8508 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 

RIN 3150–AI28 

Revision of Fee Schedules; Fee 

Recovery for FY 2008 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

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 (OBRA–90), 

as amended, which requires that the 

NRC recover approximately 90 percent 

of its budget authority in fiscal year (FY) 

2008, less the amounts appropriated 

from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), 

amounts appropriated for Waste 

Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), and 

amounts appropriated for generic 

homeland security activities. Based on 

the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2008 (Pub. L. 110–161), signed by the 

President on December 26, 2007, the 

NRC’s required fee recovery amount for 

the FY 2008 budget is approximately 

$779.1 million. After accounting for 

carryover and billing adjustments, the 

total amount to be billed as fees is 

approximately $760.7 million. 

DATES: The comment period expires 

March 14, 2008. 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 OBRA–90 requires 

that the NRC collect the FY 2008 fees by 

September 30, 2008, requests for 

extensions of the comment period will 

not be granted. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any one of the following methods. 

Please include number RIN 3150–AI28 

in the subject line of your comments. 

Comments on rulemakings submitted in 

writing or in electronic form will be 

made available to the public in their 

entirety on the NRC rulemaking Web 

site. Personal information will not be 

removed from your comments. 

Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: 

Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. 

E-mail comments to: 

Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you 

do not receive a reply e-mail confirming 

that we have received your comments, 

contact us directly at (301) 415–1677. 

You may also submit comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Address questions 

about this Web site to Ms. Carol 

Gallagher, 301–415–5905; e-mail 

CAG@nrc.gov. 

Hand deliver comments to: 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 

between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal 

workdays. (Telephone 301–415–1677.) 

Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 

415–1101. 

Publicly available documents related 

to this rulemaking may be viewed 

electronically on the public computers 

located at the NRC’s Public Document 

Room (PDR), Room O1 F21, One White 

Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland. The PDR 

reproduction contractor will copy 

documents for a fee. Selected 

documents, including comments, may 

be viewed and downloaded 

electronically via http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

To obtain additional information on 

the NRC’s FY 2008 budget request, 

commenters and others may review 

NUREG–1100, Volume 23, 

‘‘Performance Budget: Fiscal Year 2008’’ 

(February 2007), which describes the 

NRC’s budget for FY 2008, including the 

activities to be performed in each 

program. This document is available on 

the NRC’s public Web site at http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. Note, 

however, that NUREG–1100, Volume 

23, is based on the NRC’s FY 2008 

budget request to Congress, and that the 

fees in this rulemaking are based on the 

NRC appropriation in the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2008 (Pub. L. 110– 

161) which includes an additional 

approximately $9.5 million above the 

NRC’s budget request. The allocation of 

the Public Law 110–161 budget to 

planned activities within each program, 

and to each fee class and surcharge 

category, is included in the publicly 

available work papers supporting this 

rulemaking. 

Publicly available documents created 

or received at the NRC after November 

1, 1999, are available electronically at 

the NRC’s Electronic Reading Room at 

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

adams.html. From this site, the public 

can gain entry into the NRC’s 

Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS), which 

provides text and image files of NRC’s 

public documents. If you do not have 

access to ADAMS or if there are 

problems in accessing the documents 

located in ADAMS, contact the NRC 

PDR Reference staff at 1–800–397–4209; 

301–415–4737 or by e-mail at 

pdr@nrc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Renu Suri, telephone 301–415–0161; 

Office of the Chief Financial Officer, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

II. Proposed Action 

III. Plain Language 

IV. Voluntary Consensus Standards 

V. Environmental Impact: Categorical 

Exclusion 

VI. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement 

VII. Regulatory Analysis 

VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

IX. Backfit Analysis 

I. Background 

The NRC is required each year, under 

OBRA–90, as amended, (42 U.S.C. 2214) 

to recover approximately 90 percent of 

its budget authority, less the amounts 

appropriated from the NWF, amounts 

appropriated for WIR, and amounts 

appropriated for generic homeland 

security activities (‘‘non-fee items’’), 

through fees to NRC licensees and 

applicants. The NRC receives from the 

general fund each year, 10 percent of its 

budget authority (less non-fee items) to 

pay for the cost of agency activities that 

do not provide a direct benefit to NRC 

licensees, such as international 

assistance and Agreement State 

activities under section 274 of the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. 

The NRC assesses two types of fees to 

meet the requirements of OBRA–90, as 

amended. First, license and inspection 

fees, established in 10 CFR part 170 

under the authority of the Independent 

Offices Appropriation Act of 1952 

(IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701, recover the 

NRC’s cost of providing special benefits 

to identifiable applicants and licensees. 

Examples of the services provided by 

the NRC for which these fees are 

assessed include the review of 

applications for new licenses and the 

review of renewal applications, the 

review of license amendment requests, 

and inspections. Second, annual fees 

established in 10 CFR part 171 under 

the authority of OBRA–90, as amended, 

recover generic and other regulatory 

costs not otherwise recovered through 

10 CFR part 170 fees. 

Based on Public Law 110–161, the 

NRC’s required fee recovery amount for 

the FY 2008 budget is approximately 

$779.1 million, which is decreased by 

approximately $18.4 million to account 

for billing adjustments (i.e. carryover 

from prior year, expected unpaid 

invoices, payments for prior year 

invoices), resulting in a total of 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 8509 

approximately $760.7 million to be 

billed as fees in FY 2008. 

In accordance with OBRA–90, as 

amended, $29.4 million of the budgeted 

resources associated with generic 

homeland security activities are 

excluded from the NRC’s fee base in FY 

2008. This legislative provision was 

discussed in the NRC’s FY 2006 

proposed and final fee rules (71 FR 

7349, February 10, 2006; 71 FR 30721, 

May 30, 2006). These funds cover 

generic activities that support an entire 

license fee class or classes of licensees 

such as rulemakings and guidance 

development. Under the authority of the 

IOAA, the NRC will continue to bill 

under part 170 for all licensee-specific 

homeland security-related services 

provided, including security inspections 

and security plan reviews. 

The amount of the NRC’s required fee 

collections is set by law, and is therefore 

outside the scope of this rulemaking. In 

FY 2008, the NRC’s total fee recovery 

amount increased by $109.8 million 

from FY 2007, mostly in response to 

increased workload for new reactor 

licensing activities. The FY 2008 budget 

was allocated to the fee classes that the 

budgeted activities support. As such, 

the proposed annual fees for reactor 

licensees increased. The proposed 

annual fees for most other licensees 

decreased due to reductions in budgeted 

resources allocated to the fee classes. 

Another factor affecting the amount of 

annual fees for each fee class is the 

estimated collection under part 170, 

discussed in the Proposed Action 

section of this document. 

II. Proposed Action 

The NRC is proposing to amend its 

licensing, inspection, and annual fees to 

recover approximately 90 percent of its 

FY 2008 budget authority less the 

appropriations for non-fee items. The 

NRC’s total budget authority for FY 

2008 is $926.1 million. The non-fee 

items include approximately $29 

million appropriated from the NWF, $2 

million for WIR activities, and $29.4 

million for generic homeland security 

activities. Based on the 90 percent feerecovery requirement, the NRC must 

recover approximately $779.1 million in 

FY 2008 through part 170 licensing and 

inspection fees and part 171 annual 

fees. The amount required by law to be 

recovered through fees for FY 2008 is 

$109.8 million more than the amount 

estimated for recovery in FY 2007, an 

increase of approximately 16.4 percent. 

The FY 2008 fee recovery amount 

decreased by $5 million to account for 

billing adjustments (i.e., for FY 2008 

invoices that the NRC estimates will not 

be paid during the fiscal year, less 

payments received in FY 2008 for FY 

2007 invoices). The FY 2008 fee 

recovery amount is also reduced by 

approximately $13.3 million carryover 

from additional collections in FY 2007 

that were unanticipated when the final 

FY 2007 fee rule was published. This 

leaves approximately $760.7 million to 

be billed as fees in FY 2008 through part 

170 licensing and inspection fees and 

part 171 annual fees. 

Table I summarizes the budget and fee 

recovery amounts for FY 2008 

(Individual values may not sum to totals 

due to rounding.) 

TABLE I.—BUDGET AND FEE RECOVERY AMOUNTS FOR FY 2008 

[Dollars in millions] 

Total Budget Authority ............................................................................................................................................................................. $926.1 

Less non-fee items .................................................................................................................................................................................. ¥60.4 

Balance ............................................................................................................................................................................................. $865.7 

Fee Recovery Rate for FY 2008 ...................................................................................................................................................... × 90.0% 

Total Amount to be Recovered for FY 2008 ............................................................................................................................. $779.1 

Less Carryover from FY 2007 ................................................................................................................................................................. ¥13.3 

Less Part 171 Billing Adjustments: 

Unpaid FY 2008 Invoices (estimated) .............................................................................................................................................. 2.7 

Less Payments Received in FY 2008 for Prior Year Invoices (estimated) ..................................................................................... ¥7.8 

Subtotal ..................................................................................................................................................................................... ¥18.4 

Amount to be Recovered Through Parts 170 and 171 Fees .................................................................................................................. $760.7 

Less Estimated Part 170 Fees ................................................................................................................................................................ ¥283.5 

Part 171 Fee Collections Required .................................................................................................................................................. $477.2 

Approximately 76 percent of the 

$13.3 million carryover amount was for 

unpredicted FY 2007 part 170 revenues 

for licensing and inspection services. At 

the time the FY 2007 final fee rule was 

published, NRC estimated the part 170 

revenues based on billings for the prior 

four quarters. The rate of actual billings 

and revenues for the remainder of FY 

2007 was higher than expected. Some of 

the factors contributing to the greater 

than estimated part 170 revenue 

collections were higher billings for 

review of design certifications and preapplication interactions related to new 

reactors, and materials licensing reviews 

billed to government agencies for the 

first time. In August 2007, NRC began 

billing government agencies in 

accordance with the Energy Policy Act 

of 2005 (also see 71 FR 30731; May 30, 

2006, for more discussion). The 

remainder of the $13.3 million carryover 

amount resulted from higher annual fees 

collected in FY 2007. Some of the 

factors for the higher collections were 

timing of the effective date of the FY 

2007 fee rule, and collections for prior 

years. The FY 2007 fee rule went into 

effect August 6, 2007 with reduced fee 

amounts for most of the materials 

licensees. A majority of these licensees 

paid their fees on their anniversary 

month during FY 2007, based on the FY 

2006 fee schedule (which had higher 

fees). This resulted in higher fee 

collections in FY 2007. NRC also 

collected greater than expected annual 

fees due to billings for prior years which 

were identified in FY 2007. 

For FY 2008, the $13.3 million 

carryover amount will offset the fees 

statutorily required to be collected 

resulting in reductions in the annual fee 

for all fee classes. In addition, part 170 

revenue estimates have been adjusted to 

reflect the current rate of billings to 

licensees. 

The NRC estimates that in FY 2008 

approximately $283.5 million will be 

recovered from part 170 fees. This 

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8510 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

represents an increase of approximately 

33 percent as compared to the actual 

part 170 collections of $213.7 million 

for FY 2007. The NRC derived the FY 

2008 estimate of part 170 fee collections 

based on the previous four quarters of 

billing data for each license fee class, 

with adjustments to account for changes 

in the NRC’s FY 2008 budget, as 

appropriate. The remaining $477.2 

million will be recovered through the 

part 171 annual fees in FY 2008, 

compared to $465.3 million for FY 2007, 

an increase of approximately 2.6 

percent. 

The FY 2008 final fee rule will be a 

‘‘major rule’’ as defined by the 

Congressional Review Act of 1996, 5 

U.S.C. 801–808. Therefore, the NRC’s 

fee schedules for FY 2008 will become 

effective 60 days after publication of the 

final rule in the Federal Register. The 

NRC will send an invoice for the 

amount of the annual fee to reactors, 

part 72 licensees, major fuel cycle 

facilities, and other licensees with 

annual fees of $100,000 or more, upon 

publication of the FY 2008 final rule. 

For these licensees, payment is due on 

the effective date of the FY 2008 final 

rule. Because these licensees are billed 

quarterly, the payment due is the 

amount of the total FY 2008 annual fee, 

less payments made in the first three 

quarters of the fiscal year. 

Materials licensees with annual fees 

of less than $100,000 are billed 

annually. Those materials licensees 

whose license anniversary date during 

FY 2008 falls before the effective date of 

the FY 2008 final rule will be billed for 

the annual fee during the anniversary 

month of the license at the FY 2007 

annual fee rate. Those materials 

licensees whose license anniversary 

date falls on or after the effective date 

of the FY 2008 final rule will be billed 

for the annual fee at the FY 2008 annual 

fee rate during the anniversary month of 

the license, and payment will be due on 

the date of the invoice. 

As a matter of courtesy, the NRC 

plans to continue mailing the proposed 

fee rule to all licensees, although, as a 

cost saving measure, in accordance with 

its FY 1998 announcement, the NRC has 

discontinued mailing the final fee rule 

to all licensees. Accordingly, the NRC 

does not plan to routinely mail the FY 

2008 final fee rule or future final fee 

rules to licensees. 

The NRC will send the final rule to 

any licensee or other person upon 

specific request. To request a copy, 

contact the License Fee Team, Division 

of Financial Management, Office of the 

Chief Financial Officer, at 301–415–

7554, or e-mail fees@nrc.gov. The NRC 

plans to publish the final fee rule no 

later than June 2008. In addition to 

publication in the Federal Register, the 

final rule will be available on the 

Internet at regulations.gov. 

The NRC is proposing to amend 10 

CFR parts 170 and 171 as discussed in 

Sections II.A and II.B of this document. 

A. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 170: 

Fees for Facilities, Materials, Import and 

Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory 

Services Under the Atomic Energy Act 

of 1954, as Amended 

The NRC FY 2007 fee rule established 

one hourly rate to recover the full cost 

of activities under part 170, and to use 

this rate to calculate ‘‘flat’’ application 

fees. The change from using two hourly 

rates to one hourly rate was discussed 

in the NRC’s FY 2007 proposed and 

final fee rules (72 FR 5110, February 2, 

2007; 72 FR 31405, June 6, 2007). 

The NRC is proposing the following 

changes: 

1. Hourly Rate 

The NRC’s hourly rate is used in 

assessing full cost fees for specific 

services provided, as well as flat fees for 

certain application reviews. The NRC is 

proposing to change the FY 2008 hourly 

rate to $238. This rate would be 

applicable to all activities for which fees 

are assessed under § § 170.21 and 

170.31. The FY 2008 proposed hourly 

rate is lower than the hourly rate of 

$258 in the FY 2007 final fee rule 

primarily due to the revised higher 

estimate of direct hours per FTE used in 

the hourly calculation. The hourly rate 

calculation is described in further detail 

in the following paragraphs. 

The NRC’s single hourly rate is 

derived by dividing the sum of 

recoverable budgeted resources for (1) 

mission direct program salaries and 

benefits; (2) mission indirect salaries 

and benefits and contract activity; and 

(3) agency management and support and 

IG, by mission direct FTE hours. The 

only budgeted resources excluded from 

the hourly rate are those for mission 

direct contract activities. Although the 

numerator, i.e. net recoverable budget 

excluding contract activities, increased 

by 11 percent as compared with FY 

2007, it is lower than the rate of increase 

in the denominator, i.e. mission direct 

FTE hours, which increased by 21 

percent. This resulted in a lower hourly 

rate for FY 2008 as compared with FY 

2007. The increase in the mission direct 

FTE hours in FY 2008 compared with 

FY 2007 is due to the revised higher 

estimate of direct hours per FTE (1,371 

hours vs. 1,287 hours) and increase in 

direct FTEs (2,079 FTE vs. 1,835 FTE). 

