ML20128D500
| ML20128D500 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/24/1992 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Thomas C HOUSE OF REP. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20128D506 | List: |
| References | |
| FRN-57FR18095, RULE-PR-170 CCS, NUDOCS 9212070293 | |
| Download: ML20128D500 (2) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES 3
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.i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION n
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November 24, 1992 The Honorable Craig Thomas U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Congressman Thomas:
I am responding to your October 29, 1992, letter to Chairman Selin concerning the fees assessed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
As you are aware, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (0 BRA-90),
requires that the NRC recover approximately 100 percent of its budget authority for FY 1991-1995 through the assessment of fees.
In order to comply with the law, the NRC has established, by rule, its fee schedules after consideration of comments from the public.
The rule provides for the assessment of two types of fees -- license and inspection fees, and annual fees.
License and inspection fees are authorized by the Independent Offices Appropriation Act (10AA) and assessed under 10 CFR Part 170 of the NRC's regulations.
These fees recover the costs to the NRC of providing individually identifiable services to specific applicants for, and holders of NRC licenses and approvals.
The 10AA provides that the agency's inspection and licensing activities should be self sustaining to the fullest extent possible.
Thus, in developing the current fees, the NRC was obligated to examine the cost of conducting health and safety inspections as well as the costs of processing many types of applications for new licenses and license amendments and to design a fee schedule to cover the costs of providing these services.
Consistent with this approach, the inspection fee of $1,200 assessed to your constituents reflects the average cost to the NRC for inspecting a licensed program that authorizes the use of nuclear gauges, in determining the average cost, the NRC took into account all professional staff-hours directly associated with the inspection, including the time to prepare for the inspection, travel to an from the site, conduct the on-site inspection and prepare the required inspection report.
The fee amount reflects the salary and benefits cost for these direct hours plus an allocated portion of the NRC overhead, and general and administration costs (e.g.,
supplies, rent, clerical, supervision).
The nature of our inspection and licensing effort is oeared to the health and safety risk, therefore, there is no relationship between the cost of our effort and the cost of the device.
The second type of fees assessed by the NRC are annual fees which were established for the first time for materials licensees in FY 1991.
These fees are assessed to NRC licensees under 10 CFR Part 171 and recover generic and other regulatory costs not recovered through licensing and inspection fees under 10 CFR Part 170.
For example, NRC costs associated with generic and other regulatory activities. include but are not limited to those costs related to formulating regulations, performing research, overseeing regional programs, 9212070293 921124
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1 The lionorable Craig Thomas developing inspection programs, event and allegation follow-up and responses to petitions from the public. These types of actit-ties are required in order to effectively regulate tiRC licensees, llowever, as you indicate in your letter, these costs are often perceived as not being related to the value of the service provided by the flRC, since they are not requested by or directly related to a specific licensee, but rather support f1RC regulation of all licensees of a particular type.
To determine the amount of the annual fee, the liRC allocates its budget to the classes of licensee and subtracts the estimated amount to be colletted from licensing and inspection fees.
The remaining part of the budget for the class is allocated uniformly to each license in the class to determine the annual fee.
This approach for licensed activities authorizing the use of gauges resulted in the annual fee of $2,250 for FY 1992.
The 11RC recognized that the assessment of the fees required by OBRA-90 to collect 100 percent of the 11RC budget would have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of licensees. Therefore, the liRC considered alternatives to reduce the negative impact of the fees as required by the Regulatory flexibility Act. To reduce the impact on small entities, the f1RC established a maximum annual fee of $1,800 per licensed category for those licensees that meet the liRC criteria established for small entities. A lower tier small entity fee of $400 has also been established for small businesses with gross annual receipts of less than $250,000.
Therefore, if your constituents have gross annual receipts of $250,000 or more but less than $3.5 million, an annual fee of $1,800 is applicable for the license in FY 1992.
If the gross annual receipts are less than $250,000, the annual fee would be
$400.
Regarding regulatory burden and value of f1RC services, we are committed to.
reducing unnecessary regulatory burden and have made significant progress in this area.
We believe, however, that our basic regulatory programs are necessary to protect the public health and safety. As such the value of our services accrue not just to our licensees, but to their workers and the general public.
In developing the t1RC fee schedules, every effort was made to establish fees that are fair and equitable and that are reasonably related to the costs of the 11RC's regulatory program.
The liRC believes that, to the maximum extent practicable, the i4RC fee regulations are fair and equitable and are in accord with the guidance provided by the Congress and the requirements of OBRA-90 to recover 100 percent of the f1RC'. budget authority.
Sincerely, y
/[ mes M. J ylor
/
xecutive Director V for Operations
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