991 through 1995 by assessing fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to 
extend the NRC's 100 percent fee recovery requirement through 1998.
    The NRC assesses two types of fees to recover its budget authority. 
First, license and inspection fees, established in 10 CFR part 170 
under the authority of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act 
(IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701, recover the NRC's costs of providing 
individually identifiable services to specific applicants and 
licensees. Examples of the services provided by the NRC for which these 
fees are assessed are the review of applications for the issuance of 
new licenses or approvals, and amendments to or renewal of licenses or 
approvals. Second, annual fees, established in 10 CFR part 171 under 
the authority of OBRA-90, recover generic and other regulatory costs 
not recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees.
    Subsequent to enactment of OBRA-90, the NRC published seven final 
fee rules after evaluation of public comments. On July 10, 1991 (56 FR 
31472), the NRC published a final rule in the Federal Register that 
established the Part 170 professional hourly rate and the materials 
licensing and inspection fees, as well as the Part 171 annual fees, to 
be assessed to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY 1991 budget. 
In addition to establishing the FY 1991 fees, the final rule 
established the underlying basis and methodology for determining both 
the 10 CFR part 170 hourly rate and fees and the 10 CFR part 171 annual 
fees. The FY 1991 rule was challenged in Federal court by several 
parties. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 
rendered its decision on those challenges on March 16, 1993, in Allied-
Signal v. NRC, remanding two issues to the NRC for further 
consideration (988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The court decision was 
also extended to cover the FY 1992 fee rule by court order dated April 
30, 1993.
    On April 17, 1992 (57 FR 13625), the NRC published in the Federal 
Register two limited changes to 10 CFR parts 170 and 171. The limited 
changes became effective May 18, 1992. The limited change to 10 CFR 
part 170 allowed the NRC to bill quarterly for those license fees that 
were previously billed every six months. The limited change to 10 CFR 
part 171 lowered in some cases the maximum annual fee of $1,800 
assessed a materials licensee who qualifies as a small entity under the 
NRC's size standards. A lower tier small entity fee of $400 per 
licensed category was established for small business and non-profit 
organizations with gross annual receipts of less than $250,000 and 
small governmental jurisdictions with a population of less than 20,000.
    On July 23, 1992 (57 FR 32691), July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38666), and 
July 20, 1994 (59 FR 36895), the NRC published final rules in the 
Federal Register that established the licensing, inspection, and annual 
fees necessary for the NRC to recover approximately 100 percent of its 
budget authority for FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 respectively. The 
basic methodology used in the FY 1992 and FY 1993 final rules was 
unchanged from that used to calculate the 10 CFR part 170 professional 
hourly rate, the specific materials licensing and inspection fees in 10 
CFR Part 170, and the 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees in the final rule 
published July 10, 1991 (56 FR 31472). In FY 1994, the NRC directly 
assigned additional effort to the reactor and materials programs for 
the Office of Investigations, the Office of Enforcement, the Advisory 
Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear 
Waste. Resources for these activities had previously been included in 
overhead, but were assigned directly to the class of licensees that 
they support. Because this direct assignment resulted in a reduction of 
overhead costs allocated to each FTE, the cost per full time equivalent 
(FTE) was about 3 percent less than it would have been without the 
additional direct assignment.
    The methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was 
changed in FY 1993 in response to the AlliedSignal v. NRC judicial 
decision mentioned earlier. This change was explained in detail in the 
FY 1993 final rule published July 20, 1993 (58 FR 38669-72). In brief, 
the NRC created two groups--large waste generators and small waste 
generators. Licensees within each group are charged a uniform fee. On 
May 19, 1994 (59 FR 26097), the NRC amended its fee regulations in 10 
CFR Part 171 to establish revised FY 1991 and FY 1992 
[[Page 14671]] surcharges for NRC licensees based on this revised 
method.
    On March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12539), the NRC reinstated the annual fee 
exemption for nonprofit educational institutions after notice and 
comment. This exemption was also included in the FY 1994 final rule. In 
response to the March 16, 1993, judicial decision, the exemption had 
been eliminated in the final rule published by NRC on July 20, 1993 (58 
FR 38666).
    The American College of Nuclear Physicians and the Society of 
Nuclear Medicine filed a Petition for Rulemaking which included a 
request that the Commission exempt medical licensees from fees for 
services provided in nonprofit institutions. The Commission denied that 
request on March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12555).

II. Proposed Action
    The NRC is proposing to amend its licensing, inspection, and annual 
fees to recover approximately 100 percent of its FY 1995 budget 
authority, including the budget authority for its Office of the 
Inspector General, less the appropriations received from the NWF. For 
FY 1995, the NRC's budget authority is $525.6 million of which 
approximately $22.0 million has been appropriated from the NWF. 
Therefore, OBRA-90 requires that the NRC collect approximately $503.6 
million in FY 1995 through 10 CFR Part 170 licensing and inspection 
fees and 10 CFR part 171 annual fees. This amount to be recovered for 
FY 1995 is about $9.4 million less than the total amount to be 
recovered for FY 1994 and $15.3 million less when compared to the 
amount to be recovered for FY 1993. The NRC estimates that 
approximately $137.7 million will be recovered in FY 1995 from the fees 
assessed under 10 CFR Part 170. The remaining $365.9 million will be 
recovered through the 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees established for FY 
1995.
    Recognizing that OBRA-90 may have resulted in certain fees that 
were unfair or inequitable, Congress in Section 2903(c), of the Energy 
Policy Act of 1992 (EPA-92), directed the NRC to review its annual fee 
policy, solicit public comment on the need for changes to this policy, 
and recommend to the Congress any changes to existing law needed to 
prevent placing unfair burdens on NRC licensees. The NRC reviewed more 
than 500 public comments submitted in response to the request for 
comment published in the Federal Register on April 19, 1993 (58 FR 
21116), and sent its report to Congress on February 23, 1994. A copy of 
this report has been placed in the Public Document Room. This report 
concluded that modifications to existing statutes governing NRC fees 
are necessary to alleviate licensees' major concerns about fairness and 
equity and to reduce the NRC administrative burden resulting from 
assessing fees. The report recommended enactment of legislation that 
would reduce the amount to be recovered from fees from 100 percent of 
the NRC budget to approximately 90 percent of the budget and eliminate 
the requirement that NRC assess 10 CFR part 170 fees.
    In view of the fact that legislation has not been enacted to 
address licensees' fairness and equity concerns and the concern about 
the additional workload generated by 100 percent fee recovery, the 
Commission has reexamined its existing fee policies to determine 
whether they can be made more equitable. This reexamination was 
undertaken with the goal of addressing, within the limitations of the 
existing laws governing NRC fees, the concerns identified in the report 
to Congress and improving other features of the NRC fee program. Based 
on this reexamination, the NRC is proposing certain changes in 10 CFR 
part 170 and 171 to partially alleviate the identified concerns and 
improve the process of collecting NRC fees.
    These proposed changes are summarized as follows and detailed in 
the following sections.
    1. Change the method for allocating the budgeted costs that cause 
fairness and equity concerns. Approximately $56 million of NRC costs 
either do not directly benefit NRC licensees or provide benefits to 
non-NRC licensees. Currently, using three different methodologies, 
these costs have been allocated to classes of licensees. Approximately 
50 percent of these costs were paid by power reactors. Under the 
proposed rule, these costs will instead be treated similar to overhead 
and distributed to each class of licensees based on the percent of the 
budget for that class. As a result, power reactors will pay a greater 
percentage of these costs.
    2. Eliminate the materials selected inspection fees (i.e., flat 
fees and others with reasonable averages), hereinafter referred to as 
``flat'' inspection fees in 10 CFR 170.31 and include the inspection 
costs with the annual materials fees in 10 CFR 171.16(d). These 
proposed actions would streamline the license fee process and provide 
more predictable fees.
    3. Change the methodology for calculating the professional hourly 
rate to better align the budgeted costs with the major classes of 
licensees. Two professional staff-hour rates are proposed instead of a 
single rate.
    4. Change the methodology for calculating annual fees for reactors, 
fuel facilities and uranium recovery licensees to make annual fees more 
closely reflect the cost of providing regulatory services to the 
classes and subclasses of licensees and to improve efficiency.
    5. Modify NRC small entity and lower-tier size standards for annual 
fee purposes.
    As a result of the reduced budget amount to be recovered for FY 
1995 and these proposed changes, the annual fees for a large majority 
of the licensees would be reduced. The following provides illustrative 
examples of the changes in the annual fees.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Proposed FY 
                                          FY 1994 annual    1995 annual 
                                                fee             fee     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class of Licensees:                                                     
    Power Reactors......................      $3,078,000      $2,967,000
    Nonpower Reactors...................          62,200          56,500
    High Enriched Fuel Facility.........       3,231,770       2,569,000
    Low Enriched Fuel Facility..........       1,484,770       1,261,000
    UF<INF>6 Conversion......................       1,179,770         639,200
    Uranium Mills.......................          74,670          60,900
Typical Material Licenses:                                              
    Radiographers.......................          19,170          14,000
    Well Loggers........................          12,870           8,100
    Gauge Users.........................           2,470           1,700
    Broad Scope Medical.................          32,570          23,400
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 14672]]

    The NRC also notes that it plans to increase the use of 
reimbursable agreements to avoid including certain costs that do not 
benefit NRC licensees within the NRC budget. By doing this, the budget 
will be reduced and the fees lowered. The NRC plans to exclude funds 
for training, travel, and technical support to the Agreement States and 
for review of Department of Energy (DOE)/Department of Defense (DOD) 
defense related projects from the NRC budget, beginning in FY 1997. 
This support would be provided to the Agreement States and DOE/DOD 
through reimbursable agreements, which would eliminate the need to 
recover the cost through fees assessed to NRC licensees. For FY 1995, 
these costs will continue to be recovered through fees. Because this 
change affects the budget and does not alter fee policies or methods, 
it falls outside the scope of this proposed rulemaking and the 
Commission is not soliciting comments on this policy change.
    Although not a specific change in this rule, to help stabilize 
fees, beginning in FY 1996, the NRC proposes that the annual fees be 
adjusted only by the percent change in NRC's total budget. A base 
annual fee would be established in FY 1995 using current methodology 
modified by the changes in the final FY 1995 rule, and the percentage 
change (plus or minus) in the NRC total FY 1995 budget would be applied 
to all annual fees for the next four years (FY 1996-FY 1998 and FY 1999 
if OBRA-90 is extended) unless there is a substantial change in the 
total NRC budget or the magnitude of the budget allocated to a specific 
class of licensees, in which case the annual fee base would be 
reestablished. The decision on whether to establish a new baseline 
would be made each year during budget formulation. For example, if the 
total NRC budget is reduced by 3 percent and the number of licenses and 
the amount estimated to be recovered under 10 CFR part 170 remains 
constant in a given fiscal year, then all annual fees would be reduced 
by approximately 3 percent. The NRC seeks comments on this approach in 
this rulemaking.
    The Commission notes that, if, based on public comments, the 
Commission decides not to pursue some or all of these new proposed 
policies, then the respective current fee policies would be continued 
for FY 1995. Comments are also requested on whether the NRC should 
continue any or all of its current fee policies in lieu of the policies 
it proposes to change in this rule.
    The NRC contemplates that any fees to be collected as a result of 
this proposed rule will be assessed on an expedited basis to ensure 
collection of the required fees by September 30, 1995, as stipulated in 
OBRA-90. Therefore, as in FYs 1991-1994 the fees, if adopted, will 
become effective 30 days after publication of the final rule in the 
Federal Register. The NRC will send a bill for the amount of the annual 
fee to the licensee or certificate, registration, or approval holder 
upon publication of the final rule. Payment will be due on the 
effective date of the FY 1995 rule.
    The NRC will continue the proration of annual fees, established in 
FY 1994, in accordance with the provisions of Section 171.17. The 
annual fees for both reactor and material licensees are prorated based 
on (1) the date applications are filed during the FY to terminate a 
license or obtain a possession-only license (POL) and (2) the date new 
licenses are issued during the FY.

A. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170: Fees for Facilities, Materials, 
Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services

    The NRC proposes four amendments to Part 170. These amendments do 
not change the underlying basis for the regulation--that fees be 
assessed to applicants, persons, and licensees for specific 
identifiable services rendered. The proposed amendments also comply 
with the guidance in the Conference Committee Report on OBRA-90 that 
fees assessed under the Independent Offices Appropriation Act (IOAA) 
recover the full cost to the NRC of identifiable regulatory services 
each applicant or licensee receives.
    First, the NRC is proposing to amend Sec. 170.11 of the 
Commission's fee regulations to conform them to section 161 w. of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). That section of the AEA 
currently allows the Commission to charge part 170 fees to power 
reactors operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority or other Federal 
government entities and to uranium enrichment facilities operated by 
the United States Enrichment Corporation, as these reactors and 
facilities are licensed or certified by the NRC. In all other cases, 
the NRC is prevented from charging Part 170 fees to Federal agencies 
for services rendered, due to a prohibition on such charges contained 
in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 31 U.S.C. 9701.
    Second, the NRC is proposing to revise the current method of 
calculating the 10 CFR Part 170 professional hourly rate. Currently, 
there is one professional hourly rate established in Sec. 170.20, which 
is used to determine the fees assessed by the NRC. This professional 
hourly rate was $133 per hour for FY 1994. The NRC proposes to 
establish two professional hourly rates for FY 1995, which will be used 
to determine the Part 170 fees. The NRC proposes to establish a rate of 
$123 per hour ($214,765 per direct FTE) for the reactor program. This 
rate is applicable to those licenses covered by 10 CFR part 170.21 of 
the fee regulations. A second rate of $116 per hour ($203,096 per 
direct FTE) is proposed for the nuclear materials and nuclear waste 
program. This rate is applicable to those licenses covered by 10 CFR 
Part 170.31 of the fee regulations. These rates are based on the FY 
1995 direct FTEs and that portion of the FY 1995 budget that does not 
constitute direct program support (contractual services costs) and is 
not recovered through the appropriation from the NWF.
    The two rates would be based on cost center concepts that are now 
being used for NRC budgeting purposes. In implementing cost center 
concepts, all budgeted resources for each cost center are assigned to 
that center for analysis and license fee purposes to the extent they 
can be separately distinguished. These costs include all salaries and 
benefits, contract support, and travel that are required for each cost 
center activity. Additionally, all resources for the Advisory Committee 
on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 
(ACNW), the Office of Investigation (OI), the Office of Enforcement 
(OE), and all program direct resources for the Office of the General 
Counsel (OGC) will be assigned to cost centers. The NRC took a first 
step in this direction in FY 1994 when it directly assigned additional 
effort to the reactor and materials programs for OI, OE, ACRS and ACNW. 
Commenters supported this change in FY 1994 indicating that such 
assignment better defines the beneficiaries of certain regulatory 
activities and more equitably allocates the fees for services provided 
(59 FR 36897; July 20, 1994). The cost center concepts will be 
discussed more fully in Section III--Section-by-Section Analysis.
    Third, the NRC proposes that the current Part 170 licensing and 
inspection fees in Secs. 170.21 and 170.31 for applicants and licensees 
be revised to reflect both the revised hourly rates and the results of 
the review required by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act. To 
comply with the requirements of the CFO Act, the NRC has evaluated 
historical professional staff hours used to process a licensing action 
(new license, renewal, and amendment) for those materials licensees 
whose fees are [[Page 14673]] based on the average cost method (flat 
fees).
    Evaluation of the historical data shows that the average number of 
professional staff hours needed to complete materials licensing actions 
should be increased in some categories and decreased in others to 
reflect the costs incurred in completing the licensing actions. Thus, 
the revised average professional staff hours reflect the changes in the 
NRC licensing review program that have occurred since FY 1993. The 
proposed licensing fees are based on the new average professional staff 
hours needed to process the licensing actions multiplied by the 
proposed nuclear materials professional hourly rate for FY 1995 of $116 
per hour. The data for the average number of professional staff hours 
needed to complete licensing actions were last updated in FY 1993 (58 
FR 38666; July 20, 1993). For new licenses and amendments, the proposed 
licensing fees for FY 1995 are reduced in approximately 50 percent of 
the cases, while the proposed fees for renewals would increase in over 
70 percent of the cases.
    Fourth, the NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program and 
improve the predictability of fees by eliminating the materials 
``flat'' inspection fees in 170.31 and including the cost of the 
inspections in 10 CFR Part 171. Eliminating the 10 CFR Part 170 
materials ``flat'' fees would recognize that the ``regulatory service'' 
to licensees, referred to in OBRA-90, comprises the total regulatory 
activities that NRC determines are needed to regulate a class of 
licensees. These regulatory services include not only inspections, but 
also research, rulemaking, orders, enforcement actions, responses to 
allegations, incident investigations, and other activities necessary to 
regulate classes of licensees. This proposed action would not result in 
any net fee increases for affected licensees and would provide those 
licensees with greater fee predictability, a frequent request made in 
licensees' comments on past fee rules. The proposed materials annual 
fees, which include the 10 CFR Part 170 inspection fees, would become 
effective for FY 1995, and those materials licensees who paid a 
``flat'' 10 CFR Part 170 inspection fee for inspections conducted in FY 
1995 would receive a credit for those payments towards the FY 1995 
annual fee assessed under 10 CFR Part 171. Because there is no annual 
fee for licensees operating under reciprocity in non-Agreement States, 
the reciprocity inspection fee has been combined with the application 
fee.
    In summary, the NRC is proposing to (1) establish two 10 CFR Part 
170 hourly rates; (2) revise the licensing fees assessed under 10 CFR 
Part 170 in order to comply with the CFO Act's requirement that fees be 
revised to reflect the cost of the agency of providing the service; and 
(3) eliminate the materials ``flat'' inspection fees in Sec. 170.31 and 
include the costs of inspections with the materials annual fees in 
Sec. 171.16(d), or with the reciprocity application fee in fee category 
Sec. 170.31, Category 16.
Assessing Fees for Final Design Approval (FDA) and Design Certification 
(DC) Reviews
    During FY 1994, the question was raised by several standard design 
vendors concerning the NRC's policy on assessment of 10 CFR part 170 
licensing fees beyond issuance of the FDA. The Commission has examined 
this issue and has decided to continue assessing fees to vendors for 
its review costs incurred following the issuance of the FDA. This would 
include fees to recover NRC costs for preparation of the Design Control 
Document, review of comments on a proposed certification rule, and 
preparation of a final certification rule. 10 CFR Part 170 fees will 
not be assessed to the vendor for costs incurred for any contested 
hearing before the Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) during 
the design certification review and rulemaking.
    While the NRC understands the impact of fees on its applicants and 
licensees, it has concluded that 10 CFR part 170 review fees should 
continue to be assessed beyond the FDA issuance, because the vendor, 
who applies for a certification, is the principal beneficiary of the 
certification. The fundamental policy underlying 10 CFR part 170 fees, 
which are based on the requirements of the Independent Offices 
Appropriation Act of 1952, as amended, is that the principal 
beneficiary of a regulatory service should bear the cost of providing 
that service. Applicants for design certifications will not be charged 
10 CFR part 170 fees for any hearings held before an ASLBP under 10 CFR 
52.51(b), which offers an opportunity for a hearing on a proposed 
certification. It has long been the policy of the NRC not to charge 
part 170 fees for hearings which are not mandated by law, and the NRC 
has maintained this policy despite its recent obligation to recover 100 
percent of the budget through fees. Thus, for example, the NRC does not 
charge part 170 fees for power reactor operating license, amendment, or 
enforcement hearings. The costs of such hearings are recovered through 
the annual fees assessed to NRC licensees under 10 CFR part 171.
    The NRC bills all design certification (DC) applicants for staff 
hours and contractual expenses incurred by the Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation (NRR) in support of design certification and 
approval review activities as stipulated in 10 CFR part 170. The Office 
of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) staff and contractual expenses 
related to advanced reactor designs have been billed under 10 CFR part 
171 to holders of operating reactor licenses. Although NRR is 
responsible for these advanced reactor reviews and licensing 
determinations, certain activities performed by RES can be essential 
elements of these reviews. If, for example, the review can be conducted 
more efficiently by RES due to experience of its staff, NRR would 
request that RES perform the review and provide the safety evaluation 
report input. In conducting recent DC reviews, NRR and RES have 
coordinated their activities to enhance the effectiveness and 
efficiency of the reviews. In specific technical areas (e.g., 
evaluation of DC applicant test programs), RES staff expertise and 
contractual resources provide direct support to NRR's licensing review. 
As such, some RES activities involve direct review of advanced reactor 
designs and provide input to the safety and licensing conclusions for 
design certification. The NRC believes that some adjustments to the fee 
policy are necessary to properly assess the applicant fees for design 
certification review activities performed by RES. Beginning with the 
effective date of the FY 1995 fee rule, the NRC plans to bill the 
applicants for RES's direct review and evaluation of the standard 
design in support of NRC's FDA and design certification. Direct review 
includes evaluation of the applicant's test programs, vendor codes and 
topical reports, standard safety analysis reports, and other supporting 
design and analysis information. Under this approach, fee assessment 
for RES costs would be treated identically to NRR charges for staff 
full-time equivalent (FTE) employees or contractors associated with the 
FDA/DC review. Billing vendors for RES activities that are in direct 
review of the applicant's design is consistent with the major principle 
of 10 CFR part 170 of assessing fees to the principal beneficiary of 
the NRC regulatory activity (i.e., vendor receipt of an FDA/DC). The 
applicant would not be assessed fees for confirmatory research related 
to the designs. The budget for confirmatory research would continue 
[[Page 14674]] to be recovered from annual fees assessed to operating 
power reactor licensees under 10 CFR part 171.