The NRC has reviewed data from its 

time and labor system to determine if 

the direct hours worked annually per 

direct FTE estimate requires updating 

for the FY 2008 fee rule. Based on this 

review of the most recent data available, 

the NRC determined that 1,371 hours is 

the best estimate of direct hours worked 

annually per direct FTE. This estimate 

excludes all non-mission direct hours, 

such as training, general administration, 

and leave. Because the NRC’s hourly 

rates are calculated by dividing net 

recoverable budget (excluding contract 

activities) by the product of budgeted 

mission direct FTE and annual direct 

hours per FTE, the higher the number of 

direct hours per FTE used in the 

calculation, the lower the hourly rates. 

The NRC is proposing to update its 

hourly rate calculation to reflect its 

latest estimate of direct hours per FTE 

to more accurately reflect the NRC’s cost 

of providing part 170 services, which 

would allow the NRC to more fully 

recover the cost of these services 

through part 170 fees. The NRC believes 

that this is consistent with guidance 

provided in the Office of Management 

and Budget Circular A–25 on recovering 

the full cost of services provided to 

identifiable recipients. The resulting 

lower hourly rate would result in both 

decreased full cost fees for licensing and 

inspection activities, and decreased 

materials flat fees for license 

applications. 

Table II shows the results of the 

hourly rate calculation methodology. 

(Individual values may not sum to totals 

due to rounding.) 

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TABLE II.—FY 2008 HOURLY RATE CALCULATION

Mission Direct Program Salaries & Benefits ........................................................................................................................................... $292.6M 

Mission Indirect Salaries & Benefits, and Contract Activity .................................................................................................................... 120.7M 

Agency Management and Support, and IG ............................................................................................................................................. 266.2M 

Subtotal ............................................................................................................................................................................................. $679.5M 

Less Offsetting Receipts .......................................................................................................................................................................... ¥0.0M 

Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate .............................................................................................................................................. $679.5M 

Mission Direct FTEs ................................................................................................................................................................................ 2,079 

Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate divided by Mission Direct FTE times 1,371 hours) .......................... $238 

As shown in Table II, dividing the 

$679.5 million budgeted amount 

(rounded) included in the hourly rate by 

total mission direct hours (2,079 FTE 

times 1,371 hours) results in an hourly 

rate of $238. The hourly rate is rounded 

to the nearest whole dollar. 

2. ‘‘Flat’’ Application Fee Changes 

The NRC is proposing to adjust the 

current flat application fees in §§ 170.21 

and 170.31 to reflect the revised hourly 

rate of $238. These flat fees are 

calculated by multiplying the average 

professional staff hours needed to 

process the licensing actions by the 

proposed professional hourly rate for FY 

2008. The agency estimates the average 

professional staff hours needed to 

process licensing actions every other 

year as part of its biennial review of fees 

performed in compliance with the Chief 

Financial Officers Act of 1990. This 

review was last performed as part of the 

FY 2007 fee rulemaking. The lower 

hourly rate of $238 is the main reason 

for the reduction in the application fees. 

The amounts of the materials 

licensing flat fees are rounded so that 

the fees would be convenient to the user 

and the effects of rounding would be 

‘‘de minimis.’’ Fees under $1,000 are 

rounded to the nearest $10, fees that are 

greater than $1,000 but less than 

$100,000 are rounded to the nearest 

$100, and fees that are greater than 

$100,000 are rounded to the nearest 

$1,000. 

The proposed licensing flat fees are 

applicable for fee categories K.1. 

through K.5. of § 170.21, and fee 

categories 1.C., 1.D., 2.B., 2.C., 3.A. 

through 3.S., 4.B. through 9.D., 10.B, 

15.A. through 15.R., 16, and 17 of 

§ 170.31. Applications filed on or after 

the effective date of the FY 2008 final 

fee rule would be subject to the revised 

fees in the final rule. 

3. Administrative Amendments 

The NRC is adding program codes 

next to the materials users fee categories 

in § 170.31. When NRC receives a 

materials users license application, a 

five-digit program code number is 

assigned by the agency to each license 

to designate the major activity or 

principal use authorized in the license. 

More than one code may apply to a 

given license. The fee amount for the 

license under the 10 CFR parts 170 and 

171 is determined by the fee category 

which is also based on the authorized 

usage described on the license. To 

reduce the risk of misinterpretation of 

material uses authorized in the license 

while establishing a fee category, the 

NRC is implementing a process that 

links a program code directly to a fee 

category. Once a program code is 

assigned to the license, it will assist the 

licensee to correctly identify the fee 

amount(s) by looking up the program 

code(s) in § 170.31. 

In summary, the NRC is proposing to 

make the following changes to 10 CFR 

part 170: 

1. Establish revised professional 

hourly rate to use in assessing fees for 

specific services; 

2. Revise the license application fees 

to reflect the proposed FY 2008 hourly 

rate; and 

3. Make certain administrative 

changes for purposes of clarification. 

B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: 

Annual Fees for Reactor Licenses and 

Fuel Cycle Licenses and Materials 

Licenses, Including Holders of 

Certificates of Compliance, 

Registrations, and Quality Assurance 

Program Approvals and Government 

Agencies Licensed by the NRC 

The NRC proposes to use its fee relief 

to reduce all licensees’ annual fees and 

make changes to the number of NRC 

licensees. This rulemaking also 

proposes to establish rebaselined annual 

fees based on the NRC’s FY 2008 budget 

in Public Law 110–161. The proposed 

amendments are described as follows: 

1. Application of ‘‘Fee Relief’’

The NRC is proposing to use its fee 

relief to reduce all licensees’ annual 

fees, based on their percent of the 

budget. 

The NRC applies the 10 percent of its 

budget that is excluded from fee 

recovery under OBRA–90, as amended 

(fee relief), to offset the cost of activities 

which do not directly benefit current 

NRC licensees. The cost of these 

‘‘surcharge’’ activities are totaled, and 

then reduced by the amount of the 

NRC’s fee relief. Historically, any 

remaining surcharge cost was allocated 

to all licensees’ annual fees, based on 

their percent of the budget (i.e., over 80 

percent was allocated to power reactors 

each year). 

In FY 2008, the NRC’s fee relief 

exceeds the total surcharge cost by 

approximately $7.5 million. In FY 2007, 

this fee relief exceeded the total cost by 

approximately $9.8 million. The fee 

relief in FY 2008 is lower compared 

with FY 2007 primarily due to higher 

FY 2008 surcharge cost which includes 

funding of $15 million for scholarships 

and fellowships. The scholarships and 

fellowships funding, to be administered 

by the NRC, is to enable students to 

pursue education in fields of study that 

constitute critical skills areas needed to 

sustain NRC’s regulatory mission and 

benefit the nuclear sector. This $15 

million funding for scholarships and 

fellowships does not directly benefit the 

existing NRC licensees. Therefore, the 

NRC has classified it as a surcharge 

activity to be offset by the fee relief. 

As in FY 2007, the NRC is using the 

$7.5 million fee relief to reduce all 

licensees’ annual fees, based on their 

percent of the fee recoverable budget 

authority. This is consistent with the 

existing fee methodology, in that the 

benefits of the NRC’s fee relief are 

allocated to licensees in the same 

manner as cost was allocated when the 

NRC did not receive enough fee relief to 

pay for surcharge activities. In FY 2008, 

the power reactors class of licensees 

will receive approximately 90 percent of 

the fee relief based on their share of the 

NRC fee recoverable budget authority. 

The total budgeted resources for the 

NRC’s surcharge activities in FY 2008 

are $79.1 million. The NRC’s total fee 

relief in FY 2008 is $86.6 million, 

leaving $7.5 million in fee relief to be 

used to reduce all licensees’ annual fees. 

These values are shown in Table III 

(Individual values may not sum to totals 

due to rounding.) 

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8512 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

TABLE III.—SURCHARGE COSTS

[Dollars in millions] 

Category of costs 

FY 2008 

budgeted 

costs 

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

a. International activities ................................................................................................................................................................... $12.9 

b. Agreement State oversight ........................................................................................................................................................... 8.8 

c. Scholarships and Fellowships ...................................................................................................................................................... 15.0 

2. Activities not assessed part 170 licensing and inspection fees or part 171 annual fees based on existing law or Commission 

policy: 

a. Fee exemption for nonprofit educational institutions ................................................................................................................... 10.9 

b. Costs not recovered from small entities under 10 CFR 171.16(c) .............................................................................................. 3.8 

3. Activities supporting NRC operating licensees and others: 

a. Regulatory support to Agreement States ..................................................................................................................................... 9.9 

b. Generic decommissioning/reclamation (not related to the power reactor and spent fuel storage fee classes) ......................... 14.7 

c. ISL rulemaking and unregistered general licensees .................................................................................................................... 3.1 

Total surcharge costs ................................................................................................................................................................ 79.1 

Less 10 percent of NRC’s FY 2008 total budget (less NWF, WIR, and generic homeland security activities) ..................................... ¥86.6 

Fee Relief to be Allocated to All Licensees’ Annual Fees ....................................................................................................... ¥7.5 

Table IV shows how the NRC is 

allocating the $7.5 million in fee relief 

to each license fee class (Individual 

amounts may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) As explained previously, the 

NRC is allocating this fee relief to each 

license fee class based on the percent of 

the budget for that fee class compared 

to the NRC’s total budget. The fee relief 

is used to partially offset the required 

annual fee recovery from each fee class. 

Sections 171.15(d)(1) and 171.16(e) 

clarify that the surcharge allocated to 

annual fees may be negative (i.e., an 

annual fee reduction). 

Separately, the NRC has continued to 

allocate the low level waste (LLW) 

surcharge costs based on the volume of 

LLW disposal of certain classes of 

licenses. Table IV also shows the 

allocation of the LLW surcharge. 

Because LLW activities support NRC 

licensees, the costs of these activities are 

not offset by the NRC’s fee relief. For FY 

2008, the LLW surcharge cost is $2.8 

million. The annual fee for the materials 

users fee class includes a surcharge 

because the LLW surcharge allocated to 

the fee class is greater than its allocated 

fee relief. 

TABLE IV.—ALLOCATION OF FEE RELIEF AND LLW SURCHARGE

LLW surcharge Non-LLW surcharge 

(fee reduction) 

Total 

Percent $M Percent $M $M 

Operating Power Reactors .......................................................................................... 74 2.1 89.7 ¥6.7 ¥4.6 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning ........................................................... ................ ................ 2.9 ¥0.2 ¥0.2 

Test and Research Reactors ....................................................................................... ................ ................ 0.1 0.0 0.0 

Fuel Facilities ............................................................................................................... 8 0.2 4.1 ¥0.3 ¥0.1 

Materials Users ............................................................................................................ 18 0.5 2.6 ¥0.2 0.3 

Transportation .............................................................................................................. ................ ................ 0.3 0.0 0.0 

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

Uranium Recovery ....................................................................................................... ................ ................ 0.3 0.0 0.0 

Total Surcharge .................................................................................................... 100 2.8 100.0 ¥7.5 ¥4.7 

2. Agreement State Activities 

By letter dated November 9, 2006, 

Governor Edward Rendell of the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

requested that the NRC enter into an 

Agreement with the State as authorized 

by Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act 

of 1954, as amended. The final 

Agreement package is before the 

Commission for approval and the 

Agreement is expected to take effect by 

March 31, 2008. This will result in the 

transfer of approximately 650 licenses 

from the NRC to the Commonwealth of 

Pennsylvania. 

Note that the continuing costs of 

Agreement State regulatory support and 

oversight for the Commonwealth of 

Pennsylvania, as for any other 

Agreement State, are recovered through 

the surcharge (as reduced by the 10 

percent of its budget that the NRC 

receives in appropriations each year for 

these types of activities), consistent with 

existing policy. The budgeted resources 

for the regulatory infrastructure to 

support these types of licensees are 

prorated to the surcharge based on the 

percent of total licensees in Agreement 

States. The NRC proposes to update the 

allocation percentage in its fee 

calculation to make sure that resources 

are allocated equitably between the NRC 

materials users fee class and the 

Agreement States surcharge category. 

Accordingly, in anticipation of the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

becoming an Agreement State, the NRC 

has increased the percentage of 

materials users regulatory infrastructure 

costs prorated to the surcharge category 

from 80 percent in FY 2007 to 82 

percent in FY 2008. However, some 

resources associated with the materials 

users fee class are not prorated to the 

surcharge (e.g., resources for licensing 

and inspection activities), because these 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 8513 

resources are for the purpose of 

supporting NRC licensees only. 

The number of NRC materials users 

licensees also has been updated to 

reflect the transfer of licensees to the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that is 

expected to take place effective March 

31, 2008. Because of the effective date 

of March 31, 2008, the approximately 

650 licensees transferring to the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be 

subject to one-half of their annual fee for 

FY 2008. The number of materials users 

licensees were revised to reflect that 

NRC will still collect one-half of the 

annual fee from these licensees. Also, 

the single NRC rare earth licensee under 

fee category 2.A.(2)(c) will transfer to 

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Because no other rare earth facility 

application is expected for FY 2008, an 

annual fee was not computed for fee 

category 2.A.(2)(c). As with other 

licensees transferring to the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in FY 

2008, this rare earth facility will pay 

one-half of the annual fee in effect on its 

anniversary date in January 2008. 

This is not a substantive policy 

change, but rather a calculation change 

that will result in a more accurate 

estimate of the actual costs of 

Agreement State oversight activities. If 

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

does not become an Agreement State by 

the publication of the final fee rule, the 

NRC will adjust the calculation of the 

FY 2008 annual fees based on the latest 

information available at that time. Any 

changes will be discussed in the final 

fee rule. 

3. Revised Annual Fees 

The NRC is proposing to revise its 

annual fees in §§ 171.15 and 171.16 for 

FY 2008 to recover approximately 90 

percent of the NRC’s FY 2008 budget 

authority less the non-fee amounts and 

the estimated amount to be recovered 

through part 170 fees. The part 170 

estimate for this proposed rule 

increased by $78.4 million from the FY 

2007 fee rule based on the latest invoice 

data available. The total amount to be 

recovered through annual fees for FY 

2008 is $477.2 million. The required 

annual fee collection in FY 2007 was 

$465.3 million. 

The NRC uses one of two methods to 

determine the amounts of the annual 

fees, for each type of licensee, 

established in its fee rule each year. One 

method is ‘‘rebaselining,’’ for which the 

NRC’s budget is analyzed in detail and 

budgeted resources are allocated to fee 

classes and categories of licensees. The 

second method is the ‘‘percent change’’

method, for which fees are revised 

based on the percent change in the total 

budget, taking into account other 

adjustments such as the number of 

licensees and the projected revenue to 

be received from part 170 fees. 

As explained in the FY 2006 final fee 

rule (71 FR 30733; May 30, 2006), the 

Commission has determined that the 

agency should proceed with a 

presumption in favor of rebaselining in 

calculating annual fees each year, and 

that the percent change method should 

be used infrequently. This is because 

the Commission expects that most years 

there will be budget and other changes 

that warrant the use of the rebaselining 

method. 

