ML25085A114
| ML25085A114 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/31/2025 |
| From: | Areas J NRC/OCFO/DB |
| To: | Neville M NRC/OCFO/DB |
| Shared Package | |
| ML25085A110 | List: |
| References | |
| NRC-0231 eConcurrence 20250327-10003 | |
| Download: ML25085A114 (1) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICIAL USE ONLY OI INVESTIGATION INFORMATION
Title:
Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Fee Rule Docket Number:
(n/a)
Location:
teleconference Date:
Thursday, March 6, 2025 Work Order No.:
NRC-0231 Pages 1-68 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W., Suite 200 Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 MEETING ON THE FISCAL YEAR 2025 PROPOSED FEE RULE 4
+ + + + +
5
- THURSDAY, 6
MARCH 6, 2025 7
+ + + + +
8 The meeting was convened via 9
Videoconference, at 10:00 a.m. EST, Sophie Holiday, 10 Facilitator, presiding.
11 PRESENT:
12 SOPHIE HOLIDAY, Facilitator 13 OWEN BARWELL, Chief Financial Officer 14 BILLY BLANEY, License Fee Analyst, Office of 15 the Chief Financial Officer 16 CHRISTINE GALSTER, Senior Accountant, License 17 Fee Policy Team, Division of Budget, 18 Office of the Chief Financial Officer 19 KIMYATA MORGAN-BUTLER, Deputy Director, 20 Division of Fuel Management, Office of 21 Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards 22 MARC NEVILLE, Director, Division of Budget, 23 Office of the Chief Financial Officer 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
2 CINTHYA ROMAN-CUEVAS, Deputy Director, 1
Division of Fuel Management, Office of 2
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards 3
MICHELE SAMPSON, Director, Division of New and 4
Renewed Licenses, Office of Nuclear 5
Reactor Regulation 6
LINDA YEE, Deputy Budget Director, Division of 7
Budget, Office of the Chief Financial 8
Officer 9
10 11 ALSO PRESENT:
12 JOHN BUTLER, Nuclear Energy Institute 13 FRANCES PIMENTEL, Nuclear Energy Institute 14 ROBERT SANDERS, Honeywell 15 SIAKA YUSUF, Dow TRIGA Research Reactor 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
3 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 1
PAGE 2
Welcome and Logistics..............
4 3
Opening Remarks................. 10 4
FY 2025 Proposed Fee Rule Overview
....... 14 5
ADVANCE Act................... 32 6
Question and Answers
.............. 38 7
How to Submit Public Comments.......... 65 8
CFO Closing Remarks............... 67 9
Meeting Adjourned 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
4 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 1
(10:01 a.m.)
2 MS. HOLIDAY: All right. Let's start over 3
again. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to 4
today's virtual public meeting to discuss the NRC's 5
fiscal year 2025 proposed fee rule.
6 My name is Sophie Holiday, and I'm a 7
senior emergency response coordinator here at the U.S.
8 Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It is my pleasure to 9
facilitate today's meeting. Before I launch into my 10 remarks and go through my script, I would like to 11 highlight a few things for you.
12 First, I'd like to inform you that for 13 acceptability purposes, you may turn on the closed 14 captioning for this meeting by selecting the three 15 dots on the top of your screen. It's labeled More.
16 From the drop down menu, you can select Language and 17 Speech, Turn on Live Captions, or you can select 18 Settings, Accessibility, and Toggle Captions such that 19 it always shows captions in your meetings.
20 Second, this is a virtual public meeting 21 with attendees joining us online via Microsoft Teams.
22 You may notice that the chat feature has been 23 disabled. If you encounter any technical issues 24 during this meeting, please feel free to reach out to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
5 me on Teams or via email.
1 My email address is Sophie, S-O-P-H-I-E, 2
.Holiday, H-O-L-I-D-A-Y, @NRC.gov. You can also join 3
this meeting using the Teams audio bridge line. That 4
phone number is 301-576-2978, and the conference ID 5
number is 902650260#. Again, that phone number is 6
301-576-2978 with phone conference ID number 7
902650260#.
8 Okay. The goals for today's meeting are 9
to provide you with an overview of the budgetary 10 considerations associated with the fiscal year 2025 11 proposed fee rule. This was published in the Federal 12 Register on February 19th, 2025. You can find that at 13 90FR9848.
14 We're also here to answer any clarifying 15 questions that you may have on our proposed fee rule.
16 And lastly, we will share all the different methods by 17 which you may submit comments on the proposed fee rule 18 by the deadline of March 21, 2025. So there's a term 19 that you're going to hear a lot today, fees. And that 20 simply refers to the amount of money that the NRC 21 charges to applicants and licensees for the services 22 that we provide.
23 Under the Independent Offices 24 Appropriation Act of 1952, IOAA, we are statutorily 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
6 required to recover the cost for NRC work that 1
provides specific benefits to identifiable recipients 2
such as licensing activities, inspections, and special 3
projects. You will also hear the term, NEIMA, which 4
stands for the Nuclear Energy Innovation and 5
Modernization Act. NEIMA requires that the NRC 6
recovers to the maximum extent practicable 7
approximately 100 percent of the Commission's budget 8
authority each fiscal year less those activities that 9
are excluded from the recovery.
10 Then there will be other terms or acronyms 11 that are referenced on the slides which are defined in 12 the glossary. That's the very last line of our slide 13 deck. All right. Next slide, please. Okay. On this 14 slide, you will see our meeting agenda.
15 We will have three major components.
16 First, you will hear presentations from the NRC staff 17 that will highlight the '25 budget and the proposed 18 fee rule followed by a licensee fee policy overview 19 and presentations that cover the operating power 20 reactor's fee class, the spent fuel storage reactor 21 decommissioning fee class, and the fuel facility's fee 22 class. The second part, you will hear a presentation 23 from the staff on proposed rule changes to implement 24 the hourly rate in Section 201 of the ADVANCE Act, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
7 also known as the Accelerating Deployment of 1
Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2
2024.
3 And finally, the last part, I will 4
facilitate a question and answer session during which 5
you will have an opportunity to interact with the 6
staff to ask any clarifying questions on the proposed 7
rule. In that vein, I will give you the information 8
on how you can engage with the staff. Okay. So let's 9
cover a few ground rules.
10 As I stated earlier, this is a completely 11 virtual public meeting and it's being held on 12 Microsoft Teams. A link to the presentation slides 13 can be found on the NRC's public meeting schedule 14 website. I will post all of this information in the 15 chat for you momentarily.
16 Please keep in mind that we are 17 transcribing this meeting via a court reporter to make 18 sure that we can fully capture your questions and to 19 assist in the development of a meeting summary. This 20 meeting summary will be placed into NRC's Agencywide 21 Documents and Access Management System, ADAMS, as a 22 publicly available document approximately 30 days 23 after the meeting concludes. You can help us get a 24 clean recording and have a very smooth meeting by 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
8 muting your telephones and/or your microphones when 1
you are not speaking.
2 Additionally, we ask that you minimize any 3
background noise when we do get to the Q&A portion of 4
the meeting and that you identify yourself and your 5
group or organizational affiliation if applicable.
6 NRC categorizes this meeting as an information meeting 7
with a question and answer session. Essentially this 8
means attendees have an opportunity to ask questions 9
of the NRC staff or make comments about the topics 10 that you hear discussed throughout today's meeting.
11 However, I would like to clarify that the 12 NRC is not accepting any comments made at today's 13 meeting as official comments on the proposed rule.
14 Rather, your comments will have to be submitted in 15 writing to receive formal consideration. Again, I'll 16 go over those various ways that you can provide your 17 formal comments towards the end of the meeting.
18 You may notice that the chat feature is 19 closed. This is so that we do not inadvertently miss 20 any comments or questions that you have and that we 21 can adequately capture them by the court reporter in 22 the official meeting transcript. Again, if you 23 encounter any technical issues, please contact me. I 24 will provide all that information in the chat shortly.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
9 So now let's take a moment to introduce 1
the NRC staff panelists in attendance today. First, 2
we have Marc Neville, the budget director who will be 3
discussing how our budget reflects our activities and 4
the relationship between budget and fees. Then we 5
have Christine Galster, senior accountant for the 6
license fee policy team in the Office of the Chief 7
Financial Officer which is where Marc also is. And 8
she will provide a license fee policy overview of the 9
'25 proposed fee rule and she will discuss the ADVANCE 10 Act.
11 Michele Sampson is the division director 12 for the Division of New and Renewed Licenses in the 13 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation or NRR, and she 14 will discuss the operating power reactor fee class.
15 Cinthya Roman-Cuevas, sorry if I mispronounced it, 16 Cinthya, is a deputy director for the Division of Fuel 17 Management within the Office of Nuclear Material 18 Safety and Safeguards or NMSS. And she will discuss 19 the spent fuel storage reactor decommissioning fee 20 class.
21 Dr. Kimyata Morgan-Butler is another 22 deputy director within the Division of Fuel Management 23 in NMSS, and she will discuss the fuel facility's fee 24 class. And last but not least, Owen Barwell, the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
10 Chief Financial Officer, will be coming to speak to 1
your shortly. And I'm going to turn the meeting over 2
to him for some opening remarks. Owen, the floor is 3
yours.