B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: Annual Fees for Reactor Operating 
Licenses, and Fuel Cycle Licenses and Materials Licenses, Including 
Holders of Certificates of Compliance, Registrations, and Quality 
Assurance Program Approvals and Government Agencies Licensed by NRC

    The NRC proposes nine amendments to 10 CFR part 171. First, the NRC 
is proposing to modify its method for recovering certain budgeted 
costs. The report to Congress in response to EPA-92 identified fairness 
and equity concerns regarding the fees charged to recover the cost of 
certain NRC activities. Many licensees believed it was unfair to charge 
them fees for activities and policies undertaken by the NRC that did 
not benefit them and were not requested by them. The NRC is proposing 
to modify its current policies for allocating the budgeted costs for 
these and other activities that cause fairness and equity concerns, 
including international activities, the nonprofit educational 
exemption, the 10 CFR part 170 statutory exemption for Federal 
agencies, the small entity annual fee reduction resulting from 
implementing the Regulatory Flexibility Act, certain Site 
Decommissioning Management Program (SDMP), generic decommissioning and 
reclamation activities, and regulatory activities that support both NRC 
and Agreement State licensees. It is proposed that the budgeted costs 
of approximately $56 million for these activities be borne by all NRC 
licensees because the activities are necessary for the NRC to carry out 
its responsibilities but, in most instances, go beyond the regulation 
of those licensees or applicants that pay fees. Thus, the NRC proposes 
to allocate the approximately $56 million in fees for activities that 
raise fairness and equity concerns to all licensees, based on the 
budgeted dollars for each class of licensees. By allocating the costs 
in this way, the entire population of NRC licensees would pay the 
costs. The allocation would be based on the amount of the budget 
directly attributable to a class of licensees. This would result in 
operating power reactors paying approximately 89 percent of the costs 
of the activities in question with the other classes of licensees 
paying their respective share of these costs as follows: 3 percent to 
fuel facilities, 5 percent to materials, and 1 percent to each of the 
spent fuel, uranium recovery and transportation classes of licensees.
    Second, 10 CFR 171.13 would be amended to provide that the NRC will 
publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register as early as is 
practicable but no later than the third quarter of the fiscal year. 
Currently, the regulations provide for issuance of the proposed rule 
during the first quarter of the fiscal year.
    Third, NRC proposes to amend Secs. 171.15 and 171.16 to revise the 
annual fees for FY 1995 to recover approximately 100 percent of the FY 
1995 budget authority, less fees collected under 10 CFR Part 170 and 
funds appropriated from the NWF.
    Fourth, the annual fees for operating power reactors in 
Sec. 171.15(d) would be revised to reflect a single uniform annual fee. 
The NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program by assessing one 
uniform annual fee for all operating power reactors. During the past 
four years, the NRC has followed a somewhat lengthy and time-consuming 
process in determining power reactor annual fees. The annual fees have 
been determined in three ways. First, within the operating power 
reactor class, a distinction was made between the four vendor groups, 
that is, Babcock & Wilcox, Combustion Engineering, General Electric, 
and Westinghouse. Second, within each vendor group, a distinction was 
made using the type of containment, for example, General Electric Mark 
I, II or III. Third, a distinction was made based on the location of 
the reactor, that is, whether or not it is located east or west of the 
Rocky Mountains. The NRC indicated in the FY 1991 rule (56 FR 31479; 
July 10, 1991), and again in its request for public comment on NRC fee 
policy (58 FR 21119; April 19, 1993) that it would reexamine this 
approach with a view toward simplifying the method for determining 
annual fees and streamlining the fee process without causing an unfair 
burden. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its report on 
license fees dated October 26, 1993, indicated that the fee process is 
very detailed and labor intensive and that substantial effort is 
expended in attempting to make the process equitable and the costs 
reasonable. The OIG report stated that the determination of Part 171 
fees could be simplified by eliminating/streamlining much of the 
detailed analyses performed as part of the process. The NRC, for FY 
1995, calculated the reactor annual fees using both the current method 
and the proposed uniform method. For FY 1995, the lowest annual fee 
using the current method is about $20,000 less than the proposed 
uniform fee of about $3 million for an operating reactor. The NRC 
believes that this difference is small enough, relative to the size of 
the annual fee, to justify moving to a uniform annual fee particularly 
in light of administrative savings that will follow. Therefore, in an 
effort to streamline the fee program consistent with the OIG report on 
fees and for ease of administration, whereby a single annual fee can be 
used for fee billing purposes, the NRC is proposing to establish a 
uniform annual fee for each operating power reactor.
    Fifth, as discussed earlier, the annual fees for materials licenses 
in Sec. 171.16(d) would include the budgeted costs for certain 
materials inspections which were previously recovered under 10 CFR Part 
170.31.
    Sixth, the NRC is proposing to refine the method for calculating 
the annual fees for fuel facilities and uranium recovery facilities. 
The NRC indicated in its final FY 1994 fee rule that given the 
questions raised by B&W Fuel Company, General Atomics and other fuel 
facilities, it would reexamine the fuel facility subclass 
categorizations, and include any restructuring resulting from this 
reexamination in the FY 1995 proposed rule for notice and comment (59 
FR 36901; July 20, 1994). Having conducted its own reexamination, the 
NRC is therefore proposing revised methodologies for determining annual 
fees for both fuel facility and uranium recovery licensees. These 
revised methodologies have been used to determine the proposed FY 1995 
annual fees. The use of the revised methodologies results in the annual 
fee more accurately reflecting the cost of providing regulatory 
services to each fuel facility and uranium recovery licensee. The 
proposed methodologies are explained in more detail in Section III--
Section-by-Section Analysis.
    Seventh, the NRC is proposing to modify the lower-tier size 
standard for those licensees that qualify as a small entity under the 
NRC's proposed size standards, published on November 30, 1994 (59 FR 
61293). On April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business 
Administration (SBA) issued a final rule changing its size standards. 
The SBA adjusted its receipts-based size standard levels to mitigate 
the effects of inflation from 1984 to 1994. On November 30, 1994 (59 FR 
61293), the NRC published a proposed rule to amend the NRC's size 
standards. The NRC proposed to adjust its receipts-based size standards 
from $3.5 million to $5 million to accommodate inflation and to conform 
to the SBA final rule. The NRC also proposed to eliminate the separate 
$1 million size standard for private practice physicians and to apply 
the receipts-based size standard of $5 [[Page 14675]] million to this 
class of licensees. This mirrors the revised SBA standard of $5 million 
for medical practitioners. The NRC also proposed to establish a size 
standard of 500 or fewer employees for business concerns that are 
manufacturing entities. This standard is the most commonly used SBA 
employee standard and would apply to the types of manufacturing 
industries that hold an NRC license. After evaluating the two comments 
received, a final rule that would revise the NRC's size standards as 
proposed has been developed and sent to the SBA for review and 
approval. The NRC expects to publish the final rule before the final 
fee rule becomes effective.
    The NRC intends to use the revised standards in the final FY 1995 
fee rule. The small entity fee categories in Sec. 171.16(c) of this 
proposed fee rule have been modified to reflect the proposed changes in 
the NRC's size standards. The existing maximum small entity annual fee 
of $1800 will be continued for all small entities except those defined 
as lower-tier small entities in this rule. The existing lower-tier 
small entity fee of $400 will be assessed for those manufacturing 
industries and educational institutions not State or publicly supported 
with less than 35 employees, small governmental jurisdictions with a 
population of less than 20,000, and non-manufacturing entities with 
gross receipts of less than $350,000, a higher threshold than the 
current lower-tier level of $250,000 in gross receipts.
    Eighth, the NRC is proposing to modify Footnote 1 of 10 CFR 
171.16(d) to provide for a waiver of the FY 1995 annual fees for those 
materials licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations, and 
approvals who either filed for termination of their licenses or 
approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses prior to 
October 1, 1994, and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely by 
September 30, 1994. All other licensees and approval holders who held a 
license or approval on October 1, 1994, are subject to FY 1995 annual 
fees. This change is in recognition of the fact that since the final FY 
1994 rule was published in July 1994, licensees have continued to file 
requests for termination of their licenses or certificates with the 
NRC. Other licensees have either called or written to the NRC since the 
FY 1994 final rule became effective requesting further clarification 
and information concerning the annual fees assessed. The NRC is 
responding to these requests as quickly as possible. However, the NRC 
was unable to respond and take action on all of the requests before the 
end of the fiscal year on September 30, 1994. Similar situations 
existed after the FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 rules were published, 
and in those cases, NRC provided an exemption from the requirement that 
the annual fee is waived only when a license is terminated before 
October 1 of each fiscal year.
    Ninth, the NRC is proposing to amend Sec. 171.19 to credit the 
quarterly partial annual fee payments and ``flat'' inspection fee 
payments for FY 1995 inspections already made by certain licensees in 
FY 1995 either toward their total annual fee to be assessed or to make 
refunds, if necessary.
    The amounts to be collected through annual fees in the amendments 
to 10 CFR Part 171 are based on the two proposed revised professional 
hourly rates discussed previously in the summary of the proposed 
changes to 10 CFR Part 170. The amendments to 10 CFR Part 171 do not 
change the underlying basis for 10 CFR Part 171; that is, charging a 
class of licensees for NRC costs attributable to that class of 
licensees. The changes are consistent with the Congressional guidance 
in the Conference Committee Report on OBRA-90, which states that the 
``conferees contemplate that the NRC will continue to allocate generic 
costs that are attributable to a given class of licensees to such 
class'' and the ``conferees intend that the NRC assess the annual 
charge under the principle that licensees who require the greatest 
expenditures of the agency's resources should pay the greatest annual 
fee'' (136 Cong. Rec. at H12692-93). For those NRC costs not 
attributable to a class of licensees, the proposed amendments to 10 CFR 
Part 171 follow the conferees' guidance which states that ``the 
Commission should assess the charges for these costs as broadly as 
practicable in order to minimize the burden for these costs on any 
licensee or class of licensees . . .'' (136 Cong. Rec. at H12692-3).

C. FY 1995 Budgeted Costs

    The FY 1995 budgeted costs, by major activity, that will be 
recovered through 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 fees are shown in Table I.

          Table I.--Recovery of NRC's FY 1995 Budget Authority          
                          [Dollars in millions]                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Estimated
                       Recovery method                           amount 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nuclear Waste Fund...........................................     $22.0 
Part 170 (license and inspection fees).......................     137.7 
Other receipts...............................................        .1 
Part 171 (annual fees):                                                 
  Power Reactors.............................................     265.3 
  Nonpower Reactors..........................................        .3 
  Fuel Facilities............................................      10.1 
  Spent Fuel Storage.........................................       1.7 
  Uranium Recovery...........................................       1.8 
  Transportation.............................................       4.2 
  Material Users\1\..........................................     24.91 
  Rare Earth Facilities......................................        .1 
                                                              ----------
      Subtotal Part 171......................................     308.4 
Costs remaining to be recovered not identified above.........      57.4 
                                                              ==========
      Total..................................................    525.6  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Includes $5.8 million that will not be recovered from small materials
  licensees because of the reduced small entity fees.                   

    In addition to the $57.4 million remaining to be recovered in Table 
I, approximately $5.8 million must be collected as a result of 
continuing the $1,800 maximum fee for small entities and the lower-tier 
small entity fee of $400 for certain licensees. The composition of the 
$63.2 million is as follows:

 Table II.--Activities to be Recovered Through Assessment of a Surcharge
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Dollars
                          Activities                               in   
                                                                millions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Agency Exemption......................................      $1.6
Nonprofit Educational Exemption...............................       6.1
International Activities......................................      10.5
Small Entity Subsidy..........................................       5.8
Agreement State Oversight.....................................       6.2
Regulatory Support to Agreement States........................      14.2
Site Decommissioning Management Plan..........................       6.2
Generic Decommissioning and Reclamation.......................       5.6
Generic Low Level Waste (LLW).................................       7.0
                                                                    63.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC is proposing to continue the existing policy for recovering 
the $7 million for generic LLW activities from licensees that generate 
significant LLW. The revised method of allocation, described in detail 
in the FY 1993 final rule (58 FR 38669; July 20, 1994) allocates the 
LLW costs between two groups: large generators (power reactors and 
large fuel facilities) and small generators (all other LLW-producing 
[[Page 14676]] licensees). The remaining $56.2 million would be 
distributed to virtually all classes of licensees based on the 
percentage of the total budget directly allocated to each class. The 
resulting allocations of the $63.2 million are as follows:

$55.2 million to operating power reactors;
$2.2 million to fuel facilities;
$.6 million to spent fuel storage licensees;
$.6 million to transportation licensees;
$.6 million to uranium recovery facilities; and
$4.0 million to other materials licensees.
III. Section-by-Section Analysis

    The following analysis of those sections that are affected under 
this proposed rule provides additional explanatory information. All 
references are to Title 10, Chapter I, U.S. Code of Federal 
Regulations.

Part 170

Section 170.11  Exemptions

    This section would be amended to conform the fee regulations to 
section 161 w. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). That 
section of the AEA currently allows the Commission to charge Part 170 
fees to power reactors operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority or 
other Federal government entities and to uranium enrichment facilities 
operated by the United States Enrichment Corporation, as these reactors 
and facilities are licensed or certified by the NRC. In all other 
cases, the NRC is prevented from charging Part 170 fees to Federal 
agencies for services rendered, due to a prohibition on such charges 
contained in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 31 U.S.C. 9701.

Section 170.20  Average Cost Per Professional Staff Hour

    This section would be amended to establish two professional staff-
hour rates based on FY 1995 budgeted costs--one for the reactor program 
and one for the nuclear material and nuclear waste program. 
Accordingly, the NRC reactor professional staff-hour rate for FY 1995 
for all fee categories that are based on full cost under Sec. 170.21 is 
$123 per hour, or $214,765 per direct FTE. The NRC nuclear material and 
nuclear waste professional staff-hour rate for all materials fee 
categories that are based on full cost under Sec. 170.31 is $116 per 
hour, or $203,096 per direct FTE. The rates are based on the FY 1995 
direct FTEs and NRC budgeted costs that are not recovered through the 
appropriation from the NWF. As noted earlier in this proposed rule, the 
NRC has used cost center concepts in reallocating certain costs to the 
reactor and materials programs in order to more closely align the 
budgeted costs with specific classes of licensees. The method used to 
determine the two professional hourly rates is as follows:
    1. The direct program FTE levels are identified for both the 
reactor program and the nuclear material and waste program.
    2. Direct contract support, which is the use of contract or other 
services in support of the line organization's direct program, is 
excluded from the calculation of the hourly rate because these support 
costs are charged directly through the various categories of fees.
    3. All other direct program costs (i.e., Salaries and Benefits, 
Travel) represent ``in-house'' costs and are to be collected by 
dividing them uniformly by the total number of direct FTEs for the 
program. In addition, Salary and Benefits plus contracts for General 
and Administrative Support are allocated to each program based on that 
program's salary and benefits. This method results in the following 
costs, to be included in the hourly rates.

   Table III.--FY 1995 Budget Authority to be Included in Hourly Rates  
                          [Dollars in millions]                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Reactor      Materials 
             Salary and benefits                 program       program  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Program.....................................        $148.5         $43.5
Allocated Agency Management & Support.......         $39.9         $11.7
                                             ---------------------------
      Subtotal..............................        $188.4         $55.2
General and Administrative Support (G&A):                               
    Program Travel and Other Support........         $13.3          $2.7
    Allocated Agency Management and Support.         $73.6         $21.6
                                             ---------------------------
      Subtotal..............................         $86.9         $24.3
    Less offsetting receipts................            .1              
                                             ===========================
      Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate..        $275.2         $79.5
Program Direct FTEs.........................       1,281.6         391.6
Rate per Direct FTE.........................    $214,765      $203,096  
Professional Hourly Rate....................        $123          $116  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Dividing the $275.2 million budget for the reactor program by the 
number of reactor program direct FTEs (1281.6) results in a rate for 
the reactor program of $214,765 per FTE for FY 1995. Dividing the $79.5 
million budget for the nuclear materials and nuclear waste program by 
the number of program direct FTEs (391.6) results in a rate of $203,096 
per FTE for FY 1995. The Direct FTE Hourly Rate for the reactor program 
is $123 per hour (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). This rate is 
calculated by dividing the cost per direct FTEs ($214,765) by the 
number of productive hours in one year (1744 hours) as indicated in OMB 
Circular A-76, ``Performance of Commercial Activities.'' The Direct FTE 
Hourly Rate for the materials program is $116 per hour (rounded to the 
nearest whole dollar). This rate is calculated by dividing the cost per 
direct FTEs ($203,096) by the number of productive hours in one year 
(1744 hours).