Rebaselining fees results in increased 

annual fees compared with FY 2007 for 

two classes of licensees (power reactors 

and non-power reactors), and decreased 

annual fees for four classes of licensees 

(spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning, fuel facilities, 

materials users, and transportation). 

Within the uranium recovery fee class, 

annual fees for the all the non DOE 

licensees decrease, while annual fee for 

the DOE increases slightly. There is no 

annual fee for the rare earth fee class 

because this NRC fee class will no 

longer exist in FY 2008. As discussed in 

Section II.B.2 of this document, 

‘‘Agreement State Activities’’, NRC’s 

only rare earth facility will transfer to 

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

when it becomes an Agreement State, 

expected to be effective March 31, 2008. 

In FY 2008, this rare earth facility will 

pay one-half of the annual fee in effect 

on its anniversary date. 

The significant factors affecting the 

changes to the annual fee amounts as 

compared with FY 2007 are the increase 

in budgeted resources for new reactor 

activities, higher part 170 revenue 

estimate, and adjustment for higher 

prior year fee collections. The NRC’s 

total fee recoverable budget, as 

mandated by law, is approximately 

$109.8 million larger in FY 2008 as 

compared with FY 2007. Because much 

of this increase is for the additional 

workload demand in the area of new 

reactor licensing, this increase mainly 

affects the operating power reactors’

annual fees. Other factors affecting all 

annual fees include the distribution of 

budgeted costs to the different classes of 

licenses (based on the specific activities 

NRC will perform in FY 2008), the 

estimated part 170 collections for the 

various classes of licenses, and 

allocation of the fee relief to all fee 

classes. The percentage of the NRC’s 

budget not subject to fee recovery 

remained unchanged at 10 percent from 

FY 2007 to FY 2008. 

Table V shows the rebaselined annual 

fees for FY 2008 for a representative list 

of categories of licenses. The FY 2007 

fee is also shown for comparative 

purposes. 

TABLE V.—REBASELINED ANNUAL FEES FOR FY 2008 

Class/category of licenses FY 2007 

annual fee 

FY 2008 

annual fee 

Operating Power Reactors (including Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning annual fee) ...................... $4,043,000 $4,237,000 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning ...................................................................................................... 159,000 140,000 

Test and Research Reactors (Non-power Reactors) .............................................................................................. 76,300 77,400 

High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility ....................................................................................................................... 4,096,000 3,082,000 

Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility ........................................................................................................................ 1,237,000 921,000 

UF6 Conversion Facility ........................................................................................................................................... 811,000 604,000 

Conventional Mills .................................................................................................................................................... 18,700 10,900 

Typical Materials Users: 

Radiographers .................................................................................................................................................. 14,100 11,200 

Well Loggers ..................................................................................................................................................... 4,400 3,400 

Gauge Users (Category 3P) ............................................................................................................................. 2,700 2,100 

Broad Scope Medical ....................................................................................................................................... 29,000 23,000 

The budgeted costs allocated to each 

class of licenses and the calculations of 

the rebaselined fees are described in 

paragraphs a. through h. of this Section. 

The work papers which support this 

proposed rule show in detail the 

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8514 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

allocation of NRC’s budgeted resources 

for each class of licenses and how the 

fees are calculated. The reports included 

in these work papers summarize the FY 

2008 budgeted FTE and contract dollars 

allocated to each fee class and surcharge 

category at the planned activity and 

program level, and compare these 

allocations to those used to develop 

final FY 2007 fees. In FY 2008, NRC has 

also revised the format of the work 

papers to make it easier for stakeholders 

to find the information supporting this 

proposed fee rule. The sequence of the 

information in the work papers now 

matches the sequence in the proposed 

fee rule. In addition, a brief overview of 

each of the tabs in the work papers has 

been added for the reader’s 

convenience. The work papers are 

available electronically at the NRC’s 

Electronic Reading Room on the Internet 

at Web site address http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. The work 

papers may also be examined at the 

NRC PDR located at One White Flint 

North, Room O–1F22, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland. 

a. Fuel Facilities. 

The FY 2008 budgeted cost to be 

recovered in the annual fees assessment 

to the fuel facility class of licenses 

[which includes licensees in fee 

categories 1.A.(1)(a), 1.A.(1)(b), 

1.A.(2)(a), 1.A.(2)(b), 1.A.(2)(c), 1.E., and 

2.A.(1), under § 171.16] is 

approximately $14.2 million. This value 

is based on the full cost of budgeted 

resources associated with all activities 

that support this fee class, which is 

reduced by estimated part 170 

collections and adjusted to reflect the 

net allocated fee relief (negative 

surcharge), allocated generic 

transportation resources, and carryover. 

The summary calculations used to 

derive this value are presented in Table 

VI for FY 2008, with FY 2007 values 

shown for comparison (Individual 

values may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) 

TABLE VI.—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR FUEL FACILITIES

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2007 

final 

FY 2008 

proposed 

Total budgeted resources ........................................................................................................................................ $32.2 $31.5 

Less estimated part 170 receipts ............................................................................................................................ ¥13.6 ¥17.0 

Net part 171 resources ..................................................................................................................................... 18.6 14.5 

Allocated generic transportation .............................................................................................................................. + 0.5 + 0.6 

Allocated surcharge ................................................................................................................................................. ¥0.2 ¥0.1 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ................................................................................................................. + 0.1 ¥0.8 

Total required annual fee recovery .................................................................................................................. 18.9 14.2 

The decrease in fuel facilities FY 2008 

total budgeted resources allocated to 

this fee class compared with FY 2007 is 

due to lower fuel facility resources for 

licensing activities, higher part 170 

revenue estimate, and adjustment for 

higher carryover. The part 170 revenue 

estimate for FY 2008 increased by 25 

percent compared with FY 2007 due to 

increased billing for fuel facilities. This 

results in lower FY 2008 annual fees for 

fuel facilities in this fee rule. 

The total required annual fee recovery 

amount is allocated to the individual 

fuel facility licensees based on the 

effort/fee determination matrix 

developed for the FY 1999 final fee rule 

(64 FR 31447; June 10, 1999). In the 

matrix included in the NRC publicly 

available work papers, licensees are 

grouped into categories according to 

their licensed activities (i.e., nuclear 

material enrichment, processing 

operations, and material form) and 

according to the level, scope, depth of 

coverage, and rigor of generic regulatory 

programmatic effort applicable to each 

category from a safety and safeguards 

perspective. This methodology can be 

applied to determine fees for new 

licensees, current licensees, licensees in 

unique license situations, and certificate 

holders. 

This methodology is adaptable to 

changes in the number of licensees or 

certificate holders, licensed or certified 

material and/or activities, and total 

programmatic resources to be recovered 

through annual fees. When a license or 

certificate is modified, it may result in 

a change of category for a particular fuel 

facility licensee as a result of the 

methodology used in the fuel facility 

effort/fee matrix. Consequently, this 

change may also have an effect on the 

fees assessed to other fuel facility 

licensees and certificate holders. For 

example, if a fuel facility licensee 

amends its license/certificate (e.g., 

decommissioning or license 

termination) that results in it not being 

subject to part 171 costs applicable to 

the fee class, then the budgeted costs for 

the safety and/or safeguards 

components will be spread among the 

remaining fuel facility licensees/ 

certificate holders. 

The methodology is applied as 

follows. First, a fee category is assigned 

based on the nuclear material and 

activity authorized by license or 

certificate. Although a licensee/ 

certificate holder may elect not to fully 

use a license/certificate, the license/ 

certificate is still used as the source for 

determining authorized nuclear material 

possession and use/activity. Second, the 

category and license/certificate 

information are used to determine 

where the licensee/certificate holder fits 

into the matrix. The matrix depicts the 

categorization of licensees/certificate 

holders by authorized material types 

and use/activities. 

Once the structure of the matrix is 

established, the NRC’s fuel facility 

project managers and regulatory 

analysts determine the level of effort 

associated with regulating each of these 

facilities. This is done by assigning, for 

each fuel facility, separate effort factors 

for the safety and safeguards activities 

associated with each type of regulatory 

activity. The matrix includes ten types 

of regulatory activities, including 

enrichment and scrap/waste related 

activities (see the work papers for the 

complete list). Effort factors are assigned 

as follows: one (low regulatory effort), 

five (moderate regulatory effort), and ten 

(high regulatory effort). These effort 

factors are then totaled for each fee 

category, so that each fee category has 

a total effort factor for safety activities 

and a total effort factor for safeguards 

activities. 

The effort factors for the various fuel 

facility fee categories are summarized in 

Table VII. The value of the effort factors 

shown, as well as the percent of the 

total effort factor for all fuel facilities, 

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reflects the total regulatory effort for 

each fee category (not per facility). Note 

that the effort factors for the High 

Enriched Uranium Fuel fee category 

have changed from FY 2007. The safety 

and safeguards factors increased in FY 

2008 to reflect NRC’s review of an 

amendment request by a licensee to 

handle liquid UF6 workload. Taking 

into account both of these changes, the 

total safety and safeguards effort factor 

change is relatively small. 

TABLE VII.—EFFORT FACTORS FOR FUEL FACILITIES

Facility type (fee category) Number of 

facilities 

Effort factors 

(percent of total) 

Safety Safeguards 

High Enriched Uranium Fuel ................................................................................................................... 2 92 (35.8) 102 (53.7) 

Uranium Enrichment ................................................................................................................................ 2 70 (27.2) 40 (21.1) 

Low Enriched Uranium Fuel .................................................................................................................... 3 66 (25.7) 21 (11.1) 

UF6 Conversion ....................................................................................................................................... 1 12 (4.7) 7 (3.7) 

Limited Operations ................................................................................................................................... 1 8 (3.1) 3 (1.6) 

Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration ............................................................................................. 1 3 (1.2) 15 (7.9) 

Hot Cell .................................................................................................................................................... 1 6 (2.3) 2 (1.1) 

The budgeted resources for safety 

activities ($8,211,592) are allocated to 

each fee category based on its percent of 

the total regulatory effort for safety 

activities. For example, if the total effort 

factor for safety activities for all fuel 

facilities is 100, and the total effort 

factor for safety activities for a given fee 

category is 10, that fee category will be 

allocated 10 percent of the total 

budgeted resources for safety activities. 

Similarly, the budgeted resources for 

safeguards activities ($6,070,827) are 

allocated to each fee category based on 

its percent of the total regulatory effort 

for safeguards activities. The fuel 

facility fee class’ portion of the fee relief 

(negative surcharge of $81,517) and the 

billing adjustment (a fee reduction in FY 

2008 of $755,676) is allocated to each 

fee category based on its percent of the 

total regulatory effort for both safety and 

safeguards activities. The annual fee per 

licensee is then calculated by dividing 

the total allocated budgeted resources 

for the fee category by the number of 

licensees in that fee category as 

summarized in Table VIII. 

TABLE VIII.—ANNUAL FEES FOR FUEL FACILITIES

Facility type (fee category) FY 2008 

annual fee 

High Enriched Uranium Fuel ......................................................................................................................................................... $3,082,000 

Uranium Enrichment ...................................................................................................................................................................... 1,747,000 

Low Enriched Uranium .................................................................................................................................................................. 921,000 

UF6 Conversion ............................................................................................................................................................................. 604,000 

Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration ................................................................................................................................... 572,000 

Limited Operations Facility ............................................................................................................................................................ 349,000 

Hot Cell (and others) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 254,000 

The NRC does not expect to authorize 

operation of any new uranium 

enrichment facility in FY 2008. The 

annual fee applicable to any type of new 

uranium enrichment facility is the 

annual fee in § 171.16, fee category 1.E., 

Uranium Enrichment, unless the NRC 

establishes a new fee category for the 

facility in a subsequent rulemaking. 

b. Uranium Recovery Facilities 

The total FY 2008 budgeted cost to be 

recovered through annual fees assessed 

to the uranium recovery class [which 

includes licensees in fee categories 

2.A.(2)(a), 2.A.(2)(b), 2.A.(3), 2.A.(4), 

2.A.(5) and 18.B., under § 171.16], is 

approximately $0.66 million. The 

derivation of this value is shown in 

Table IX, with FY 2007 values shown 

for comparison purposes. (Individual 

values may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) 

TABLE IX.—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR URANIUM RECOVERY FACILITIES

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2007 

final 

FY 2008 

proposed 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $1.32 $1.65 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥0.61 ¥0.94 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 0.71 0.71 

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

Allocated surcharge ......................................................................................................................................................... ¥0.02 ¥0.02 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ......................................................................................................................... +0.00 ¥0.04 

Total required annual fee recovery .......................................................................................................................... 0.69 0.66 

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The decrease in the total required 

annual fee recovery is mainly due to 

higher part 170 revenue estimates 

compared with FY 2007 partially offset 

by an increase in uranium recovery 

licensing and inspection resources. The 

budget resources increased to support 

licensing work for new uranium 

recovery facilities and to improve 

regulatory framework for in-situ leach 

(ISL) facilities. In FY 2008, more of the 

total resources, surcharge, and the 

billing for this fee class were allocated 

to the non-Department of Energy (DOE) 

licensees, as discussed further in this 

document. This change in the 

distribution of uranium recovery fee 

class resources between non-DOE 

uranium recovery facilities and DOE 

resulted in an increase in annual fee for 

the DOE compared to the decrease in 

annual fee for non-DOE facilities. 

Of the required annual fee collections, 

$596,000 (rounded) is assessed to DOE’s 

Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation 

Control Act (UMTRCA) under fee 

category 18.B. The remaining $61,000 

(rounded) will be recovered through 

annual fees assessed to the other 

licensees in this fee class (i.e., 

conventional mills, in-situ leach 

solution mining facilities), 11e.(2) mill 

tailings disposal facilities (incidental to 

existing tailings sites), and a uranium 

water treatment facility. 

In the FY 2002 final fee rule (67 FR 

42611; June 24, 2002), the NRC 

developed a fee recovery methodology 

for the uranium recovery fee class that 

would allocate the total annual fee 

amount for this fee class, less the 

amounts specifically budgeted for Title 

I activities, equally between DOE (for its 

UMTRCA Title I and Title II licensees) 

and the other licensees in this fee class. 

In the FY 2007 final rule (72 FR 31414; 

June 6, 2007), the NRC changed this 

methodology to allocate 45 percent of 

the total annual fee amount, less the 

amounts specifically budgeted for Title 

I activities, to DOE’s UMTRCA annual 

fee and 55 percent to the other licensees 

in this fee class. Based on updated 

information, NRC is changing this 

allocation percentage in FY 2008. In FY 

2008, 40 percent of the total annual fee 

amount of $672,970, less $555,546 

specifically budgeted for Title I 

activities, is allocated to DOE’s 

UMTRCA facilities. The remaining 60 

percent of the total annual fee (less the 

amounts specifically budgeted for Title 

I activities) is allocated to other 

licensees. The reduction in resources for 

licensing the DOE is based on the 

reduced effort expended for DOE 

UMTRCA. 

This results in an annual fee being 

assessed to DOE to recover the costs 

specifically budgeted for NRC’s Title I 

activities plus 40 percent of the 

remaining annual fee amount, including 

the surcharge and generic/other costs, 

for the uranium recovery class. The 

remaining 60 percent of the surcharge 

and generic/other costs are assessed to 

the other NRC licensees in this fee class 

that are subject to annual fees. The costs 

to be recovered through annual fees 

assessed to the uranium recovery class 

are shown in Table X. 

