ML20212L739
| ML20212L739 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/31/2020 |
| From: | Clay Johnson NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Slaughter D Aerotest |
| TAW | |
| References | |
| Download: ML20212L739 (4) | |
Text
Docket 50-228 August 31, 2020 Dr. David M. Slaughter President and Reactor Administrator Aerotest Operations, Inc.
3455 Fostoria Way San Ramon, CA 94583
Dear Dr. Slaughter:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated June 24, 2020 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML20188A222), and your letter dated March 30, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20188A223). In these letters you requested additional information regarding, and questioned the validity of, $24,047 in fees the NRC assessed to Aerotest Operations, Inc. (Aerotest) under 10 CFR § 170.21 within invoice LFB 20-1849, dated January 15, 2020. In your June letter, you also stated that you believe Aerotest qualifies for fee exemptions based on the types of activities it conducts. In addition, you stated that the NRC staffs position in SECY-20-0042, Rulemaking Plan on Cost Recovery Criteria for Research and Development Utilization Facilities, dated May 6, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19312A036), does not adequately consider changes in the law that are intended to ensure and expand private and public participation in developing nuclear technologies.1 Previously, you had sent the NRC another letter, dated February 11, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20049A037), in which you asked for information regarding the NRC staffs time charges in invoice LFB 20-1849. I responded to you by letter dated March 13, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20073E318). In my response, I confirmed the charges are valid, explained the activities associated with the charges, and discussed how the charges are determined.
In your more recent letters from March and June 2020, you request an estimate of the portion of Aerotests charges that is associated with the regulatory audit the NRC staff conducted in 1 Although I am responding to both of your letters, I note that the NRC only received your March letter as an enclosure to your June letter. Furthermore, although in your March letter you stated that a May 1, 2019, letter from Aerotest to the NRC did not appear to be in ADAMS, this letter was added to ADAMS on May 8, 2019 (see ADAMS Accession No. ML19128A063). The letter was inadvertently not profiled to Docket No. 50-228 when added to ADAMS, but this has now been corrected.
Additionally, in your March letter you referenced three email addresses that Aerotest has used to attempt to contact the NRC regarding fee invoices: fees.resources@nrc.gov, fees.resource@ncr.gov, and Feebillinginquiries.rescource@nrc.gov. However, as previously stated in my letter dated March 13, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20073E318), the correct email address for general questions related to invoices is fees.resource@nrc.gov. As I also stated in my March letter, for any requests for information related to NRC staff or contractor charges, an NRC Form 527, Request for Information Related to Fees-For-Service, should be submitted to initiate the review process. NRC Form 527 should be submitted to Fees_Part170External.Resource@nrc.gov as instructed on the form.
December 2019. While the staff track their time processing any license amendment request (LAR) by using a unique project code (i.e., Enterprise Project Identifier, or EPID) for each LAR, they do not track time at the level of detail you have requested. Therefore, I am unable to provide the detailed cost information you have requested. It is important to note that the NRC tracks staff charges for LARs at the level of detail deemed appropriate to ensure proper validation and accurate assessment of charges. Tracking licensing charges beyond this level would be administratively burdensome and historically has not been shown to be necessary to support accurate billing.
In further questioning the validity of the charges, in your March and June letters you also questioned the justification for the December 2019 audit. The NRC staff prepared for and conducted the audit consistent with NRC policy and guidance, and in response to Aerotests proposed activities. As the NRC staff discussed in its audit letter dated October 31, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19255F932), and as the staff further discussed with Aerotest during the auditas documented in the NRC staffs audit report dated February 3, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20017A278)the NRC staff conducted the audit for numerous reasons.
Among these reasons, the staff conducted the audit to better understand the LAR, gain insights needed to complete its review of the LAR, and identify information that needed to be docketed (whether or not necessarily reviewed during the audit). The audit thereby helped inform and focus requests for additional information (RAIs) that the staff sent to Aerotest after the audit. As discussed in the staffs RAI letter dated February 13, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20034G445), these RAIs, in turn, requested information the staff needed in order to continue its review of Aerotests LAR.