Section 170.21  Schedule of Fees for Production and Utilization 
Facilities, Review of Standard Reference Design Approvals, Special 
Projects, Inspections and Import and Export Licenses

    The NRC is proposing to revise the licensing and inspection fees in 
this section, which are based on full-cost recovery, to reflect the FY 
1995 budgeted costs and to recover costs incurred by the NRC in 
providing licensing and inspection services to identifiable recipients. 
The fees assessed [[Page 14677]] for services provided under the 
schedule are based on the professional hourly rate, as shown in 
Sec. 170.20, for the reactor program and any direct program support 
(contractual services) costs expended by the NRC. Any professional 
hours expended on or after the effective date of this rule will be 
assessed at the FY 1995 hourly rate for the reactor program as shown in 
Sec. 170.20. Although the average amounts of time to review import and 
export licensing applications have not changed, the fees in 
Sec. 170.21, facility Category K, have decreased from FY 1994 as a 
result of the decrease in the hourly rate.
    For those applications currently on file and pending completion, 
footnote 2 of Sec. 170.21 is revised to provide that the professional 
hours expended up to the effective date of the final rule will be 
assessed at the professional rates in effect at the time the service 
was rendered. For topical report applications currently on file which 
are still pending completion of the review and for which review costs 
have reached the applicable fee ceiling established by the July 2, 1990 
rule, the costs incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached 
through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any 
professional hours expended for the review of topical report 
applications, amendments, revisions, or supplements to a topical report 
on or after August 9, 1991, are assessed at the applicable rate 
established by Sec. 170.20.

Section 170.31  Schedule of Fees for Materials Licenses and Other 
Regulatory Services, Including Inspections and Import and Export 
Licenses
    The licensing and inspection fees in this section, which are based 
on full-cost recovery, would be modified to recover the FY 1995 costs 
incurred by the NRC in providing licensing and inspection services to 
identifiable recipients. The fees assessed for services provided under 
the schedule would be based on both the professional hourly rate as 
shown in Sec. 170.20 for the materials program and any direct program 
support (contractual services) costs expended by the NRC. Those 
licensing fees, which are based on the average time to review an 
application (``flat'' fees), would be adjusted to reflect both the 
revised average professional staff hours needed to process a licensing 
action (new license, renewal, and amendment) and the decrease in the 
professional hourly rate from $133 per hour in FY 1994 to $116 per hour 
in FY 1995. The ``flat'' materials inspection fees in Sec. 170.31 would 
be eliminated and combined with the materials annual fees in 
Sec. 171.16(d). Because there is no annual fee for licensees operating 
under reciprocity in non-Agreement States, the application fee would 
include the costs of inspections.
    As previously indicated, the CFO Act requires that the NRC conduct 
a review, on a biennial basis, of fees and other charges imposed by the 
agency for its services and revise those charges to reflect the costs 
incurred in providing the services. Consistent with the CFO Act 
requirement, the NRC has completed its most recent review of license 
and inspection fees assessed by the agency. The review focused on the 
flat fees that are charged to nuclear materials users for licensing 
actions (new licenses, renewals, and amendments) and for inspections. 
The full cost license and inspection fees (e.g., for fuel facilities) 
and annual fees were not included in this biennial review because the 
hourly rate for full cost fees and the annual fees are reviewed and 
updated annually in order to recover 100 percent of the NRC budget 
authority.
    To determine the licensing and inspection flat fees for materials 
licensees and applicants, the NRC uses historical data to determine the 
average number of professional hours required to perform a licensing 
action or inspection for each license category. These average hours are 
multiplied by the proposed materials program professional hourly rate 
of $116 per hour for FY 1995. Because the professional hourly rate is 
updated annually and the NRC is proposing to eliminate materials 
``flat'' inspection fees, the biennial review examined only the average 
number of hours per licensing action with regard to the 10 CFR part 170 
fees. The review indicated that the NRC needed to modify the average 
number of hours on which the current licensing flat fees are based in 
order to recover the cost of providing licensing services. The average 
number of hours required for licensing actions was last reviewed and 
modified in 1993 (58 FR 38666; July 20, 1993). Thus the revised hours 
used to determine the proposed fees for FY 1995 reflect the changes in 
the licensing program that have occurred since that time; for example, 
new initiatives underway for certain types of licenses and management 
guidance that reviewers conduct more detailed reviews of certain 
renewal applications based on historical enforcement actions in order 
to insure public health and safety have been incorporated into the 
revised fees. For new licenses and amendments, the proposed licensing 
fees for FY 1995 are reduced in approximately 50 percent of the cases, 
while the proposed fees for renewals have increased in over 70 percent 
of the cases.
    The amounts of the licensing flat fees were rounded by applying 
standard rules of arithmetic so that the amounts rounded would be de 
minimus and convenient to the user. Fees that are greater than $1,000 
are rounded to the nearest $100. Fees under $1,000 are rounded to the 
nearest $10.
    The proposed licensing flat fees are applicable to fee categories 
1.C and 1.D; 2.B and 2.C; 3.A through 3.P; 4.B through 9.D, 10.B, 15A 
through 15E and 16. The fees would be assessed for applications filed 
on or after the effective date of the final rule. Although the average 
amounts of time to review import and export licensing applications have 
not changed, the fees in Category 15 have decreased from FY 1994 as a 
result of the decrease in the hourly rate.
    For those licensing, inspection, and review fees assessed that are 
based on full-cost recovery (cost for professional staff hours plus any 
contractual services), the proposed materials program hourly rate of 
$116, as shown in Sec. 170.20, would apply to those professional staff 
hours expended on or after the effective date of the final rule.

Part 171

Section 171.13  Notice

    The language in this section is revised to reflect when the NRC 
could more realistically expect to publish the proposed fee rule. The 
NRC's experience indicates that the agency has been unable to publish 
the proposed rule during the first quarter of the fiscal year as 
indicated in the current FY 1994 rule. Therefore, this section will be 
revised to indicate that the NRC will publish the proposed rule 
(notice) in the Federal Register as early as is practicable but no 
later than the third quarter of the fiscal year.

Section 171.15  Annual Fee: Reactor Operating Licenses

    The annual fees in this section would be revised to reflect FY 1995 
budgeted costs. Paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(1), (c)(2), (d), and (e) 
would be revised to comply with the requirement of OBRA-90 to recover 
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget for FY 1995. Table IV shows 
the budgeted costs that have been allocated directly to operating power 
reactors as part of the base annual fee. They have been expressed in 
terms of the NRC's FY 1995 programs and cost centers. The resulting 
total base annual fee amount for power reactors is shown, as well as 
the one proposed uniform [[Page 14678]] annual fee to be assessed to 
all operating reactors.
    The NRC is proposing to streamline the fee program by assessing one 
uniform annual fee for all operating power reactors. During the past 
four years, the NRC has followed a somewhat lengthy and time consuming 
process in calculating the amount of the power reactor annual fees. The 
annual fees were determined in three ways. First, within the operating 
power reactor class, a distinction was made between the four vendor 
groups, that is, Babcock & Wilcox, Combustion Engineering, General 
Electric and Westinghouse. Second, within each vendor group, a 
distinction was made using the type of containment, for example, 
General Electric Mark I, II or III. Third, a distinction was made based 
on the location of the reactor: whether or not it is located east or 
west of the Rocky Mountains. The NRC indicated in the FY 1991 rule (56 
FR 31479; July 10, 1991) and again in its request for public comment on 
NRC fee policy (58 FR 21119; April 19, 1993) that it would be 
reexamining this approach with a view toward simplifying the method for 
determining annual fees without causing an unfair burden. The NRC 
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its report dated October 26, 
1993, on license fees, described the fee process as very detailed and 
labor intensive and stated that substantial effort is expended in 
attempting to make the process equitable and the costs reasonable. The 
OIG stated that the determination of the Part 171 fees could be 
simplified by eliminating and streamlining much of the detailed 
analyses performed as part of the process. This detailed breakdown of 
the reactor annual fees was implemented when there were significant 
differences in the NRC research funding for the various types of 
reactors. This is no longer the case. The NRC for FY 1995, calculated 
the reactor annual fees using both the current method (different fees 
for different types of reactors) and the uniform method. The difference 
between the lowest fee under the current method and the uniform fee is 
about $20,000, which is less than 1 percent of the $3 million proposed 
annual fee for an operating power reactor. Because of this extremely 
small difference, the NRC believes that a single uniform annual fee 
should be established for each operating power reactor. Not only will 
this not cause an unfair burden, but it will allow the NRC to 
streamline the fee program and simplify the fee process.

                   Table IV.--Allocation of NRC FY 1995 Budget to Power Reactors' Base Fees\1\                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        Allocated to power reactors             
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
                      Program total                          Program                   Program                  
                                                             support     Direct FTE    support      Direct FTE  
                                                              ($,K)                     ($,K)                   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Reactor Program                                                                            
                                                                                                                
Cost Center: Reactor Regulation:                                                                                
    Inspections..........................................       $4,350        471.4       $4,350           471.4
    Reactor Oversight....................................       11,615        357.0       11,615           357.0
    Reactor and Site Licensing...........................        1,660         26.3        1,660            26.3
    Reactor Aging and Renewal............................       19,973         54.7       19,973            54.7
    Safety Assessment and Regulatory Development.........       33,687         69.5       33,687            69.5
    Independent Analysis of Operational Experience.......        7,939         47.0        7,939            47.0
    Technical Training and Qualification.................        4,728         19.0        4,728            19.0
    Investigations, Enforcement and Legal Advice.........           11         59.0           11            59.0
    Independent Review...................................          536         42.0          536            42.0
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........      $84,499         1,145.9
                                                          ======================================================
Cost Center: Standard Reactor Designs:                                                                          
    Design Certification.................................        6,873         91.6        6,873            91.6
    Safety Assessment....................................       14,885         19.7       14,885            19.7
    Legal Advice.........................................  ...........          3.0  ...........             3.0
    Independent Review...................................           86         10.0           86            10.0
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........      $21,844           124.3
                                                          ======================================================
       Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Waste Program                                                              
                                                                                                                
Cost Center: Fuel Facilities:                                                                                   
    Licensing and Inspection.............................        1,304         28.5  ...........              .1
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:                                                                           
    Licensing and Inspection.............................           50          2.6  ...........              .9
    Reactor Decommissioning..............................          100          6.7          100             6.7
    Radiological Surveys.................................        1,653  ...........          331  ..............
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........         $431             7.6
                                                          ======================================================
             Management and Support Programs                                                                    
                                                                                                                
Cost Center: Special Technical Programs:                                                                        
    Educational Grants...................................        1,050  ...........        1,050  ..............
    Small Business Innovation Research...................        1,844  ...........        1,844  ..............
    Nuclear Materials Mgt. and Safeguards System.........        1,165          1.0          850              .7
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........       $3,744              .7
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Reactor Program Total..............................  ...........  ...........     $110,518         1,278.6
                                                          ======================================================
[[Page 14679]]
                                                                                                                
      Total Base Fee Amount Allocated to Power Reactors..  ...........  ...........  ...........       \2\$385.0
                                                                                                         million
      Less Estimated Part 170 Power Reactor Fees.........  ...........  ...........  ...........  $119.8 million
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Part 171 Amount for Operating Power Reactors.......  ...........  ...........  ...........  $265.2 million
      Part 171 Base Fee For Each Operating Reactor.......  ...........  ...........  ...........   265.2 million
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
                                                           ...........  ...........  ...........  108 reactors =
                                                                                                  $2,456,000 per
                                                                                                         reactor
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fees include all costs attributable to the operating power reactor class of licensees. The base  
  fees do not include costs allocated to power reactors for policy reasons.                                     
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($214,765) and adding the program    
  support funds.                                                                                                

  Paragraph (b)(3) would be revised to change the fiscal year 
references from FY 1994 to FY 1995.
    Paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) would be amended to show the amount of 
the budget allocated for policy reasons (surcharge) to operating 
reactors for FY 1995. This surcharge is added to the base annual fee 
for each operating power reactor. The purpose of this surcharge is to 
recover those NRC budgeted costs that are not directly or solely 
attributable to operating power reactors but nevertheless must be 
recovered to comply with the requirements of OBRA-90.
    The FY 1995 budgeted costs that are to be recovered in the 
surcharge from all licensees are as follows:

                                 Table V                                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 1995  
                                                               budgeted 
                     Category of costs                       costs ($ in
                                                              millions) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee              
 or class of licensee:                                                  
    a. International cooperative safety program and                     
     international safeguards activities;..................        $10.5
    b. Agreement State oversight...........................          6.2
    c. Low-level waste disposal generic activities; and....          7.0
    d. Site decommissioning management plan activities not              
     recoverable under 10 CFR Part 170.....................          5 6
2. Activities not assessed Part 170 licensing and                       
 inspection fees or Part 171 annual fees based existing law             
 or Commission policy:                                                  
    a. Fee Exemption of nonprofit educational institutions;          6.1
    b. Licensing and inspection activities associated with              
     other Federal agencies;...............................          1.6
    c. Costs not recovered from Part 171 for small entities          5.8
3. Activities supporting NRC operating licensees and                    
 Others:                                                                
    a. Regulatory support to Agreement States..............        $14.2
    b. Decommissioning/Reclamation.........................          6.2
                                                            ------------
      Total Budgeted Costs.................................        $63.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Excluding low-level waste costs totalling $7 million, the current 
policy allocates the remaining $56.2 million based on three different 
methods. First, 100 percent of costs for certain activities (e.g., 
international activities and the nonprofit educational institution 
exemption) are allocated to operating power reactors, based on the 
guidance in the Conference Committee report accompanying OBRA-90 which 
stated that these types of costs may be recovered from such licensees 
as the Commission determines can fairly, equitably and practicably 
contribute to their payment. The second method prorates the costs of 
some activities (e.g., small entity subsidy and Agreement State 
oversight) to all licensees under the implicit assumption that no one 
class of licensees should have to bear the full cost. Under the third 
method, 100 percent of the costs of some activities (e.g., SDMP and 
regulatory support to Agreement States) are allocated to the class of 
licensees to which the activities relate, independent of whether the 
activities are needed for current licensees/applicants or support non-
NRC licensees. In addition to being based on three different 
principles, the current policy creates significant annual fee problems 
for classes of licensees with a small or declining number of licensees. 
For example, as more states become Agreement States, the relatively 
fixed costs for generic regulatory activities (e.g., rulemaking, 
research, evaluation of operational data and policy development) that 
support both NRC and Agreement State licensees would be allocated to a 
smaller number of materials licensees, causing the NRC materials 
licensees' annual fees to increase substantially. For example, if the 
four States who have expressed interest in becoming Agreement States do 
so within the next few years, then the remaining NRC materials 
licensees' annual fees would increase by about 30 percent from current 
levels.
    For the above reasons, the NRC is proposing to change the current 
policy for allocating the costs for activities [[Page 14680]] which 
have raised fairness and equity concerns among many NRC licensees. The 
proposed changes are based on the premise that these costs should be 
borne by all NRC licensees, because while the activities are necessary 
for the NRC to carry out its responsibilities, in most instances, they 
go beyond the regulation of those licensees or applicants that pay 
fees. Thus, the NRC proposes to allocate the costs in question to the 
entire population of NRC licensees that pay annual fees. The allocation 
would be based on the amount of the budget directly attributable to a 
class of licensees and would result in, for instance, operating power 
reactors paying 89 percent of the cost of these activities, compared to 
approximately 50 percent of these costs in the FY 1994 rule.
    This proposed change is consistent with the guidance in the 
Conference Committee Report that accompanied OBRA-90. First, by 
allocating these costs to all licensees, this proposed change is 
consistent with the Conference Report guidance that: ``The Commission 
should assess the charge for these activities as broadly as practicable 
in order to minimize the burden for these costs on any licensee or 
class of licensees so as to establish as fair and equitable a system as 
is feasible.'' Second, allocating a higher percentage of these costs to 
operating power reactors as opposed to other classes of licensees is 
also consistent with the Conference Report guidance that: ``These 
expenses may be recovered from such licensees as the Commission, in its 
discretion, determines can fairly, equitable and practicably contribute 
to their payment.'' Allocating these costs to the universe of NRC 
licenses would minimize the impact of the declining numbers of licenses 
in any specific class, because the costs would be allocated over the 
maximum number of licensees. It would also put in place both a policy 
that would help mitigate future fee concerns associated with declining 
number of licenses, and a single methodology for allocating these types 
of costs, something that has been requested in comments submitted on 
previous proposed fee rules.
    The annual additional charge for each operating power reactor is 
determined as follows:
[GRAPHIC][TIFF OMITTED]TP20MR95.002


    Based on the information in Tables IV and V, each operating power 
reactor, except Big Rock Point, would pay a base annual fee of 
$2,456,000 and an additional charge of $511,000 for a total FY 1995 
annual fee of $2,967,000.
    With respect to Big Rock Point, a smaller older reactor, the NRC 
proposes to grant a similar partial exemption from the FY 1995 annual 
fees similar to FY 1994 based on a request filed with the NRC in 
accordance with Sec. 171.11.
    Paragraph (d) would be revised to show, in summary form, the amount 
of the total FY 1995 annual fee, including the surcharge, to be 
assessed to each operating power reactor.
    Paragraph (e) would be revised to show the amount of the FY 1995 
annual fee for nonpower (test and research) reactors. In FY 1995, 
$339,000 in costs are attributable to those commercial and non-exempt 
Federal government organizations that are licensed to operate test and 
research reactors. Applying these costs uniformly to those nonpower 
reactors subject to fees results in an annual fee of $56,500 per 
operating license. The Energy Policy Act established an exemption for 
certain Federally-owned research reactors that are used primarily for 
educational training and academic research purposes, where the design 
of the reactor satisfies certain technical specifications set forth in 
the legislation. Consistent with this legislative requirement, the NRC 
granted an exemption from annual fees for FY 1992 and FY 1993 to the 
Veterans Administration Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. 
Geological Survey for its reactor in Denver, Colorado, and the Armed 
Forces Radiobiological Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, for its 
research reactor. This exemption was initially codified in the July 20, 
1993 (58 FR 38695) final fee rule at Sec. 171.11(a) and more recently 
in the March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12543) final rule at Sec. 171.11(a)(2). 
The NRC amended Sec. 171.11(a)(2) on July 20, 1994 (59 FR 36895) to 
exempt from annual fees the research reactor owned by the Rhode Island 
Atomic Energy Commission. The NRC intends to continue to grant 
exemptions from the annual fee to those Federally-owned and State owned 
research and test reactors who meet the exemption criteria specified in 
Sec. 171.11.
Section 171.16  Annual Fees: Materials Licensees, Holders of 
Certificates of Compliance, Holders of Sealed Source and Device 
Registrations, Holders of Quality Assurance Program Approvals, and 
Government Agencies Licensed by the NRC