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

DOE Annual Fee Amount UMTRCA) Title I and Title II general licenses: 

UMTRCA Title I budgeted costs ............................................................................................................................................ $555,546 

40 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs ............................................................................................. 46,970 

40 percent of uranium recovery surcharge ............................................................................................................................ ¥6,280 

Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE (rounded) ................................................................................................................ $596,000 

Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses: 

60 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs less the amounts specifically budgeted for Title I activities 70,454 

60 percent of uranium recovery surcharge ............................................................................................................................ ¥9,420 

Total Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses ................................................................................. 61,034 

The NRC will continue to use a matrix 

(which is included in the supporting 

work papers) to determine the level of 

effort associated with regulating the 

different (non-DOE) licensees in this fee 

class. The weights derived in this matrix 

are used to allocate the approximately 

$61,000 annual fee amount to these 

licensees. The use of this uranium 

recovery annual fee matrix was 

established in the FY 1995 final fee rule 

(60 FR 32217; June 20, 1995). The FY 

2008 matrix is described as follows. 

First, the methodology identifies the 

categories of licenses included in this 

fee class (besides DOE). In FY 2008, 

these categories are conventional 

uranium mills (Class I facilities), 

uranium solution mining facilities 

(Class II facilities), mill tailings disposal 

facilities (11e.(2) disposal facilities), and 

uranium water treatment facilities. The 

uranium water treatment facility fee 

category in the uranium recovery fee 

class was created in FY 2007 (72 FR 

31413; June 6, 2007). 

Second, the matrix identifies the 

types of operating activities that support 

these licensees. In FY 2008, the 

activities related to generic 

decommissioning/reclamation are not 

included in the matrix, because generic 

decommissioning/reclamation activities 

are included in the surcharge, and 

therefore need not be a factor in 

determining annual fees. The activities 

included in the FY 2008 matrix are 

‘operations,’ ‘waste operations,’ and 

‘groundwater remediation.’ The relative 

weight of each type of activity is then 

determined, based on the regulatory 

resources associated with each activity. 

The ‘operations,’ ‘waste operations,’ and 

‘groundwater remediation’ activities 

have weights of 10, 5, and 10, 

respectively, in the FY 2008 matrix. 

Once the structure of the matrix is 

established, the NRC’s uranium 

recovery project managers and 

regulatory analysts determine the level 

of effort associated with regulating each 

of these facilities. This is done by 

assigning, for each fee category, separate 

effort factors for each type of regulatory 

activity in the matrix. Effort factors are 

assigned as follows: one (low regulatory 

effort), five (moderate regulatory effort), 

and ten (high regulatory effort). These 

effort factors are first multiplied by the 

relative weight assigned to each activity 

(described previously). Total effort 

factors by fee category, and per licensee 

in each fee category, are then calculated. 

These effort factors thus reflect the 

relative regulatory effort associated with 

each licensee and fee category. 

The effort factors per licensee and per 

fee category, for each of the non-DOE fee 

categories included in the uranium 

recovery fee class, are as follows: 

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TABLE XI.—EFFORT FACTORS FOR URANIUM RECOVERY LICENSES

Fee Category Number of 

licensees 

Effort factor 

per licensee 

Total effort factor 

Value Percent total 

Class I (conventional mills) ...................................................... 1 75 75 18 

Class II (solution mining) ......................................................... 3 75 225 54 

11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites ................ 1 75 75 18 

Uranium water treatment ......................................................... 1 45 45 11 

The annual fee per licensee is 

calculated by dividing the total 

allocated budgeted resources for the fee 

category by the number of licensees in 

that fee category as summarized in 

Table XII. Applying these factors to the 

approximately $61,000 in budgeted 

costs to be recovered from non-DOE 

uranium recovery licensees results in 

the following annual fees for FY 2008: 

TABLE XII.—ANNUAL FEES FOR URANIUM RECOVERY LICENSEES

[Other than DOE] 

Facility type FY 2008 

annual fee 

Class I (conventional mills) ............................................................................................................................................................ $10,900 

Class II (solution mining) ............................................................................................................................................................... 10,900 

11e.(2) disposal ............................................................................................................................................................................. N/A 

11e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites ...................................................................................................................... 10,900 

Uranium water treatment ............................................................................................................................................................... 6,500 

Note because there are no longer any 

11e.(2) disposal facilities under the 

NRC’s regulatory jurisdiction, the NRC 

has not allocated any budgeted 

resources for these facilities, and 

therefore has not established an annual 

fee for this fee category. If NRC issues 

a license for this fee category in the 

future, then the Commission will 

establish the appropriate annual fee. 

c. Operating Power Reactors 

The approximately $426.1 million in 

budgeted costs to be recovered through 

FY 2008 annual fees assessed to the 

power reactor class was calculated as 

shown in Table XIII. FY 2007 values are 

shown for comparison. (Individual 

values may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) 

TABLE XIII.—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR OPERATING POWER REACTORS

[Dollars in millions] 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $588.6 $698.8 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥180.7 ¥252.7 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 407.9 446.1 

Allocated generic transportation ...................................................................................................................................... +1.0 +1.1 

Allocated surcharge ......................................................................................................................................................... ¥6.0 ¥4.6 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ......................................................................................................................... +1.1 ¥16.5 

Total required annual fee recovery .......................................................................................................................... 404.0 426.1 

The budgeted costs to be recovered 

through annual fees to power reactors 

are divided equally among the 104 

power reactors licensed to operate. This 

results in a FY 2008 annual fee of 

$4,097,000 per reactor. Additionally, 

each power reactor licensed to operate 

would be assessed the FY 2008 spent 

fuel storage/reactor decommissioning 

annual fee of $140,000. This results in 

a total FY 2008 annual fee of $4,237,000 

for each power reactor licensed to 

operate. 

The annual fee for power reactors 

increases in FY 2008 compared to FY 

2007 due to an increase in budgeted 

resources for a number of activities, 

including regulatory infrastructure for 

new reactor licensing activities related 

to combined license applications and 

design certifications. This increase is 

partially offset by the higher estimated 

part 170 collections, and adjustment for 

higher carryover compared with FY 

2007. In FY 2008, the NRC estimates an 

increase in part 170 collections of about 

40 percent for this fee. These collections 

offset the required annual fee recovery 

amount by a total of approximately 

$252.7 million. The annual fees for 

power reactors are presented in 

§ 171.15. 

d. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor 

Decommissioning 

For FY 2008, budgeted costs of 

approximately $17.3 million for spent 

fuel storage/reactor decommissioning 

are to be recovered through annual fees 

assessed to part 50 power reactors, and 

to part 72 licensees who do not hold a 

part 50 license. Those reactor licensees 

that have ceased operations and have no 

fuel onsite are not subject to these 

annual fees. Table XIV shows the 

calculation of this annual fee amount. 

FY 2007 values are shown for 

comparison. (Individual values may not 

sum to totals due to rounding.) 

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

CLASS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2007 

final 

FY 2008 

proposed 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $23.9 $22.4 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥4.2 ¥4.7 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 19.7 17.7 

Allocated generic transportation ...................................................................................................................................... +0.3 +0.3 

Allocated surcharge ......................................................................................................................................................... ¥0.4 ¥0.2 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ......................................................................................................................... +0.0 ¥0.5 

Total required annual fee recovery .......................................................................................................................... 19.6 17.3 

The required annual fee recovery 

amount is divided equally among 123 

licensees, resulting in a FY 2008 annual 

fee of $140,000 per licensee. The value 

of total budgeted resources for this fee 

class decreased in FY 2008 compared to 

FY 2007 due to a decrease in the 

budgeted resources for 

decommissioning, higher estimated part 

170 collections, and adjustment for 

higher carryover. 

e. Test and Research Reactors (Nonpower Reactors) 

Approximately $310,000 in budgeted 

costs is to be recovered through annual 

fees assessed to the test and research 

reactor class of licenses for FY 2008. 

Table XV summarizes the annual fee 

calculation for test and research reactors 

for FY 2008. FY 2007 values are shown 

for comparison. (Individual values may 

not sum to totals due to rounding.) 

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

[Dollars in millions] 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $0.85 $0.99 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥0.55 ¥0.66 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 0.30 0.33 

Allocated generic transportation ...................................................................................................................................... +0.01 +0.01 

Allocated surcharge ......................................................................................................................................................... ¥0.01 ¥0.01 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ......................................................................................................................... +0.00 ¥0.02 

Total required annual fee recovery .......................................................................................................................... 0.31 0.31 

This required annual fee recovery 

amount is divided equally among the 4 

test and research reactors subject to 

annual fees, and results in a FY 2008 

annual fee of $77,400 for each licensee. 

The slight increase in annual fees from 

FY 2007 to FY 2008 is due to an 

increase in budget resources partially 

offset by higher part 170 revenue 

estimate for test and research reactors 

class, and adjustment for higher prior 

year collections. The part 170 revenue 

estimates for FY 2008 increased by 

approximately 20 percent compared 

with FY 2007 due to increased billing 

for test and research reactors, including 

federal facilities. The Energy Policy Act 

of 2005 authorized the NRC to bill 

federal facilities for part 170 services. 

f. Rare Earth Facilities 

As discussed previously in Section 

II.B.2, ‘‘Agreement State Activities’’, 

NRC will no longer regulate any 

licensees under the Rare Earth fee class. 

The one licensee who has a specific 

license for receipt and processing of 

source material will be transferring to 

the Agreement State, Commonwealth of 

Pennsylvania, to be effective March 31, 

2008. In FY 2008, this rare earth facility 

will pay one-half of the annual fee in 

effect on its anniversary date in January 

2008. 

Because the agency does not 

anticipate receiving an application for a 

rare earth facility this fiscal year, no 

budget resources were allocated to this 

fee class. NRC will not publish an 

annual fee for the fee category 2.A.(2)(c) 

in FY 2008. 

g. Materials Users 

Table XVI shows the calculation of 

the FY 2008 annual fee amount for 

materials users licensees. FY 2007 

values are shown for comparison. 

(Individual values may not sum to totals 

due to rounding.) Note the following fee 

categories under § 171.16 are included 

in this fee class: 1.C., 1.D., 2.B., 2.C., 

3.A. through 3.S., 4.A. through 4.C., 

5.A., 5.B., 6.A., 7.A. through 7.C., 8.A., 

9.A. through 9.D., 16, and 17. 

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TABLE XVI.—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR MATERIALS USERS

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2007 

final 

FY 2008 

proposed 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $25.8 $22.8 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥1.2 ¥2.0 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 24.6 20.8 

Allocated generic transportation ...................................................................................................................................... +0.9 +1.0 

Allocated surcharge ......................................................................................................................................................... +0.3 +0.3 

Billing adjustments (including carryover) ......................................................................................................................... +0.0 ¥0.5 

Total required annual fee recovery .......................................................................................................................... 25.9 21.6 

The total required annual fees to be 

recovered from materials licensees 

decreased in FY 2008 mainly because of 

decreases in the budgeted resources 

allocated to this fee class for licensing 

activities, and adjustment for higher 

carryover. Annual fees for all fee 

categories within the materials users fee 

class decreased. The number of 

licensees also decreased because of the 

transfer of licensees to the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Because the agreement with the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is 

expected to be effective March 31, 2008, 

the licensees transferring to the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be 

subject to one-half of the annual fees. 

To equitably and fairly allocate the 

$21.6 million in FY 2008 budgeted costs 

to be recovered in annual fees assessed 

to the approximately 4,400 diverse 

materials users licensees, the NRC will 

continue to base the annual fees for each 

fee category within this class on the part 

170 application fees and estimated 

inspection costs for each fee category. 

Because the application fees and 

inspection costs are indicative of the 

complexity of the license, this approach 

continues to provide a proxy for 

allocating the generic and other 

regulatory costs to the diverse categories 

of licenses based on NRC’s cost to 

regulate each category. This fee 

calculation also continues to consider 

the inspection frequency (priority), 

which is indicative of the safety risk and 

resulting regulatory costs associated 

with the categories of licenses. 

The annual fee for these categories of 

materials users licenses is developed as 

follows: 

Annual fee = Constant × [Application 

Fee + (Average Inspection Cost 

divided by Inspection Priority)] + 

Inspection Multiplier × (Average 

Inspection Cost divided by Inspection 

Priority) + Unique Category Costs. 

The constant is the multiple necessary 

to recover approximately $14.9 million 

in general costs (including allocated 

generic transportation costs) and is 0.77 

for FY 2008. The average inspection cost 

is the average inspection hours for each 

fee category multiplied by the hourly 

rate of $238. The inspection priority is 

the interval between routine 

inspections, expressed in years. The 

inspection multiplier is the multiple 

necessary to recover approximately $6.3 

million in inspection costs, and is 1.39 

for FY 2008. The unique category costs 

are any special costs that the NRC has 

budgeted for a specific category of 

licenses. For FY 2008, approximately 

$103,000 in budgeted costs for the 

implementation of revised 10 CFR part 

35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material 

(unique costs), has been allocated to 

holders of NRC human use licenses. 

The annual fee to be assessed to each 

licensee also includes a share of the 

$192,000 in fee relief allocated to the 

materials users fee class (see Section 

II.B.1., ‘‘Application of ‘Fee Relief’ ’’, of 

this document), and for certain 

categories of these licensees, a share of 

the approximately $509,000 in LLW 

surcharge costs allocated to the fee 

class. The annual fee for each fee 

category is shown in § 171.16(d). 

h. Transportation 

Table XVII shows the calculation of 

the FY 2008 generic transportation 

budgeted resources to be recovered 

through annual fees. FY 2007 values are 

shown for comparison. (Individual 

values may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) 

TABLE XVII.—ANNUAL FEE SUMMARY CALCULATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION

[Dollars in millions] 

Summary fee calculations FY 2007 

final 

FY 2008 

proposed 

Total budgeted resources ................................................................................................................................................ $5.0 $5.7 

Less estimated part 170 receipts .................................................................................................................................... ¥1.2 ¥1.7 

Net part 171 resources ............................................................................................................................................. 3.8 4.0 

The total FY 2008 budgeted resources 

for generic transportation activities, 

including those to support DOE 

Certificates of Compliance (CoCs), are 

$4.0 million. The budgeted resources for 

these activities in FY 2008 increased by 

6 percent compared with FY 2007, 

mostly due to increased budgeted 

resources for licensing activities. 

Generic transportation resources 

associated with fee-exempt entities are 

not included in this total. These costs 

are included in the appropriate 

surcharge category (e.g., the surcharge 

category for nonprofit educational 

institutions). 

Consistent with the policy established 

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

FR 30734; May 30, 2006), the NRC will 

recover generic transportation costs 

unrelated to DOE as part of existing 

annual fees for license fee classes. NRC 

will continue to assess a separate annual 

fee under § 171.16, fee category 18.A., 

for DOE transportation activities. The 

CoCs for DOE decreased in FY 2008 

compared to FY 2007 resulting in a 

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lower annual fee for DOE under fee 

category 18.A. 

These resources are distributed to 

DOE (to be included in its annual fee 

under fee category 18.A. of § 171.16) 

and each license fee class based on the 

CoCs used by DOE and each fee class, 

as a proxy for the generic resources 

expended for each fee class. As such, 

the amount of the generic resources 

allocated is calculated by multiplying 

the percentage of total CoCs used by 

each fee class (and DOE) by the total 

generic transportation resources to be 

recovered. In FY 2008, the generic 

transportation cost allocated to the other 

fee classes increased compared to FY 

2007 due to the increase in total 

budgeted resources for transportation. 