4 MR. BARWELL: Thank you, Sophie. And 5
thank you indeed for volunteering to be a facilitator 6
today. Very much appreciate it. As Sophie mentioned, 7
I'm Owen Barwell. I'm the Chief Financial Officer of 8
the NRC.
9 Before getting into the presentation, 10 please allow me to introduce myself and my deputy, 11 Chris Carroll. I only recently joined the NRC back in 12 July of last year with Chris following me a couple 13 months after that. I joined having spent time at the 14 Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy 15 Lab, NASA, a bunch of places in and around D.C. with 16 a common theme of working in federal financial 17 management.
18 So it's a pleasure to be able to join the 19 NRC here. These are exciting times for the industry 20 and our role as a regulator and what needs to be done 21 in the Office of the CFO as we continue to improve our 22 presence and our operations in the agency here. So 23 with that, I'll just allow Chris to introduce himself 24 and then we'll get into further comments.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
11 MR. CARROLL: Thank you. Just like Owen 1
kind of stated, I'm relatively new to the NRC. Been 2
around for six months. I spent the majority of my 3
career with the Department of Defense, and I'm really 4
excited to be here. I like where the agency is 5
headed. I like what we're doing, and I love the CFO 6
mission. So with that said, I'll turn it back over to 7
the team.
8 MR. BARWELL: Thank you, Chris. So a 9
couple of new people at the leadership helm here. I'd 10 also like to recognize a couple of people that are not 11 in the CFO -- in the team today.
12 Many of you will know Tony Rossi. Tony 13 retired earlier this year after a couple of decades or 14 so more of federal service. I would like to recognize 15
-- formally recognize him for his contribution as well 16 as working hard to make sure we have succession and 17 continuity in the team with Billy and Christie.
18 You may also know Jo Jacobs. I think 19 she's on the call. I did check earlier. I bumped 20 into her yesterday. She was part of the team here and 21 has moved on to NMSS, another program within the 22 agency. We appreciate her service and support and 23 particularly from the program vantage point. So thank 24 you both.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
12 I'm happy to be here today as we engage 1
our stakeholders around the fiscal year '25 proposed 2
fee rule. In addition to those already mentioned, I'd 3
like to share my deep appreciation for my staff's work 4
in developing this year's fee rule and acknowledge 5
that their success would not be possible without our 6
various partner offices across the NRC of which we 7
have representatives around the table this morning.
8 I'd also like to thank you for joining us today in 9
this public meeting.
10 The virtual format we believe enhances our 11 dialogue with our stakeholders. We get a much broader 12 reach. And we very much welcome your questions and 13 comments during the Q&A portion of the meeting. Next 14 slide, please.
15 Before getting there, I would like to put 16 some ground rules in place and briefly emphasize the 17 type of inquiries that would be consider in scope for 18 this meeting on the proposed fee rule. Again, I 19 mentioned our experts from across the agency here at 20 today's panel is best prepared to provide timely 21 responses on topics that are within scope. Some 22 examples of in scope comments are the NRC's 23 methodology for calculating our fees, changes to fee 24 regulations and/or the fee schedules.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
13 A few examples of what we consider to be 1
out of scope comments are general comments on agency 2
efficiencies, regulatory practices and processes, 3
technical guidance to licensees, or public 4
participation in the budget formulation process. As 5
you may be aware, there was a lot going on around town 6
these days. And we're particularly keen to make sure 7
we stay focused on the scope of this meeting.
8 Even though this meeting on our fees is 9
not the proper venue for out of scope questions, we so 10 want to hear from you. And we encourage you to use 11 the appropriate venues so we can address any questions 12 or concerns directly. In closing, I want to emphasize 13 that the NRC is continually evaluating our fee setting 14 process to determine improvements to increase 15 transparency, equity, and timeliness.
16 Any suggestions or improvements, 17 particularly with refreshing the leadership team here, 18 I
welcome those and appreciate
- any, again, 19 suggestions, comments, observations that you may have 20 that we can incorporate in our approach and our 21 operations moving forward. Again, as always, we 22 welcome your questions and formal comments and look 23 forward to continued dialogue with you as our 24 stakeholders. Thank you for our participation. And 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
14 now I have the pleasure of handing over to our budget 1
director, Marc Neville. Next slide, please.
2 MR. NEVILLE: All right. Good morning, 3
everyone. I'm Marc Neville. Next slide. We're going 4
to go over the budget and a couple of other activities 5
to set Christie up to talk about the fee -- the 6
proposed fee rule.
7 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission FY 2025 8
budget request focuses on mission critical activities 9
related to nuclear safety and security in the nuclear 10 reactor safety program and the nuclear material and 11 waste safety program. The total FY 2025 budget 12 request is 994.9 million which includes 2,897 FTEs.
13 The budget proposes using 20 million in carryover to 14 offset the nuclear reactor safety budget, reducing the 15 total budget authority in FY 2025 proposed fee rule to 16 974.9 million.
17 In the nuclear reactor safety program, the 18 budget is 503.5 million which includes 1.743 FTEs.
19 This is an 18.6 million decrease and a 53.5 FTE 20 reduction from the FY 2024 enacted budget. The 20 21 million in carryover is fully allocated to the 22 operating reactors business lines.
23 Reductions are driven primarily by the 24 near completion of key projects, including the NuScale 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
15 standard design approval application and the 1
finalization of the Risk Informed, Technology-2 Inclusive Regulatory Framework, Part 53 rulemaking.
3 Michele Sampson will present on operating power 4
reactor fee class later in this meeting. For the 5
nuclear materials and waste safety program, the budget 6
is 144.9 million which includes 484 FTEs.
7 This is a 5.8 million dollar decrease with 8
a 3.5 FTE increase from the FY 2024 enacted budget.
9 Reductions are mainly due to the reduced funding for 10 international regulatory assistance related to small 11 modular reactors and advanced reactors. Minor FTE 12 increases support fuel cycle facility license 13 amendments, new license application, construction 14 inspections, and oversight of uranium recovery and 15 decommissioning activities.
16 Cinthya Roman and Kimyata Morgan-Butler 17 will provide presentations on spent fuel storage, 18 reactor decommissioning, and fuel facility fee classes 19 later in this meeting. Regarding the corporate 20 support programs, the budget for the FY 2025 budget 21 request is 317 million which includes 597 FTEs. This 22 is a 15.5 million dollar increase and a 9 FTE increase 23 from the FY 2024 enacted budget.
24 Corporate support accounts for 31.9 of the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
16 agency's budget and alliance with NEIMA Section 1
102(a)(3)(A) requirements. Budget increases support 2
salary and benefits, a Three White Flint North 3
relocation
- project, trusted workforce mandate 4
investigations, security guard services at 5
headquarters, hiring and human capital planning and 6
policy development, data analytics expertise, IT 7
security enhancements for cyber executive order 8
compliance, financial management system upgrades, 9
client relocation move for personnel, as well as 10 acquisitions systems maintenance.
Regarding 11 carryover, each year, the NRC follows congressional 12 direction on the use of carryover funds.
13 Carryover includes previously appropriated 14 but unobligated funds or deobligated funds from prior 15 years. The FY 2025 budget request proposes 20 million 16 in carryover to offset the nuclear reactor safety 17 program. If Congress does not approve this, operating 18 power reactor annual fees may increase.
19 Any change will be reflected in the FY 20 2025 final feel rule. Future carryover uses outside 21 scope of this meeting which focuses on the FY 2025 22 proposed fee rule. Next slide. Under the Nuclear 23 Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, the NRC must 24 recover 100 percent of its annual budget excluding 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
17 certain activities.
1 For FY 2025, the NRC must recover 823.9 2
million from fees charged to licensees and applicants 3
resulting in a net budget authority of 151 million.
4 That's a 13.9 million increase from the FY 2024 5
enacted budget. Excluded activities from fee 6
recoveries include fee relief activities as designated 7
by the Commission, generic homeland security 8
activities, waste incidental to reprocessing 9
activities, nuclear waste fund activities, advanced 10 reactor regulatory infrastructure activities, and 11 inspector general services for the Defense Nuclear 12 Facilities Safety Board.
13 After accounting for all exclusions and 14 net billing adjustments, the NRC estimates that it 15 must recover 826.1 million in fees from the FY 2025 16 budget request. Next slide. The NRC develops 17 business line budgets by assessing the current 18 environment and conducting workload forecasting. Key 19 factors influencing workload include technical, 20 regulatory, and legislative development which may 21 increase or decrease work demands.
22 For example, rulemaking or guidance 23 changes can impact the volume of submissions from 24 licensees and applicants. Key steps in budget 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
18 development are, one, analyzing historical data and 1
trends. The staff evaluates past data to determine 2
whether previous workload assumptions remain valid and 3
to identify areas of variability and efficiency in 4
NRC's reviews.