    Section 171.16(c) covers the fees assessed for those licensees that 
can qualify as small entities under NRC size standards. On April 7, 
1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a 
final rule changing its size standards. The SBA adjusted its receipts-
based size standard levels to mitigate the effects of inflation from 
1984 to 1994. On November 30, 1994 (59 FR 61293), the NRC published a 
proposed rule to amend its size standards. The comment period expired 
December 30, 1994. The proposed size standards are as follows:
    (a) A small business is a for-profit concern and is a--
    (1) Concern that provides a service or a concern not engaged in 
manufacturing with average gross receipts of $5 million or less over 
its last three completed fiscal years; or
    (2) Manufacturing concern with an average number of 500 or fewer 
employees based upon employment during each pay period for the 
preceding 12 calendar months.
    (b) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which is 
independently owned and operated and has annual gross receipts of $5 
million or less.
    (c) A small governmental jurisdiction is a government of a city, 
county, town, township, village, school district, or special district 
with a population of less than 50,000.
    (d) A small educational institution is one that is--
    (1) Supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction; or
    (2) Not state or publicly supported and has 500 or fewer employees. 
[[Page 14681]] 
    (e) For purposes of this section, the NRC shall use the Small 
Business Administration definition of receipts to include ``all revenue 
in whatever form received or accrued from whatever source * * *'' (13 
CFR 402(b)(2)). A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large entity does 
not qualify as a small entity for purposes of this section.
    The NRC has evaluated the comments received on the proposed rule, 
prepared a draft final rule that will adopt these size standards and 
submitted the final rule for the approval of the Administrator, Small 
Business Administration, as required by statute.
    Pending SBA approval, the NRC intends to use these size standards 
in the final FY 1995 fee rule. Therefore, the small entity categories 
in Sec. 171.16(c) of this proposed fee rule have been modified to 
reflect the proposed changes in the NRC's size standards. Consistent 
with the establishment of an employee size standard for manufacturers, 
the NRC is also proposing that a new maximum small entity fee for 
manufacturing industries with 35 to 500 employees be established at 
$1,800 and a lower-tier small entity fee of $400 be instituted for 
those manufacturing industries and educational institutions not State 
or publicly supported with less than 35 employees. The lower-tier 
receipts-based threshold of $250,000 has been raised to $350,000 to 
reflect approximately the same percentage adjustment as that made by 
the SBA when they adjusted the receipts-based standard from $3.5 
million to $5 million.
    Section 171.16(d) would be revised to reflect the FY 1995 budgeted 
costs for materials licensees, including Government agencies, licensed 
by the NRC. These fees are necessary to recover the FY 1995 generic and 
other regulatory costs totalling $42.8 million that apply to fuel 
facilities, uranium recovery facilities, rare earth facilities, spent 
fuel facilities, holders of transportation certificates and QA program 
approvals, and other materials licensees, including holders of sealed 
source and device registrations.
    Tables VI and VII show the NRC programs, cost centers, and 
resources that are attributable to fuel facilities and materials users, 
respectively. The costs attributable to the uranium recovery class of 
licensees are those associated with uranium recovery licensing, 
inspection, and generic activities. For transportation, the costs are 
those budgeted for transportation licensing, inspection, and generic 
activities. Similarly, the budgeted costs for spent fuel storage are 
those for spent fuel storage licensing, inspection and generic 
activities.

                    Table VI.--Allocation of NRC FY 1995 Budget to Fuel Facility Base Fees\1\                   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Total program element    Allocated to fuel facility
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Program                   Program                  
                                                           support $,K      FTE      support $,K        FTE     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost Center: Fuel Facilities:                                                                                   
    Fuel Fabricators Oversight and Inspections...........       $1,698         59.0       $1,486            56.1
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:                                                                           
    Decommissioning......................................        4,447         50.0          325             1.7
Cost Center: Other Nuclear Materials and Waste:                                                                 
    Independent Analysis of Operating Experience.........          346          8.0           69             1.6
    Technical Training and Qualification.................          692          2.0          138              .4
    Adjudicatory Reviews.................................  ...........          1.0  ...........              .5
    Investigations, Enforcement, Legal Advice............           11         39.0            1             1.6
Cost Center: Special Technical Program:                                                                         
    Nuclear Materials Mgt. and Safeguards System.........        1,165          1.0           47  ..............
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Total..............................................  ...........  ...........       $2,066            61.9
                                                          ======================================================
      Total Base Fee Amount Allocated to Fuel Facilities.  ...........  ...........  ...........        \2\$14.6
                                                                                                         million
      Less Part 170 Fuel Facility Fees...................  ...........  ...........  ...........     4.5 million
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Part 171 Base Fees For Fuel Facilities.............  ...........  ...........  ...........  $10.1 million 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the fuel facility class of licensees. The base fee does   
  not include costs allocated to fuel facilities for policy reasons.                                            
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($203,096) and adding the program    
  support funds.                                                                                                


                    Table VII.--Allocation of FY 1995 Budget to Material Users' Base Fees\1\                    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        Allocated to materials users            
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
                  Total program element                      Program                   Program                  
                                                           support $,K      FTE      support $,K        FTE     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Nuclear Materials & Nuclear Waste Program                                                               
                                                                                                                
Cost Center: Materials Users:                                                                                   
    Licensing/Inspection of Materials Users..............        2,436        113.0          721            82.3
    Materials Licensee Performance.......................          700          1.8          189              .5
    Materials Regulatory Standards.......................        1,494         12.8          403             3.5
    Radiation Protection/Health Effects..................        1,621          5.3          438             1.4
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........       $1,751            87.7
                                                          ======================================================
Cost Center: LLW and Decommissioning:                                                                           
    Licensing & Inspections..............................           50          2.6  ...........              .2
    Decommissioning......................................          214         32.8           69            3.5 
[[Page 14682]]
                                                                                                                
    Radiological Surveys.................................        1,653  ...........          372  ..............
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........          441             3.7
                                                          ======================================================
Cost Center: Other Nuclear Materials:                                                                           
    Analysis of Operational Experience...................         $346          8.0          184             1.7
    Technical Training...................................          692          2.0          498             1.4
    Adjudicatory Reviews.................................  ...........          1.0  ...........              .5
    Investigations/Enforcement...........................           11         39.0            9            24.4
    Event Evaluation.....................................  ...........         16.0  ...........             4.4
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Cost Center Total..................................  ...........  ...........         $691            32.4
                                                          ======================================================
      Total Program......................................  ...........  ...........       $2,883           123.8
                                                                                                                
              Management and Support Program                                                                    
                                                                                                                
Cost Center: Special Technical Programs:                                                                        
    Nuclear Material Management and Safeguard Systems....        1,165          1.0           74              .1
                                                          ------------------------------------------------------
      Total All Programs.................................  ...........  ...........       $2,957           123.9
                                                          ======================================================
      Base Amount Allocated to Materials Users...........  ...........  ...........  ...........        \2\$28.1
                                                                                                         million
      Less Part 170 Material Users Fees..................  ...........  ...........  ...........     3.2 million
      Part 171 Base Fees for Material Users..............  ...........  ...........  ...........  $24.9 million 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Base annual fee includes all costs attributable to the materials class of licensees. The base fee does not   
  include costs allocated to materials licensees for policy reasons.                                            
\2\Amount is obtained by multiplying the direct FTE times the rate per FTE ($203,096) and adding the program    
  support funds.                                                                                                

  The allocation of the NRC's $10.1 million in budgeted costs to the 
individual fuel facilities is based on the revised methodologies 
indicated earlier. The NRC indicated in its final FY 1994 fee rule that 
given the questions raised by B&W Fuel Company, General Atomics and 
other fuel facilities it would reexamine the fuel facility subclass 
categorizations and that any restructuring resulting from this 
reexamination would be included in the FY 1995 proposed rule for notice 
and comment (59 FR 36901; July 20, 1994). The NRC is therefore 
proposing a revised methodology for determining annual fees for fuel 
facilities. The revised methodology has been used to determine the 
proposed FY 1995 annual fees. The objective of revising the methodology 
is to reflect more precisely agency generic costs attributable to fuel 
facility licensees. This new methodology results in the creation of 
five fuel facility license fee categories. Licenses are grouped into 
these categories according to their license (nuclear type, enrichment, 
form, quantity, and use/associated activity) and according to the level 
scope, depth of coverage and rigor of generic regulatory programmatic 
effort applicable to each category. This methodology can be applied to 
determine fees for new licenses, current licenses and for licensees in 
unique license situations. In each case, the existing license was used 
to determine values for licensed nuclear material and its use without 
regard for current or planned licensee activities, which are at the 
discretion of the licensee.
    The methodology is amenable to changes in the number of licenses, 
licensed material/activities, and total programmatic resources to be 
recovered through annual fees. When a license is modified, given that 
NRC recovers approximately 100 percent of its generic regulatory 
program costs through fee recovery, this revised fuel facility fee 
methodology may result in a change in fee category and may have an 
effect on the fees assessed to other licensees. For example, if a fuel 
facility licensee amended its license so as to avoid Part 171 fees for 
fuel facilities, the budget for the safety component would be spread 
only among those remaining licensees, resulting in a higher annual fee 
for those licensees.
    Therefore, the methodology is applied as follows. First, a fee 
category is assigned based on certain criteria and the licensed nuclear 
material and use/associated activity. Although a licensee may choose 
not to fully utilize a license, the license is still used as the source 
for determining authorized nuclear material and use/associated 
activity. Next, the category/license information is used to determine 
where the license will fit into the matrix. The matrix depicts the 
categorization of licenses by authorized material and use/activity and 
the relative programmatic effort associated with each category. The 
programmatic effort (expressed as a value in the matrix) reflects the 
safety or safeguards significance associated with the authorized 
nuclear material and use/activity, and the commensurate generic 
regulatory program (i.e., scope, depth and rigor). The relative 
weighted factors per facility for the various subclasses are as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Relative weight per
                                         Number of        facility      
                                        facilities ---------------------
                                                     Safety   Safeguards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Fuel....................          2       1.00       1.00 
Low Enriched Fuel.....................          4        .52        .34 
Limited Operations Facility...........          1        .20        .11 
UF<INF>6 Conversion........................          1        .30  ..........
Others................................          3        .12        .09 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The above weighted factors for the safety and safeguards portion 
are applied to the $10.1 million base fee. To this base fee, the LLW 
and other surcharges are added. The resulting annual fee for each fuel 
facility, including the additional charge (surcharge) is shown below.

                                                                        
[[Page 14683]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Proposed   
                    Type of facility                        annual fee  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
High Enriched Fuel:                                                     
  Babcock & Wilcox......................................      $2,569,000
  Nuclear Fuel Services.................................       2,569,000
Low Enriched Fuel:                                                      
  Combustion Engineering (Hematite).....................       1,261,000
  General Electric......................................       1,261,000
  Siemens Nuclear Power.................................       1,261,000
  Westinghouse..........................................       1,261,000
Limited Operation Facilities:                                           
  B&W Fuel Company......................................        $501,700
UF<INF>6 Conversion:                                                         
  AlliedSignal Corp.....................................        $639,200
Other Fuel Facilities:                                                  
  Babcock & Wilcox......................................        $340,700
  General Atomics.......................................        $340,700
  General Electric......................................        $340,700
------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Of the $2.3 million ($1.8 million in base budget plus $0.5 million 
in surcharge) attributable to the uranium recovery class of licensees, 
approximately $1.9 million will be assessed to the Department of Energy 
(DOE) to recover the costs associated with DOE facilities under the 
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA). In 
September 1993, DOE became a general licensee of the NRC because post-
reclamation closure of the Spook, Wyoming site had been achieved. There 
are two additional UMTRCA sites now under the general license: Burrell, 
Pennsylvania and Loman, Idaho.
    As indicated earlier, the NRC has refined its methodology for 
establishing Part 171 annual fees for uranium recovery licenses. The 
methodology identifies three categories of licenses: (1) Conventional 
uranium mills; (2) solution mining uranium mills; and (3) mill tailings 
disposal facilities, each of which benefits from the generic uranium 
recovery program. In order to determine the benefits to each uranium 
recovery category, a matrix was established to relate the category and 
the level of benefit, by program element and subelement. The two major 
program elements of the generic uranium recovery program are activities 
related to facility operations and those related to facility closure. 
Each of these elements was further divided into three subelements. The 
three major subelements of generic activities related to uranium 
facility operations are activities related to: (1) The operation of the 
mill; (2) the handling and disposal of waste; and (3) prevention of 
groundwater contamination. The three major subelements of generic 
activities related to uranium facility closure are activities related 
to: (1) Decommissioning of facilities and cleanup of land; (2) 
reclamation and closure of the tailings impoundment; and (3) cleanup of 
contaminated groundwater. Weighted factors were assigned to each 
program element and subelement.
    The two existing categories of mills, those that perform 
conventional milling and those that perform solution mining and 
milling, are continued. The existing category for licenses whose 
purpose is to dispose of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material is also 
continued. The matrix also contains a category for conventional mills 
with Possession Only Licenses that are also authorized to dispose of 
more than 5,000 cubic yards of byproduct material, as defined in 
section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, from 
other facilities. Currently, there are three mills authorized for such 
waste disposal. The applicability of the generic program in each 
subelement to each uranium recovery category was qualitatively 
estimated as either significant, some, minor, or none.
    The resulting relative weighted factor per facility for the various 
subclasses is as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Relative
                                                     No. of      weight 
                                                   facilities     per   
                                                                facility
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class I facilities...............................           3       1.00
Class II facilities..............................           6        .57
11e.(2) disposal.................................           1        .73
11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings                        
 sites...........................................           3        .13
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Using this refined approach, the remaining $0.4 million not 
recovered from DOE results in annual fees for each class of licensees 
as follows:

2.A.(2) -- Class I facilities: $60,900
2.A.(2) -- Class II facilities: $34,400
2.A.(2) -- Other facilities: $22,000
2.A.(3) -- 11e(2) disposal: $44,700
2.A.(4) -- 11e(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings site: $7,900

    Because rare earth facilities are now budgeted for separately, a 
separate class has been established for these licensees in this 
proposed rule. For rare earth facilities, the generic and other 
regulatory costs of $66,000 have been spread uniformly among licensees 
who have a specific license for receipt and processing of source 
material. This results in an annual fee of $22,000 for each facility.
    For spent fuel storage licenses, the costs of $2.3 million ($1.7 
million in base budget plus $0.6 million in surcharge) have been spread 
uniformly among those licensees who hold specific or general licenses 
for receipt and storage of spent fuel at an ISFSI. This results in an 
annual fee of $291,500 for each facility. This represents a fee 
decrease compared to FY 1994 because there are now more licensees in 
this class.
    To equitably and fairly allocate the $24.9 million directly 
attributable to the approximately 6,200 diverse material users and 
registrants plus the materials share ($2.8 million) of the surcharge, 
the NRC has continued to base the annual fee on the Part 170 
application fees and an estimated cost for inspections. Because the 
application fees and inspection costs are indicative of the complexity 
of the license, this approach continues to provide a proxy for 
allocating the generic and other regulatory costs to the diverse 
categories of licensees based on how much it costs NRC to regulate each 
category. The fee calculation also continues to consider the inspection 
frequency, which is indicative of the safety risk and resulting 
regulatory costs associated with the categories of licensees. In 
summary, the annual fee for these categories of licenses is developed 
as follows:

Annual Fee = (Application Fee + Average Inspection Cost/Inspection 
Priority) x Constant + (Unique Category Costs).

    The constant is the multiple necessary to recover $27.7 million and 
is 2.2 for FY 1995. The unique costs are any special costs that the NRC 
has budgeted for a specific category of licensees. For FY 1995, unique 
costs of approximately $1.0 million were identified for the medical 
improvement program which is attributable to medical licensees.
    For the first time, the NRC is proposing to combine the ``flat'' 
material inspection fees in 10 CFR part 170 with the annual fees in 10 
CFR Part 171. This is being done to recognize that the ``regulatory 
service'' to licensees referred to in OBRA-90, comprises the total 
regulatory activities that NRC determines are needed to regulate a 
class of licensees. These regulatory services include not only ``flat'' 
fee inspections but also research, rulemaking, orders, enforcement 
actions, responses to allegations, incident investigations and other 
activities necessary to regulate classes of licensees. In addition to 
being consistent with the regulatory service concept in OBRA-90, the 
NRC believes that materials licensees' ``flat'' inspection fees could 
be combined with their annual fees without creating any significant 
questions of fairness. This is because the concept of the annual fee, 
including the inspection fee, has, in effect, already been implemented 
for most materials licensees. First, materials [[Page 14684]] licensees 
pay a ``flat fee'' per inspection based on the average cost of an 
inspection for their fee category, and second, the routine inspection 
frequency is identical for most licensees in the same fee category. 
Furthermore, past experience suggests that less than 10 percent of the 
materials inspections for these licensees are nonroutine. Thus, 
licensees in the same materials license fee category pay essentially 
the same average annual cost for inspections. Therefore, combining 
inspection and annual fees results in essentially the same average cost 
per license over time. Additionally, this approach will provide 
materials licensees with simpler and more predictable NRC fee charges 
as there will be no additional fees paid for periodic inspections. The 
proposed materials annual fees would become effective for FY 1995, and 
those materials licensees who paid a ``flat'' 10 CFR part 170 
inspection fee for inspections conducted in FY 1995, would receive a 
credit for those payments towards their FY 1995 annual fee assessed 
under 10 CFR part 171. Those Agreement States licensees that paid an 
inspection fee would not receive a credit because they pay no annual 
fee.

    Materials annual fees for FY 1995 have decreased compared to the FY 
1994 annual fees. There are two basic reasons for this. First, the FY 
1995 budgeted amount attributable to materials licensees is about 35 
percent lower than the comparable FY 1994 amount, based on the 
reallocation of certain materials budgeted costs to all NRC licensees 
rather than to materials licensees as discussed earlier. The 
professional hourly rate for the materials program has decreased from 
$133 per hour to $116 per hour, due to the use of cost center concepts 
in allocating NRC budgeted costs. These decreases are partially offset 
by a decrease in the number of licensees to be assessed annual fees in 
FY 1995 (from about 6,500 to about 6,200) and the inclusion of the 
average annual inspection costs with the annual fee. For example, if an 
inspection is performed every three years, one- third of the flat 
inspection fee would be included in the annual fee.