The distribution of these resources to 

the license fee classes and DOE is 

shown in Table XVIII. (Individual 

values may not sum to totals due to 

rounding.) The distribution is adjusted 

to account for the licensees in each fee 

class that are fee exempt. For example, 

if 3 CoCs benefit the entire test and 

research reactor class, but only 4 of 30 

test and research reactors are subject to 

annual fees, the number of CoCs used to 

determine the proportion of generic 

transportation resources allocated to test 

and research reactor annual fees equals 

((4/30)*3), or 0.4 CoCs. 

TABLE XVIII.—DISTRIBUTION OF GENERIC TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES, FY 2008 

[Dollars in millions] 

License fee class/DOE 

Number CoCs 

benefiting fee 

class (or DOE) 

Percentage 

of total CoCs 

(percent) 

Allocated generic 

transportation 

resources 

Total ........................................................................................................................... 128.0 100.0 $4.00 

DOE ........................................................................................................................... 31.0 24.2 1.00 

Operating Power Reactors ........................................................................................ 37.0 28.9 1.15 

Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning ........................................................ 9.0 7.0 0.28 

Test and Research Reactors ..................................................................................... 0.4 0.3 0.01 

Fuel Facilities ............................................................................................................. 18.0 14.1 0.56 

Materials Users .......................................................................................................... 32.6 25.4 1.02 

The NRC is proposing to continue to 

assess DOE an annual fee based on the 

part 71 CoCs it holds, and not allocate 

these DOE-related resources to other 

licensees’ annual fees, because these 

resources specifically support DOE. 

Note that DOE’s proposed annual fee 

includes a reduction for the fee relief 

(see Section II.B.1, ‘‘Application of ‘Fee 

Relief’ ’’, of this document), resulting in 

a total annual fee of $880,000 for FY 

2008. This fee decrease from last year is 

primarily due to a decrease in the 

number of DOE CoCs. 

4. Administrative Amendments 

The NRC is adding program codes 

next to the materials users fee categories 

in § 171.16. When NRC receives a 

materials users license application, a 

five-digit program code number is 

assigned by the agency to each license 

to designate the major activity or 

principal use authorized in the license. 

More than one code may apply to a 

given license. The fee amount for the 

license under the 10 CFR parts 170 and 

171 is determined by the fee category 

which is also based on the authorized 

usage described on the license. To 

reduce the risk of misinterpretation of 

material uses authorized in the license 

while establishing a fee category, the 

NRC is implementing a process that 

links a program code directly to a fee 

category. Once a program code is 

assigned to the license, it will assist the 

licensee to correctly identify the fee 

amount(s) by looking up the program 

code(s) in § 171.16. 

The NRC is modifying the second 

sentence of footnote 1 in § 171.16 to 

clarify that the annual fee waiver will be 

granted if the licensed activities have 

permanently ceased before the 

beginning of the fiscal year. The 

reference to the last day of the prior year 

as the date for cessation of licensed 

activities has been deleted. This will 

improve the clarity of the sentence. 

In summary, the NRC is—

1. Using the NRC’s fee relief to reduce 

all licensees’ annual fees, based on their 

percent of the NRC budget; 

2. Revising the number of NRC 

licensees to reflect the expectation that 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will 

become an Agreement State on March 

31, 2008; 

3. Establishing rebaselined annual 

fees for FY 2008; and 

4. Making certain administrative 

changes for purposes of clarification and 

consistency. 

III. Plain Language 

The Presidential Memorandum dated 

June 1, 1998, entitled, ‘‘Plain Language 

in Government Writing’’ directed that 

the Government’s writing be in plain 

language. This memorandum was 

published on June 10, 1998 (63 FR 

31883). The NRC requests comments on 

this proposed rule specifically with 

respect to the clarity and effectiveness 

of the language used. Comments should 

be sent to the address listed under the 

ADDRESSES heading. 

IV. Voluntary Consensus Standards 

The National Technology Transfer 

and Advancement Act of 1995, 15 

U.S.C. 3701, requires that Federal 

agencies use technical standards that are 

developed or adopted by voluntary 

consensus standards bodies unless 

using these standards is inconsistent 

with applicable law or is otherwise 

impractical. The NRC is proposing to 

amend the licensing, inspection, and 

annual fees charged to its licensees and 

applicants as necessary to recover 

approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority in FY 2008, as required by the 

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 

1990, as amended. This action does not 

constitute the establishment of a 

standard that contains generally 

applicable requirements. 

V. 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 assessment nor an 

environmental impact statement has 

been prepared for the proposed rule. By 

its very nature, this regulatory action 

does not affect the environment and, 

therefore, no environmental justice 

issues are raised. 

VI. Paperwork Reduction Act 

Statement 

This proposed rule does not contain 

information collection requirements 

and, therefore, is not subject to the 

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requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 44 U.S.C. 3501 et 

seq. 

VII. Regulatory Analysis 

With respect to 10 CFR part 170, this 

proposed rule was developed under 

Title V of the 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 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). The Commission’s 

fee guidelines were developed based on 

these legal decisions. 

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). This 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 of 1954 and with applicable 

regulations; 

(3) The NRC could charge for costs 

incurred in conducting environmental 

reviews required by the National 

Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 

4321; 

(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 lowlevel 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 

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 subsequently 

amended to extend the 100 percent fee 

recovery requirement through FY 2000. 

The FY 2001 Energy and Water 

Development Appropriation Act 

(EWDAA) amended OBRA–90 to 

decrease the NRC’s fee recovery amount 

by 2 percent per year beginning in FY 

2001, until the fee recovery amount was 

90 percent in FY 2005. The FY 2007 

EWDAA extended this 90 percent fee 

recovery requirement for FY 2007. 

Section 637 of the Energy Policy Act of 

2005 made the 90 percent fee recovery 

requirement permanent beginning in FY 

2007. As a result, the NRC is required 

to recover approximately 90 percent of 

its FY 2008 budget authority, less the 

amounts appropriated from the NWF, 

WIR, and generic homeland security 

activities through fees. To comply with 

this statutory requirement and in 

accordance with § 171.13, the NRC is 

publishing the amount of the FY 2008 

annual fees for reactor licensees, fuel 

cycle licensees, materials licensees, and 

holders of Certificates of Compliance, 

registrations of sealed source and 

devices, and Government agencies. 

OBRA–90, consistent with the 

accompanying Conference Committee 

Report, and the amendments to OBRA–

90, provides that—

(1) The annual fees be based on 

approximately 90 percent of the 

Commission’s FY 2008 budget of $926.1 

million less the funds directly 

appropriated from the NWF to cover the 

NRC’s high-level waste program and for 

WIR, generic homeland security 

activities, and less the amount of funds 

collected from part 170 fees; 

(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. 

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 

Power and Light Company v. United 

States, 846 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1988), 

cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1045 (1989). 

Further, the NRC’s FY 1991 annual fee 

rule methodology was upheld by the 

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied 

Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 

1993). 

VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

The NRC is required by the Omnibus 

Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as 

amended, to recover approximately 90 

percent of its FY 2008 budget authority 

through the assessment of user fees. 

This Act 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 would establish 

the schedules of fees that are necessary 

to implement the Congressional 

mandate for FY 2008. This rule would 

result in increases in the annual fees 

charged to certain licensees and holders 

of certificates, registrations, and 

approvals, and decreases in annual fees 

for others. Licensees affected by the 

annual fee increases and decreases 

include those that qualify as a small 

entity under NRC’s size standards in 10 

CFR 2.810. The Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis, prepared in accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 604, is included as Appendix A 

to this proposed rule. 

The Congressional Review Act of 

1996 requires all Federal agencies to 

prepare a written compliance guide for 

each rule for which the agency is 

required by 5 U.S.C. 604 to prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis. 

Therefore, in compliance with the law, 

Attachment 1 to the Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis is the small entity 

compliance guide for FY 2008. 

IX. 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 amendments 

do not require the modification of, or 

additions to systems, structures, 

components, or the design of a facility, 

or the design approval or manufacturing 

license for a facility, or the procedures 

or organization required to design, 

construct, or operate a facility. 

List of Subjects 

10 CFR Part 170 

Byproduct material, Import and 

export licenses, Intergovernmental 

relations, Non-payment penalties, 

Nuclear materials, Nuclear power plants 

and reactors, Source material, Special 

nuclear material. 

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8522 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

10 CFR Part 171 

Annual charges, Byproduct material, 

Holders of certificates, Registrations, 

Approvals, Intergovernmental relations, 

Non-payment penalties, Nuclear 

materials, Nuclear power plants and 

reactors, Source material, Special 

nuclear material. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble and under the authority of the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; 

the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 

as amended; and 5 U.S.C. 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: Section 9701, Pub. L. 97–258, 

96 Stat. 1051 (31 U.S.C. 9701); § 301, Pub. L. 

92–314, 86 Stat. 227 (42 U.S.C. 2201w); sec. 

201, Pub. L. 93–438, 88 Stat. 1242, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); § 205a, Pub. L. 

101–576, 104 Stat. 2842, as amended (31 

U.S.C. 901–902); § 1704, 112 Stat. 2750 (44 

U.S.C. 3504 note), sec. 623, Pub. L. 109–58, 

119 Stat. 783, (42 U.S.C. 2201(w)); sec. 

651(e), Pub. L. 109–58, 119 Stat. 806–810 (42 

U.S.C. 2014, 2021, 2021(b), 2111). 

2. Section 170.20 is revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 170.20 Average cost per professional 

staff-hour. 

* * * * * 

Fees for permits, licenses, 

amendments, renewals, special projects, 

10 CFR part 55 re-qualification and 

replacement examinations and tests, 

other required reviews, approvals, and 

inspections under §§ 170.21 and 170.31 

will be calculated using the professional 

staff-hour rate of $238 per hour. 

3. In § 170.21, in the table, fee 

category K is revised to read as follows: 

§ 170.21 Schedule of fees for production 

and utilization facilities, review of standard 

referenced design approvals, special 

projects, inspections and import and export 

licenses. 

* * * * * 

SCHEDULE OF FACILITY FEES

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Facility categories and type of fees Fees 1 2

* * * * * * * 

K. Import and export licenses: 

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

and utilization facilities issued under 10 CFR Part 110. 

1. Application for import or export of production and utilization facilities 4 (including reactors and other facilities) and exports of 

components requiring Commission and Executive Branch review, for example, actions under 10 CFR 110.40(b). 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ................................................................................ $15,500 

2. Application for export of reactor and other components requiring Executive Branch review only, for example, those actions 

under 10 CFR 110.41(a)(1)–(8). 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ................................................................................ 9,100 

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

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ................................................................................ 3,800 

4. Application for export of facility components and equipment (examples provided in 10 CFR part 110, Appendix A, Items (5) 

through (9)) not requiring Commission or Executive Branch review, or obtaining foreign government assurances. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ................................................................................ 2,400 

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

of facility or component authorized for export and therefore, do not require in-depth analysis or review or consultation with 

the Executive Branch, U.S. host state, or foreign government authorities. 

Minor amendment to license ..................................................................................................................................................... 720 

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

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

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

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

letter of approval, safety evaluation report, or other form. 2Full cost fees will be determined based on the professional staff time and appropriate contractual support services expended. For applications 

currently on file and for which fees are determined based on the full cost expended for the review, the professional staff hours expended for the 

review of the application up to 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 § 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 § 170.20. 

* * * * * * * 

4 Imports only of major components for end-use at NRC-licensed reactors are now authorized under NRC general import license. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with PROPOSALS2

Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 8523 

4. In § 170.31, the table is revised to 

read as follows: 

§ 170.31 Schedule of fees for materials 

licenses and other regulatory services, 

including inspections, and import and 

export licenses. 

* * * * * 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee2 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 (High Enriched Uranium) [Program Code(s): 21130] .............................................. Full Cost 

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

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

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

(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration facilities ........................................................................................................ Full Cost 

(c) Others, including hot cell facilities ................................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

B. Licenses for receipt and storage of spent fuel and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste at an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) 

[Program Code(s): 23200] ..................................................................................................................................................... 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 [Program Code(s): 22140] .................................................................................................................................. $1,100 

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 § 150.11 of this chapter, for which the licensee shall pay 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 22150, 22151, 22161, 22163, 22170, 23100, 

23300, 23310] .................................................................................................................................................................... 2,200 

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

2. Source material: 

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

[Program Code(s): 11400] ..................................................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

(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. 

(a) Class I facilities [Program Code(s): 11100] ..................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

(b) Class II facilities [Program Code(s): 11500] .................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

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

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

persons for possession and disposal, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) or Category 2.A.(4) 

[Program Code(s): 11600] ..................................................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

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

persons for possession and disposal incidental to the disposal of the uranium waste tailings generated by the licensee’s 

milling operations, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2). ................................................................. Full Cost 

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

drinking water. ........................................................................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

B. Licenses which authorize the possession, use, and/or installation of source material for shielding. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11210] .................................................................................................................................. 260 

C. All other source material licenses. 

Application [Program Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11230, 11300, 11800, 11810] ......................................................... 9,400 

3. Byproduct material: 

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

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03211, 03212, 03213] ......................................................................................................... 11,200 

B. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under Part 30 of this chapter for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03214, 03215, 22135, 22162] ............................................................................................. 4,200 

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

material. This category does not apply to licenses issued to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). These licenses are covered by fee Category 3.D. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513] ......................................................................................................... 7,400 

D. Licenses and approvals issued under §§ 32.72 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 includes licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and/or 32.74 of this chapter to nonprofit educational institutions 

whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 170.11(a)(4). 

Application [Program Code(s): 02512, 02514] ...................................................................................................................... 4,100 

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 [Program Code(s): 03510, 03520] ...................................................................................................................... 2,700 

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8524 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee2 3

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 [Program Code(s): 03511] .................................................................................................................................. 5,600 

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 [Program Code(s): 03521] .................................................................................................................................. 13,300 

H. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material that require 

device review to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter. The category does not include specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons exempt 

from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03255] .................................................................................................................................. 9,700 

I. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material or quantities 

of byproduct material that do not require device evaluation to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03250, 03251, 03252, 03253, 03254, 03256] ..................................................................... 9,700 

J. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material that require 

sealed source and/or device review to persons generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter. This category does not 

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

licensed under part 31 of this chapter. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03240, 03241, 03243] ......................................................................................................... 1,700 

K. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material or quantities 

of byproduct material that do not require sealed source and/or device review to persons generally licensed under part 31 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03242, 03244] ...................................................................................................................... 1,000 

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

research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution. 

Application [Program Code(s): 01100, 01110, 01120, 03610, 03611, 03612, 03613] ......................................................... 9,400 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03620] .................................................................................................................................. 3,300 

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

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

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

4.C. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03219, 03225, 03226] ......................................................................................................... 6,100 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03310, 03320] ...................................................................................................................... 4,500 

P. All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02400, 02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123, 03124, 03220, 03221, 03222, 03800, 

03810, 22130] .................................................................................................................................................................... 1,300 

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

Registration ........................................................................................................................................................................... 270 

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

limits specified in that section. 6

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

equal to 10 times the number of items or limits specified. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02700] .................................................................................................................................. 550 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 02710] .................................................................................................................................. 1,300 

S. Licenses for production of accelerator-produced radionuclides. 

Application [Program Code(s): 03210] .................................................................................................................................. 7,400 

4. Waste disposal and processing: 

A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of waste byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material 

from other persons for the purpose of contingency storage or commercial land disposal by the licensee; or licenses authorizing contingency storage of low-level radioactive waste at the site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses for receipt 

of waste from other persons for incineration or other treatment, packaging of resulting waste and residues, and transfer 

of packages to another person authorized to receive or dispose of waste material. 