5 Two, stakeholder communications, staff 6
gathers input from licensees, applicants, and project 7
managers, including letters of intent to predict the 8
timing and certainty of plant submissions. Three, 9
budgeting for large licensing projects, resources are 10 allocated based on the likelihood and timing of 11 applications, considering whether they will be 12 submitted early or late in the fiscal year. And 13 finally, four, determining resource needs, workload 14 drivers are identified and appropriate resources are 15 assigned to major projects.
16 These resources are then allocated across 17 the NRC offices to align with specific areas of 18 responsibility. This structured approach ensures that 19 the NRC resources are effectively distributed to 20 support mission critical activities. Next slide. NRC 21 staff begins work preparing the annual budget request 22 two years in advance.
23 The budget request includes resources to 24 be recovered through assessment of Part 170 fees in 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
19 addition to resources for all other mission direct and 1
mission indirect programs. The budget request 2
reflects anticipated changes in Part 170 workload for 3
each budget line. Part 170 estimated fees, also known 4
as service fees, are prepared at the beginning of a 5
given fiscal year.
6 Programmatic changes in an intervening 7
time would drive the Part 170 fee estimates lower or 8
higher than what was anticipated in the budget 9
development. Changes such as license renewal 10 applications that was submitted early or a delayed 11 application for design certification and early reactor 12 closure or a canceled application for a combined 13 operating license will impact the Part 170 estimated 14 feeds, and in turn, impact the Part 171 annual fees.
15 Part 170 fees are inversely related to Part 171 annual 16 fees.
17 Higher service fee collections reduce the 18 required annual fee assessments. Under ILAA, the NRC 19 must collect Part 170 service fees for specific 20 licensing and inspection activities that directly 21 benefit applicants or licensees. Since Part 170 fees 22 do not fully recover -- since Part 170 fees do not 23 fully cover NRC's budget authority, the agency also 24 assesses Part 171 annual fees to recover the remaining 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
20 cost.
1 This approach ensures compliance with 2
NEIMA to recover 100 percent of the request budget 3
minus excluded activities to the maximum extent 4
practicable while balancing revenue collections 5
between service fees and annual fees. Next slide.
6 The upcoming public meeting will focus on fee 7
discussions related to operating power reactors, fuel 8
facilities, and spent fuel storage reactor 9
decommissioning fee classes. It is important to 10 understand the difference between fee based budget and 11 the congressional budget justification requested 12 budget.
13 Within FY 2025 CBJ business line budgets, 14 NRC program offices analyze and allocate resources 15 across various fee classes and fee relief activities.
16 A budget allocation chart illustrates where the 17 majority of each business line budget is assigned 18 based on the fee class. Christie Galster will now 19 provide an overview of the FY 2025 fee structure.
20 Over to you, Christie.
21 MS. GALSTER: Good morning. Thank you, 22 Marc. I am Christie Galster. I am on the license fee 23 policy team. And I'm here today to present an 24 overview of the fiscal year '25 proposed fee rule.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
21 Next slide.
1 The primary statutes that direct NRC's fee 2
recovery are the IOAA, the Independent Offices 3
Appropriation Act, which requires that NRC collect 4
fees for direct services rendered. The NRC 5
regulations implementing the IOAA are established 6
under 10 CFR Part 170. These services provide a 7
specific purpose and have identifiable recipients who 8
are billed as hours expended times the NRC hourly 9
rate.
10 Examples of these services encompass 11 licensing reviews, amendments, and inspections. Next 12 is the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act 13 2018 referred to as NEIMA which requires the NRC to 14 recover to the maximum extent practical 100 percent of 15 its annual budget minus the excluded activities.
16 NEIMA directed several fee related changes that placed 17 a cap on operating power reactor annual fees equal to 18 the FY 2015 power reactor annual fee adjusted annually 19 for inflation.
20 It also excluded certain activities from 21 the fee recovery requirement as well as additional 22 activities identified by the Commission for fee 23 relief. The NRC regulations implementing the NEIMA 24 annual fee requirements are established under 10 CFR 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
22 Part 171. The annual appropriation, and that's the 1
NRC's budget authority to which we formulate the 2
required fee recovery amount.
3 If absent, the congressional budget 4
justification requested budget acts as our budgetary 5
authority. In addition, the appropriation authorizes 6
the use of carryover funds from the prior fiscal year.
7 Next slide, please. Here, we're talking about the FY 8
'25.
9 We have our budgetary authority proposed 10 in the '25 budget request as reflected in the 11 congressional budget justification for the salaries 12 and expense and inspector general appropriations which 13 total the 974.9 million. Excluded activities account 14 for the 151 million which are subtracted from the 15 974.9 million total budget authority. The excluded 16 activities consistent of generic homeland security, 17 waste incidental to reprocessing, the IG's activities 18 and support of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety 19 Board, advanced reactor regulatory infrastructure, and 20 fee relief activities.
21 The 100 percent recovery rate under NEIMA 22 has been applied, resulting in a total amount to be 23 recovered of 823.9 million. Billing adjustments for 24 Part 171 fee collections are applied, totaling 2.1 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
23 million. These are timing adjustments. Generally, 1
these are fees built in a prior fiscal year but paid 2
in the current fiscal year plus estimates of possible 3
unpaid current year bills by September 30th.
4 The second circle there represents the 5
adjusted fee recovery amount that totals 826.1 6
million. The estimated Part 170 fees of 216 million 7
as updated to reflect current workload projections are 8
subtracted from the adjusted fee recovery amount to 9
determine the remainder of recovery from annual fees 10 of 610.1 million. Below is the breakdown of NRC's 11 excluded activities this year by fee relief and 12 statutory categories totaling 251 million. Next 13 slide.
14 The first step in estimated our 10 CFR 15 Part 170 fees is developing the hourly rate and 16 understanding the components that are involved. In 17 developing the professional hourly rates total 18 budgetary resources, the components include mission 19 direct, program salaries and benefits, mission 20 indirect resources which support the agency's core 21 activities such as supervisory and admin assistant 22 support. The third component is the agency support 23 which consists of corporate support business line 24 along with the Office of Inspector General's funding.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
24 These three components sum to 822.3 1
million. The next step is determining the product of 2
the mission direct FTEs for the agency of 1,687.4 3
multiplied by the mission direct FTE productive hours 4
annually of 1,507 to generate the denominator of total 5
direct productive hours. The result of dividing the 6
direct productive hours by the total budgetary 7
resources computes to our proposed professional hourly 8
rate for Part 170 of 323 dollars. This is a 6 dollar 9
increase from last year and 2 percent increase.
10 It is also important to note here the 11 calculation at the bottom is our fully costed FTE rate 12 of 487 dollars, 342. This represents a full cost of 13 an FTE, utilizing the total budgetary resources of the 14 822.3 million divided by those mission direct FTEs of 15 1,687.4. In the next slide, you'll see an 16 illustration. Next slide, please.
17 And then this slide shows you the 18 illustration of the fraction of the numerator and 19 denominator. We have the budgetary resources of 822.3 20 million divided by the sum of the direct FTEs and the 21 productive hours. As you can see, compared to last 22 year, FY '24 final fee rule is at the bottom.
23 There was an increase from last year of 24 5.4 million in the budgetary resources. And this was 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
25 a result of development and implementation of several 1
IT and cybersecurity projects as well as the 2
relocation design and construction of headquarters 3
operation center in addition to a rise in salaries and 4
benefits to support NRC employees by 2 percent. The 5
increase in budgetary resources is also then combined 6
with the mission direct FTEs.
7 We had a decrease in the direct FTEs. Yu 8
can see from 1,720 last year to 1,687 this year by 33.
9 So it's a combination of those two factors that gave 10 us the 6 percent increase in the hourly rate. Next 11 slide, please.
12 This new slide represents the total 13 proposed annual fee amount that must be recovered by 14 each fee class. This does not reflect the annual fees 15 due by individual licensees or the fee category, just 16 a Part 171 that needs to be recovered by all the 17 licensees within that fee class. A couple things I 18 did want to point out.
19 For instance, in the table, you see the 20 non-power production or utilization facilities shows 21 a decline from last year in their Part 171 resources.
22 However, with a reduction to the amount of numbers of 23 the licensees in their fleet, their proposed annual 24 fee per licensee is actually increasing from last year 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
26 as well as the nuclear material users fee class shows 1
a decrease in the amount of annual fees to be 2
recovered in FY '25. Yet if you look at the 3
individual licensee's annual fees in that fee class, 4
there's over 60 unique fee categories.
5 So it's encompassing numerous increases 6
and decreases per licensee for FY '25 proposed fee 7
rule. This concludes my FY '25 proposed fee overview.
8 Now I would like to turn the meeting over to Michele 9
Sampson.
10 MS. SAMPSON: Good morning. I'm Michele 11 Sampson, Director in the Division of New and Renewed 12 Licenses in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
13 I'll be providing an overview of the FY '25 proposed 14 annual fees for the operating power reactor fee class.
15 As described earlier, budgeted resources 16 from the operating reactors and new reactor business 17 lines are allocated to the operating power reactor fee 18 class. Next slide, please. This slide illustrates 19 the operating power reactors fees over the last four 20 years, including this year's proposed annual fee.