    A materials licensee may pay a reduced annual fee if the licensee 
qualifies as a small entity under the NRC's size standards and 
certifies that it is a small entity using NRC Form 526.

    To recover the $4.7 million attributable to the transportation 
class of licensees, $1.2 will be assessed to the Department of Energy 
(DOE) to cover all of its transportation costs under Category 18. The 
remaining transportation costs for generic activities ($3.5 million) 
are allocated to holders of approved QA plans. The annual fee for 
approved QA plans is $77,800 for users and fabricators and $1,000 for 
users only.

    The amount or range of the proposed FY 1995 annual fees for all 
materials licensees is summarized as follows:


                  Materials Licenses--Annual Fee Ranges                 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Category of license                      Annual fees    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 70--High enriched fuel.......................  $2,569,000          
Part 70--Low enriched fuel........................  1,261,000           
Part 40--UF<INF>6 conversion...........................  639,200             
Part 40--Uranium recovery.........................  22,000 to 60,900    
Part 30--Byproduct Material.......................  490 to 23,400\1\    
Part 71--Transportation of Radioactive Material...  1,000 to 77,800     
Part 72--Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel  291,500             
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Excludes the annual fee for a few military ``master'' materials      
  licenses of broad-scope issued to Government agencies, which is       
  $417,700.                                                             


    Section 171.16(e) would be amended to establish the additional 
charge which is included in the annual fees shown in Section 171.16(d) 
of this final rule. The Commission is continuing the approach used in 
FY 1993 to assess the budgeted low-level waste (LLW) costs to two broad 
categories of licensees (large LLW generators and small LLW generators) 
based on historical disposal data. This surcharge is included in the 
annual fees for the applicable categories in Section 171.16(d). 
Although these NRC LLW disposal regulatory activities are not directly 
attributable to regulation of NRC materials licensees, the costs 
nevertheless must be recovered in order to comply with the requirements 
of OBRA-90. For FY 1995, the additional charge recovers approximately 
18 percent of the NRC budgeted costs of $7.0 million relating to LLW 
disposal generic activities from small generators, which are comprised 
of materials licensees that dispose of LLW. The percentage distribution 
reflects the deletion of costs for LLW disposed of by Agreement State 
licensees. The FY 1995 budgeted costs related to the additional charge 
for LLW and the amount of the charge are calculated as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                FY 1995 
                                                                budgeted
                      Category of costs                         costs ($
                                                                   in   
                                                               millions)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or           
 class of licensee, i.e., LLW disposal generic activities....       $7.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Of the $7.0 million in budgeted costs shown above for LLW 
activities, 82 percent of the amount ($5.7 million) are allocated to 
the 119 large waste generators (reactors and fuel facilities) included 
in 10 CFR Part 171. This results in an additional charge of $48,000 per 
facility. Thus, the LLW charge will be $48,000 per HEU, LEU, UF<INF>6 
facility, and each of the other three fuel facilities. The remaining 
$1.3 million is allocated to the materials licensees in categories that 
generate low-level waste (895 licensees) as follows: $1,400 per 
materials license except for those in Category 17. Those licensees that 
generate a significant amount of low-level waste for purposes of the 
calculation of the $1,400 surcharge are in fee Categories 1.B, 1.D, 
2.C, 3.A, 3.B, 3.C, 3.L, 3.M, 3.N, 4.A, 4.B, 4.C, 4.D, 5.B, 6.A, and 
7.B. The surcharge for licenses in fee Category 17, which also generate 
and/or dispose of low-level waste, is $21,000.
    On the basis of this calculation, a fuel facility (a high-enriched 
fuel fabrication licensee, for example) pays an annual fee of 
$2,546,000 and an additional charge of $48,000 for LLW activities and 
small entity costs. A medical center with a broad-scope program pays a 
base annual fee of $22,000 and an additional charge of $1,400, for a 
total FY 1995 annual fee of $23,400.
    Footnote 1 of 10 CFR 171.16(d) would be amended to provide for a 
waiver of the annual fees for those materials licensees, and holders of 
certificates, registrations, and approvals who either filed for 
termination of their licenses or approvals, or filed for possession 
only/storage only licenses before October 1, 1994, and permanently 
ceased licensed activities entirely by September 30, 1994. All other 
licensees and approval holders who held a license or approval on 
October 1, 1994 are subject to the FY 1995 annual fees.

Section 171.19  Payment

    This section would be revised to give credit for partial payments 
made by certain licensees in FY 1995 toward their FY 1995 annual fees. 
The NRC anticipates that the first, second, and third quarterly 
payments for FY 1995 will have been made by operating power reactor 
licensees and some materials [[Page 14685]] licensees before the final 
rule is effective. Therefore, the NRC would credit payments received 
for those quarterly annual fee assessments toward the total annual fee 
to be assessed. The NRC also expects that certain materials licensees 
would have paid inspection fees for inspections that were performed in 
FY 1995, whereas the rule proposes to include such costs in the annual 
fee. The FY 1995 annual fee bills will reflect a credit for these 
inspection fee payments. The NRC would adjust the fourth quarterly bill 
in order to recover the full amount of the revised annual fee, or to 
make refunds, as necessary. As in FY 1994, payment of the annual fee is 
due on the effective date of the rule and interest accrues from the 
effective date of the rule. However, interest will be waived if payment 
is received within 30 days from the effective date of the rule.
    During the past four years many licensees have indicated that 
although they held a valid NRC license authorizing the possession and 
use of special nuclear, source, or byproduct material, they were in 
fact either not using the material to conduct operations or had 
disposed of the material and no longer needed the license. In 
responding to licensees about this matter, the NRC has stated that 
annual fees are assessed based on whether a licensee holds a valid NRC 
license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive material. 
Whether or not a licensee is actually conducting operations using the 
material is a matter of licensee discretion. The NRC cannot control 
whether a licensee elects to possess and use radioactive material once 
it receives a license from the NRC. Therefore, the NRC reemphasizes 
that the annual fee will be assessed based on whether a licensee holds 
a valid NRC license that authorizes possession and use of radioactive 
material. To remove any uncertainty, the NRC issued minor clarifying 
amendments to 10 CFR 171.16, footnotes 1 and 7 on July 20, 1993 (58 FR 
38700).

IV. Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion

    The NRC has determined that this proposed rule is the type of 
action described in categorical exclusion 10 CFR 51.22(c)(1). 
Therefore, neither an environmental impact statement nor an 
environmental impact assessment has been prepared for the proposed 
regulation.

V. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    This proposed rule contains no information collection requirements 
and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

VI. Regulatory Analysis
    With respect to 10 CFR Part 170, this proposed rule was developed 
pursuant to Title V of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 
1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 9701) and the Commission's fee guidelines. When 
developing these guidelines the Commission took into account guidance 
provided by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 4, 1974, in its decision of 
National Cable Television Association, Inc. v. United States, 415 U.S. 
36 (1974) and Federal Power Commission v. New England Power Company, 
415 U.S. 345 (1974). In these decisions, the Court held that the IOAA 
authorizes an agency to charge fees for special benefits rendered to 
identifiable persons measured by the ``value to the recipient'' of the 
agency service. The meaning of the IOAA was further clarified on 
December 16, 1976, by four decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia, National Cable Television Association v. 
Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1094 (D.C. Cir. 1976); 
National Association of Broadcasters v. Federal Communications 
Commission, 554 F.2d 1118 (D.C. Cir. 1976); Electronic Industries 
Association v. Federal Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1109 (D.C. 
Cir. 1976) and Capital Cities Communication, Inc. v. Federal 
Communications Commission, 554 F.2d 1135 (D.C. Cir. 1976). These 
decisions of the Courts enabled the Commission to develop fee 
guidelines that are still used for cost recovery and fee development 
purposes.
    The Commission's fee guidelines were upheld on August 24, 1979, by 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Mississippi Power 
and Light Co. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 601 F.2d 223 (5th 
Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1102 (1980). The Court held that--
    (1) The NRC had the authority to recover the full cost of providing 
services to identifiable beneficiaries;
    (2) The NRC could properly assess a fee for the costs of providing 
routine inspections necessary to ensure a licensee's compliance with 
the Atomic Energy Act and with applicable regulations;
    (3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting 
environmental reviews required by NEPA;
    (4) The NRC properly included the costs of uncontested hearings and 
of administrative and technical support services in the fee schedule;
    (5) The NRC could assess a fee for renewing a license to operate a 
low-level radioactive waste burial site; and
    (6) The NRC's fees were not arbitrary or capricious.
    With respect to 10 CFR Part 171, on November 5, 1990, the Congress 
passed Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1990 (OBRA-90) which required that for FYs 1991 through 1995, 
approximately 100 percent of the NRC budget authority be recovered 
through the assessment of fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to extend 
the 100 percent fee recovery requirement for NRC through 1998. To 
accomplish this statutory requirement, the NRC, in accordance with 
Sec. 171.13, is publishing the proposed amount of the FY 1995 annual 
fees for operating reactor licensees, fuel cycle licensees, materials 
licensees, and holders of Certificates of Compliance, registrations of 
sealed source and devices and QA program approvals, and Government 
agencies. OBRA-90 and the Conference Committee Report specifically 
state that--
    (1) The annual fees be based on the Commission's FY 1995 budget of 
$525.6 million less the amounts collected from Part 170 fees and the 
funds directly appropriated from the NWF to cover the NRC's high level 
waste program;
    (2) The annual fees shall, to the maximum extent practicable, have 
a reasonable relationship to the cost of regulatory services provided 
by the Commission; and
    (3) The annual fees be assessed to those licensees the Commission, 
in its discretion, determines can fairly, equitably, and practicably 
contribute to their payment.
    When developing the annual fees for operating power reactors, the 
NRC is proposing a uniform annual fee rather than an annual fee that 
considers the various vendors, the types of containment, and the 
location of the operating power reactors. The NRC believes the 
difference in fees of about $20,000 is small enough relative to the 
size of the $3 million annual fees, to justify moving to a uniform 
annual fee particularly in light of the administrative savings that 
will follow. The annual fees for fuel cycle licensees, materials 
licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations and approvals and 
for licenses issued to Government agencies take into account the type 
of facility or approval and the classes of the licensees.
    10 CFR Part 171, which established annual fees for operating power 
reactors effective October 20, 1986 (51 FR 33224; September 18, 1986), 
was challenged and upheld in its entirety in Florida 
[[Page 14686]] Power and Light Company v. United States, 846 F.2d 765 
(D.C. Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1045 (1989).
    10 CFR Parts 170 and 171, which established fees based on the FY 
1989 budget, were also legally challenged. As a result of the Supreme 
Court decision in Skinner v. Mid-American Pipeline Co., 109 S. Ct. 1726 
(1989), and the denial of certiorari in Florida Power and Light, all of 
the lawsuits were withdrawn.
    The NRC's FY 1991 annual fee rule was largely upheld by the D.C. 
Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (D.C. 
Cir. 1993).
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    The NRC is required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1990 to recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority 
through the assessment of user fees. OBRA-90 further requires that the 
NRC establish a schedule of charges that fairly and equitably allocates 
the aggregate amount of these charges among licensees.
    This proposed rule establishes the schedules of fees that are 
necessary to implement the Congressional mandate for FY 1995. The 
proposed rule results in an decrease in the annual fees charged to most 
licensees, and holders of certificates, registrations, and approvals, 
including those licensees who are classified as small entities under 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, 
prepared in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 604, is included as Appendix A to 
this proposed rule.

VIII. Backfit Analysis

    The NRC has determined that the backfit rule, 10 CFR 50.109, does 
not apply to this proposed rule and that a backfit analysis is not 
required for this proposed rule. The backfit analysis is not required 
because these proposed amendments do not require the modification of or 
additions to systems, structures, components, or design of a facility 
or the design approval or manufacturing license for a facility or the 
procedures or organization required to design, construct or operate a 
facility.

List of Subjects

10 CFR Part 170

    Exports, Imports, Intergovernmental relations, Nuclear materials, 
Nuclear power plants and reactors, Penalties.

10 CFR Part 171

    Intergovernmental relations, Nuclear materials, Nuclear power 
plants and reactors, Penalties

    .For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and 5 U.S.C. 553, the NRC is 
proposing to adopt the following amendments to 10 CFR parts 170 and 
171.

PART 170--FEES FOR FACILITIES, MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT 
LICENSES, AND OTHER REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE ATOMIC ENERGY ACT 
OF 1954, AS AMENDED

    1. The authority citation for Part 170 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701, 96 Stat. 1051; sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-
314, 86 Stat. 222 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); sec. 201, Pub. L. 93-4381, 88 
Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 205, Pub. L. 101-576, 
104 Stat. 2842, (31 U.S.C. 901).

    2. In Sec. 170.11, paragraph (a)(5) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 170.11  Exemptions.

    (a) * * *
    (5) A construction permit, license, certificate of compliance, or 
other approval applied for by, or issued to, a Government agency, 
except where the Commission is authorized by statute to charge such 
fees.
* * * * *
    3. Section 170.20 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 170.20  Average Cost Per Professional Staff-Hour.

    Fees for permits, licenses, amendments, renewals, special projects, 
Part 55 requalification and replacement examinations and tests, other 
required reviews, approvals, and inspections under Secs. 170.21 and 
170.31 that are based upon the full costs for the review or inspection 
will be calculated using the following applicable professional staff-
hour rates:

Reactor Program...................................  $123 per hour.      
Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Waste Program.......  $116 per hour.      
                                                                        

    4. In Section 170.21, the introductory text, Category J, Category 
K, and footnotes 1 and 2 to the table are revised to read as follows:


Sec. 170.21  Schedule of Fees for Production and Utilization 
Facilities, Review of Standard Referenced Design Approvals, Special 
Projects, Inspections and Import and Export Licenses.

    Applicants for construction permits, manufacturing licenses, 
operating licenses, import and export licenses, approvals of facility 
standard reference designs, requalification and replacement 
examinations for reactor operators, and special projects and holders of 
construction permits, licenses, and other approvals shall pay fees for 
the following categories of services.

                        Schedule of Facility Fees                       
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Facility categories and type of fees              Fees\1\\2\     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
       *                  *                  *                  *       
                  *                  *                  *               
J. Special Projects:\4\                                                 
                                                                        
    Approvals and preapplication/licensing          Full Cost.          
     activities.                                                        
                                                                        
    Inspections\3\................................  Full Cost.          
                                                                        
K. Import and export licenses:                                          
                                                                        
  Licenses for the import and export only of                            
   production and utilization facilities or the                         
   import and export only of components for                             
   production and utilization facilities issued                         
   pursuant to 10 CFR part 110:                                         
                                                                        
    1. Application for import or export of                              
     reactors and other facilities and components                       
     which must be reviewed by the Commission and                       
     the Executive Branch, for example, actions                         
     under 10 CFR 110.40(b):                                            
                                                                        
    Application-new license.......................  $7,500              
                                                                        
    Amendment.....................................  $7,500              
                                                                        
    2. Application for import or export of reactor                      
     components and initial exports of other                            
     equipment requiring Executive Branch review                        
     only, for example, those actions under 10 CFR                      
     110.41(a)(1)-(8):                                                  
                                                                        
        Application-new license...................  $4,600              
                                                                        
        Amendment.................................  $4,600              
[[Page 14687]]
                                                                        
    3. Application for export of components                             
     requiring foreign government assurances only:                      
        Application-new license...................  $2,900              
        Amendment.................................  $2,900              
    4. Application for export or import of other                        
     facility components and equipment not                              
     requiring Commission review, Executive Branch                      
     review, or foreign government assurances:                          
        Application-new license...................  $1,200              
        Amendment.................................  $1,200              
    5. Minor amendment of any export or import                          
     license to extend the expiration date, change                      
     domestic information, or make other revisions                      
     which do not require analysis or review:                           
        Amendment                                   $120                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
  to Sec. 2.202 of this chapter or for amendments resulting specifically
  from the requirements of these types of Commission orders. Fees will  
  be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision  
  of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
  Regulations (e.g. Secs. 50.12, 73.5) and any other sections now or    
  hereafter in effect regardless of whether the approval is in the form 
  of a license amendment, letter of approval, safety evaluation report, 
  or other form. Fees for licenses in this schedule that are initially  
  issued for less than full power are based on review through the       
  issuance of a full power license (generally full power is considered  
  100 percent of the facility's full rated power). Thus, if a licensee  
  received a low power license or a temporary license for less than full
  power and subsequently receives full power authority (by way of       
  license amendment or otherwise), the total costs for the license will 
  be determined through that period when authority is granted for full  
  power operation. If a situation arises in which the Commission        
  determines that full operating power for a particular facility should 
  be less than 100 percent of full rated power, the total costs for the 
  license will be at that determined lower operating power level and not
  at the 100 percent capacity.                                          
\2\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff    
  time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For       
  applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
  on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
  expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
  the final rule will be determined at the professional rates in effect 
  at the time the service was provided. For those applications currently
  on file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling 
  established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules but are     
  still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any   
  applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be  
  billed to the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above  
  those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the  
  applicable rates established by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except   
  for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed    
  $50,000 for any topical report, amendment, revision or supplement to a
  topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989,       
  through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any      
  professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be       
  assessed at the applicable rate established in Sec. 170.20. In no     
  event will the total review costs be less than twice the hourly rate  
  shown in Sec. 170.20.                                                 
\3\Inspections covered by this schedule are both routine and non-routine
  safety and safeguards inspections performed by NRC for the purpose of 
  review or followup of a licensed program. Inspections are performed   
  throughout the full term of the license to ensure that the authorized 
  activities are being conducted in accordance with the Atomic Energy   
  Act of 1954, as amended, other legislation, Commission regulations or 
  orders, and the term and conditions of the license. Non-routine       
  inspections that result from third-party allegations will not be      
  subject to fees.                                                      
\4\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC: 
1. In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result 
  in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an   
  alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
  Letter, or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;               
2. In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director level
  or above) to resolve an identified safety or environmental issue, or  
  to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory guide, policy          
  statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or                            
3. As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations  
  and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory          
  improvements or efforts.                                              

  5. Section 170.31 is revised to read as follows:


Section 170.31  Schedule of fees for materials licenses and other 
regulatory services, including inspections, and import and export 
licenses.
    Applicants for materials licenses, import and export licenses, and 
other regulatory services and holders of materials licenses, or import 
and export licenses shall pay fees for the following categories of 
services. This schedule includes fees for health and safety and 
safeguards inspections where applicable.