[Program Code(s): 03231, 03233, 03235, 03236, 06100, 06101] ........................................................................................ 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 [Program Code(s): 03234] .................................................................................................................................. 2,900 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 8525 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee2 3

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 [Program Code(s): 03232] .................................................................................................................................. 4,300 

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 [Program Code(s): 03110, 03111, 03112] ......................................................................................................... 1,600 

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

Licensing [Program Code(s): 03113] .................................................................................................................................... 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 [Program Code(s): 03218] .................................................................................................................................. 19,000 

7. Medical licenses: 

A. Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, or 

special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02300, 02310] ...................................................................................................................... 10,400 

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

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

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

Application [Program Code(s): 02110] .................................................................................................................................. 7,400 

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

sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. 

Application [Program Code(s): 02120, 02121, 02200, 02201, 02210, 02220, 02230, 02231, 02240, 22160] .................... 2,300 

8. Civil defense: 

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

Application [Program Code(s): 03710] .................................................................................................................................. 550 

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 ...................................................................................................................................................... 19,500 

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 ...................................................................................................................................................... 19,500 

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

reactor fuel, for commercial distribution. 

Application—each source ...................................................................................................................................................... 2,700 

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 ...................................................................................................................................................... 910 

10. Transportation of radioactive material: 

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

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

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

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

1. Users and Fabricators. 

Application ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4,400 

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

2. Users. 

Application ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4,400 

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

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

devices) ..................................................................................................................................................................................... Full Cost 

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

12. Special projects: 

Including approvals, preapplication/licensing activities, and inspections ..................................................................................... Full Cost 

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

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

14. A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material licenses and other approvals authorizing decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site restoration activities under parts 30, 40, 70, 72, and 76 of this chapter ................................................ Full Cost 

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

been previously licensed. Part 170 fees for these activities will not be charged until July 25, 2007 ..................................... Full Cost 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with PROPOSALS2

8526 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee2 3

15. Import and Export licenses: 

Licenses issued under part 110 of this chapter for the import and export only of special nuclear material, source material, 

tritium and other byproduct material, and the export only of heavy water, or nuclear grade graphite (fee categories 15.A. 

through 15.E). 

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

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

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 15,500 

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

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

NRC to consult with domestic host state authorities, Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, etc. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 9,100 

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

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 3,800 

D. Application for export or import of nuclear material, including radioactive waste, not requiring Commission or Executive 

Branch review, or obtaining foreign government assurances. This category includes applications for export or import of 

radioactive waste where the NRC has previously authorized the export or import of the same form of waste to or from 

the same or similar parties located in the same country, requiring only confirmation from the receiving facility and licensing authorities that the shipments may proceed according to previously agreed understandings and procedures. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 2,400 

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

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

Minor amendment ................................................................................................................................................................. 720 

Licenses issued under part 110 of this chapter for the import and export only of Category 1 and Category 2 quantities of 

radioactive material listed in Appendix P to part 110 of this chapter (fee categories 15.F. through 15.R.). 5

Category 1 Exports: 

F. Application for export of Category 1 materials involving an exceptional circumstances review under 10 CFR 110.42(e)(4). 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 15,500 

G. Application for export of Category 1 materials requiring Executive Branch review, Commission review, and/or government-to-government consent. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 9,100 

H. Application for export of Category 1 materials requiring Commission review and government-to-government consent. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 5,700 

I. Application for export of Category 1 material requiring government-to-government consent. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 4,800 

Category 2 Exports: 

J. Application for export of Category 2 materials involving an exceptional circumstances review under 10 CFR 110.42(e)(4). 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 15,500 

K. Applications for export of Category 2 materials requiring Executive Branch review and/or Commission review. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 9,100 

L. Application for the export of Category 2 materials. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 4,300 

Category 1 Imports: 

M. Application for the import of Category 1 material requiring Commission review. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 4,500 

N. Application for the import of Category 1 material. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 3,800 

Category 2 Imports: 

O. Application for the import of Category 2 material. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 3,300 

Category 1 Imports with Agent and Multiple Licensees: 

P. Application for the import of Category 1 material with agent and multiple licensees requiring Commission review. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 5,200 

Q. Application for the import of Category 1 material with agent and multiple licensees. 

Application—new license, or amendment; or license exemption request ............................................................................ 4,300 

Minor Amendments (Category 1 and 2 Export and Imports): 

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

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

Minor amendment ................................................................................................................................................................. 720 

16. Reciprocity: 

Agreement State licensees who conduct activities under the reciprocity provisions of 10 CFR 150.20. 

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

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

Application ............................................................................................................................................................................. 22,000 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 8527 

SCHEDULE OF MATERIALS FEES—Continued 

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses and type of fees 1 Fee2 3

18. Department of Energy: 

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

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

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

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

new licenses, approvals, or license terminations; possession only licenses; issuance of new licenses and approvals; certain amendments and renewals to existing licenses and approvals; safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices; generally licensed device registrations; and certain 

inspections. The following guidelines apply to these charges: 

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

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

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

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

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

prescribed application fee for the highest fee category. 

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

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

(b) Licensing fees. Fees for reviews of applications for new licenses and for renewals and amendments to existing licenses, pre-application 

consultations and reviews of other documents submitted to NRC for review, and project manager time for fee categories subject to full cost fees, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

§ 170.20 in effect at the time the service is provided, and the appropriate contractual support services expended. 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 

§ 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 § 170.20. 4 Licensees paying fees under Categories 1.A., 1.B., and 1.E. are not subject to fees under Categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the same license except for an application that deals only with the sealed sources authorized by the license. 5For a combined import and export license application for material listed in Appendix P to part 110 of this chapter, only the higher of the two 

applicable fee amounts must be paid. 6Persons who possess radium sources that are used for operational purposes in another fee category are not also subject to the fees in this 

category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources are possessed for storage only.) 

PART 171—ANNUAL FEES FOR 

REACTOR LICENSES AND FUEL 

CYCLE LICENSES AND MATERIALS 

LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF 

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE, 

REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY 

ASSURANCE PROGRAM APPROVALS 

AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 

LICENSED BY THE NRC 

5. The authority citation for part 171 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Section 7601, Pub. L. 99–272, 

100 Stat. 146, as amended by § 5601, Pub. L. 

100–203, 101 Stat. 1330, as amended by 

§ 3201, Pub. L. 101–239, 103 Stat. 2132, as 

amended by § 6101, Pub. L. 101–508, 104 

Stat. 1388, as amended by § 2903a, Pub. L. 

102–486, 106 Stat. 3125 (42 U.S.C. 2213–

2214), and as amended by Title IV, Pub. L. 

109–103, 119 Stat. 2283 (42 U.S.C. 2214); 

§ 301, Pub. L. 92–314, 86 Stat. 227 (42 U.S.C. 

2201w); § 201, Pub. L. 93–438, 88 Stat. 1242, 

as amended (42 U.S.C. 5841); § 1704, 112 

Stat. 2750 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note); sec. 651(e), 

Pub. L. 109–58, 119 Stat. 806–810 (42 U.S.C. 

2014, 2021, 2021(b), 2111). 

6. In § 171.15, paragraph (b)(1), the 

introductory text of paragraph (b)(2), 

paragraph (c)(1), the introductory text of 

paragraphs (c)(2) and (d)(1), and 

paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3), and (e), are 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 171.15 Annual fees: Reactor licenses 

and independent spent fuel storage 

licenses. 

* * * * * 

(b)(1) The FY 2008 annual fee for each 

operating power reactor which must be 

collected by September 30, 2008, is 

$4,097,000. 

(2) The FY 2008 annual fee is 

comprised of a base annual fee for 

power reactors licensed to operate, a 

base spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning annual fee, and 

associated additional charges 

(surcharges). The activities comprising 

the FY 2008 spent storage/reactor 

decommissioning base annual fee are 

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

this section. The activities comprising 

the FY 2008 surcharge are shown in 

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

activities comprising the FY 2008 base 

annual fee for operating power reactors 

are as follows: 

* * * * * 

(c)(1) The FY 2008 annual fee for each 

power reactor holding a 10 CFR part 50 

license that is in a decommissioning or 

possession only status and has spent 

fuel onsite, and each independent spent 

fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who 

does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license 

is $140,000. 

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8528 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

(2) The FY 2008 annual fee is 

comprised of a base spent fuel storage/ 

reactor decommissioning annual fee 

(which is also included in the operating 

power reactor annual fee shown in 

paragraph (b) of this section), and an 

additional charge (surcharge). The 

activities comprising the FY 2008 

surcharge are shown in paragraph (d)(1) 

of this section. The activities comprising 

the FY 2008 spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning rebaselined annual 

fee are: 

* * * * * 

(d)(1) The surcharge allocated to 

annual fees includes the budgeted 

resources for the activities listed in 

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

the total budgeted resources for the 

activities included in paragraphs 

(d)(1)(ii) and (d)(1)(iii) of this section as 

reduced by the appropriations NRC 

receives for these types of activities. If 

the NRC’s appropriations for these types 

of activities are greater than the 

budgeted resources for the activities 

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

(d)(1)(iii) of this section for a given FY, 

a negative surcharge (or annual fee 

reduction) will be allocated to annual 

fees. The activities comprising the FY 

2008 surcharge are as follows: 

* * * * * 

(2) The total FY 2008 surcharge 

allocated to the operating power reactor 

class of licenses is ¥$4.6 million, not 

including the amount allocated to the 

spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning class. The FY 2008 

operating power reactor surcharge to be 

assessed to each operating power reactor 

is approximately ¥$44,000. This 

amount is calculated by dividing the 

total operating power reactor surcharge 

(¥$4.6 million) by the number of 

operating power reactors (104). 

(3) The FY 2008 surcharge allocated 

to the spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning class of licenses is 

¥$218,000. The FY 2008 spent fuel 

storage/reactor decommissioning 

surcharge to be assessed to each 

operating power reactor, each power 

reactor in decommissioning or 

possession only status that has spent 

fuel onsite, and to each independent 

spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 

licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR 

part 50 license is approximately 

¥$1,775. This amount is calculated by 

dividing the total surcharge costs 

allocated to this class by the total 

number of power reactor licenses, 

except those that permanently ceased 

operations and have no fuel onsite, and 

10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not 

hold a 10 CFR part 50 license. 

(e) The FY 2008 annual fees for 

licensees authorized to operate a test 

and research (non-power) reactor 

licensed under part 50 of this chapter, 

unless the reactor is exempted from fees 

under § 171.11(a), are as follows: 

Research reactor .......................... $77,400 

Test reactor .................................. 77,400 

7. In § 171.16, paragraphs (c), (d), and 

the introductory text of paragraph (e) are 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 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 along with its annual fee 

payment, the licensee may pay reduced 

annual fees as shown in the following 

table. Failure to file a small entity 

certification in a timely manner could 

result in the denial of any refund that 

might otherwise be due. The small 

entity fees are as follows: 

Maximum 

annual fee per 

licensed 

category 

Small Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing (Average gross receipts over last 3 completed fiscal years): 

$350,000 to $6.5 million ......................................................................................................................................................... $2,300 

Less than $350,000 ................................................................................................................................................................ 500 

Small Not-For-Profit Organizations (Annual Gross Receipts): 

$350,000 to $6.5 million ......................................................................................................................................................... 2,300 

Less than $350,000 ................................................................................................................................................................ 500 

Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500 employees or fewer: 

35 to 500 employees .............................................................................................................................................................. 2,300 

Fewer than 35 employees ...................................................................................................................................................... 500 

Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly supported educational institutions) (Population): 

20,000 to 50,000 .................................................................................................................................................................... 2,300 

Fewer than 20,000 ................................................................................................................................................................. 500 

Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly Supported, and have 500 Employees or Fewer: 

35 to 500 employees .............................................................................................................................................................. 2,300 

Fewer than 35 employees ...................................................................................................................................................... 500 

(d) The FY 2008 annual fees are 

comprised of a base annual fee and an 

additional charge (surcharge). The 

activities comprising the FY 2008 

surcharge are shown for convenience in 

paragraph (e) of this section. The FY 

2008 annual fees for materials licensees 

and holders of certificates, registrations 

or approvals subject to fees under this 

section are shown in the following table: 

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

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual fees 123

1. Special nuclear material: 

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

(a) Strategic Special Nuclear Material (High Enriched Uranium) [Program Code(s): 21130] ........................................ $3,082,000 

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

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual fees 123

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

21210] .......................................................................................................................................................................... 921,000 

(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 [Program Code(s): 21310, 21320] ........................................................................ 349,000 

(b) Gas centrifuge enrichment demonstration facilities .................................................................................................. 572,000 

(c) Others, including hot cell facilities ............................................................................................................................. 254,000 

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

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 [Program Code(s): 22140] ........................................... 1,600 

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 § 150.11 of this chapter, for which the licensee 

shall pay the same fees as those for Category 1.A.(2) [Program Code(s): 22110, 22111, 22120, 22131, 22136, 

22150, 22151, 22161, 22163, 22170, 23100, 23300, 23310] ............................................................................................ 4,500 

E. Licenses or certificates for the operation of a uranium enrichment facility [Program Code(s): 21200] ........................... 1,747,000 

2. Source material: 

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

[Program Code(s): 11400] .................................................................................................................................................. 604,000 

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

(a) Class I facilities 4 [Program Code(s): 11100] ............................................................................................................ 10,900 

(b) Class II facilities 4 [Program Code(s): 11500] ........................................................................................................... 10,900 

(c) Other facilities 4 [Program Code(s): 11700] ............................................................................................................... 5 N/A 

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

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

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

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

other persons for possession and disposal incidental to the disposal of the uranium waste tailings generated by the licensee’s milling operations, except those licenses subject to the fees in Category 2.A.(2) ............................................. 10,900 

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

drinking water ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6,500 

B. Licenses that authorize only the possession, use and/or installation of source material for shielding [Program 

Code(s): 11210] .................................................................................................................................................................. 600 

C. All other source material licenses [Program Code(s): 11200, 11220, 11221, 11230, 11300, 11800, 11810] ................. 10,30 

3. Byproduct material: 

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

for processing or manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution [Program Code(s): 

03211, 03212, 03213] ......................................................................................................................................................... 23,100 

B. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for processing or 

manufacturing of items containing byproduct material for commercial distribution [Program Code(s): 03214, 03215, 

22135, 22162] ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6,500 

C. Licenses issued under §§ 32.72 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 

under part 40 of this chapter when included on the same license. This category does not apply to licenses issued to 

nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 171.11(a)(1). These licenses 

are covered by fee under Category 3.D. [Program Code(s): 02500, 02511, 02513] ........................................................ 9,200 

