ML21131A137
| ML21131A137 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/16/2021 |
| From: | Jason Shay NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Hettinger A US Executive Office of the President, Office of Mgmt & Budget (OMB) |
| smh | |
| References | |
| Download: ML21131A137 (4) | |
Text
E. Cheese UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 June 16, 2021 Mr. Alexander Hettinger The Office of Management and Budget 725 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20503
Dear Mr. Hettinger:
The NRC is amending the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. These amendments are necessary to implement Public Law 115-439, 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 accuracy of invoices 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Effective October 1, 2020, NEIMA repealed Section 6101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90) (42 U.S.C. 2214), and put in place a revised fee-recovery framework for FY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 through fees 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. The 10 percent of the remaining budget authority not recovered through fees was historically referred to as fee-relief activities. In this final rule, the NRC has established a revised fee-recovery framework, which eliminates the 10 percent limit on fee-relief activities.
Accordingly, the NRC will 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 Section 171.16(c) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), generic decommissioning/reclamation activities, the NRCs uranium recovery program and 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 import and export licensing, as fee-relief activities to be excluded from the fee-recovery requirement.
The NRC is issuing this FY 2021 final fee rule based on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the enacted budget). The final fee rule reflects a total budget authority in the amount of
$844.4 million, a decrease of $11.2 million from FY 2020. As explained previously, certain portions of the NRCs total budget authority for the fiscal year are excluded from NEIMAs fee-recovery requirement under Section 102(b)(1)(B) of NEIMA. Based on the FY 2021 enacted budget, these exclusions total $123.0 million, consisting of $91.2 million for fee-relief activities,
$17.7 million for advanced reactor regulatory infrastructure activities, $11.7 million for generic homeland security activities, $1.2 million for waste incidental to reprocessing activities, and
$1.2 million for Inspector General services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Table I summarizes the excluded activities for the FY 2021 final rule.
In order to comply with the law, the Commission is proposing to amend its fee regulations under 10 CFR Part 170, 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
$708.0 million in fees in FY 2021. Of this amount, the NRC estimates that $190.6 million will be recovered through 10 CFR Part 170 service fees and approximately $517.4 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 from $279 in FY 2020, to $288 in FY 2021.
Compared to FY 2020, 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees are decreasing for fuel facilities; non-power production or utilization facilities; for 42 materials users fee categories; uranium recovery; and for DOE Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Program. Annual fees are increasing for spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning activities; operating power reactors; for DOE transportation activities; and for 11 materials users fee categories. While the operating power reactors annual fee is increasing in FY 2021, it does not exceed the cap established by NEIMA.
Generally, 10 CFR Part 171 annual fees are impacted by changes to the budget, fees for services, the number of licensees, the results of the biennial review of fees, and other factors.
Additionally, the FY 2021 final fee rule includes two policy changes that: (1) amends the regulations in 10 CFR Part 15, Debt collection procedures, to establish a process for disputing errors in invoices for service fees, and (2) revises the policy for the assessment of annual fees for future 10 CFR Part 50 non-power production or utilization facility licensees and small modular reactor licensees. Finally, the FY 2021 final fee rule includes seven administrative changes.
Enclosed is a copy of the final rule which is being transmitted to the Federal Register for publication.
Sincerely, Jason E. Shay, Budget Director Division of Budget Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure:
Federal Register, Notice cc: Christine McDonald, OMB
ML21131A137 OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT NAME JJacobs WBlaney CGalster DATE 05/11/21 05/12/21 05/12/21 OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NAME ACRossi FMiller JEShay DATE 05/12/21 05/18/21 06/02/2021