                       Schedule of Materials Fees                       
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of materials licenses and type of fees\1\        Fee\2\\3\     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Special nuclear material:                                            
    A. Licenses for possession and use of 200                           
     grams or more of plutonium in unsealed form                        
     or 350 grams or more of contained U-235 in                         
     unsealed form or 200 grams or more of U-233                        
     in unsealed form. This includes applications                       
     to terminate licenses as well as licenses                          
     authorizing possession only:                                       
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent                        
     fuel at an independent spent fuel storage                          
     installation (ISFSI):                                              
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special                       
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained                       
     in devices used in industrial measuring                            
     systems, including x-ray fluorescence                              
     analyzers:\4\                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $530.               
        Renewal...................................  $720.               
        Amendment.................................  $290.               
[[Page 14688]]
                                                                        
    D. All other special nuclear material                               
     licenses, except licenses authorizing special                      
     nuclear material in unsealed form in                               
     combination that would constitute a critical                       
     quantity, as defined in Sec. 150.11 of this                        
     chapter, for which the licensee shall pay the                      
     same fees as those for Category 1A:\4\                             
        Application--New license..................  $580                
        Renewal...................................  $650.               
        Amendment.................................  $280.               
    E. Licenses for construction and operation of                       
     a uranium enrichment facility:                                     
        Application...............................  $125,000.           
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
2. Source material:                                                     
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of                            
     source material in recovery operations such                        
     as milling, in-situ leaching, heap-leaching,                       
     refining uranium mill concentrates to uranium                      
     hexafluoride, ore buying stations, ion                             
     exchange facilities and in processing of ores                      
     containing source material for extraction of                       
     metals other than uranium or thorium,                              
     including licenses authorizing the possession                      
     of byproduct waste material (tailings) from                        
     source material recovery operations, as well                       
     as licenses authorizing the possession and                         
     maintenance of a facility in a standby mode:                       
        License, Renewal, Amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    (2) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from                       
     other persons, of byproduct material as                            
     defined in section 11e(2) of the Atomic                            
     Energy Act for possession and disposal except                      
     those licenses subject to fees in Category                         
     2.A.(1).                                                           
        License, renewal, amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from                       
     other persons, of byproduct material as                            
     defined in section 11e(2) of the Atomic                            
     Energy Act for possession and disposal                             
     incidental to the disposal of the uranium                          
     waste tailings generated by the licensee's                         
     milling operations, except those licenses                          
     subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(1).                           
        License, renewal, amendment...............  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses which authorize the possession,                         
     use and/or installation of source material                         
     for shielding:                                                     
        Application--New license..................  $150.               
        Renewal...................................  $170.               
        Amendment.................................  $230.               
    C. All other source material licenses:                              
        Application--New license..................  $2,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,500.             
        Amendment.................................  $400.               
3. Byproduct material:                                                  
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and                       
     use of byproduct material issued pursuant to                       
     parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for                                
     processing or manufacturing of items                               
     containing byproduct material for commercial                       
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $2,900.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,900.             
        Amendment.................................  $530.               
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30                      
     of this chapter for processing or                                  
     manufacturing of items containing byproduct                        
     material for commercial distribution:                              
        Application--New license..................  $1,200.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $560.               
    C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72,                         
     32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter                                
     authorizing the processing or manufacturing                        
     and distribution or redistribution of                              
     radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent                          
     kits and/or sources and devices containing                         
     byproduct material:                                                
        Application--New license..................  $3,900.             
        Renewal...................................  $3,100.             
        Amendment.................................  $500.               
    D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to                        
     Secs. 32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this                           
     chapter authorizing distribution or                                
     redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals,                            
     generators, reagent kits and/or sources or                         
     devices not involving processing of byproduct                      
     material:                                                          
        Application--New license..................  $1,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $480.               
        Amendment.................................  $420.               
    E. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material in sealed sources for                           
     irradiation of materials in which the source                       
     is not removed from its shield (self-shielded                      
     units):                                                            
        Application--New license..................  $1,200.             
        Renewal...................................  $820.               
        Amendment.................................  $350.               
    F. Licenses for possession and use of less                          
     than 10,000 curies of byproduct material in                        
     sealed sources for irradiation of materials                        
     in which the source is exposed for                                 
     irradiation purposes. This category also                           
     includes underwater irradiators for                                
     irradiation of materials where the source is                       
     not exposed for irradiation purposes.                              
        Application--New license..................  $1,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,100.             
        Amendment.................................  $360.               
[[Page 14689]]
                                                                        
    G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000                        
     curies or more of byproduct material in                            
     sealed sources for irradiation of materials                        
     in which the source is exposed for                                 
     irradiation purposes. This category also                           
     includes underwater irradiators for                                
     irradiation of materials where the source is                       
     not exposed for irradiation purposes.                              
        Application--New license..................  $5,800.             
        Renewal...................................  $5,200.             
        Amendment.................................  $750.               
    H. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of                         
     part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material that require                         
     device review to persons exempt from the                           
     licensing requirements of part 30 of this                          
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons exempt                      
     from the licensing requirements of part 30 of                      
     this chapter:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $2,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,700.             
        Amendment.................................  $990.               
    I. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of                         
     part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material or quantities                        
     of byproduct material that do not require                          
     device evaluation to persons exempt from the                       
     licensing requirements of part 30 of this                          
     chapter, except for specific licenses                              
     authorizing redistribution of items that have                      
     been authorized for distribution to persons                        
     exempt from the licensing requirements of                          
     part 30 of this chapter:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $4,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $2,600.             
        Amendment.................................  $840.               
    J. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of                         
     part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material that require                         
     sealed source and/or device review to persons                      
     generally licensed under part 31 of this                           
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons                             
     generally licensed under part 31 of this                           
     chapter:                                                           
        Application--New license..................  $1,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,500.             
        Amendment.................................  $280.               
    K. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of                         
     part 32 of this chapter to distribute items                        
     containing byproduct material or quantities                        
     of byproduct material that do not require                          
     sealed source and/or device review to persons                      
     generally licensed under part 31 of this                           
     chapter, except specific licenses authorizing                      
     redistribution of items that have been                             
     authorized for distribution to persons                             
     generally licensed under part 31 of this                           
     chapter:                                                           
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $300.               
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and                       
     use of byproduct material issued pursuant to                       
     parts 30 and 33 of this chapter for research                       
     and development that do not authorize                              
     commercial distribution:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $4,100.             
        Renewal...................................  $3,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $640.               
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30                      
     of this chapter for research and development                       
     that do not authorize commercial                                   
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--New license..................  $1,500.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,700.             
        Amendment.................................  $590.               
    N. Licenses that authorize services for other                       
     licensees, except: (1) Licenses that                               
     authorize only calibration and/or leak                             
     testing services are subject to the fees                           
     specified in fee Category 3P and (2) Licenses                      
     that authorize waste disposal services are                         
     subject to the fees specified in fee                               
     Categories 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D:                                     
        Application--New license..................  $1,800.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,900.             
        Amendment.................................  $570.               
    O. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material issued pursuant to part 34                      
     of this chapter for industrial radiography                         
     operations:                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $3,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $3,000.             
        Amendment.................................  $700.               
    P. All other specific byproduct material                            
     licenses, except those in Categories 4A                            
     through 9D:                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $530.               
        Renewal...................................  $720.               
        Amendment.................................  $290.               
4. Waste disposal and processing:                                       
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of waste byproduct material, source                        
     material, or special nuclear material from                         
     other persons for the purpose of contingency                       
     storage or commercial land disposal by the                         
     licensee; or licenses authorizing contingency                      
     storage of low-level radioactive waste at the                      
     site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses                        
     for receipt of waste from other persons for                        
     incineration or other treatment, packaging of                      
     resulting waste and residues, and transfer of                      
     packages to another person authorized to                           
     receive or dispose of waste material:                              
        License, renewal, amendment...............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of waste byproduct material, source                        
     material, or special nuclear material from                         
     other persons for the purpose of packaging or                      
     repackaging the material. The licensee will                        
     dispose of the material by transfer to                             
     another person authorized to receive or                            
     dispose of the material:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $3,200.             
[[Page 14690]]
                                                                        
        Renewal...................................  $2,300.             
        Amendment.................................  $390.               
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the                            
     receipt of prepackaged waste byproduct                             
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material from other persons. The licensee                          
     will dispose of the material by transfer to                        
     another person authorized to receive or                            
     dispose of the material:                                           
        Application--New license..................  $1,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,200.             
        Amendment.................................  $280.               
5. Well logging:                                                        
    A. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material, source material, and/or                        
     special nuclear material for well logging,                         
     well surveys, and tracer studies other than                        
     field flooding tracer studies:                                     
        Application--New license..................  $3,100.             
        Renewal...................................  $4,000.             
        Amendment.................................  $610.               
    B. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material for field flooding tracer                       
     studies:                                                           
        License, renewal, amendment...............  Full Cost           
6. Nuclear laundries:                                                   
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and                           
     laundry of items contaminated with byproduct                       
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material:                                                          
        Application--New license..................  $4,900.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,900.             
        Amendment.................................  $770.               
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special                           
 nuclear material:                                                      
    A. Licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35,                        
     40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of                        
     byproduct material, source material, or                            
     special nuclear material in sealed sources                         
     contained in teletherapy devices:                                  
        Application--New license..................  $2,700.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $450.               
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                        
     institutions or two or more physicians                             
     pursuant to parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of                        
     this chapter authorizing research and                              
     development, including human use of byproduct                      
     material, except licenses for byproduct                            
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material in sealed sources contained in                            
     teletherapy devices:                                               
        Application--New license..................  $2,900.             
        Renewal...................................  $5,700.             
        Amendment.................................  $560.               
    C. Other licenses issued pursuant to parts 30,                      
     35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use                       
     of byproduct material, source material, and/                       
     or special nuclear material, except licenses                       
     for byproduct material, source material, or                        
     special nuclear material in sealed sources                         
     contained in teletherapy devices:                                  
        Application--New license..................  $1,300.             
        Renewal...................................  $1,400.             
        Amendment.................................  $430.               
8. Civil defense:                                                       
    A. Licenses for possession and use of                               
     byproduct material, source material, or                            
     special nuclear material for civil defense                         
     activities:                                                        
        Application--New license..................  $730.               
        Renewal...................................  $630.               
        Amendment.................................  $340.               
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety                             
 evaluation:                                                            
    A. Safety evaluation of devices or products                         
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material, except                      
     reactor fuel devices, for commercial                               
     distribution:                                                      
        Application--each device..................  $3,200.             
        Amendment--each device....................  $1,200.             
    B. Safety evaluation of devices or products                         
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material                              
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel devices:                            
        Application--each device..................  $1,600.             
        Amendment--each device....................  $580.               
    C. Safety evaluation of sealed sources                              
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material, except                      
     reactor fuel, for commercial distribution:                         
        Application--each source..................  $700.               
        Amendment--each source....................  $230.               
    D. Safety evaluation of sealed sources                              
     containing byproduct material, source                              
     material, or special nuclear material,                             
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel:                                    
        Application--each source..................  $350.               
        Amendment--each source....................  $120.               
10. Transportation of radioactive material:                             
    A. Evaluation of casks, packages, and shipping                      
     containers:                                                        
        Approval, Renewal, Amendment..............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
    B. Evaluation of 10 CFR Part 71 quality                             
     assurance programs:                                                
        Application--Approval.....................  $320.               
        Renewal...................................  $340.               
[[Page 14691]]
                                                                        
        Amendment.................................  $240.               
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
11. Review of standardized spent fuel facilities:                       
        Approval, Renewal, Amendment..............  Full Cost.          
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
12. Special projects:\5\                                                
        Approvals and preapplication/licensing      Full Cost.          
         activities.                                                    
        Inspections...............................  Full Cost.          
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of                           
 Compliance:                                                            
        Approvals.................................  Full Cost.          
        Amendments, revisions, and supplements....  Full Cost.          
        Reapproval................................  Full Cost.          
    B. Inspections related to spent fuel storage    Full Cost.          
     cask Certificate of Compliance.                                    
    C. Inspections related to storage of spent      Full Cost.          
     fuel under Sec. 72.210 of this chapter.                            
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material                      
 licenses and other approvals authorizing                               
 decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or                      
 site restoration activities pursuant to 10 CFR                         
 parts 30, 40, 70, and 72 of this chapter:                              
    Approval, Renewal, Amendment..................  Full Cost.          
    Inspections...................................  Full Cost.          
15. Import and Export licenses:                                         
    Licenses issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 110 of                      
     this chapter for the import and export only                        
     of special nuclear material, source material,                      
     byproduct material, heavy water, tritium, or                       
     nuclear grade graphite.                                            
    A. Application for import or export of HEU and                      
     other materials which must be reviewed by the                      
     Commission and the Executive Branch, for                           
     example, those actions under 10 CFR                                
     110.40(b).                                                         
        Application--new license..................  $7,500.             
        Amendment.................................  $7,500.             
    B. Application for import or export of special                      
     nuclear material, heavy water, nuclear grade                       
     graphite, tritium, and source material, and                        
     initial exports of materials requiring                             
     Executive Branch review only, for example,                         
     those actions under 10 CFR 110.41(a)(2)-(8).                       
        Application--new license..................  $4,600.             
        Amendment.................................  $4,600.             
    C. Application for export of routine reloads                        
     of LEU reactor fuel and exports of source                          
     material requiring foreign government                              
     assurances only.                                                   
        Application--new license..................  $2,900.             
        Amendment.................................  $2,900.             
    D. Application for export or import of other                        
     materials not requiring Commission review,                         
     Executive Branch review or foreign government                      
     assurances.                                                        
        Application--new license..................  $1,200.             
        Amendment.................................  $1,200.             
    E. Minor amendment of any export or import                          
     license to extend the expiration date, change                      
     domestic information or make other revisions                       
     which do not require analysis or review.                           
        Amendment.................................  $120.               
16. Reciprocity:                                                        
    Agreement State licensees who conduct                               
     activities in a non-Agreement State under the                      
     reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20.                           
        Application (initial filing of Form 241)..  $1,100.             
        Renewal...................................  N/A.                
        Revisions.................................  $200.               
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Types of fees--Separate charges, as shown in the schedule, will be   
  assessed for preapplication consultations and reviews and applications
  for new licenses and approvals, issuance of new licenses and          
  approvals, amendments and renewals to existing licenses and approvals,
  safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices, and certain         
  inspections. The following guidelines apply to these charges:         
(a) Application fees--Applications for new materials licenses and       
  approvals; applications to reinstate expired, terminated or inactive  
  licenses and approvals except those subject to fees assessed at full  
  cost; and applications filed by Agreement State licensees to register 
  under the general license provisions of 10 CFR 150.20, must be        
  accompanied by the prescribed application fee for each category,      
  except that:                                                          
(1) Applications for licenses covering more than one fee category of    
  special nuclear material or source material must be accompanied by the
  prescribed application fee for the highest fee category and           
(2) Applications for licenses under Category 1E must be accompanied by  
  an application fee of $125,000.                                       
(b) License/approval/review fees--Fees for applications for new licenses
  and approvals and for preapplication consultations and reviews subject
  to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E, 2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11,
  12, 13A, and 14) are due upon notification by the Commission in       
  accordance with Sec. 170.12(b), (e), and (f).                         
(c) Renewal/reapproval fees--Applications for renewal of licenses and   
  approvals must be accompanied by the prescribed renewal fee for each  
  category, except that fees for applications for renewal of licenses   
  and approvals subject to full cost fees (fee Categories 1A, 1B, 1E,   
  2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14) are due upon notification by
  the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(d).                     
(d) Amendment/Revision Fees--                                           
(1) Applications for amendments to licenses and approvals and revisions 
  to reciprocity initial applications, except those subject to fees     
  assessed at full costs, must be accompanied by the prescribed         
  amendment/revision fee for each license/revision affected. An         
  application for an amendment to a license or approval classified in   
  more than one fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed      
  amendment fee for the category affected by the amendment unless the   
  amendment is applicable to two or more fee categories in which case   
  the amendment fee for the highest fee category would apply. For those 
  licenses and approvals subject to full costs (fee Categories 1A, 1B,  
  1E, 2A, 4A, 4D, 5B, 10A, 11, 12, 13A, and 14), amendment fees are due 
  upon notification by the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(c).
                                                                        
(2) An application for amendment to a materials license or approval that
  would place the license or approval in a higher fee category or add a 
  new fee category must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee
  for the new category.                                                 
(3) An application for amendment to a license or approval that would    
  reduce the scope of a licensee's program to a lower fee category must 
  be accompanied by the prescribed amendment fee for the lower fee      
  category.                                                             
[[Page 14692]]
                                                                        
(4) Applications to terminate licenses authorizing small materials      
  programs, when no dismantling or decontamination procedure is         
  required, are not subject to fees.                                    
(e) Inspection fees--Inspections resulting from investigations conducted
  by the Office of Investigations and nonroutine inspections that result
  from third-party allegations are not subject to fees. The fees        
  assessed at full cost will be determined based on the professional    
  staff time required to conduct the inspection multiplied by the rate  
  established under Sec. 170.20 plus any applicable contractual support 
  services costs incurred. Inspection fees are due upon notification by 
  the Commission in accordance with Sec. 170.12(g).                     
\2\Fees will not be charged for orders issued by the Commission pursuant
  to 10 CFR 2.202 or for amendments resulting specifically from the     
  requirements of these types of Commission orders. However, fees will  
  be charged for approvals issued under a specific exemption provision  
  of the Commission's regulations under Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
  Regulations (e.g., 10 CFR 30.11, 40.14, 70.14, 73.5, and any other    
  sections now or hereafter in effect) regardless of whether the        
  approval is in the form of a license amendment, letter of approval,   
  safety evaluation report, or other form. In addition to the fee shown,
  an applicant may be assessed an additional fee for sealed source and  
  device evaluations as shown in Categories 9A through 9D.              
\3\Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff    
  time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For those 
  applications currently on file and for which fees are determined based
  on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours
  expended for the review of the application up to the effective date of
  the final rule will be determined at the professional rates in effect 
  at the time the service was provided. For applications currently on   
  file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling    
  established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules, but are    
  still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any   
  applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be  
  billed to the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above  
  those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the  
  applicable rates established by Sec. 170.20, as appropriate, except   
  for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed    
  $50,000 for each topical report, amendment, revision, or supplement to
  a topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989,     
  through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any      
  professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be       
  assessed at the applicable rate established in Sec. 170.20. The       
  minimum total review cost is twice the hourly rate shown in Sec.      
  170.20.                                                               
\4\Licensees paying fees under Categories 1A, 1B, and 1E are not subject
  to fees under Categories 1C and 1D for sealed sources authorized in   
  the same license except in those instances in which an application    
  deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license.         
  Applicants for new licenses or renewal of existing licenses that cover
  both byproduct material and special nuclear material in sealed sources
  for use in gauging devices will pay the appropriate application or    
  renewal fee for fee Category 1C only.                                 
\5\Fees will not be assessed for requests/reports submitted to the NRC: 
(a) In response to a Generic Letter or NRC Bulletin that does not result
  in an amendment to the license, does not result in the review of an   
  alternate method or reanalysis to meet the requirements of the Generic
  Letter or does not involve an unreviewed safety issue;                
(b) In response to an NRC request (at the Associate Office Director     
  level or above) to resolve an identified safety or environmental      
  issue, or to assist NRC in developing a rule, regulatory guide, policy
  statement, generic letter, or bulletin; or                            
(c) As a means of exchanging information between industry organizations 
  and the NRC for the purpose of supporting generic regulatory          
  improvements or efforts.                                              

PART 171--ANNUAL FEES FOR REACTOR OPERATING LICENSES AND FUEL CYCLE 
LICENSES AND MATERIALS LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF CERTIFICATES 
OF COMPLIANCE, REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM 
APPROVALS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY THE NRC

    6. The authority citation for Part 171 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: Sec. 7601, Pub. L. 99-272, 100 Stat. 146, as amended 
by sec. 5601, Pub. L. 100-203, 101 Stat. 1330, as amended by sec. 
3201, Pub. L. 101-239, 103 Stat. 2106 as amended by sec. 6101, Pub. 
L. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388, (42 U.S.C. 2213); sec. 301, Pub. L. 92-
314, 86 Stat. 222 (42 U.S.C. 2201(w)); sec. 201, 88 Stat. 1242, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); sec. 2903, Pub. L. 102-486, 106 Stat. 
3125, (42 U.S.C. 2214 note).