D. Licenses and approvals issued under §§ 32.72 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 includes licenses issued under §§ 32.72 and 32.74 of this chapter to nonprofit educational institutions whose processing or manufacturing is exempt under § 171.11(a)(1). This category also includes the possession 

and use of source material for shielding authorized under part 40 of this chapter when included on the same license 

[Program Code(s): 02512, 02514] ...................................................................................................................................... 5,300 

E. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material in sealed sources for irradiation of materials in which the 

source is not removed from its shield (self-shielded units) [Program Code(s): 03510, 03520] ........................................ 3,100 

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 [Program Code(s): 03511] ........ 6,100 

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 [Program Code(s): 03521] ........ 24,600

H. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material that require device review to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter, except specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for distribution to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter [Program Code(s): 03255] ..................................................................... 8,800 

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8530 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

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

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual fees 123

I. Licenses issued under Subpart A of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material or quantities of byproduct material that do not require device evaluation to persons exempt from the licensing requirements 

of part 30 of this chapter, except for specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for 

distribution to persons exempt from the licensing requirements of part 30 of this chapter [Program Code(s): 03250, 

03251, 03252, 03253, 03254, 03256] ................................................................................................................................ 8,200 

J. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material that require sealed source and/or device review to persons generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter, except specific 

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

under part 31 of this chapter [Program Code(s): 03240, 03241, 03243] ........................................................................... 1,900 

K. Licenses issued under Subpart B of part 32 of this chapter to distribute items containing byproduct material or quantities of byproduct material that do not require sealed source and/or device review to persons generally licensed 

under part 31 of this chapter, except specific licenses authorizing redistribution of items that have been authorized for 

distribution to persons generally licensed under part 31 of this chapter [Program Code(s): 03242, 03244] .................... 1,500 

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

for research and development that do not authorize commercial distribution [Program Code(s): 01100, 01110, 01120, 

03610, 03611, 03612, 03613] ............................................................................................................................................. 11,700 

M. Other licenses for possession and use of byproduct material issued under part 30 of this chapter for research and 

development that do not authorize commercial distribution [Program Code(s): 03620] .................................................... 4,300 

N. Licenses that authorize services for other licensees, except: (1) Licenses that authorize only calibration and/or leak 

testing services are subject to the fees specified in fee Category 3.P.; and (2) Licenses that authorize waste disposal 

services are subject to the fees specified in fee categories 4.A., 4.B., and 4.C. [Program Code(s): 03219, 03225, 

03226] ................................................................................................................................................................................. 6,600 

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

operations. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding authorized under part 

40 of this chapter when authorized on the same license [Program Code(s): 03310, 03320] ........................................... 11,200 

P. All other specific byproduct material licenses, except those in Categories 4.A. through 9.D. [Program Code(s): 

02400, 02410, 03120, 03121, 03122, 03123, 03124, 03220, 03221, 03222, 03800, 03810, 22130] ............................... 2,100 

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

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

items or limits specified in that section:14

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

equal to 10 times the number of items or limits specified [Program Code(s): 02700] ............................................... 1,700 

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

(5) [Program Code(s): 02710] ..................................................................................................................................... 2,100 

S. Licenses for production of accelerator-produced radionuclides [Program Code(s): 03210] ............................................. 8,500 

4. Waste disposal and processing: 

A. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of waste byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material 

from other persons for the purpose of contingency storage or commercial land disposal by the licensee; or licenses 

authorizing contingency storage of low-level radioactive waste at the site of nuclear power reactors; or licenses for receipt of waste from other persons for incineration or other treatment, packaging of resulting waste and residues, and 

transfer of packages to another person authorized to receive or dispose of waste material [Program Code(s): 03231, 

03233, 03235, 03236, 06100, 06101] ................................................................................................................................ 5 N/A 

B. Licenses specifically authorizing the receipt of waste byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material 

from other persons for the purpose of packaging or repackaging the material. The licensee will dispose of the material by transfer to another person authorized to receive or dispose of the material [Program Code(s): 03234] ............... 9,400 

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 [Program Code(s): 03232] ....................................................................................... 7,200 

5. Well logging: 

A. Licenses for possession and use of byproduct material, source material, and/or special nuclear material for well logging, well surveys, and tracer studies other than field flooding tracer studies [Program Code(s): 03110, 03111, 03112] 3,400 

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

6. Nuclear laundries: 

A. Licenses for commercial collection and laundry of items contaminated with byproduct material, source material, or 

special nuclear material [Program Code(s): 03218] ........................................................................................................... 20,800 

7. Medical licenses: 

A. Licenses issued under parts 30, 35, 40, and 70 of this chapter for human use of byproduct material, source material, 

or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license [Program Code(s): 02300, 

02310] ................................................................................................................................................................................. 10,600 

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

of this chapter authorizing research and development, including human use of byproduct material except licenses for 

byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear material in sealed sources contained in teletherapy devices. 

This category also includes the possession and use of source material for shielding when authorized on the same license.9 [Program Code(s): 02110] ..................................................................................................................................... 23,000 

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

material, and/or special nuclear material except licenses for byproduct material, source material, or special nuclear 

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

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

02210, 02220, 02230, 02231, 02240, 22160] .................................................................................................................... 3,900 

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

[See footnotes at end of table] 

Category of materials licenses Annual fees 123

8. Civil defense: 

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

activities [Program Code(s): 03710] ................................................................................................................................... 1,700 

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 ....................................................... 14,900 

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 .................................................................................................................................... 14,900 

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 ......................................................................... 2,100 

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 ..................................................................................................................................................... 700 

10. Transportation of radioactive material: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

C. Evaluation of security plans, route approvals, route surveys, and transportation security devices (including immobilization devices) ................................................................................................................................................................ 6 N/A 

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

12. Special Projects ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 N/A 

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

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

14. Decommissioning/Reclamation: 

A. Byproduct, source, or special nuclear material licenses and other approvals authorizing decommissioning, decontamination, reclamation, or site restoration activities under parts 30, 40, 70, 72, and 76 of this chapter ........................ 7 N/A 

B. Site-specific decommissioning activities associated with unlicensed sites, whether or not the sites have been previously licensed ................................................................................................................................................................... 7 N/A 

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

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

17. Master materials licenses of broad scope issued to Government agencies .......................................................................... 227,000 

18. Department of Energy: 

A. Certificates of Compliance ................................................................................................................................................. 10 880,000 

B. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) activities .................................................................................... 596,000 

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

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

either filed for termination of their licenses or approvals or filed for possession only/storage licenses before October 1, 2007, and permanently 

ceased licensed activities entirely before this date. Annual fees for licensees who filed for termination of a license, downgrade of a license, or for 

a possession only license during the FY and for new licenses issued during the FY will be prorated in accordance with the provisions of 

§ 171.17. If a person holds more than one license, certificate, registration, or approval, the annual fee(s) will be assessed for each license, certificate, registration, or approval held by that person. For licenses that authorize more than one activity on a single license (e.g., human use and 

irradiator activities), annual fees will be assessed for each category applicable to the license. Licensees paying annual fees under Category 

1.A.(1) are not subject to the annual fees for Categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the license. 2Payment of the prescribed annual fee does not automatically renew the license, certificate, registration, or approval for which the fee is paid. 

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

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

special reviews, such as topical reports, are not assessed an annual fee because the generic costs of regulating these activities are primarily attributable to users of the designs, certificates, and topical reports. 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. 9Separate annual fees will not be assessed for pacemaker licenses issued to medical institutions that also hold nuclear medicine licenses 

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

category. (This exception does not apply if the radium sources are possessed for storage only.) 

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8532 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

(e) The surcharge allocated to annual 

fees includes the budgeted resources for 

the activities listed in paragraph (e)(1) of 

this section, plus the total budgeted 

resources for the activities included in 

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

section as reduced by the appropriations 

NRC receives for these types of 

activities. If the NRC’s appropriations 

for these types of activities are greater 

than the budgeted resources for the 

activities included in paragraphs (e)(2) 

and (e)(3) of this section for a given FY, 

a negative surcharge (or annual fee 

reduction) will be allocated to annual 

fees. The activities comprising the FY 

2008 surcharge are as follows: 

* * * * * 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day 

of January, 2008. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

William M. McCabe, 

Chief Financial Officer. 

NOTE: This Appendix will not appear in 

the Code of Federal Regulations. 

Appendix A to This Proposed Rule— 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for the 

Proposed Amendments to 10 CFR Part 

170 (License Fees) and 10 CFR Part 171 

(Annual Fees) 

I. Background 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as 

amended 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., requires that 

agencies consider the impact of their 

rulemakings on small entities and, consistent 

with applicable statutes, consider 

alternatives to minimize these impacts on the 

businesses, organizations, and government 

jurisdictions to which they apply. 

The NRC has established standards for 

determining which NRC licensees qualify as 

small entities (10 CFR 2.810). These size 

standards were established based on the 

Small Business Administration’s most 

common receipts-based size standards and 

include a size standard for business concerns 

that are manufacturing entities. The NRC 

uses the size standards to reduce the impact 

of annual fees on small entities by 

establishing a licensee’s eligibility to qualify 

for a maximum small entity fee. The small 

entity fee categories in § 171.16(c) of this 

proposed rule are based on the NRC’s size 

standards. 

The NRC is required each year, under 

OBRA–90, as amended, to recover 

approximately 90 percent of its budget 

authority (less amounts appropriated from 

the NWF and for other activities specifically 

removed from the fee base), through fees to 

NRC licensees and applicants. In total, the 

NRC is required to bill approximately $760.7 

million in fees for FY 2008. 

OBRA–90 requires that the schedule of 

charges established by rulemaking should 

fairly and equitably allocate the total amount 

to be recovered from the NRC’s licensees and 

be assessed under the principle that licensees 

who require the greatest expenditure of 

agency resources pay the greatest annual 

charges. Since FY 1991, the NRC has 

complied with OBRA–90 by issuing a final 

rule that amends its fee regulations. These 

final rules have established the methodology 

used by the NRC in identifying and 

determining the fees to be assessed and 

collected in any given FY. 

The Commission is proposing to rebaseline 

its part 171 annual fees in FY 2008. 

Rebaselining fees results in increased annual 

fees compared to FY 2007 for the power 

reactors and non-power reactors, and 

decreased annual fees for four classes of 

licenses (spent fuel storage/reactor 

decommissioning, fuel facilities, 

transportation, and materials users). Within 

the uranium recovery fee class, annual fees 

for the all the non DOE licensees decrease, 

while annual fee for the DOE increases 

slightly. There is no annual fee for the rare 

earth fee class because this NRC fee class will 

no longer exist in FY 2008. As discussed in 

Section II.B.2., ‘‘Agreement State Activities’’, 

of this document, NRC’s only rare earth 

facility will transfer to the Commonwealth of 

Pennsylvania when it becomes an Agreement 

State. 

The Congressional Review Act of 1996 

provides Congress with the opportunity to 

review agency rules before they go into effect. 

Under this legislation, the NRC annual fee 

rule is considered a ‘‘major’’ rule and must 

be reviewed by Congress and the Comptroller 

General before the rule becomes effective. 

The Congressional Review Act also 

requires that an agency prepare a guide to 

assist small entities in complying with each 

rule for which a final RFA is prepared. This 

analysis and the small entity compliance 

guide (Attachment 1) have been prepared for 

the FY 2008 fee rule as required by law. 

II. Impact on Small Entities 

The fee rule results in substantial fees 

being charged to those individuals, 

organizations, and companies licensed by the 

NRC, including those licensed under the 

NRC materials program. The comments 

received on previous proposed fee rules and 

the small entity certifications received in 

response to previous final fee rules indicate 

that NRC licensees qualifying as small 

entities under the NRC’s size standards are 

primarily materials licensees. Therefore, this 

analysis will focus on the economic impact 

of the fees on materials licensees. In FY 2007, 

about 32 percent of these licensees 

(approximately 1,400 licensees) qualified as 

small entities. 

The commenters on previous fee 

rulemakings consistently indicated that the 

following results would occur if the proposed 

annual fees were not modified: 

1. Large firms would gain an unfair 

competitive advantage over small entities. 

Commenters noted that small and very small 

companies (‘‘Mom and Pop’’ operations) 

would find it more difficult to absorb the 

annual fee than a large corporation or a highvolume type of operation. In competitive 

markets, such as soil testing, annual fees 

would put small licensees at an extreme 

competitive disadvantage with their 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. 

2. Some firms would be forced to cancel 

their licenses. A licensee 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. Other licensees, especially wellloggers, noted that the increased fees would 

force 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. 

3. Some companies would go out of 

business. 

4. Some companies would have budget 

problems. Many medical licensees noted 

that, along with reduced reimbursements, the 

proposed increase of the existing fees and the 

introduction of additional fees would 

significantly affect their budgets. Others 

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 3,000 licenses, approvals, and 

registration terminations have been requested 

since the NRC first established annual fees 

for materials licenses. 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. 

To alleviate the significant impact of the 

annual fees on a substantial number of small 

entities, the NRC considered the following 

alternatives in accordance with the RFA in 

developing each of its fee rules since FY 

1991. 

1. Base fees on some measure of the 

amount of radioactivity possessed by the 

licensee (e.g., number of sources). 

2. Base fees on the frequency of use of the 

licensed radioactive material (e.g., volume of 

patients). 

3. Base fees on the NRC size standards for 

small entities. 

The NRC has reexamined its previous 

evaluations of these alternatives and 

continues to believe that establishment of a 

maximum fee for small entities is the most 

appropriate and effective option for reducing 

the impact of its fees on small entities. 

III. Maximum Fee 

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. In 

developing the maximum small entity annual 

fee in FY 1991, the NRC examined its 10 CFR 

part 170 licensing and inspection fees and 

Agreement State fees for those fee categories 

which were expected to have a substantial 

number of small entities. Six Agreement 

States (Washington, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, 

New York, and Utah), were used as 

benchmarks in the establishment of the 

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maximum small entity annual fee in FY 

1991. 

The NRC maximum small entity fee was 

established as an annual fee only. In addition 

to the annual fee, NRC small entity licensees 

were required to pay amendment, renewal 

and inspection fees. In setting the small 

entity annual fee, NRC ensured that the total 

amount small entities paid annually would 

not exceed the maximum paid in the six 

benchmark Agreement States. 

Of the six benchmark states, the maximum 

Agreement State fee of $3,800 in Washington 

was used as the ceiling for the total fees. 

Thus the NRC’s small entity fee was 

developed to ensure that the total fees paid 

by NRC small entities would not exceed 

$3,800. Given the NRC’s FY 1991 fee 

structure for inspections, amendments, and 

renewals, a small entity annual fee 

established at $1,800 allowed the total fee 

(small entity annual fee plus yearly average 

for inspections, amendments and renewal 

fees) for all categories to fall under the $3,800 

ceiling. 

In FY 1992, the NRC introduced a second, 

lower tier to the small entity fee in response 

to concerns that the $1,800 fee, when added 

to the license and inspection fees, still 

imposed a significant impact on small 

entities with relatively low gross annual 

receipts. For purposes of the annual fee, each 

small entity size standard was divided into 

an upper and lower tier. Small entity 

licensees in the upper tier continued to pay 

an annual fee of $1,800 while those in the 

lower tier paid an annual fee of $400. 