21 This chart illustrates the main components of this 22 year's proposed fees.
23 The budgeted resources, the 10 CFR Part 24 170 estimated billing, any adjustments, annual fee 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
27 resources, the licensee count, and the proposed annual 1
fee. The budgeted resources allocated to the 2
operating power reactors fee class is 683.6 million 3
which is an 18.6 million dollar increase or 4
approximately 2.8 percent higher than fiscal year 5
2024. We project the use of 20 million dollars in 6
carryover funds as described in the FY 2025 budget 7
request.
8 I will discuss more detail on the factors 9
contributing to the budget changes on the next slide.
10 The second component of the 10 CFR Part 170 estimated 11 billing of services for operating new reactors totaled 12 185.7 million which increased by 17.4 million or 13 approximately 10 percent from the prior year. The 14 primary reason for this increase in Part 170 workload 15 was increases to support operating reactor licensing 16 activities and the new reactor construction permit 17 application reviews.
18 This results in the remaining 10 CFR Part 19 171 annual fee resources recovery amount of 503.8 20 million, an increase of 2.2 million dollars or 21 approximately.4 percent. That total is divided by 22 the 94 operating reactors resulting in an annual fee 23 per reactor of 5,359,000 dollars. Next slide, please.
24 The main contributing factors to the rise in resources 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
28 is to support new reactor technical reviews of 1
construction permit applications as well as contract 2
funding for mission critical system IT infrastructure 3
upgrades and cybersecurity changes.
4 In addition, there was an across the board 5
increase in the budgeted resources due to a 2 percent 6
rise in salary and benefits directed by guidance from 7
the Office of Management and Budget. The increase was 8
offset in part by a decrease in the budget due to a 9
reduction in new reactor pre-application resources 10 based on execution trend analysis and anticipated 11 timelines for future submittals. There was also a 12 planned reduction in the resources for operating 13 reactor license renewal reviews associated with 14 programmatic efficiencies gained through 15 implementation of a license renewal roadmap that have 16 been incorporated into our budget modeling and 17 workload assessments and a reduction in our vendor 18 inspection activities. This concludes my remarks.
19 Next slide, please.
20 MS. ROMAN-CUEVAS: Good morning. My name 21 is Cinthya Roman. I am the deputy director for the 22 Division of Fuel Management at NMSS. Today, I'll 23 discuss how the proposed fees for the spent fuel 24 storage and reactor decommissioning fee class.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
29 The budget for this fee class include 1
input from two business line, a spent fuel storage and 2
transportation business line and the decommissioning 3
low level waste business line. Next slide. This 4
slide provides an overview of the fee class over the 5
last four years including this year's proposed annual 6
fee. In the first line, you will see the budgeted 7
resources allocated to the spent fuel storage reactor 8
decommissioning fee class.
9 As you can see, the budget for this year 10 is 51 million. This is an increase of.9 million or 11 about 1.8 percent higher than fiscal year 2024. As far 12 as (audio interference) resources later. Next, you 13 can see that the 10 CFR Part 170 fee estimated 14 billings for the fee class total 11.4 million this 15 year. This is a decrease of.9 million or 7.3 percent 16 from the prior year. I'll explain the reasons in the 17 next slide.
18 As you can see in the next line, the 19 adjustment remains stable when compared with fiscal 20 year '24. If we subtract the 170 billings from the 21 total budget and add adjustment, we are left with the 22 resources we need to recover through annual fees. As 23 you can see, this year, we need to recover 42.3 24 million. That's an increase of 1.9 million or 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
30 approximately 4.7 percent when compared with 2024.
1 That total is divided among 124 spent fuel 2
storage facilities, resulting in an annual fee of 3
341,000. This is a rise of 15,000 per licensee. Next 4
slide. So the main drivers for the decrease in the 5
170 estimated fee billings, it's the withdrawal of two 6
license termination plan applications.
7 There was also a
decrease in 8
decommissioning inspection activities at multiple 9
sites. And there was a reduction in the number of 10 licensing actions for storage license renewals. This 11 cost close to one million and 7 percent reduction in 12 170 fee recover.
13 So the increase for the proposed annual 14 fee which was about 5 percent or 15,000 per licensee 15 was mainly because of the increase in budget and 16 resources for the fee class. That were an increase in 17 salaries and benefits. And there is an expected 18 increase in decommissioning licensing activities 19 associated with accelerated decommissioning schedules.
20 As I mentioned before, also the decrease 21 in 170 fee estimated billings affected the overall 22 fee. I'll turn this now to Kimyata Morgan to talk 23 about the fuel facilities business line. Thank you.
24 DR. MORGAN-BUTLER: Thank you, Cinthya.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
31 Good morning. My name is Kimyata Morgan-Butler. I'm 1
a deputy director in the Division of Fuel Management 2
at NMSS. Today, I will provide an overview of the FY 3
2025 proposed fees for the fuel facilities fee class.
4 Next slide, please.
5 This slide illustrates the fuel facilities 6
fee class fees over last four years, including this 7
year's proposed annual fee. This chart illustrates 8
the main components of this year's proposed fees, the 9
budgeted resources, the Part 170 estimated billings, 10 any adjustments, annual fee resources, the licensees, 11 and the proposed annual fee. First, the budgeted 12 resources allocated to the fuel facilities fee class 13 for the proposed fee rule are 32.1 million, an 14 increase of 1.2 million or approximately 3.9 percent 15 higher than in FY 2024.
16 The main contributing factor to the rise 17 in resources is to support construction inspections at 18 fuel cycle facilities in addition to a 2 percent rise 19 in salaries and benefits per OMB guidance. Next, the 20 10 CFR Part 170 estimated billings for this fee class 21 total 10.1 million this year, an increase of 1.4 22 million or approximately 16.1 percent from last year.
23 I will explain the drivers in the next slide.
24 This results in the remaining 10 CFR Part 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
32 171 annual fee resources recovery amount of 25.3 1
million which remains stable with the FY 2024 recovery 2
amount. The effort factors for both safety and 3
safeguards remain unchanged for all licensees in FY 4
2025. Next slide. The Part 170 estimated billings 5
have increased in comparison to FY 2024.
6 These increases are driven by review of 7
several expected licensing actions, including two for 8
an increase in enrichment activities. There's also 9
the continued review of the TRISO-X, LLC, fuel 10 fabrication facility application. And it's also to 11 support the acceptance review of a new fuel facility 12 application.
13 There is no change in the proposed annual 14 fee compared to FY 2024. This is because the FY 2025 15 budget request which this proposed rule is based on 16 increased as compared to FY 2024. And the budget 17 increase is primarily offset by an expected increases 18 in the Part 170 billing compared to FY 2024. As a 19 result, there's no change in the proposed fee --
20 proposed annual fee for fuel facility business class.
21 Next, I will turn over to Christie Galster.
22 MS. GALSTER: Thank you, Kimyata. For my 23 second presentation today, I'll be discussing the FY 24 2025 proposed fee rule policy change pursuant to the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
33 ADVANCE Act focusing mainly on the reduced hourly 1
rate. Next slide. Section 201 of the ADVANCE Act 2
amends NEIMA to require the NRC to assess a reduced 10 3
CFR Part 170 hourly rate for the advanced nuclear 4
reactor applicants and pre-applicants for certain 5
activities.
6 The ADVANCE Act includes an effective date 7
for this requirement on October 1st, 2025 which is the 8
start of FY '26. The NRC has proactively included 9
proposed rule changes to implement this requirement 10 and the FY '25 fee rule to allow for public notice and 11 comment prior to the effective date and to do our part 12 to provide greater regulatory certainty to our 13 external stakeholders. The proposed fee rule under 14 the fee policy changes section includes a reduced Part 15 170 hourly rate of 146 dollars.
16 In the following slides, I will briefly 17 discuss who would qualify for the reduced hourly rate 18 and what kinds of activities would qualify. Lastly, 19 the methodology that will be used for calculating the 20 reduced Part 170 hourly rate. For your convenience, 21 we've added at the bottom of this slide the ADVANCE 22 Act discussed in detail on NRC's public website. Next 23 slide.
24 In accordance with the requirements of the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
34 ADVANCE Act beginning October 1, 2025, the reduced 1
hourly rate would apply to entities that qualify as an 2
advanced nuclear reactor applicant or advanced nuclear 3
reactor pre-applicants. The proposed rule language 4
includes definitions for these terms in 10 CFR Part 5
170.3. And this slide summarizes what these terms 6
would mean.
7 To be an advanced nuclear reactor 8
applicant, an entity would need to submit a qualifying 9
license application. And to be an advanced nuclear 10 reactor pre-applicant, an entity would need to submit 11 a qualifying licensing project plan for the purpose of 12 submitting a future license application.
An 13 application would need to be for an advanced nuclear 14 reactor, and that term is defined in NEIMA.
15 In NEIMA's provisions, the term license 16 refers to an initial license that is not a permit. As 17 a result, the application must be for an operating 18 license, a combined license, or a manufacturing 19 license. It cannot be for an amendment or renewal of 20 an existing license. Next slide, please.
