ML25058A437
| ML25058A437 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/28/2025 |
| From: | Raji Thaivalappil NRC/NRR/DRMA/RPSBI |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML25058A437 (1) | |
Text
Data accessed: 2/27/25 Data Sheet - Operating Reactor Licensing Resource Estimates Summary:
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.
These estimates have informed staff resource estimates as part of the acceptance review process, the fee estimate process in support of the annual fee rule, and the operating reactor budget formulation process. Using this data-driven approach, we can identify trends and outliers in licensing action resources and review schedules to help us better engage with our internal and external stakeholders.
Methodology:
The resource and schedule estimates included in this data sheet are based on a large dataset (about 3,700 rows of data) of completed licensing activities from 2020 - 2024. We used this large dataset to create an internal-facing Licensing Schedule and Resource Predictive Tool for calculating median ranges (+/- 25% from median) of staff hours and review durations for almost any type of operating reactor licensing activity, with additional keyword search functionality. In creating this data sheet and the accompanying graphics for the Operating Reactor Licensing Resource Estimator, the staff only included types of licensing actions that had at least four submittals reviewed since 2020, in order to have a sufficiently representative sample of reviews. The data for COVID-19 related licensing actions was excluded from all queries except specifically for the table titled, COVID-19 Related Licensing Actions, to ensure that these short-turn reviews did not skew the median values for normal licensing actions.
A Note on the NRC Fee Rule:
The estimated hours shown in the tables below represent NRC professional staff hours associated with project management and engineering review but do not include contractor hours (less than 2% of the licensing activities involved contractor support). 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 median range estimates of hours shown in these tables are only intended to provide an approximate estimate of the total cost of NRC work on a billable activity based upon historical completion data.
Data accessed: 2/27/25 Looking for Other Reactor Business Line Resource Estimates?
Periodically, the staff updates a Fee Estimate worksheet that contains high, medium, and low resource estimates for staff reviews across the operating reactor business line, including operating reactor licensing and oversight, operator licensing, and research and test reactor licensing actions. This traditional fee estimate data sheet also includes data on estimates when contractors are used to assist NRC in its review of licensing actions.
High-Level Types of Licensing Actions Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs1)
Amendments 91.5 184.3 371.5 6.8 9.6 11.5 803 Exemptions 14 28.5 77 2.4 3.4 7.4 111 Relief Requests 47.4 80.1 123.7 4.7 7.2 9.2 432 License Transfers 66.6 150.6 244 1.6 4.7 5.7 18 Power Uprates2 1205 1301.3 1358.1 9.8 10.2 10.8 4
Program Change Requiring Prior NRC Approval 30.1 51.3 80.9 3
3.5 5.7 18 Notice of Enforcement Discretion 15 24 36.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 19 Other Licensing Tasks*
14 22.5 37.2 2.7 5
6.9 342
- Other licensing tasks are activities that are not specifically requested by a licensee via correspondence but require NRC resources to review or support. For example, presubmittal public meetings, reviews of steam generator tube inspection reports, reviews of license renewal commitment changes, etc.
1 Enterprise Project Identifier 2 Only requests for Measurement Uncertainty Recapture (MUR) power uprates (PURs) were received during this period. The schedule and resources required to review new PUR applications will be heavily dependent on many factors. The NRC has established timeliness goals to complete new applications for an extended power uprate within 12 months and 5000 hours0.0579 days <br />1.389 hours <br />0.00827 weeks <br />0.0019 months <br />, a stretch power uprate within 9 months and 1840 hours0.0213 days <br />0.511 hours <br />0.00304 weeks <br />7.0012e-4 months <br />, and a MUR power uprate within 6 months and 1000 hours0.0116 days <br />0.278 hours <br />0.00165 weeks <br />3.805e-4 months <br />. The most up to date information on PURs and NRCs readiness to review new PUR applications can be found on the NRC website https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/power-uprates.html.
Data accessed: 2/27/25 License Amendments:
Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs1)
Amendments - All 91.5 184.3 371.5 6.8 9.6 11.5 8032 Exigent*
96.3 159 176 0.3 0.7 1.3 11 One-Time*
204.1 256.9 268.6 0.9 1.9 3.8 14 10 CFR 50.692*
610.6 653.5 744.5 11.5 12.1 14.2 27 EAL3 Scheme*
123 192.3 262.8 11.1 11.4 12.7 11 ILRT4*
361 441.3 512.8 10 10.3 10.9 17 AST5*
261 1022 1417 9.6 10.4 12 5
PT6 Limits*
208 308.8 381.3 9.2 10.6 11.7 14
- Indicates a keyword search - may not return all licensing actions related to this keyword due to spelling or phrasing differences 1 Enterprise Project Identifier 2 Initial implementation of a 10 CFR 50.69 program. Modifications to approved programs included in the Amendments - All category above.
