ML20046C682
| ML20046C682 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/02/1993 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Burns C SENATE |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20046C683 | List: |
| References | |
| FRN-58FR21116, FRN-58FR21662, RULE-PR-170, RULE-PR-171 CCS, NUDOCS 9308110359 | |
| Download: ML20046C682 (2) | |
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1 July 2, 1993 l
The Honorable Conrad Burns United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510-2603
Dear Senator Burns:
I am responding to your June 1,1993, letter ~ written on behalf of one of your constituents regarding the NRC's fee structure.
As you are aware, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (0 BRA-90)
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requires that the Commission recover 100 percent of its budget authority,-less.
appropriations from the Department of Energy (D0E) administered Nuclear Waste Fund, for Fiscal Years 1991 through 1995 by assessing license and annual fees.
The Commission was required to collect approximately $445 million for FY 1991; e
approximately $493 million for FY 1992; and approximately $519 million for FY 1993.
These budgeted amounts, which were appropriated, represent those resources necessary for NRC to perform its safety mission.
To recover the budget, the NRC assesses licensing and inspection fees under 10 CFR Part 170 and annual fees under 10 CFR Part 171.
Fees assessed under 10 CFR Part 170 include license application fees, license amendment fees, license renewal fees, and inspection fees.
Inspection hours include time to prepare for an inspection, the on-site time to conduct the inspection, documentation time to write up the inspection report, time to travel to and from the inspection and Regional time for normal and escalated enforcement. Annual fees are to recover NRC's generic and other costs that are not recovered as identifiable services to specific licensees and applicants under 10 CFR Part 170.
The annual fees allocate the generic costs that are attributable to a given class of licensee to that class.
The current fees are "high" relative to the fees that were assessed prior to-the requirement to recover 100% of the new budget authority.
Prior to 100%
fee recovery, materials licensees only paid for specific services (new licenses, license renewals, license amendments, and inspections). With 100%
fee recovery, these licensees are now required to pay for all the NRC activities necessary to regulate them.
This includes research, rulemakings, event evaluation, etc.
The increases for FY 1993 result primarily from the requirement of the Chief-Financial Officers Act to conduct a biennial review of fees and other charges.
The NRC has completed its review of license and inspection fees assessed by the agency..The biennial review indicates that the NRC needs to modify the average number of hours on which the current licensing and inspection flat 9308110359 930702 E
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170 5BFR21116 PDR y1
4 The Honorable Conrad Burns fees are based in order to recover the cost of providing the licensing and inspection services.
To determine the licensing and inspection flat fees for materials licensees and applicants, the NRC used historical data to determine the average number of professional hours required to perform a licensing action or inspection for each license category. These revised average hours were then multiplied by the proposed professional hourly rate for FY 1993.
The primary reason for these relatively large increases is change to the inspection program.
In some program areas, for example. NRC has increased inspection hours because we have found increased instances of violations which have public health and safety impact.
The Commission published a Federal Register Notice on April 19, 1993 that solicits public comment on changes to NRC's fee policy and associated legislation.
This action responds to Section 2903(c) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which requires the NRC to review its policy for assessment of annual charges under Section 6101(c) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, solicit public comment on the need for changes to such policy, and recommend to the Congress such changes in existing law as the NRC finds are needed to prevent the placement of an unfair burden on certain NRC licensees.
In addition to publication in the Federal Register, the Notice was sent to all licensees. The comment period expires on July 19, 1993.
Licensees and interested parties are encouraged to submit comments in accordance with the Notice.
I If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.
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Sincerely, I
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%V L.es M. Tay ' r E ecutive D rector fo-Operations
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