21 Only certain activities for advanced 22 nuclear reactor applicants and pre-applicants will 23 qualify for the reduced hourly rate, specifically for 24 advanced nuclear reactor applicants. The reduced 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
35 hourly rate would apply to only the fees assessed 1
relating to the review of a qualifying license 2
application. For instance, if an entity is an 3
advanced nuclear reactor applicant but also happens to 4
hold an operating license for a nuclear reactor and 5
has submitted a license amendment request for that 6
operating license, the fees assessed for the review of 7
that unrelated amendment would not be subject to -- or 8
would be subject to the NRC's fully costed proposed 9
hourly rate, not the reduced hourly rate.
10 For an advanced nuclear reactor pre-11 applicant, the licensing project plan is critical 12 because only the fees assessed for activities 13 encompassed by the qualifying licensing project plan 14 would receive the reduced hourly rate. Remember a 15 qualifying licensing project plan for the purposes of 16 submitting a future application that is both, one, an 17 advanced nuclear reactor and, two, an operating 18 license, combined license, or manufacturing license.
19 To help illustrate these concepts, take, for example, 20 an entity that has submitted a construction permit 21 application to NRC for review.
22 Such a construction permit application 23 would not constitute a qualifying license application.
24 However, the entity that submitted the construction 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
36 permit application could be eligible for the reduced 1
hourly rate as an advanced nuclear reactor pre-2 applicant if it has submitted a qualifying license 3
project plan. So potential pre-applicants need to 4
remember that if you want to receive the reduced 5
hourly rate for fees assessed for activities, you need 6
to include those activities in your qualifying 7
licensing project plan.
8 The proposed rule language includes the 9
revisions to 10 CFR Part 170.2 which clarifies the 10 kinds of activities subject to both professional 11 hourly rate and the reduced hourly rate. Next slide, 12 please. In the next two slides, I'll discuss the 13 methodology of calculating the reduced hourly rate.
14 The ADVANCE Act requires the NRC to exclude certain 15 budgetary resources in the calculation of the reduced 16 hourly rate.
17 That is when the NRC formulates the annual 18 Part 170 full cost professional hourly rate, the 19 budgetary resources include three components you'll 20 see on the left-hand side: mission-direct salaries and 21 benefits for the nuclear safety and materials and 22 waste safety programs, the mission-indirect support 23 for both the reactor materials waste programs, as well 24 as agency support that we discussed earlier on slide 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
37
- 14. In contrast, the ADVANCE Act specifies that the 1
reduced hourly rate can only include mission-direct 2
salaries and benefits for the nuclear reactor safety 3
program that you'll see on the right-hand side of the 4
slide. However, the methodology for both hourly rates 5
are based on the full cost recovery guidance for OMB 6
circular A25 user charges. Next slide, please.
7 My final slide provides an illustration of 8
the reduced hourly rate methodology for the ADVANCE 9
Act which is effective in FY '26. The format mirrors 10 the original full cost professional hourly rate for 11 Part 170 services yet has a single budgetary component 12 utilized in the development of the reduced hourly 13 rate. Mission-direct salaries and benefits for the 14 nuclear reactor safety program is the only factor 15 included, and that totals 289 million for FY '25.
16 The second step in determining the total 17 productive hours is the mission-direct FTEs of the 18 nuclear reactor safety program only which equals 19 1,909.3, then multiply those FTEs by the mission-20 direct FTE annual productive hours of the 1,507. The 21 total budgetary resources included in the professional 22 hourly rate and the reduced hourly rate is 289 23 million. That is in the numerator and is then now 24 divided by the mission-direct FTEs for just the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
38 nuclear reactor safety program times the productive 1
hours. And that equates to a reduced hourly rate of 2
146 dollars.
3 And this is effective October 1 of 2025.
4 This concludes my presentation on the ADVANCE Act 5
reduced hourly rate. Now I'd like to turn the meeting 6
over to our facilitator, Sophie.
7 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Christine. And 8
thank you, Marc, Michele, Cinthya, and Kimyata also 9
for your respective presentations. We have allotted 10 approximately 30 minutes for this question and answer 11 portion of the meeting, though I will recognize we are 12 running a little bit ahead of schedule. So we do have 13 a little bit more time if necessary.
14 This is your opportunity to ask clarifying 15 questions of the NRC staff based on the information 16 that you heard today. Should we run out of time to 17 address any of your questions, the NRC staff will 18 include those questions and those responses as part of 19 the meeting summary. As a reminder, consistent with 20 what I said earlier, we are not accepting any comments 21 that are made at today's meeting as official comments 22 on the proposed rule.
23 Rather, your comments will have to be 24 submitted in writing to receive formal consideration.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
39 With that being said, to ask a question, please 1
utilize the raised hand feature on Teams. You can 2
find this at the top of your window with the had icon.
3 It looks just like this.
4 For those of you that have joined us on 5
the audio bridge line, you will have to dial *5. I do 6
apologize as earlier misspoke about the conference ID 7
number, so I'm going to repeat the audio bridge line 8
just in case. So the audio bridge line is 301-576-9 2978 with a phone conference ID number 55816390#.
10 Again, the phone conference ID number is 55816390#.
11 It is accurately displayed in the chat as 12 well if you could not hear me say it just now. Teams 13 will automatically put you into the queue in order --
14 I'm sorry, in order of your hand raising. This is 15 regardless of whether you joined on the Microsoft 16 application or on the audio bridge line.
17 If you have raised your hand on the audio 18 bridge line, you may have to dial *6 to unmute your 19 microphone. Once you're unmuted, you are free to ask 20 your question. So to ensure that everyone is given an 21 opportunity to ask their questions, should they have 22 any, I respectfully ask that you limit yourself to one 23 question to begin with in a two-minute time frame.
24 If we have additional time or there are no 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
40 other hands raised, I can come back to you. So please 1
state your name and your affiliation if applicable.
2 If there is a particular panel member that you would 3
like to direct your question to, you may also do that.
4 So let's go ahead and get started. John 5
Butler, I see that your hand is raised. Give me one 6
moment. You should be able to unmute your microphone 7
and open your camera if you would wish.
8 MR. BUTLER: Thank you. This is John 9
Butler with NEI. First off, I want to congratulate 10 NRC for conducting this meeting. These meetings are 11 always very helpful and very informative. So thank 12 you.
13 My question relates to carryover. We 14 appreciate the NRC using carryover. It does have an 15 impact on the annual fees. I'd like to understand a 16 little bit more about the carryover.
17 Right now, it's all being applied to the 18 operating reactor fee class. And I'm wondering in 19 your carryover calculations, is there no carryover 20 that's attributable to other fee classes? And if so, 21 why can't that be applied to those fee classes?
22 MR. BARWELL: I'm happy to take this.
23 John, thank you for your question. This is Owen, the 24 NRC CFO here. Let me try and be brief in my response 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
41 here.
1 As you know, our fees are based on our 2
appropriation, not a direct cost. So in any given 3
year, it's highly unlikely that based on the 4
appropriation and our costing rate, we will be left 5
with appropriations not obligated, also known as 6
carryover. I think more recently, we've adopted the 7
approach using carryover as an offset in the following 8
year for appropriation.
9 And we do that in the same way that a 10 utility will give -- and I go back to my days of 11 paying my utility bill back in the day of manual meter 12 readers. And so there would be an estimate of power 13 consumption verified by someone coming out to read my 14 meter. And invariably, I'll be paying the utility 15 company more money over a period of time and get a 16 rebate.
17 So I look at the carryover balance. It's 18 like a rebate that's put in place as a result of, 19 again, our fees are based on appropriation, not the 20 actual costs incurred. So it's like a true-up.
21 So it's an interesting method, I think, to 22 again drive efficiencies in operations and reflect any 23 appropriation that's in excess of our costs to be able 24 to apply that carryover in a meaningful way. We are 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
42 limited obviously by control points in our 1
appropriations. And so to use carryover in one 2
control point against another control point would not 3
be permitted.
4 But to the extent that in the future 5
moving forward here if we have carryover and control 6
points that may be applied to different fee classes, 7
that's something we can certainly look at. So I, 8
again, encourage you to -- again, thank you for your 9
question. I appreciate the opportunity to explain 10 where we're thinking on this. But again, I would 11 encourage getting some questions in writing and so we 12 can actually generate a formal response for you.
13 MR. BUTLER: Okay. Thank you. That was 14 very informative. But just a quick follow-up. So I'm 15 taking from what you said that -- and I understand you 16 can't move funds between different control points.
17 But I'm taking that there effectively is no carryover 18 currently for any other fee class other than the 19 operating reactors.
20 MR. BARWELL: Well, as you know, we're 21 operating under a continuing resolution currently. So 22 until -- all of these numbers that you've seen today 23 are based on estimates under the congressional budget 24 justification, our request to Congress. Once we get 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
43 an appropriation and see where that falls out, then we 1
can go back and reassess, okay, these are the impacts 2
on our fees.
3 MR. BUTLER: All right. Thank you very 4
much.
