ML040330343
| ML040330343 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/02/2004 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Press Release-04-016 | |
| Download: ML040330343 (2) | |
See also: see also:Press Release-04-016
Text
NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA
No.04-016
February 2, 2004
NRC PROPOSES TO AMEND LICENSING, INSPECTION AND ANNUAL FEES RULE
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend its regulations for the licensing,
inspection and annual fees it charges applicants and licensees for fiscal year (FY) 2004.
The agency is required to collect nearly all of its annual appropriated budget through two types
of fees. One is for specific NRC services, such as licensing and inspection activities, that apply to a
specific license. The other is an annual fee paid by all licensees, which recovers generic regulatory
expenses and other costs not recovered through fees for specific services. These fees are contained in
Commission regulations 10 CFR Part 170 (fees for licensing and inspection services) and 10 CFR Part 171 (annual fees).
By law, the NRC must recover $545.6 million, which represents 92 percent of its budget for
FY 2004 (October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004) less the $33.1 million appropriated from the Nuclear
Waste Fund for high-level waste activities. The amount to be recovered in FY 2004 includes $51.1
million appropriated for NRCs activities related to homeland security. The total amount to be
recovered is about $19.3 million more than last year.
The proposed annual fees have been determined under the re-baselining method. The
Commission decided to re-baseline annual fees this year based on the changes in the total budget and
the magnitude of the budget allocated to certain classes of licensees. Re-baselined annual fees would
result in increased annual fees compared to FY 2003 fees for three classes of licensees (power reactors,
rare earth mills and transportation) and decreased annual fees for three classes (spent fuel
storage/reactor decommissioning, non-power reactors, and fuel facilities).
Finally, in two classes, material users and uranium recovery, most categories (or sub-classes)
of licensees would have decreased annual fees while others would have increased annual fees.
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The proposed FY 2004 annual fees include the following representative classes/categories of
licensees:
Class/Category of Licensees
Proposed FY 2004 Annual Fee
Power Reactors
$3,378,000
(Including spent fuel storage/reactor
decommissioning annual fee)
Rare Earth Mills
$191,900
Transportation-Approvals
$92,100
(Users and Fabricators)
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning
$208,000
Non-Power Reactors
$62,900
High-enriched Uranium Fuel Facility
$5,392,000
Low-enriched Uranium Fuel Facility $1,808,000
Uranium Recovery (Conventional Mills) $15,700
Radiographers
$10,400
Broad Scope Medical
$22,100
Distribution of Radiopharmaceuticals
$3,900
Gauge Users
$1,600
Written comments on the proposed amendments to 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 of the
Commissions regulations should be received within 30 days after the February 2 publication in the
Federal Register. They should be addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications staff. Comments also may
be faxed to 301-415-1101, or submitted via the NRCs electronic rulemaking Web site, at
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov . This site provides the ability to upload comments as files (in any format), if
a users browser supports that function.