    7. Section 171.13 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.13  Notice.

    The annual fees applicable to an operating reactor and to a 
materials licensee, including a Government agency licensed by the NRC, 
subject to this part and calculated in accordance with Secs. 171.15 and 
171.16, will be published as a notice in the Federal Register as soon 
as is practicable but no later than the third quarter of FY 1996 
through 1998. The annual fees will become due and payable to the NRC in 
accordance with Sec. 171.19 except as provided in Sec. 171.17. 
Quarterly payments of the annual fees of $100,000 or more will continue 
during the fiscal year and be based on the applicable annual fees as 
shown in Secs. 171.15 and 171.16 of the regulations until a notice 
concerning the revised amount of the fees for the fiscal year is 
published by Commission.
    8. In Sec. 171.15, paragraphs (a), (b)(3), (c)(1), (c)(2), (d), and 
(e) are revised to read as follows:


Sec. 171.15  Annual fees: Reactor operating licenses.

    (a) Each person licensed to operate a power, test, or research 
reactor shall pay the annual fee for each unit for which the person 
holds an operating license at any time during the Federal FY in which 
the fee is due, except for those test and research reactors exempted in 
Sec. 171.11(a)(1) and (a)(2).
    (b) * * *
    (3) Generic activities required largely for NRC to regulate power 
reactors, e.g., updating Part 50 of this chapter, or operating the 
Incident Response Center. The base FY 1995 annual fee for each 
operating power reactor subject to fees under this section and which 
must be collected before September 30, 1995, is $2,456,000. The total 
annual fee to be assessed to each operating power reactor which would 
include the surcharge for each reactor is shown in paragraph (d) of 
this section.
    (c)(1) An additional charge will be established and added to the 
base annual fee for each operating power reactor. The amount of the 
surcharge is the sum of the budgeted costs for each FY for the 
following:
    (i) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or 
classes of licensees; e.g., international cooperative safety program 
and international safeguards activities; support for the Agreement 
State program; site decommissioning management plan (SDMP) activities 
and approximately 82 percent of the low-level waste disposal generic 
activities, and
    (ii) Activities not currently assessed under 10 CFR Part 170 
licensing and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission 
policy, e.g., reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit 
educational institutions and Federal agencies; activities related to 
decommissioning and reclamation and costs that would not be collected 
from small entities based on Commission policy in accordance with the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act.
    (2) The FY 1995 surcharge to be added to each operating power 
reactor is $511,000. This amount is calculated by dividing the total 
cost for these activities ($55.2 million) by the number of operating 
power reactors (108).
    (d) The FY 1995 Part 171 annual fee for each operating power 
reactor, which includes the surcharge in paragraph (c)(2) of this 
section, is $2,967,000. Thereafter, annual fees will be assessed in 
accordance with Sec. 171.13.
    (e) The annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a nonpower 
(test and research) reactor licensed under part 50 of this chapter, 
except for those reactors exempted from fees under Sec. 171.11(a), are 
as follows:

                                                                        
[[Page 14693]]
Research reactor..............................................   $56,500
Test reactor..................................................   $56,500
                                                                        

* * * * *
    9. In Sec. 171.16, the introductory text of paragraph (c) and 
paragraphs (c)(4), (d), and (e) are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 171.16  Annual fees: Materials licensees, holders of certificates 
of compliance, holders of sealed source and device registrations, 
holders of quality assurance program approvals and Government agencies 
licensed by the NRC.

* * * * *
    (c) A licensee who is required to pay an annual fee under this 
section may qualify as a small entity. If a licensee qualifies as a 
small entity and provides the Commission with the proper certification, 
the licensee may pay reduced annual fees for FY 1995 as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Maximum annual
                                                              fee per   
                                                             licensed   
                                                             category   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small businesses not engaged in manufacturing and small                 
 not-for-profit organizations (gross annual receipts):                  
  $350,000 to $5 million................................          $1,800
  Less than $350,000....................................             400
Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500                      
 employees or less:                                                     
  35 to 500 employees...................................           1,800
  Less than 35 employees................................             400
Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly                    
 supported educational institutions) (Population):                      
  20,000 to 50,000......................................           1,800
  Less than 20,000......................................             400
Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly                 
 Supported, and have 500 Employees or Less:                             
  35 to 500 employees...................................           1,800
  Less than 35 employees................................             400
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *
    (4) For FY 1995, the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus 
surcharge) a small entity is required to pay is $1,800 for each 
category applicable to the license(s).
    (d) The FY 1995 annual fees, including the surcharges shown in 
paragraph (e) of this section, for materials licensees and holders of 
certificates, registrations or approvals subject to fees under this 
section are as follows:

   Schedule of Materials Annual Fees and Fees for Government Agencies   
                             Licensed by NRC                            
                     [See footnotes at end of table]                    
                                                                        
                                                              Annual    
             Category of materials licenses                Fees\1\\2\\3\
1. Special nuclear material:                                            
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of U-235 or                   
     plutonium for fuel fabrication activities.                         
        (a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material.                         


            Babcock & Wilcox..................................................  SNM-42                $2,569,000
            Nuclear Fuel Services.............................................  SNM-124                2,569,000
        (b) Low Enriched Uranium in Dispersable Form Used for Fabrication of                                    
         Power Reactor Fuel                                                                                     
            Combustion Engineering (Hematite).................................  SNM-33                 1,261,000
            General Electric Company..........................................  SNM-1097               1,261,000
            Siemens Nuclear Power.............................................  SNM-1227               1,261,000
            Westinghouse Electric Company.....................................  SNM-1107               1,261,000
    (2) All other special nuclear materials licenses not included in category                                   
     1.A.(1) which are licensed for fuel cycle activities.                                                      
        (a) Facilities with limited operations:                                                                 
            B&W Fuel Company..................................................  SNM-1168                 501,700
        (b) All Others:                                                                                         
            Babcock & Wilcox..................................................  SNM-414                  340,700
            General Atomics...................................................  SNM-696                  340,700
            General Electric..................................................  SNM-960                  340,700
                                                                                                                


    B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel at                
     an independent spent fuel storage installation                     
     (ISFSI)............................................         291,500
    C. Licenses for possession and use of special                       
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained in                    
     devices used in industrial measuring systems,                      
     including x-ray fluorescence analyzers.............           1,300
    D. All other special nuclear material licenses,                     
     except licenses authorizing special nuclear                        
     material in unsealed form in combination that would                
     constitute a critical quantity, as defined in Sec.                 
     150.11 of this chapter, for which the licensee                     
     shall pay the same fees as those for Category                      
     1.A.(2)............................................           3,000
    E. Licenses for the operation of a uranium                          
     enrichment facility................................         \11\N/A
2. Source Material                                                      
    A.(1) Licenses for possession and use of source                     
     material for refining uranium mill concentrates to                 
     uranium hexafluoride...............................         639,200
    (2) Licenses for possession and use of source                       
     material in recovery operations such as milling, in-               
     situ leaching, heap-leaching, ore buying stations,                 
     ion exchange facilities and in processing of ores                  
     containing source material for extraction of metals                
     other than uranium or thorium, including licenses                  
     authorizing the possession of byproduct waste                      
     material (tailings) from source material recovery                  
     operations, as well as licenses authorizing the                    
     possession and maintenance of a facility in a                      
     standby mode                                                       
        Class I facilities\4\...........................          60,900
        Class II facilities\4\..........................          34,400
        Other facilities................................          22,000
    (3) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other                 
     persons, of byproduct material as defined in                       
     Section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for                       
     possession and disposal, except those licenses                     
     subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category                
     2.A.(4)............................................          44,700
    (4) Licenses that authorize the receipt, from other                 
     persons, of byproduct material as defined in                       
     Section 11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act for                        
     possession and disposal incidental to the disposal                 
     of the uranium waste tailings generated by the                     
     licensee's milling operations, except those                        
     licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2)...          7,900 
[[Page 14694]]
                                                                        
        B. Licenses which authorize only the possession,                
         use and/or installation of source material for                 
         shielding......................................             490
        C. All other source material licenses...........           8,700
3. Byproduct material:                                                  
    A. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of                
     byproduct material issued pursuant to parts 30 and                 
     33 of this chapter for processing or manufacturing                 
     of items containing byproduct material for                         
     commercial distribution............................          16,500
    B. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to Part 30 of                   
     this chapter for processing or manufacturing of                    
     items containing byproduct material for commercial                 
     distribution.......................................           5,500
    C. Licenses issued pursuant to Secs. 32.72, 32.73,                  
     and/or 32.74 of this chapter authorizing the                       
     processing or manufacturing and distribution or                    
     redistribution of radiopharmaceuticals, generators,                
     reagent kits and/or sources and devices containing                 
     byproduct material. This category also includes the                
     possession and use of source material for shielding                
     authorized pursuant to Part 40 of this chapter when                
     included on the same license.......................          11,200
    D. Licenses and approvals issued pursuant to Secs.                  
     32.72, 32.73, and/or 32.74 of this chapter                         
     authorizing distribution or redistribution of                      
     radiopharmaceuticals, generators, reagent kits and/                
     or sources or devices not involving processing of                  
     byproduct material. This category also includes the                
     possession and use of source material for shielding                
     authorized pursuant to part 40 of this chapter when                
     included on the same license.......................           4,400
    E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material in sealed sources for irradiation of                      
     materials in which the source is not removed from                  
     its shield (self-shielded units)...................           3,200
    F. Licenses for possession and use of less than                     
     10,000 curies of byproduct material in sealed                      
     sources for irradiation of materials in which the                  
     source is exposed for irradiation purposes. This                   
     category also includes underwater irradiators for                  
     irradiation of materials in which the source is not                
     exposed for irradiation purposes...................           3,800
    G. Licenses for possession and use of 10,000 curies                 
     or more of byproduct material in sealed sources for                
     irradiation of materials in which the source is                    
     exposed for irradiation purposes. This category                    
     also includes underwater irradiators for                           
     irradiation of materials in which the source is not                
     exposed for irradiation purposes...................          19,600
    H. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of part 32                 
     of this chapter to distribute items containing                     
     byproduct material that require device review to                   
     persons exempt from the licensing requirements of                  
     part 30 of this chapter, except specific licenses                  
     authorizing redistribution of items that have been                 
     authorized for distribution to persons exempt from                 
     the licensing requirements of part 30 of this                      
     chapter............................................           5,000
    I. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart A of part 32                 
     of this chapter to distribute items containing                     
     byproduct material or quantities of byproduct                      
     material that do not require device evaluation to                  
     persons exempt from the licensing requirements of                  
     part 30 of this chapter, except for specific                       
     licenses authorizing redistribution of items that                  
     have been authorized for distribution to persons                   
     exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30                  
     of this chapter....................................           8,800
    J. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of part 32                 
     of this chapter to distribute items containing                     
     byproduct material that require sealed source and/                 
     or device review to persons generally licensed                     
     under part 31 of this chapter, except specific                     
     licenses authorizing redistribution of items that                  
     have been authorized for distribution to persons                   
     generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter...           3,800
    K. Licenses issued pursuant to subpart B of part 31                 
     of this chapter to distribute items containing                     
     byproduct material or quantities of byproduct                      
     material that do not require sealed source and/or                  
     device review to persons generally licensed under                  
     Part 31 of this chapter, except specific licenses                  
     authorizing redistribution of items that have been                 
     authorized for distribution to persons generally                   
     licensed under part 31 of this chapter.............           3,200
    L. Licenses of broad scope for possession and use of                
     byproduct material issued pursuant to parts 30 and                 
     33 of this chapter for research and development                    
     that do not authorize commercial distribution......          12,200
    M. Other licenses for possession and use of                         
     byproduct material issued pursuant to part 30 of                   
     this chapter for research and development that do                  
     not authorize commercial distribution..............           5,400
    N. Licenses that authorize services for other                       
     licensees, except:                                                 
         (1) Licenses that authorize only calibration                   
         and/or leak testing services are subject to the                
         fees specified in fee Category 3P and                          
        (2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal                      
         services are subject to the fees specified in                  
         fee Categories 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D                         6,000
    O. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material issued pursuant to Part 34 of this chapter                
     for industrial radiography operations. This                        
     category also includes the possession and use of                   
     source material for shielding authorized pursuant                  
     to Part 40 of this chapter when authorized on the                  
     same license.......................................          14,000
    P. All other specific byproduct material licenses,                  
     except those in Categories 4A through 9D...........           1,700
4. Waste disposal and processing:                                       
    A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                 
     waste byproduct material, source material, or                      
     special nuclear material from other persons for the                
     purpose of contingency storage or commercial land                  
     disposal by the licensee; or licenses authorizing                  
     contingency storage of low-level radioactive waste                 
     at the site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses                 
     for receipt of waste from other persons for                        
     incineration or other treatment, packaging of                      
     resulting waste and residues, and transfer of                      
     packages to another person authorized to receive or                
     dispose of waste material..........................      \5\101,600
    B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                 
     waste byproduct material, source material, or                      
     special nuclear material from other persons for the                
     purpose of packaging or repackaging the material.                  
     The licensee will dispose of the material by                       
     transfer to another person authorized to receive or                
     dispose of the material............................          14,400
    C. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of                 
     prepackaged waste byproduct material, source                       
     material, or special nuclear material from other                   
     persons. The licensee will dispose of the material                 
     by transfer to another person authorized to receive                
     or dispose of the material.........................           7,600
5. Well logging:                                                        
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material, source material, and/or special nuclear                  
     material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer                
     studies other than field flooding tracer studies...           8,100
    B. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material for field flooding tracer studies.........          13,100
6. Nuclear laundries:                                                   
    A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of                
     items contaminated with byproduct material, source                 
     material, or special nuclear material..............          14,600
7. Human use of byproduct, source, or special nuclear                   
 material.                                                              
    A. Licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35, 40, and                
     70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct                      
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy                
     devices. This category also includes the possession                
     and use of source material for shielding when                      
     authorized on the same license.....................         10,200 
[[Page 14695]]
                                                                        