5 MR. NEVILLE: I just want to add one thing 6
to that, John. As you know, anytime that we request 7
the use of carryover, it's something that we have to 8
be directed by Congress before it can actually become 9
actionable. Keep in mind that we are actually 10 formulating the budget two years in advance.
11 So when we're doing our analysis, programs 12 may or may not be executing faster than others. So 13 when you look at and you ask the questions of why are 14 we proposing it to nuclear reactor safety, you have to 15 actually take into account that nuclear reactor safety 16 at that particular time may have been executing a 17 little bit slower than other programs. So take that 18 into account as well, please.
19 MR. BARWELL: Thank you, Marc, for that.
20 And again, John, forgive me. I'll take it a step up 21 a little bit here. Just again, we have new leadership 22 in CFO organizations here.
23 We also have a new EDO. We also have new 24 legislation with the ADVANCE Act. We are very mindful 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
44 that we are not just a cost pass-through entity. We 1
are here to drive efficiencies and reduce the cost of 2
operations for those parties that we regulate.
3 I want to point out too, again, where 4
we've taken, I think, a more progressive approach is 5
in the establishment of the reduced fee for advanced 6
reactors. We're getting that in this year's fee 7
rules. So we are ready to execute on the 1st of 8
October this year.
9 Had we not taken that approach, we 10 would've been billing at the higher rate and then 11 offering a rebate towards the end of the year once 12 we've established an advanced reactor rate. So again, 13 we're trying to be mindful of who we're serving here.
14 We're trying to be responsive to our licensees and be 15 smart in how we establish our fees here. So again, 16 we're very much open to suggestions, ideas, things 17 that we may want to be thinking about a little 18 differently. But again, thank you for your questions.
19 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Marc. And thank 20 you, Owen, for your response. And thank you for your 21 question, John. Okay. I do see that the next hand 22 belongs to Siaka Yusuf. I'm sorry if I've 23 mispronounced that. You should be able to unmute your 24 microphone. If you could please state your name and 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
45 your affiliation if applicable for the court reporter.
1 MR. YUSUF: Thank you. My name is Siaka 2
Yusuf. I'm the facility director for the Dow TRIGA 3
Research Reactor. My question is on NPUF, the annual 4
fee recovery. Actually, I was expecting that somebody 5
was going to give some kind of explanation on that.
6 But the power reactors were done but not 7
the NPUF, although it was mentioned that the annual 8
fuel recovery for NPUF actually went down in fiscal 9
year 2025. But the fees that we will eventually pay 10 and go up for some other reasons. I was wondering if 11 this reason can be maybe discussed or explained to us 12 because it seems to me it's not fair that the recovery 13 fee for NPUF actually went down. But it went up, the 14 fee that we're actually going to pay will go up for 15 some other reason.
16 And so I would like to know what those 17 reasons are and if we can discuss it and see if they 18 are actually appropriate or if they are fair. The 19 fact that it's not discussed here is what I'm 20 concerned about. Thank you.
21 MS. GALSTER: Sophie, this is Christie 22 Galster. I can take that.
23 MS. HOLIDAY: Thanks, Christie.
24 MS. GALSTER: So what happened, sir, is 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
46 yes, you are correct. As we discussed in the 1
presentation, the annual fee recovery amount did 2
decrease. Unfortunately, GE Hitachi also left the 3
fleet last year in FY '24.
4 GE Hitachi did not notify the NRC until 5
towards the end of FY '23 after the FY '25 CBJ had 6
already been -- the budget had already been 7
formulated. So we are looking at efforts to look at 8
workload projections and looking at the overall budget 9
going forward. But as of right now working with the 10 CBJ as our budgetary authority right now because 11 there's only two licensees within your fee class, the 12 amount of Part 170 recovery amount must be divided by 13 two licensees. Or previously when GE was part of the 14 fleet, it was divided by three. I hope that helps.
15 MR. YUSUF: Yes, thank you. It helped a 16 little bit. But the unfairness is not -- has not been 17 cleared because I believe three or four years ago, our 18 allies, NEI, and other agencies just warned that this 19 was going to happen.
20 So essentially what we have here is that 21 exclusion -- one the only facility left is going to 22 pay all these fees. This is not sustainable and seems 23 to me NRC is literally driving -- it has modeled as an 24 unintended consequences of literally driving licensees 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
47 out of business. That's my comment. Thank you.
1 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you for your response, 2
Christine. And thank you, Mr. Yusuf. Please feel 3
free to utilize the comment process listed in the 4
Federal Register. And that I'll go over at the tail 5
end of the meeting. But again, thank you so much.
6 Okay. I do see -- John, I see your hand is raised.
7 But I'm going to go to Frances so that everyone has a 8
fair opportunity.
9 MR. BARWELL: Hey, sorry, Sophie. I think 10 you're muting the room here to keep the noise. I 11 would like to address Mr. Siaka's comment here just 12 again more broadly. What is I think a function here 13 is that we have low numbers of users which drives the 14 volatility in the fee.
15 So one of the things -- again, I would 16 really appreciate your comments in writing because I 17 think one of the -- a phenomenon we want to be able to 18 address is reducing the level of volatility for our 19 licensees in their fees as well as providing some sort 20 of transparency and predictability in fees in the 21 year. So again, without addressing your specific 22 case, in general, that's an issue that's on our radar.
23 And again, if you're able to submit some comments in 24 writing here, it will give me the opportunity to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
48 respond more formally. Thank you for raising that.
1 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Owen. Okay. So 2
Frances, now is an opportunity for you to provide your 3
question and your comments. Please unmute your 4
microphone and identify your affiliation if 5
applicable.
6 MS. PIMENTEL: Okay. Good morning. My 7
name is Frances Pimentel. I'm from the Nuclear Energy 8
Institute. And first, I'd just like to reiterate 9
thank you for holding this public meeting on the 10 proposed fee rule and for the opportunity to ask these 11 questions.
12 And this is a follow-up on the NPUFs fee.
13 It wasn't apparent and ask you discussed if there were 14 any mitigating solutions that were considered when 15 determining the annual fee that would help to address 16 that financial burden for the two remaining licensees 17 going forward. But in the February 2024 Commission 18 briefing, staff indicated they were actively working 19 on mitigating solutions to improve how these annual 20 fees were assessed for NPUFs and that they were 21 planning on engaging with the Commission on a proposal 22 to resolve this issue. So I was just wondering what 23 progress has been made on any type of development of 24 mitigating solutions and if there was any feedback 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
49 provided by the Commission or direction on addressing 1
this burden for the two remaining licensees going 2
forward.
3 MR. BLANEY: Hi, Frances. This is Billy 4
Blaney. I'm with the licensee policy team. That 5
currently would be still under development. And so we 6
don't have any additional information at this time 7
unfortunately. But we are continuing to look at the 8
effort.
9 MS. PIMENTEL: Okay. Thank you very much.
10 We appreciate that.
11 MR. BARWELL: Yeah, and again, Frances, my 12 conversations with commissioners is on, again, we want 13 to reduce fee volatility and provide some sort of 14 consistency and predictability about our fees moving 15 forward. So again, I think put that under the heading 16 of trying to address the smaller volume, higher 17 volatility activities that drive the volatility in the 18 fees. So again, if you could put that in writing, 19 that would be very helpful to give me something to 20 respond to.
21 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Billy, and thank 22 you, Owen. Thank you for your comments and questions, 23 Frances. Okay. John, I see that your hand is raised 24 again and I don't see any other hands. So please go 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
50 ahead and ask your next question or your next comment.
1 MR. BUTLER: Thank you. Before I get into 2
my question, I do want to follow up on previous 3
discussions. We've made this comment before that if 4
there was some way that the NRC could get some 5
flexibility on how you apply carryover, if it's 6
between control points or whatever, it would go a long 7
way to just a little bit of carryover applied to some 8
of the fee classes that have relatively few members.
9 It would go a long way to reducing the 10 volatility of their annual fee. This applies to 11 NPUFs. It applies to the fuel facilities. So we'll 12 make that comment again in our comments, but it's 13 something we pointed out before.
14 Moving on to my question, for the spent 15 fuel storage and decommissioning class, and I'm 16 starting with slide 22. The major reason or the 17 primary reason given this year and in previous years 18 for an increase in the annual fee has been a decrease 19 in the Part 170 fee collection. This has been going 20 on for a number of years. Since 2020, the annual fee 21 has increased by 80 percent. So my question is, is 22 there anything that the staff is looking at for this 23 fee class to reduce those non-billable activities that 24 are, I'll just be frank, potentially unnecessary?
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
51 MS. ROMAN-CUEVAS: Hi -- oh.
1 MR. NEVILLE: I just wanted to circle back 2
to John's earlier comment on carryover. Again, of 3
course, there's things that we're leaning forward and 4
trying to do, particularly engaging with 5
appropriators. But however, it's completely dependent 6
upon Congress on whether or not those things become 7
actionable or not. I just want to emphasize that as 8
much as possible.