In your March and June letters, you stated that the information the staff sought from Aerotest in the audit and RAIs was already available from the results of prior NRC inspections, audits, and approvals. You also stated that the RAIs requested information that could have been provided during the audit, and that had already been provided to the staff at other times. However, regulatory audits do not replace the NRC staff's need for information that will be relied on to make a licensing determination in response to an application to be submitted to the NRC in accordance with 10 CFR § 50.30(b). Audits also serve a different purpose than inspections, in that audits are performed to aid in the review of proposed license changes, while inspections verify compliance with the current license and NRC regulations. (In Aerotests case, the NRC conducted its last security and operations inspections prior to the audit in August 2015 (see ADAMS Accession No. ML15257A331) and June 2017 (see ADAMS Accession No. ML17181A298), respectively. These inspections, and the earlier September 2012 inspection (see ADAMS Accession No. ML12264A000) you referenced in your March letter, were inspections, as opposed to audits.) Neither inspections nor audits involve the NRC making any licensing conclusions or findings, unlike approval of a LAR, which does require the staff to make specific findings.
In your March letter, you also specifically questioned the time charged by Mr. John Nguyen and Mr. Michael Norris in invoice LFB 20-1849. As discussed above, in my letter dated March 13, 2020, I previously explained the basis for these charges and confirmed that they are correct. The activities conducted by Mr. Nguyen related to reviewing Aerotests request to eliminate NRC-licensed operators. The activities conducted by Mr. Norris related to reviewing emergency planning-related information submitted prior to the December 2019 audit and preparing associated input for the audit plan.
Regarding your statements in your June letter that Aerotest qualifies for fee exemptions based on the types of activities it conducts, I note that, as previously discussed in former NRC Chief
Financial Officer Maureen E. Wylies letter to Aerotest dated November 7, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18268A345), Aerotest has not shown that any such exemptions would be in the public interest in accordance with 10 CFR § 170.11(b) or 10 CFR § 171.11(c).
Regarding your statements related to the rulemaking plan in SECY-20-0042, I note that NRC rulemaking processes include opportunities for public input. I would therefore encourage you to use these opportunities, when they become available, to raise any concerns you may have about how the NRCs proposed cost-recovery criteria might apply to Aerotest.
In summary, all charges on invoice 20-1849 are accurate and valid. Therefore, as of the date of this letter, the invoice will be taken out of dispute status and payment will be due immediately.
If you are unable to pay the total fee with one payment, you may seek to arrange for a payment plan. Under 10 CFR § 15.35(b), a debtor may arrange an installment plan with the NRC for payment of fees if the debtor is unable to pay the invoice in one lump sum. Please note that currently all installment agreements require the payment of interest at 1 percent annually and an administrative charge of $7.00 per installment period.
Please direct any questions regarding the settlement of invoice LFB 20-1849 to Ms. Carly Nelson-Wilson of my staff at (301) 415-8147. For further questions regarding billing, please contact Ms. Kelly Riner of my staff at (301) 415-6246. Lastly, for questions about the technical work being performed as it relates to your license, please contact Mr. Edward Helvenston at (301) 415-4067.
Sincerely, Cherish K. Johnson, CFO Office of the Chief Financial Officer Cherish K.
Johnson Digitally signed by Cherish K. Johnson Date: 2020.08.31 08:28:26
-04'00'
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE LETTER TO AEROTEST DOCKET 50-228, DATED: August 31,2020 Distribution:
Jawanza Gibbs-Nicholson, OCFO Kelly Riner, OCFO Carly Nelson-Wilson, OCFO Jo Jacobs, OCFO Jackie Jones, OCFO William Blaney, OCFO Greg Casto, NRR Geoffrey Wertz, NRR William Kennedy, NRR OIG DOC/RF ADAMS: Yes No Initials: MB Sunsi Review by: NA Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available Sensitive Non-Sensitive ADAMS: ML20212L739(Memo) ML20238B829(Pkg)
OFFICE OCFO/DOC/LAFBB NRR OCFO/DOC/FSOB OCFO/DOB/FBT NAME MBlair EHelvenston ELeGrand ARossi DATE 7/31/20 8/3/20 8/6/20 8/6/20 OFFICE OGC OCFO/DDOC OCFO/DOC DCFO NAME MClark DDAbate KADarling BFicks DATE 8/13/20 8/21/20 8/24/20 8/24/20 OFFICE CFO NAME CJohnson DATE 8/31/20 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY