ML20352A151
| ML20352A151 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/22/2021 |
| From: | Jason Shay NRC/OCFO/DB |
| To: | Cheese E US Executive Office of the President, Office of Mgmt & Budget (OMB) |
| smh | |
| References | |
| Download: ML20352A151 (4) | |
Text
E. Che UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 February 22, 2021 Ms. Erin Cheese The Office of Management and Budget 725 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20503
Dear Ms. Cheese:
The NRC is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. These proposed amendments are necessary to implement Public Law115-439, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA)
(42 U.S.C 2215). The NEIMA fee-related changes, effective October 1, 2020, include (1)repealing the prior fee-recovery framework and replacing it with a revised framework and (2)requirements to improve the invoice accuracy for service fees.
Effective October 1, 2020, NEIMA repealed Section 6101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90) (42 U.S.C. 2214) and put in place a revised fee-recovery framework for FY 2021 and subsequent fiscal years, requiring the NRC to recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100 percent of its total budget authority for the fiscal year, less the budget authority for excluded activities. For FYs 2005 through 2020, OBRA-90 required the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority for the fiscal year, less amounts for the activities excluded from fee recovery under OBRA-90 or other legislation, through fees. The 10 percent of the remaining budget authority not recovered through fees was historically referred to as fee-relief activities. In this proposed rule, the NRC would establish a revised fee-recovery framework, which would eliminate the 10 percent limit on fee-relief activities. Accordingly, the NRC would no longer provide a fee-relief credit (when the amount budgeted for fee-relief activities is less than the 10 percent threshold, which would have decreased annual fees for licensees) or assess a fee-relief surcharge (when the amount budgeted for fee-relief activities is greater than the 10 percent threshold, which would have increased annual fees for licensees) as part of the calculation of annual fees for each licensee fee class.
Under NEIMA, the NRC must recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100 percent of its annual budget, less the budget authority for excluded activities. Under Section 102(b)(1)(B) of NEIMA, excluded activities include any fee-relief activity as identified by the Commission, generic homeland security activities, waste incidental to reprocessing activities, Nuclear Waste Fund activities, advanced reactor regulatory infrastructure activities, Inspector General services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, research and development at universities in areas relevant to the NRCs mission, and a nuclear science and engineering grant program. In FY 2021, the fee-relief activities identified by the Commission are consistent with prior final fee rules and include Agreement State oversight, regulatory support to Agreement States, medical isotope production infrastructure, fee exemptions for non-profit educational institutions, costs not recovered from small entities under 10 CFR 171.16(c),
generic decommissioning/reclamation activities, the NRCs uranium recovery program, unregistered general licenses, potential U.S. Department of Defense Program Memorandum of Understanding activities (Military Radium-226), and non-military radium sites. In addition, for FY 2021, the Commission identified international activities, not including the resources for
E. Cheese import and export licensing, as fee-relief activities to be excluded from the fee recovery requirement.
The NRC is issuing this FY 2021 proposed fee rule based on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the enacted budget). The proposed fee rule reflects a total budget authority in the amount of $844.4 million, a decrease of $11.2 million from FY 2021. By law, the NRC is required to collect all fees by September 30, 2021.
In order to comply with the law, the Commission is proposing to amend its fee regulations under Part 170 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Fees for Facilities, Materials, Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services Under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as Amended; and 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.
After accounting for the exclusions from the fee-recovery requirement and net billing adjustments (i.e., for FY 2021 invoices that the NRC estimates will not be paid during the fiscal year, less payments received in FY 2021 for prior year invoices and current year collections made for the termination of one operating power reactor), the NRC must recover approximately
$708.8 million in fees in FY 2021. Of this amount, the NRC estimates that $185.9 million will be recovered through 10 CFR Part 170 service fees and approximately $522.9 million will be recovered through 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees.
The amendments to 10 CFR Part 170 revise the professional hourly rate and flat license application fees charged to licensees and applicants. The hourly rate used to assess 10 CFR Part 170 fees increases to $288, previously $279 for FY 2020.
The amendments to 10 CFR Part 171 establish the amount of the FY 2021 proposed annual fees to be assessed to NRC licensees to recover costs not recovered through 10 CFR Part 170 fees. Compared to FY 2020, the FY 2021 rebaselined proposed annual fees would decrease for fuel facilities, non-power production or utilization facilities, most materials users fee categories, the uranium recovery class, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Program, and for DOE transportation activities. The FY 2021 proposed annual fees would increase for operating power reactors, spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning, and some materials users fee categories.
The proposed rule includes two policy changes: (1) a process for disputing errors in invoices for service fees and (2) the assessment of annual fees for future 10 CFR Part 50 non-power production or utilization facility licensees and for small modular reactor licensees.
Enclosed is a copy of the proposed rule which is being transmitted to the Federal Register for publication. The notice provides for a 30-day public comment period.
Sincerely, Jason E. Shay, Budget Director Division of Budget Office of the Chief Financial Officer
E. Cheese
Enclosure:
Federal Register, Notice cc: Christine McDonald, OMB
ML20352A151 CFO-0009 OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT NAME JJacobs WBlaney CGalster*
DATE 01/08/2021 01/11/2021 12/15/20 OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NAME ARossi RAllwein JShay DATE 01/13/2021 02/02/2021 02/22/2021