9 MS. YEE: Thanks, Marc. This is Linda 10 Yee, Deputy Budget Director. I just also want to 11 emphasize as well that as part of our formulation 12 process, we do analyze and assess our predictions for 13 carryover at that point in time.
14 So there is a two-year lag. We're running 15 up against the year of execution. But we do, do an 16 overall look of all of our carryover. Again, this is 17 just a proposed amount in our CBJ.
18 Ultimately, it is up to Congress once they 19 pass an appropriation. Just as a point of reference 20 in 2024, we did propose 27.1 million to offset the 21 budget. However, Congress did ultimately ended up 22 directing us to use 62 million. So I just want to 23 also put that into perspective as well. Thank you.
24 MR. NEVILLE: Back over to Cinthya.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
52 Sorry.
1 MS. ROMAN-CUEVAS: Okay. So if you can 2
point at the previous slide that has the table, I just 3
want to -- I think it's going to be helpful to answer 4
the question. So if you notice, we refer the -- for 5
this fee class, we refer this table from '21 to '23.
6 We were around 40 million dollars in the budget of 7
resources.
8 We did see an increase in fiscal year '24 9
and '25 in budgeted resources due to the expected 10 increase in decommissioning activity. So that was a 11 big factor that affected the fees for last year and 12 this year. Yes, we have seen a decrease also in the 13 170 estimated billings.
14 And we are paying very close attention to 15 that. We are trying to make sure that we are focusing 16 on license and inspection, those activities that are 17 important for our mission and see where we can reduce 18 case work that is not needed. So I hope that answered 19 the question.
20 MR. BUTLER: Well, I have to be frank. I 21 don't understand the budgeting process well enough to 22 really understand things. If you go to the next 23 slide, the increase in the proposed annual fees due to 24 expected increase in decommissioning licensing 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
53 activities.
1 At the same time, you also point that the 2
increase is due to a decrease in Part 170 billings.
3 So I'm assuming those licensing activities are 4
billable. So you're saying on one hand the increase 5
is due to an increase in billable activities. And 6
you're also saying it's due to a decrease in billable 7
activities. So there are things like that --
8 MS. ROMAN-CUEVAS: I can explain that. So 9
since we put in two years in advance, we make 10 predictions, right? We work with licensees. We look 11 at decommissioning schedule. We look at the 12 information of what's coming.
13 If we plan and something doesn't come.
14 Like, for example, we were expecting those two license 15 termination plans. We were expecting them. And then 16 they withdraw.
17 That does have an impact on estimated 18 billings. But we still have to recover our budget.
19 So that's why it does affect -- we plan in advance.
20 But if the work doesn't come, we still have to recover 21 those resources because they were budgeted for.
22 And I don't know if anybody can correct if 23 I'm wrong. But yeah, that's the main thing. That's 24 why it's a little bit confusing that you're seeing 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
54 that below I'm saying the budget increase because we 1
expected more work and decommissioning, yet I'm saying 2
we recovered less 170 billings because the withdrawal 3
of this to license termination plans. And there was 4
some decrease in decommissioning inspection activities 5
at some sites.
6 MR. BUTLER: I think I understand. Thank 7
you very much.
8 MS. ROMAN-CUEVAS: Okay.
9 MR. BLANEY: Yeah, Cinthya, this is Billy 10 again from license policy team. You're spot on there 11 that there was the increase in the budgetary 12 resources. But there was also the workload that just 13 did not come to fruition. So it's kind of since we do 14 that budgeting forecasting two years in advance, 15 there's that lag between formulation and then 16 execution here.
17 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Billy. Thank you 18 Cinthya. Well, John, let's keep on with you because 19 I don't have any other hands.
20 MR. BUTLER: Thank you. My next question 21 should be fairly simple. A portion of the budget goes 22 to pay -- well, to subsidize rent in Three White Flint 23 for NIH and FDA. Can you tell me how much is being 24 allocated for this purpose in '25?
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
55 MS. YEE: Hey, John. We'll just have to 1
take that back and get back to you on that. All 2
right. We'll take that as a note.
3 MR. BUTLER: Thank you. May I continue?
4 All right. For fiscal year '25 under NEIMA, the 5
corporate support target is to have corporate support 6
be 28 percent or less of total budget authority. Can 7
you tell me what the corporate support percentage is 8
for the proposed FY '25 budget?
9 MS. YEE: Hi, John. Yes, the corporate 10 support percentage is 31.9 percent.
11 MR. BUTLER: Is that an increase over last 12 year?
13 MS. YEE: I believe it's in the slide. We 14 did -- sorry, John. Just give us a moment here while 15 we get to it. Yes, 15 and a half million. Are you 16 referring to dollars or percentage, John?
17 MR. BUTLER: Referring to the percentage.
18 MS. YEE: Percentage? I believe it's an 19 increase, but we will confirm and get back to you in 20 our notes.
21 MR. BUTLER: Thank you. I'm assuming I 22 can continue. The activities --
23 MS. HOLIDAY: Hey, John. I could just --
24 MR. BUTLER: Yeah.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
56 MS. HOLIDAY: -- answer. You asked about 1
the rent subsidy. By the way, the rent subsidy in 2
fiscal year 2025 is approximately 5.6 million or 5.7 3
if you round up. It's 5.650k.
4 MR. BUTLER: Thank you.
5 MS. HOLIDAY: You're welcome.
6 MR. BUTLER: In the last several years, 7
there's been what I would say a significant portion of 8
the annual fee is attributed to your activities 9
associated with the headquarters reconstruction and 10 moving from Three White Flint and IT infrastructure 11 changes. I understand those changes are necessary.
12 Can you tell me when those are going to start tailing 13 off or be completed?
14 MR. BARWELL: I think we -- let me just go 15 back. Marc, if you might respond, the subsidy that 16 you mentioned, John. Obviously under the ADVANCE Act, 17 but that is now excluded from fees. I'm looking at 18 the --
19 (Simultaneous speaking.)
20 MS. YEE: That is correct. Yeah, so John, 21 just for a point of clarity here, for 2025, it's 22 included as part of the corporate support percentages.
23 But with the ADVANCE Act, the subsidy is no longer 24 going to be accounted for as part of the overall, the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
57 new percentage along with the Office of the Commission 1
Budget as a corporate percentage for ADVANCE Act --
2 for the ADVANCE Act moving forward.
3 MR. BUTLER: So the 5.7 million is being 4
excluded from --
5 MS. YEE: The corporate support percentage 6
calculation.
7 MR. BUTLER: I'm not sure I understand.
8 MR. BARWELL: We can follow up with 9
details on that.
10 MS. YEE: Yes, we can.
11 MR. BARWELL: There's a change in the 12 treatment under the ADVANCE Act. I'll follow up with 13 you, John.
14 MR. BUTLER: Of corporate support?
15 MR. BARWELL: For this subsidy --
16 MS. YEE: Yes.
17 MR. BARWELL: -- that you mentioned.
18 MR. BUTLER: Oh, I'm talking about --
19 yeah, the subsidy for FDA and NIH.
20 MS. YEE: Yes.
21 MR. BUTLER: Okay. Yeah, a follow up 22 would be appreciated.
23 MS. HOLIDAY: Great. Mr. Butler, do you 24 have any other questions?
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
58 MR. BUTLER: I do have a question that was 1
-- I was asked to ask by someone who was unable to 2
attend this meeting. And I'm trying to understand how 3
to ask the question. So bear with me.
4 This is associated with the fuel facility 5
fee class. And there's been a lot of volatility in 6
the annual fee for that fee class. And it's very 7
welcome surprise to see that there was no increase for 8
any of the contributors to that fee class for FY '25.
9 But the question this gentleman had was 10 associated with Part 171 annual fee and the 11 contributors to that annual fee. This question is 12 associated with is there any effort underway to look 13 at what that fee -- annual fee covers which I'll 14 loosely call non-billable activities to kind of 15 prioritize them and to identify if there's something 16 that could be either terminated or moved off to a 17 future year. I understand there are certain things in 18 the Part 171 collection that are necessary each year.
19 But there's got to be a few things that 20 can be delayed. Or I'll just make up an example. The 21 review of reg guides, does it have to be done in the 22 coming year? Or can that be put off a year?
23 Things that can be done to reduce the 24 necessary 171 collection. And I think I know the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
59 answer in that going back to the fact that you prepare 1
your budget two years in advance and it's kind of hard 2
to do that. But I'll leave the question there.
3 DR. MORGAN-BUTLER: Yes, John. You are 4
correct. We formulate our budget two years in the 5
past. And you mentioned the previous years where we 6
had increases.
7 And so we've been sensitive to the 8
potential impact of the increase in annual fees for a 9
fuel facility licensees. And we are looking at our 10 workload with respect to focusing on those licensing 11 activities that are directly billed. But in the past, 12 we had issues there because there were certain work 13 that was forecasted that didn't come in either on time 14 or was deferred or wasn't pursued.
15 And for this year, we've looked at 16 different ways to help us predict when that work would 17 materialize. So we engage in very substantial 18 engagement with licensees and external stakeholders 19 and other federal agencies. And that helps to inform 20 which licensing actions will be submitted according to 21 the budget.
