ML25058A420
| ML25058A420 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/28/2025 |
| From: | Raji Thaivalappil NRC/NRR/DRMA/RPSBI |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML25058A420 (1) | |
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New Reactors Business Line Fee Estimates (March 2025)
The table below offers resource estimates for licensing activities for the new reactors business line. This information is being offered to enhance stakeholder awareness of the costs associated with these services. It will also aid licensees and applicants in the planning and budgeting of future applications. This information is a compilation of completed historic actions. Actual costs for future applications may vary depending on the specific circumstances. The NRC is committed to fulfilling its safety mission in a timely and cost-effective manner. The NRC staff has taken a number of actions since completion of the actions that were used to generate the below table to streamline and optimize licensing reviews. The NRC expects that efficiencies gained from these actions will reduce costs for future applicants. The NRC encourages licensees and applicants to engage in pre-application activities with NRC staff to facilitate mutual understanding of the regulatory process, gain schedule alignment, and resolve any foreseen technical challenges before the application is submitted.
The estimated hours shown in this chart represent NRC professional staff hours associated with project management and engineering review. The distribution of time among professional staff members (job categories) working on a project vary within each activity and from project to project.
However, a single professional hourly rate is applied to all hours regardless of which professional staff contributed these hours. Indirect costs are included in the applied hourly rate as published in the current NRC Fee Rule. The average, high, and low estimates of hours shown in this chart are only intended to provide an approximate estimate of the total cost of NRC work on a billable activity based upon historical data.
In addition, contractors are used to assist the NRC to complete projects. Contractors can be used to supplement NRC staff or provide a particular expertise required for the project. Similar to the hourly estimates, the average, high, and low estimates for contractor costs shown here are only intended to provide an approximate estimate of total contractor billable costs on an activity based upon historical data.
STAFF Hours CONTRACTOR Costs Licensing Action Low Level of Effort High Level of Effort Average Low Level of Effort High Level of Effort Average License amendments 30 1,819 263 N/A N/A N/A Combined Licenses (8 sites total) 44,269 178,160 89,261
$2.76M
$8.88M
$5.02M Early Site Permits (6 total) 14,626 64,940 29,104
$1.87M
$5.11M
$2.76M Design Certifications (6 total) 108,000 257,104 179,395 N/A N/A N/A
- For current NRC labor rates, refer to the most recent Fee Rule. For FY24, the rate is $317/hour.
- Section 201 of the ADVANCE Act (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024) primarily focuses on lowering the regulatory cost for advanced nuclear reactor applications by establishing a reduced hourly rate for applicants and pre-applicants seeking to license advanced reactors with the NRC, essentially making it cheaper for companies to go through the licensing process for new nuclear reactor designs. The reduced hourly rate for eligible pre-applicants and applicants goes into effect beginning October 2025.
- Staff hours and contractor costs are based on completed application reviews.
- Costs include safety evaluation report and environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.
- Costs vary depending on application quality, applicant responsiveness, and complexity of review.
- Staff hours and contractor costs do not include pre-application interactions.
- N/A = information not available