Based on the changes that had occurred 

since FY 1991, the NRC re-analyzed its 

maximum small entity annual fees in FY 

2000, and determined that the small entity 

fees should be increased by 25 percent to 

reflect the increase in the average fees paid 

by other materials licensees since FY 1991, 

as well as changes in the fee structure for 

materials licensees. The structure of the fees 

that NRC charged to its materials licensees 

changed during the period between 1991 and 

1999. Costs for materials license inspections, 

renewals, and amendments, which were 

previously recovered through part 170 fees 

for services, are now included in the part 171 

annual fees assessed to materials licensees. 

As a result, the maximum small entity annual 

fee increased from $1,800 to $2,300 in FY 

2000. By increasing the maximum annual fee 

for small entities from $1,800 to $2,300, the 

annual fee for many small entities was 

reduced. At the same time materials 

licensees, including small entities, would 

pay for most of the costs attributable to them. 

The costs not recovered from small entities 

are allocated to other materials licensees and 

to power reactors. 

While reducing the impact on many small 

entities, the NRC determined that the 

maximum annual fee of $2,300 for small 

entities may continue to have a significant 

impact on materials licensees with annual 

gross receipts in the thousands of dollars 

range. Therefore, the NRC continued to 

provide a lower-tier small entity annual fee 

for small entities with relatively low gross 

annual receipts, and for manufacturing 

concerns and educational institutions not 

State or publicly supported, with fewer than 

35 employees. The NRC also increased the 

lower tier small entity fee by the same 

percentage increase to the maximum small 

entity annual fee. This 25 percent increase 

resulted in the lower tier small entity fee 

increasing from $400 to $500 in FY 2000. 

The NRC stated in the RFA for the FY 2001 

final fee rule that it would re-examine the 

small entity fees every two years, in the same 

years in which it conducts the biennial 

review of fees as required by the Chief 

Financial Officer’s Act. Accordingly, the NRC 

examined the small entity fees again in FY 

2003 (68 FR 36714; June 18, 2003), and 

determined that a change was not warranted 

to the small entity fees established in FY 

2001. The NRC performed a similar review, 

and reached the same conclusion, in FY 

2005. 

The NRC re-examined its small entity fees 

for the FY 2007 fee rulemaking, and did not 

believe that a change to the small entity fees 

was warranted. Unlike the annual fees 

assessed to other licensees, the small entity 

fees are not designed to recover the entire 

agency costs associated with particular 

licensees. Instead, the reduced fees for small 

entities are designed to provide some fee 

relief for qualifying small entity licensees 

while at the same time recovering from them 

some of the agency’s costs for activities that 

benefit them. The costs not recovered from 

small entities for activities that benefit them 

must be recovered from other licensees. 

Given the reduction in annual fees from FY 

2000 to FY 2007, on average, for those 

categories of materials licensees that contain 

a number of small entities, the NRC 

determined that the current small entity fees 

of $500 and $2,300 continued to meet the 

objective of providing relief to many small 

entities while recovering from them some of 

the costs that benefit them. 

As part of the small entity review in FY 

2007, the NRC also considered whether it 

should establish reduced fees for small 

entities under part 170. The NRC received 

one comment requesting that such small 

entity fees be considered for certain export 

licenses, particularly in light of the recent 

increases to part 170 fees for these licenses. 

Because the NRC’s part 170 fees are not 

assessed to a licensee or applicant on a 

regular basis (i.e., they are only assessed 

when a licensee or applicant requests a 

specific service from the NRC), the NRC does 

not believe that the impact of its part 170 fees 

warrants a fee reduction for small entities 

under part 170, in addition to the part 171 

small entity fee reduction. Regarding export 

licenses, in particular, the NRC notes that 

interested parties can submit a single 

application for a broad scope, multi-year 

license that permits exports to multiple 

countries. Because the NRC’s fees are charged 

per application, this streamlining process 

minimizes the fees for export applicants. 

Because a single NRC fee can cover 

numerous exports, and because there are a 

limited number of entities who apply for 

these licenses, the NRC does not anticipate 

that the part 170 export fees will have a 

significant impact on a substantial number of 

small entities. 

Therefore, the NRC retained the $2,300 

small entity annual fee and the $500 lower 

tier small entity annual fee for FY 2007, and 

is not proposing changes to these fees in FY 

2008. The NRC plans to re-examine the small 

entity fees again in FY 2009. 

IV. Summary 

The NRC has determined that the 10 CFR 

part 171 annual fees significantly impact a 

substantial number of small entities. A 

maximum fee for small entities strikes a 

balance between the requirement to recover 

90 percent of the NRC budget and the 

requirement to consider means of reducing 

the impact of the fee on small entities. Based 

on its regulatory flexibility analysis, the NRC 

concludes that a maximum annual fee of 

$2,300 for small entities and a lower-tier 

small entity annual fee of $500 for small 

businesses and not-for-profit organizations 

with gross annual receipts of less than 

$350,000, small governmental jurisdictions 

with a population of fewer than 20,000, small 

manufacturing entities that have fewer than 

35 employees, and educational institutions 

that are not State or publicly supported and 

have fewer than 35 employees reduces the 

impact on small entities. At the same time, 

these reduced annual fees are consistent with 

the objectives of OBRA–90. Thus, the fees for 

small entities maintain a balance between the 

objectives of OBRA–90 and the RFA. 

Therefore, the analysis and conclusions 

previously established remain valid for FY 

2008. 

ATTACHMENT 1 TO APPENDIX A—U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Small 

Entity Compliance Guide; Fiscal Year 2008 

Contents 

Introduction 

NRC Definition of Small Entity 

NRC Small Entity Fees 

Instructions for Completing NRC Form 526 

Introduction 

The Congressional Review Act requires all 

Federal agencies to prepare a written guide 

for each ‘‘major’’ final rule, as defined by the 

Act. The NRC’s fee rule, published annually 

to comply with the Omnibus Budget 

Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA–90), as 

amended, is considered a ‘‘major’’ rule under 

the Congressional Review Act. Therefore, in 

compliance with the law, this guide has been 

prepared to assist NRC materials licensees in 

complying with the FY 2008 fee rule. 

Licensees may use this guide to determine 

whether they qualify as a small entity under 

NRC regulations and are eligible to pay 

reduced FY 2008 annual fees assessed under 

10 CFR part 171. The NRC has established 

two tiers of annual fees for those materials 

licensees who qualify as small entities under 

the NRC’s size standards. 

Licensees who meet the NRC’s size 

standards for a small entity (listed in 10 CFR 

2.810) must submit a completed NRC Form 

526 ‘‘Certification of Small Entity Status for 

the Purposes of Annual Fees Imposed under 

10 CFR Part 171’’ to qualify for the reduced 

annual fee. This form can be accessed on the 

NRC’s Web site at http://www.nrc.gov. The 

form can then be accessed by selecting ‘‘Who 

We Are,’’ then ‘‘License Fees’’ and under 

‘‘Forms’’ selecting NRC Form 526. For 

licensees who cannot access the NRC’s Web 

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1An educational institution referred to in the size 

standards is an entity whose primary function is 

education, whose programs are accredited by a 

nationally recognized accrediting agency or 

association, who is legally authorized to provide a 

program of organized instruction or study, who 

provides an educational program for which it 

awards academic degrees, and whose educational 

programs are available to the public. 

site, NRC Form 526 may be obtained through 

the local point of contact listed in the NRC’s 

‘‘Materials Annual Fee Billing Handbook,’’

NUREG/BR–0238, which is enclosed with 

each annual fee billing. Alternatively, the 

form may be obtained by calling the fee staff 

at 301–415–7554, or by e-mailing the fee staff 

at fees@nrc.gov. The completed form, the 

appropriate small entity fee, and the payment 

copy of the invoice should be mailed to the 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

License Fee Team, at the address indicated 

on the invoice. Failure to file the NRC small 

entity certification Form 526 in a timely 

manner may result in the denial of any 

refund that might otherwise be due. 

NRC Definition of Small Entity 

For purposes of compliance with its 

regulations (10 CFR 2.810), the NRC has 

defined a small entity as follows: 

(1) Small business—a for-profit concern 

that provides a service, or a concern that is 

not engaged in manufacturing, with average 

gross receipts of $6.5 million or less over its 

last 3 completed fiscal years; 

(2) Manufacturing industry—a 

manufacturing concern with an average of 

500 or fewer employees based on 

employment during each pay period for the 

preceding 12 calendar months; 

(3) Small organizations—a not-for-profit 

organization that is independently owned 

and operated and has annual gross receipts 

of $6.5 million or less; 

(4) Small governmental jurisdiction—a 

government of a city, county, town, 

township, village, school district or special 

district, with a population of fewer than 

50,000; 

(5) Small educational institution—an 

educational institution supported by a 

qualifying small governmental jurisdiction, 

or one that is not State or publicly supported 

and has 500 or fewer employees.1

To further assist licensees in determining 

if they qualify as a small entity, the following 

guidelines are provided, which are based on 

the Small Business Administration’s 

regulations (13 CFR part 121). 

(1) A small business concern is an 

independently owned and operated entity 

which is not considered dominant in its field 

of operations. 

(2) The number of employees means the 

total number of employees in the parent 

company, any subsidiaries and/or affiliates, 

including both foreign and domestic 

locations (i.e., not solely the number of 

employees working for the licensee or 

conducting NRC licensed activities for the 

company). 

(3) Gross annual receipts includes all 

revenue received or accrued from any source, 

including receipts of the parent company, 

any subsidiaries and/or affiliates, and 

account for both foreign and domestic 

locations. Receipts include all revenues from 

sales of products and services, interest, rent, 

fees, and commissions, from whatever 

sources derived (i.e., not solely receipts from 

NRC licensed activities). 

(4) A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large 

entity, including a foreign entity, does not 

qualify as a small entity. 

NRC Small Entity Fees 

In 10 CFR 171.16(c), the NRC has 

established two tiers of fees for licensees that 

qualify as a small entity under the NRC’s size 

standards. The fees are as follows: 

Maximum 

annual fee per 

licensed 

category 

Small Businesses Not Engaged in Manufacturing (Average gross receipts over last 3 completed fiscal years): 

$350,000 to $6.5 million ......................................................................................................................................................... $2,300 

Less than $350,000 ................................................................................................................................................................ 500 

Small Not-For-Profit Organizations (Annual Gross Receipts): 

$350,000 to $6.5 million ......................................................................................................................................................... 2,300 

Less than $350,000 ................................................................................................................................................................ 500 

Manufacturing entities that have an average of 500 employees or fewer: 

35 to 500 employees .............................................................................................................................................................. 2,300 

Fewer than 35 employees ...................................................................................................................................................... 500 

Small Governmental Jurisdictions (Including publicly supported educational institutions) (Population): 

20,000 to 50,000 .................................................................................................................................................................... 2,300 

Fewer than 20,000 ................................................................................................................................................................. 500 

Educational Institutions that are not State or Publicly Supported, and have 500 Employees or Fewer: 

35 to 500 employees .............................................................................................................................................................. 2,300 

Fewer than 35 employees ...................................................................................................................................................... 500 

Instructions for Completing NRC Small 

Entity Form 526 

1. Complete all items on NRC Form 526 as 

follows: 

(Note: Incomplete or improperly completed 

forms will be returned as unacceptable.) 

(a) Enter the license number and invoice 

number exactly as they appear on the annual 

fee invoice. 

(b) Enter the North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS). 

(c) Enter the licensee’s name and address 

exactly as they appear on the invoice. 

Annotate name and/or address changes for 

billing purposes on the payment copy of the 

invoice—include contact’s name, telephone 

number, e-mail address, and company Web 

site address. Correcting the name and/or 

address on NRC Form 526 or on the invoice 

does not constitute a request to amend the 

license. 

(d) Check the appropriate size standard 

under which the licensee qualifies as a small 

entity. Check one box only. Note the 

following: 

(i) A licensee who is a subsidiary of a large 

entity, including foreign entities, does not 

qualify as a small entity. The calculation of 

a firm’s size includes the employees or 

receipts of all affiliates. Affiliation with 

another concern is based on the power to 

control, whether exercised or not. Such 

factors as common ownership, common 

management and identity of interest (often 

found in members of the same family), 

among others, are indications of affiliation. 

The affiliated business concerns need not be 

in the same line of business (67 CFR part 59). 

(ii) Gross annual receipts, as used in the 

size standards, include all revenue received 

or accrued by your company from all sources, 

regardless of the form of the revenue and not 

solely receipts from licensed activities. 

(iii) NRC’s size standards on small entity 

are based on the Small Business 

Administration’s regulations (13 CFR part 

121). 

(iv) The size standards apply to the 

licensee, not to the individual authorized 

users who may be listed in the license. 

2. If the invoice states the ‘‘Amount Billed 

Represents 50% Proration,’’ the amount due 

is not the prorated amount shown on the 

invoice but rather one-half of the maximum 

small entity annual fee shown on NRC Form 

526 for the size standard under which the 

licensee qualifies (either $1,150 or $250) for 

each category billed. 

3. If the invoice amount is less than the 

reduced small entity annual fee shown on 

this form, pay the amount on the invoice; 

there is no further reduction. In this case, do 

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not file NRC Form 526. However, if the 

invoice amount is greater than the reduced 

small entity annual fee, file NRC Form 526 

and pay the amount applicable to the size 

standard you checked on the form. 

4. The completed NRC Form 526 must be 

submitted with the required annual fee 

payment and the ‘‘Payment Copy’’ of the 

invoice to the address shown on the invoice. 

5. 10 CFR 171.16(c)(3) states licensees shall 

submit a new certification with its annual fee 

payment each year. Failure to submit NRC 

Form 526 at the time the annual fee is paid 

will require the licensee to pay the full 

amount of the invoice. 

The NRC sends invoices to its licensees for 

the full annual fee, even though some 

licensees qualify for reduced fees as small 

entities. Licensees who qualify as small 

entities and file NRC Form 526, which 

certifies eligibility for small entity fees, may 

pay the reduced fee, which is either $2,300 

or $500 for a full year, depending on the size 

of the entity, for each fee category shown on 

the invoice. Licensees granted a license 

during the first 6 months of the fiscal year, 

and licensees who file for termination or for 

a (possession only( license and permanently 

cease licensed activities during the first 6 

months of the fiscal year, pay only 50 percent 

of the annual fee for that year. Such invoices 

state that the ‘‘amount billed represents 50% 

proration.’’

Licensees must file a new small entity form 

(NRC Form 526) with the NRC each fiscal 

year to qualify for reduced fees in that year. 

Because a licensee’s ‘‘size,’’ or the size 

standards, may change from year to year, the 

invoice reflects the full fee and licensees 

must complete and return NRC Form 526 for 

the fee to be reduced to the small entity fee 

amount. LICENSEES WILL NOT RECEIVE A 

NEW INVOICE FOR THE REDUCED 

AMOUNT. The completed NRC Form 526, 

the payment of the appropriate small entity 

fee, and the ‘‘Payment Copy’’ of the invoice 

should be mailed to the U. S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, License Fee Team at 

the address indicated on the invoice. 

If you have questions regarding the NRC’s 

annual fees, please contact the license fee 

staff at 301–415–7554, e-mail the fee staff at 

fees@nrc.gov, or write to the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 

20555–0001, Attention: Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer. 

False certification of small entity status 

could result in civil sanctions being imposed 

by the NRC under the Program Fraud Civil 

Remedies Act, 31 U.S.C. 3801 et. seq. NRC’s 

implementing regulations are found at 10 

CFR part 13. 

[FR Doc. E8–2412 Filed 2–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

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