    B. Licenses of broad scope issued to medical                        
     institutions or two or more physicians pursuant to                 
     parts 30, 33, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter                       
     authorizing research and development, including                    
     human use of byproduct material except licenses for                
     byproduct material, source material, or special                    
     nuclear material in sealed sources contained in                    
     teletherapy devices. This category also includes                   
     the possession and use of source material for                      
     shielding when authorized on the same license......       \9\23,300
    C. Other licenses issued pursuant to parts 30, 35,                  
     40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of                        
     byproduct material, source material, and/or special                
     nuclear material except licenses for byproduct                     
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy                
     devices. This category also includes the possession                
     and use of source material for shielding when                      
     authorized on the same license.....................        \9\4,700
8. Civil defense:                                                       
    A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct                     
     material, source material, or special nuclear                      
     material for civil defense activities..............           1,800
9. Device, product, or sealed source safety evaluation:                 
    A. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     devices or products containing byproduct material,                 
     source material, or special nuclear material,                      
     except reactor fuel devices, for commercial                        
     distribution.......................................           7,200
    B. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     devices or products containing byproduct material,                 
     source material, or special nuclear material                       
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel devices.............           3,700
    C. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     sealed sources containing byproduct material,                      
     source material, or special nuclear material,                      
     except reactor fuel, for commercial distribution...           1,600
    D. Registrations issued for the safety evaluation of                
     sealed sources containing byproduct material,                      
     source material, or special nuclear material,                      
     manufactured in accordance with the unique                         
     specifications of, and for use by, a single                        
     applicant, except reactor fuel.....................             780
10. Transportation of radioactive material:                             
    A. Certificates of Compliance or other package                      
     approvals issued for design of casks, packages, and                
     shipping containers.                                               
        Spent Fuel, High-Level Waste, and plutonium air                 
         packages.......................................          \6\N/A
        Other Casks.....................................          \6\N/A
    B. Approvals issued of 10 CFR part 71 quality                       
     assurance programs.                                                
        Users and Fabricators...........................          77,800
        Users...........................................           1,000
11. Standardized spent fuel facilities..................          \6\N/A
12. Special Projects....................................          \6\N/A
13. A. Spent fuel storage cask Certificate of Compliance          \6\N/A
    B. General licenses for storage of spent fuel under                 
     10 CFR 72.210......................................         291,500
14. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material                      
 licenses and other approvals authorizing                               
 decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site                 
 restoration activities pursuant to 10 CFR parts 30, 40,                
 70, and 72.............................................          \7\N/A
15. Import and Export licenses..........................          \8\N/A
16. Reciprocity.........................................          \8\N/A
17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to                  
 Government agencies....................................         417,700
18. Department of Energy:                                               
    A. Certificates of Compliance.......................   \10\1,200,000
    B. Uranium Mill Tailing Radiation Control Act                       
     (UMTRCA) activities................................       1,937,000
\1\Annual fees will be assessed based on whether a licensee held, during
  the fiscal year, a valid license with the NRC authorizing possession  
  and use of radioactive material. However, the annual fee is waived for
  those materials licenses and holders of certificates, registrations,  
  and approvals who either filed for termination of their licenses or   
  approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses prior to      
  October 1, 1994 and permanently ceased licensed activities entirely by
  September 30, 1994. Annual fees for licensees who filed for           
  termination of a license or for a POL during the fiscal year and for  
  new licenses issued during the fiscal year will be prorated in        
  accordance with the provisions of Sec. 171.17. If a person holds more 
  than one license, certificate, registration, or approval, the annual  
  fee(s) will be assessed for each license, certificate, registration,  
  or approval held by that person. For licenses that authorize more than
  one activity on a single license (e.g., human use and irradiator      
  activities), annual fees will be assessed for each category applicable
  to the license. Licensees paying annual fees under Category 1.A.(1).  
  are not subject to the annual fees of category 1.C and 1.D for sealed 
  sources authorized in the license and licensees paying annual fees    
  under Category 2.A(2) are not subject to the annual fees for Category 
  4.D.                                                                  
\2\Payment of the prescribed annual fee does not automatically renew the
  license, certificate, registration, or approval for which the fee is  
  paid. Renewal applications must be filed in accordance with the       
  requirements of Parts 30, 40, 70, 71, or 72 of this chapter.          
\3\For FYs 1996 through 1998, fees for these materials licenses will be 
  calculated and assessed in accordance with Sec. 171.13 and will be    
  published in the Federal Register for notice and comment.             
\4\A Class I license includes mill licenses issued for the extraction of
  uranium from uranium ore. A Class II license includes solution mining 
  licenses (in-situ and heap leach) issued for the extraction of uranium
  from uranium ores including research and development licenses. An     
  ``other'' license includes licenses for extraction of metals, heavy   
  metals, and rare earths.                                              
\5\Two licenses have been issued by NRC for land disposal of special    
  nuclear material. Once NRC issues a LLW disposal license for byproduct
  and source material, the Commission will consider establishing an     
  annual fee for this type of license.                                  
\6\Standardized spent fuel facilities, part 71 and 72 Certificates of   
  Compliance, and special reviews, such as topical reports, are not     
  assessed an annual fee because the generic costs of regulating these  
  activities are primarily attributable to the users of the designs     
  certificates, and topical reports.                                    
\7\Licensees in this category are not assessed an annual fee because    
  they are charged an annual fee in other categories while they are     
  licensed to operate.                                                  
\8\No annual fee is charged because it is not practical to administer   
  due to the relatively short life or temporary nature of the license.  
\9\Separate annual fees will not be assessed for pacemaker licenses     
  issued to medical institutions who also hold nuclear medicine licenses
  under Categories 7B or 7C.                                            
\10\This includes Certificates of Compliance issued to DOE that are not 
  under the Nuclear Waste Fund.                                         
\11\No annual fee has been established because there are currently no   
  licensees in this particular fee category.                            
(e) A surcharge is added for each category for which a base annual fee  
  is required. The surcharge consists of the following:                 
(1) To recover costs relating to LLW disposal generic activities, an    
  additional charge of $48,000 has been added to fee Categories 1.A.(1),
  1.A.(2) and 2.A.(1); an additional charge of $1,400 has been added to 
  fee Categories 1.B., 1.D., 2.C., 3.A., 3.B., 3.C., 3.L., 3.M., 3.N.,  
  4.A., 4.B., 4.C., 4.D., 5.B., 6.A., and 7.B.; and an additional charge
  of $21,000 has been added to fee Category 17.                         
(2) To recover these budgeted costs that are not directly or solely     
  attributable to materials licensees and holders of certificates,      
  registrations or approvals a surcharge has been added for the         
  following:                                                            
(i) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or classes  
  of licensees; e.g., international cooperative safety program and      
  international safeguards activities; support for the Agreement State  
  program; site decommissioning management plan (SDMP) activities and   
[[Page 14696]]
                                                                        
(ii) Activities not currently assessed under 10 CFR part 170 licensing  
  and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission policy, e.g., 
  reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit educational            
  institutions and Federal agencies; activities related to              
  decommissioning and reclamation and costs that would not be collected 
  from small entities based on Commission policy in accordance with the 
  Regulatory Flexibility Act.                                           

  10. In Section 171.19, paragraphs (b) and (c) are revised to read 
as follows:


Sec. 171.19  Payment.

* * * * *
    (b) For FY 1995 through FY 1998, the Commission will adjust the 
fourth quarterly bill for operating power reactors and certain 
materials licensees to recover the full amount of the revised annual 
fee. If the amounts collected in the first three quarters exceed the 
amount of the revised annual fee, the overpayment will be refunded. The 
NRC will also adjust the FY 1995 annual fee bills to reflect a credit 
for any payments received for those FY 1995 inspection costs that are 
included in the FY 1995 annual fee. All other licensees, or holders of 
a certificate, registration, or approval of a QA program will be sent a 
bill for the full amount of the annual fee upon publication of the 
final rule. Payment is due on the effective date of the final rule and 
interest accrues from the effective date of the final rule. However, 
interest will be waived if payment is received within 30 days from the 
effective date of the final rule.
    (c) For FYs 1995 through 1998, annual fees in the amount of 
$100,000 or more and described in the Federal Register notice pursuant 
to Sec. 171.13 must be paid in quarterly installments of 25 percent as 
billed by the NRC. The quarters begin on October 1, January 1, April 1, 
and July 1 of each fiscal year. Annual fees of less than $100,000 must 
be paid once a year as billed by the NRC.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of March, 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James M. Taylor,
Executive Director for Operations.
Appendix A to This Proposed Rule Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for 
the Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170 (License Fees) and 10 CFR Part 171 
(Annual Fees)

I. Background

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
establishes as a principle of regulatory practice that agencies 
endeavor to fit regulatory and informational requirements, 
consistent with applicable statutes, to a scale commensurate with 
the businesses, organizations, and government jurisdictions to which 
they apply. To achieve this principle, the Act requires that 
agencies consider the impact of their actions on small entities. If 
the agency cannot certify that a rule will not significantly impact 
a substantial number of small entities, then a regulatory 
flexibility analysis is required to examine the impacts on small 
entities and the alternatives to minimize these impacts.
    To assist in considering these impacts under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, the NRC adopted size standards for determining 
which NRC licensees qualify as small entities (50 FR 50241; December 
9, 1985). These size standards were clarified November 6, 1991 (56 
FR 56672). On April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the Small Business 
Administration (SBA) issued a final rule changing its size 
standards. The SBA adjusted its receipts-based size standards levels 
to mitigate the effects of inflation from 1984 to 1994. On November 
30, 1994 (59 FR 61293), the NRC published a proposed rule to amend 
its size standards. The NRC proposed to adjust its receipts-based 
size standards from $3.5 million to $5 million to accommodate 
inflation and to conform to the SBA rule. The NRC also proposed to 
eliminate the separate $1 million size standard for private practice 
physicians and to apply a receipts-based size standard of $5 million 
to this class of licensees. This mirrors the revised SBA standard of 
$5 million for medical practitioners. The NRC also proposed to 
establish a size standard of 500 or fewer employees for business 
concerns that are manufacturing entities. This standard is the most 
commonly used SBA employee standard and would be the standard 
applicable to the types of manufacturing industries that hold an NRC 
license. The final rule that would revise the NRC's size standards 
has been sent to the SBA for review and approval. The NRC intends to 
adopt the revised standards in the final FY 1995 fee rule. The small 
entity fee categories in Sec. 171.16(c) of this proposed rule have 
been modified to reflect the proposed changes in the size standards. 
It is proposed that a new maximum small entity fee for manufacturing 
industries with 35 to 500 employees be established at $1,800 and a 
lower-tier small entity fee of $400 be established for those 
manufacturing industries with less than 35 employees. The receipts-
based lower-tier of $250,000 has been raised to $350,000 to maintain 
the lower-tier at the same relative amount of the new small entity 
size standard of $5 million. The NRC proposed size standards are as 
follows:
    (a) A small business is a for-profit concern and is a--
    (1) Concern that provides a service or a concern not engaged in 
manufacturing with average gross receipts of $5 million or less over 
its last three completed fiscal years; or
    (2) Manufacturing concern with an average number of 500 or fewer 
employees based upon employment during each pay period for the 
preceding 12 calendar months.
    (b) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which 
is independently owned and operated and has annual gross receipts of 
$5 million or less.
    (c) A small governmental jurisdiction is a government of a city, 
county, town, township, village, school district, or special 
district with a population of less than 50,000.
    (d) A small educational institution is one that is--
    (1) Supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction; 
or
    (2) Not state or publicly supported and has 500 or fewer 
employees.
    (e) For purposes of this section, the NRC shall use the Small 
Business Administration definition of receipts to include ``all 
revenues in whatever form received or accrued from whatever source * 
* *'' (13 CFR 402(b)(2)). A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large 
entity does not qualify as a small entity for purposes of this 
section.
    Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1990 (OBRA-90), requires that the NRC recover approximately 100 
percent of its budget authority, less appropriations from the 
Nuclear Waste Fund, for Fiscal Years (FY) 1991 through 1995 by 
assessing license and annual fees. OBRA-90 was amended in 1993 to 
extend the 100 percent recovery requirement for NRC through 1998. 
For FY 1991, the amount collected was approximately $445 million; 
for FY 1992, approximately $492.5 million; for FY 1993 about $518.9 
million; for FY 1994 about $499.6 million and the amount to be 
collected in FY 1995 is approximately $503.6 million.
    To comply with OBRA-90, the Commission amended its fee 
regulations in 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 in FY 1991 (56 FR 31472; 
July 10, 1991); in FY 1992 (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992); in FY 1993 
(58 FR 38666; July 20, 1993); and in FY 1994 (59 FR 36895; July 20, 
1994) based on a careful evaluation of over 1,000 comments. These 
final rules established the methodology used by NRC in identifying 
and determining the fees assessed and collected in FY 1991, FY 1992, 
FY 1993 and FY 1994. The NRC has used the same methodology 
established in the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993 and FY 1994 rulemakings 
to establish the proposed fees to be assessed for FY 1995 with the 
following exceptions: (1) the Commission has reinstated the annual 
fee exemption for nonprofit educational institutions; (2) in the FY 
1994 final rule, the NRC directly assigned additional effort to the 
reactor and materials programs for the Office of Investigations, the 
Office of Enforcement, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, 
and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; and (3) for FY 1995, 
the NRC is proposing the use of cost center concepts, now being used 
for budgeting purposes, to develop the fees. The NRC is also 
proposing: (1) To change the method for allocating the budgeted 
costs (about $56 million) that cause fairness and equity concerns; 
(2) eliminate the materials ``flat'' inspection fees in 10 CFR 
170.31 and include the inspections with the annual fees in 10 CFR 
171.16(d); and (3) establish two professional hourly rates to better 
align the budgeted costs with the major classes of licensees. For FY 
1995, the methodology for assessing low-level waste (LLW) costs was 
changed in FY 1993 based on the U.S. Court of Appeals decision dated 
March 16, 1993 (988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). The FY 1993 
[[Page 14697]] LLW allocation method has been continued in the FY 
1995 final rule.

II. Impact on Small Entities

    The comments received on the proposed FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, 
and FY 1994 fee rule revisions and the small entity certifications 
received in response to the final FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 
1994 fee rules indicate that NRC licensees qualifying as small 
entities under the NRC's size standards are primarily those licensed 
under the NRC's materials program. Therefore, this analysis will 
focus on the economic impact of the annual fees on materials 
licensees.
    The Commission's fee regulations result in substantial fees 
being charged to those individuals, organizations, and companies 
that are licensed under the NRC materials program. Of these 
materials licensees, about 18 percent (approximately 1,300 
licensees) have requested small entity certification in the past. In 
FY 1993, the NRC conducted a survey of its materials licensees. The 
results of this survey indicated that about 25 percent of these 
licensees could qualify as small entities under the current NRC size 
standards.
    The commenters on the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 
proposed fee rules indicated the following results if the proposed 
annual fees were not modified:
    Large firms would gain an unfair competitive advantage over 
small entities. One commenter noted that a small well-logging 
company (a ``Mom and Pop'' type of operation) would find it 
difficult to absorb the annual fee, while a large corporation would 
find it easier. Another commenter noted that the fee increase could 
be more easily absorbed by a high-volume nuclear medicine clinic. A 
gauge licensee noted that, in the very competitive soils testing 
market, the annual fees would put it at an extreme disadvantage with 
its much larger competitors because the proposed fees would be the 
same for a two-person licensee as for a large firm with thousands of 
employees.

--Some firms would be forced to cancel their licenses. One 
commenter, with receipts of less than $500,000 per year, stated that 
the proposed rule would, in effect, force it to relinquish its soil 
density gauge and license, thereby reducing its ability to do its 
work effectively. Another commenter noted that the rule would force 
the company and many other small businesses to get rid of the 
materials license altogether. Commenters stated that the proposed 
rule would result in about 10 percent of the well-logging licensees 
terminating their licenses immediately and approximately 25 percent 
terminating their licenses before the next annual assessment.
--Some companies would go out of business. One commenter noted that 
the proposal would put it, and several other small companies, out of 
business or, at the very least, make it hard to survive.
--Some companies would have budget problems. Many medical licensees 
commented that, in these times of slashed reimbursements, the 
proposed increase of the existing fees and the introduction of 
additional fees would significantly affect their budgets. Another 
noted that, in view of the cuts by Medicare and other third party 
carriers, the fees would produce a hardship and some facilities 
would experience a great deal of difficulty in meeting this 
additional burden.

    Over the past four years, approximately 2,900 license, approval, 
and registration terminations have been requested. Although some of 
these terminations were requested because the license was no longer 
needed or licenses or registrations could be combined, indications 
are that other termination requests were due to the economic impact 
of the fees.
    The NRC continues to receive written and oral comments from 
small materials licensees. These comments indicate that the $3.5 
million threshold for small entities is not representative of small 
businesses with gross receipts in the thousands of dollars. These 
commenters believe that the $1,800 maximum annual fee represents a 
relatively high percentage of gross annual receipts for these ``Mom 
and Pop'' type businesses. Therefore, even the reduced annual fee 
could have a significant impact on the ability of these types of 
businesses to continue to operate.
    To alleviate the continuing significant impact of the annual 
fees on a substantial number of small entities, the NRC considered 
alternatives, in accordance with the RFA. These alternatives were 
evaluated in the FY 1991 rule (56 FR 31472; July 10, 1991) in the FY 
1992 rule (57 FR 32691; July 23, 1992), in the FY 1993 rule (58 FR 
38666; July 20, 1993) and in the FY 1994 rule (59 FR 36895; July 20, 
1994). The alternatives considered by the NRC can be summarized as 
follows.

--Base fees on some measure of the amount of radioactivity possessed 
by the licensee (e.g., number of sources).
--Base fees on the frequency of use of the licensed radioactive 
material (e.g., volume of patients).
--Base fees on the NRC size standards for small entities.

    The NRC has reexamined the FY 1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 
1994 evaluation of the these alternatives. Based on that 
reexamination, the NRC continues to support the previous conclusion. 
That is, the NRC continues to believe that establishment of a 
maximum fee for small entities is the most appropriate option to 
reduce the impact on small entities.
    The NRC established, and is continuing for FY 1995, a maximum 
annual fee for small entities. The RFA and its implementing guidance 
do not provide specific guidelines on what constitutes a significant 
economic impact on a small entity. Therefore, the NRC has no 
benchmark to assist it in determining the amount or the percent of 
gross receipts that should be charged to a small entity. For FY 
1995, the NRC will rely on the analysis previously completed that 
established a maximum annual fee for a small entity and the amount 
of cost that must be received from other NRC licensees as a result 
of establishing the maximum annual fees. The NRC continues to 
believe that license and inspection fees, or any adjustments to 
these fees during the past year, do not have a significant impact on 
small entities. In issuing this proposed rule for FY 1995, the NRC 
concludes that the materials license fees do not have a significant 
impact on a substantial number of small entities and that the 
maximum annual small entity fee of $1,800 be continued.
    By maintaining the maximum annual fee for small entities at 
$1,800, the annual fee for many small entities will be reduced while 
at the same time materials licensees, including small entities, pay 
for most of the FY 1995 costs ($27.1 million of the total $32.9 
million) attributable to them. The costs not recovered from small 
entities are allocated to other materials licensees and to operating 
power reactors. However, the amount that must be recovered from 
other licensees as a result of maintaining the maximum annual fee is 
not expected to increase. Therefore, the NRC is continuing, for FY 
1995, the maximum annual fee (base annual fee plus surcharge) for 
certain small entities at $1,800 for each fee category covered by 
each license issued to a small entity.
    While reducing the impact on many small entities, the Commission 
agrees that the proposed maximum annual fee of $1,800 for small 
entities, when added to the part 170 license fees, may continue to 
have a significant impact on materials licensees with annual gross 
receipts in the thousands of dollars. Therefore, as in FY 1992, FY 
1993, and FY 1994, the NRC proposes to continue the lower-tier small 
entity annual fee of $400 for small entities with relatively low 
gross annual receipts. The lower-tier small entity fee of $400 will 
also apply to manufacturing concerns and educational institutions 
not State or publicly supported with less than 35 employees. This 
lower-tier small entity fee was first established in the final rule 
published in the Federal Register on April 17, 1992 (57 FR 13625) 
and would now include manufacturing companies with a relatively 
small number of licensees.
    In establishing the annual fee for lower-tier small entities, 
the NRC continues to retain a balance between the objectives of the 
RFA and OBRA-90. This balance can be measured by: (1) The amount of 
costs attributable to small entities that is transferred to larger 
entities (the small entity subsidy); (2) the total annual fee small 
entities pay, relative to this subsidy; and (3) how much the annual 
fee is for a lower-tier small entity. Based on this proposed rule, 
the amount of the small entity subsidy is lower than last year. 
Thus, no change is proposed.

III. Summary

    The NRC has determined the annual fee significantly impacts a 
substantial number of small entities. A maximum fee for small 
entities strikes a balance between the requirement to collect 100 
percent of the NRC budget and the requirement to consider means of 
reducing the impact of the proposed fee on small entities. On the 
basis of its regulatory flexibility analyses, the NRC concludes that 
a proposed maximum annual fee of $1,800 for small entities and a 
proposed lower-tier small entity annual fee of $400 for small 
businesses and not-for-profit organizations with gross annual 
receipts of less than $350,000, small governmental jurisdictions 
with a population of less than 20,000, small manufacturing entities 
that [[Page 14698]] have less than 35 employees and educational 
institutions that are not State or publicly supported and have less 
than 35 employees will reduce the impact on small entities. At the 
same time, these reduced annual fees are consistent with the 
objectives of OBRA-90. Thus, the revised fees for small entities 
maintain a balance between the objectives of OBRA-90 and the RFA. 
The NRC has used the methodology and procedures developed for the FY 
1991, FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 fee rules in this proposed rule 
except those noted in Section II, in establishing the FY 1995 fees. 
Therefore, the analysis and conclusions established in the FY 1991, 
FY 1992, FY 1993, and FY 1994 rules remain valid for this proposed 
rule for FY 1995.

[FR Doc. 95-6485 Filed 3-17-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P