3 Emergency Action Level 4 Integrated Leakage Rate Testing/Leak Rate Test 5 Alternate/Alternative Source Term 6 Pressure and Temperature License Amendments Adopting Technical Specifications Task Force Travelers (TSTFs)
Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs)
TSTFs - All 62.4 98.4 184.4 5.4 8.2 10.8 264 TSTF-425 364.6 403.3 436.4 10 10.8 13.2 7
TSTF-439 126 136.5 154.5 10.7 11 11.1 5
TSTF-490 115.3 165.9 193.2 8.7 9.1 9.9 4
TSTF-501 49 83 91.4 4.9 8.5 10.2 7
TSTF-505 1234.3 1424.3 1554 11.9 12.7 13.4 25 TSTF-529 46.8 54.8 60.6 5.3 6
7.2 8
TSTF-541 53 83 156 6
6.4 8.5 9
TSTF-547 164.9 200.3 205.8 8.7 8.9 10.2 4
TSTF-554 65.3 83 129 5.2 5.6 6.3 11 TSTF-563 80 100.5 125.8 7.7 8.8 9.9 15 TSTF-564 119 157.6 192.1 7.3 8.9 9.8 10 TSTF-566 51.1 57.5 70.7 7
9.2 11 6
TSTF-567 44.3 64.6 72.9 5.4 6.7 7.6 8
TSTF-568 34 55.3 81.4 3.7 4.8 7.7 6
Data accessed: 2/27/25 TSTF-569 59.6 76 102.4 5.5 6.3 8.4 11 TSTF-577 47.3 60.4 105.9 4.6 4.8 5.8 18 TSTF-580 48.4 69.3 92 5
6.1 6.2 6
TSTF-582 72.7 89.8 100.9 4.3 4.8 7.3 16 TSTFs - All Non-CLIIP1 72.5 110.8 199.3 6.2 8.8 11 224 TSTFs - All CLIIP 45.3 62.8 85.4 4.8 5.3 6
40 1 Consolidated Line-Item Improvement Program Relief Requests Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs)
Relief Requests
- All 47.3 80 123.5 4.7 7.2 9.2 433 IST1 46 59.5 92.5 4
6 7.8 45 ISI2 55.6 95.3 150 6.6 8.8 10 155 Impractical*
117.4 121 179.2 7.5 8.2 9.8 12 Code Case (All)*
41.5 67.5 125.0 4.7 6.0 8.9 45 OMN3*
29.5 43 54.3 4.8 5.1 6.4 12 ASME4 Code Case N-729-6*
42.9 47.1 74.8 1.6 3
4.7 6
ASME Code Case N-752*
290.4 345.5 378 13 14.8 17.4 4
Code Case OMN-28 27.7 29.5 35.3 2.6 4.1 5.5 4
Verbal*
79.7 81.9 117.1 4.1 4.7 5.1 10
- Indicates a keyword search - may not return all licensing actions related to this keyword due to spelling or phrasing differences 1 Inservice Testing 2 Inservice Inspection 3 An Operations and Maintenance ASME Code Case 4 American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Data accessed: 2/27/25 Exemptions Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs)
Exemptions - All 14 28.5 77 2,4 3.4 7.4 111 10 CFR 73* - All 10.5 15 20.5 2.3 2.7 3.3 53 10 CFR 73.5*
7.5 14.3 19.5 2.1 2.5 3.0 33 Record Retention*
19.8 23 26.3 4.4 6.9 9.4 4
10 CFR 50.54*
61.6 78.1 109.5 6.1 7.1 7.7 4
10 CFR 50.71, FSAR Schedule*
17 34 43 2.8 4.1 5.6 7
- Indicates a keyword search - may not return all licensing actions related to this keyword due to spelling or phrasing differences Covid-19 Related Licensing Actions Median
-25%
Median Hours Median
+25%
Median
-25%
Median Project Duration (Months)
Median
+25%
Sample Size (EPIDs)
Licensing Actions -
All 10 20 39.7 0.4 0.8 1.4 290 License Amendments 75.6 139 251.2 0.8 1.3 2.4 20 Relief Requests 28.5 48.3 67 2.1 4.1 5.9 41 Exemptions - All 9
14.5 24.8 0.4 0.7 1
225 Exemptions -
10 CFR Part 26 8.1 10 17 0.1 0.3 0.4 59 Exemptions -
15 22.5 0.5 0.8 1.0 111 Exemptions -
10 CFR 50, Appendix E 13.4 23 35.6 0.6 1.1 1.8 48
- Indicates a keyword search - may not return all licensing actions related to this keyword due to spelling or phrasing differences