22 And then we take an important step to 23 communicate with the licensees that there may be 24 additional capacity to review licensing actions within 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
60 that time frame that the work isn't materializing.
1 And so for the FY 2027 budget that we're working on, 2
we're doing those engagements up front. And it was 3
mentioned that we also look at our pre-application 4
engagements.
5 And we look at letters of intent very 6
closely. And we've developed confidence rankings.
7 And those confidence rankings, they consider our 8
engagement, our expected activities, the maturity of 9
the design, the source and level of funding for 10 potential applicants, for
- example, regulatory 11 engagement, other -- and then the availability of fee 12 material for our new applicants. So we're looking 13 very closely there and also at historical data. And 14 so we do -- as we can, we will move up our work around 15 if there's delays for directly billable activity to 16 the extent that we can.
17 MR. BUTLER: Well, I commend your 18 activities here because it's rare that we see no 19 change in the annual fee. So congratulations.
20 DR. MORGAN-BUTLER: Thank you.
21 MS. YEE: Hi, John. I just wanted to 22 circle back to your question earlier about the Three 23 White Flint relocation project. So that is planned to 24 tail off and be completed and moved out by November of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
61 2027.
1 MR. BUTLER: That's on the Three White 2
Flint. Do you know anything about the IT changes?
3 MS. YEE: I will defer to Sophie for 4
additional information. She's the programmatic lead 5
for that.
6 MS. HOLIDAY: Thanks, Linda. I'm sorry, 7
John. Could you repeat your question for me?
8 MR. BUTLER: The last question was asking 9
about the completion of the IT infrastructure changes.
10 I don't know if that's an ongoing activity or if it's 11 something that would be expected to tail off by a 12 certain time period.
13 MS. HOLIDAY: So I'm assuming that you're 14 referring to the IT infrastructure related to the 15 Headquarters Operations Center and the special use 16 areas.
17 MR. BUTLER: If it's limited to that. I 18 think in previous budgets, that IT infrastructure 19 change is also being done in the regions.
20 MS. HOLIDAY: Oh, okay. So this is a more 21 broad question. I won't be able to speak to IT 22 infrastructure changes or the agency writ large. But 23 specifically to the Three White Flint relocation 24 project, we do identify resources in the 25 CBJ. That 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
62 does call out infrastructure for the Headquarters 1
Operations Center and the special use areas. With 2
respect to that particular project, those will be or 3
are expected to be completed by 2027.
4 MR. BUTLER: Thank you.
5 MS. HOLIDAY: You're welcome. Okay. So 6
with that, I do see a couple of other hands in the 7
chat. And just a reminder for those that are on the 8
phone, if you do want to ask a question, please dial 9
- 5 and that will raise your hand for me. Okay.
10 Siaka, I see that your hand is raised and you've been 11 waiting pretty patiently. So please go ahead and 12 unmute your microphone.
13 MR. YUSUF: Thank you. I just want to 14 thank Mr. Barwell for his remark. I mean, he did say 15 that he has it underway to address the volatility in 16 fees.
17 As a matter of fact, the reason I wanted 18 to thank him was that, yes, that is the issue. It is 19 one of those things that is enemy of corporate 20 organizations. And I'm going to put my comment on 21 paper and submit it before March 21st.
22 But the question I have for him is I have 23 a suggestion as to how this can be done. I intend to 24 put that in the comment. Is there somebody, Mr.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
63 Barwell, you would like to hear now? Or I should keep 1
it and put it in the comments? Thank you.
2 MR. BARWELL: In writing would be 3
terrific. Thank you.
4 MR. YUSUF: Okay.
5 MS. HOLIDAY: And Mr. Yusuf, just for your 6
comments that are submitted on the rule are available 7
on the public docket. So Mr. Butler will be able to 8
read your comment if you submit it in writing.
9 MR. YUSUF: Okay. Thank you.
10 MS. HOLIDAY: You're welcome. Okay. So 11 the next hand belongs to Robert Sanders. Robert, you 12 should be able to unmute your microphone. Please 13 state your name and your affiliation if applicable.
14 MR. SANDERS: Okay. Can you hear me now?
15 MS. HOLIDAY: Yes, we can.
16 MR. SANDERS: Okay. I'm Bob Sanders. I'm 17 with the Honeywell Metropolis Conversion Facility in 18 Metropolis, Illinois. Anyway, I just like what John 19 was talking about.
20 We appreciate that the fees stayed this 21 same this year. But I do have a question. With all 22 of the information that's going on in the news about 23 the Department of Government Efficiency, do you 24 anticipate that's going to affect any of the budget 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
64 justifications or anything that you've submitted and 1
eventually affect the fees?
2 MR. BARWELL: To be determined. I mean, 3
we're --
4 MR. SANDERS: Okay.
5 MR. BARWELL: To be honest. And the whole 6
-- it's obviously the work of the administration and 7
executive orders that are being issued. We're a 8
federal agency -- independent federal agency. We're 9
responding to those.
10 We're translating what that means for us 11 internally and are generally in compliance with what's 12 being asked here. I will say again we have to see 13 what happens with -- as it relates to fees what 14 happens with the expiration of the continuing 15 resolution and what appropriations means for the rest 16 of the year. But DOGE was not the only or the first 17 organization to come up with challenges to the agency 18 to be more efficient. That also came up in the 19 ADVANCE Act too.
20 So I think this is just an opportunity 21 when you ignore the theater and read the transcript 22 and what's being asked of the federal government, it's 23 more efficient, more responsive to taxpayers, greater 24 appreciation for the services that are being provided 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
65 here. So we're taking that -- we're taking the work 1
of the DOGE in that spirit, I believe, and try to 2
respond the best way possible to align with the 3
mission of the agency and take care of our people.
4 MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Owen. And thank 5
you for your question, Bob. Okay. So at this time, 6
I do not see any other hands raised. So I'll ask for 7
a last call, if there are any other questions or 8
comments that any of you may have before we move on to 9
how you can actually submit your comments on the 10 proposed rule. So I'll wait just a little bit.
11 All right. So it looks like I don't see 12 any hands up. So that will conclude our question and 13 answer portion of the meeting. As I previously 14 stated, the deadline for submitting your comments on 15 the proposed fee rule is March 21, 2025.
16 On this slide and the next one, I will go 17 over the five methods by which you may submit your 18 comments. However, we do strongly encourage that you 19 utilize the very first method listed here which is 20 providing your electronic comment submission through 21 the federal rulemaking website, www.regulations.gov, 22 using the docket ID number, NRC-2023-0069. You can 23 direct your questions to Helen Chang. That's H-E-L-E-24 N,.Chang, C-H-A-N-G, @nrc.gov.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
66 The NRC staff will respond to your 1
questions as part of the public meeting summary as 2
well. The second option is to email your comments to 3
rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov, R-U-L-E-M-A-K-I-N-G, dot, 4
C-O-M-M-E-N-T-S, @nrc.gov. Please do include the 5
docket ID number that is listed immediately above as 6
part of your email submission.
7 If you do not receive an automatic email 8
replying that we have confirmed receipt of your 9
comments, please do contact us at 301-415-1677. The 10 third method is that you can submit your comments via 11 fax to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 12 Commission using the same docket ID number, 2023-0069, 13 at the number here, 301-415-1101. Next slide, Dan.
14 Okay. The fourth method is that you can mail in your 15 comments to the address identified here, or you can 16 hand deliver them in person to the NRC headquarters 17 office at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
18 If you have any further questions or need 19 additional information, please contact Julio Areas who 20 is the Acting License Fee Policy Team Leader. You can 21 contact him via email which is Julio, J-U-L-I-O, 22
.Areas which is A-R-E-A-S @nrc.gov. Or you can 23 contact him by phone at 301-415-6092.
24 Lastly, I would appreciate if you took the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
67 time to fill out our public meeting feedback form.
1 You can find a link to the form on our public meeting 2
website. I linked it earlier in the chat.
3 Your opinion on how this meeting went will 4
help us improve upon future meetings. So please do 5
take a moment and fill it out and let us know what you 6
think. Thank you so much for your time and your 7
attention and engagement throughout this meeting.
8 Without further ado, I would like to turn the meeting 9
back over to Owen Barwell for our closing remarks.
10 Owen.
11 MR. BARWELL: Okay. Thank you, Sophie.
12 And thank you all for the engagement here. If we 13 don't hear your question, we don't get your feedback, 14 there's very little we can do to respond. So again, 15 I appreciate the vibrant discussion here.
16 We have a very important mission. We 17 recognize that. We also recognize the importance of 18 our licensees. We are a fee-based agency. And so we 19 want to, again, uphold our important mission and serve 20 our licensees within that context.
21 And finally, I would like to just say 22 another thank you to the team here, everyone that's 23 participated in the event today. But all the work 24 that is done and the formulation of our budget, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
68 calculation of our fees, and the engagement with our 1
stakeholders. So thanks again, and I look forward to 2
reading and hearing your comments. I declare the 3
meeting over.
4 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 5
off the record at 11:38 a.m.)
6 7
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