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Spotlight
NEIMA Milestone Schedules and Fixed Fee Caps for Requested Activities of the Commission
The NRC has taken key actions to drive increased efficiency and accountability in the NRC’s licensing and other requested activities and provide cost predictability to applicants and licensees, as part of its implementation of Executive Order (EO) 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission”; the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024 (ADVANCE Act); and the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA). In 2025, the NRC updated the NEIMA milestone schedules for issuance of the final safety evaluation to align with the 12- and 18-month periods cited in EO 14300, as indicated in the table below. These revised milestones took effect on May 23, 2025.
In the Fiscal Year 2026 final fee rule, the NRC established fixed caps on service fees for requested activities of the Commission that involve the issuance of a final safety evaluation, consistent with NEIMA and to implement Section 5(a) of EO 14300. The fixed fee cap requirements are in Section 170.33 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), and 10 CFR 170.3 contains applicable definitions. In August 2026, the NRC issued an Office Instruction, Establishment and Management of Fixed Fee Caps, which provides the staff with detailed processes for establishing, communicating, and managing fixed fee caps and includes potential examples of actions or inaction that may lead to applicant failure.
The NRC will address the EO 14300 policy to establish fixed deadlines for final decisions (including the 12- and 18-month periods cited in EO 14300) in a future rulemaking.
On this page:
NEIMA Milestone Schedules for Requested Activities of the Commission that Involve the Issuance of a Final Safety Evaluation to be Tracked and Reported According to the NEIMA Requirements
| Activity | Type | NEIMA Milestone Schedules for Issuance of the Final Safety Evaluation1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Certifications and Standard Design Approvals 2 | All Reactors – Part 52 | 18 months | |
| Licenses 2 | All Reactors, Uranium Recovery, and Fuel Cycle Facilities – Parts 40, 50, 52, and 70 | 18 months | |
| Construction Permits, Early Site Permits, and Limited Work Authorizations 2 | All Reactors – Parts 50 and 52 | 18 months | |
| License Amendments (including power uprates) | Decommissioning – Parts 30, 40, 50 and 70 | 12 months | |
| Uranium Recovery – Part 40 | Expansions (e.g., new site) | 12 months | |
| All Others | 11 months | ||
| Fuel Cycle Facilities – Parts 40 and 70 | 12 months | ||
| Construction Permit – Part 50 | 12 months | ||
| Operating – Parts 50 and 52 | Adopting a Technical Specifications Task Force (TSTF) using the Consolidated Line-Item Improvement Process | 7 months | |
| All Other TSTFs | 12 months | ||
| Measurement Uncertainty Recapture Uprate (MUR) | 6 months | ||
| Stretch Power Uprate (SPU) | 9 months | ||
| Extended Power Uprate (EPU) | 12 months | ||
| Emergency and Exigent | 1 month | ||
| All Others | 12 months | ||
| Early Site Permit – Part 52 | 12 months | ||
| Design Certification – Part 52 | 12 months | ||
| Combined 3 (under construction) – Part 52 | 9 months | ||
| Combined 3 (operating or not under construction) – Part 52 | 12 months | ||
| Restart Activities 4 | All Reactors – Part 50 | 18 months | |
| License Renewals | All Reactors, Uranium Recovery, and Fuel Cycle Facilities – Parts 40, 50, 52, 54, and 70 | 12 months | |
| Certificates of Compliance (CoC) | Transportation and Storage – Parts 71 and 72 | New | 18 months |
| Amendment or Renewal | 12 months | ||
| Topical Reports5 (not incorporated or referenced in an application) | All Reactors – Parts 50 and 52 | 18 months | |
| Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) | Storage – Parts 50, 52 and 72 | New | 18 months |
| Amendment or Renewal | 12 months | ||
| Exemptions | All Parts of 10 CFR | 12 months | |
| Code Reliefs6 | Combined3 (under construction) – Part 52 | 9 months | |
| All Other Reactors – Parts 50 and 52 | 12 months | ||
| License Transfers | Operating (LWR) – Parts 50 and 52 | 8 months | |
| All Other Reactors – Parts 50 and 52 | 12 months | ||
| Decommissioning – Parts 30, 40, 50,7 and 70 | 12 months | ||
1 Time it takes to issue a final safety evaluation for each activity after the acceptance review is completed. When a requested activity includes or requires two or more activity categories in the table, and all activities are issued simultaneously as a bundle, the time it takes to issue all the final safety evaluations is the longest of the applicable milestone schedules.
2 These milestone schedules include review of topical reports that are incorporated or referenced in these applications.
3 Combined means Combined License, which is an NRC-issued license that authorizes a licensee to construct and (with certain specified conditions) operate a nuclear power plant at a specific site, in accordance with established laws and regulations.
4 This activity can include requests for approvals of license amendments, exemptions, license transfers, code reliefs, and topical reports.
5 These milestone schedules are only applicable to topical reports submitted by licensees or applicants (i.e., persons or entities that either hold a current license or have a license application under NRC review). These milestone schedules do not apply to topical reports submitted by vendors, owners groups, other industry representatives, or pre-applicants.
6 This activity can include 10 CFR 50.55a requests for relief, proposed alternatives, and requests to use later editions and addenda of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) and Operation and Maintenance (OM) Codes.
7 This activity includes actions at Part 50 licensed sites that have generally licensed ISFSIs, where only the generally licensed ISFSI remains.
Background
Section 102(c) of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) requires the NRC to develop performance metrics and milestone schedules for “requested activities of the Commission.” Section 3(17) of NEIMA defines “requested activities of the Commission” to include:
(A) "the processing of applications for—
(i) design certifications or approvals; (ii) licenses; (iii) permits; (iv) license amendments;
(v) license renewals; (vi) certificates of compliance; and (vii) power uprates;" and(B) "any other activity requested by a licensee or applicant."
Section 102(c) of NEIMA also establishes certain reporting requirements for the NRC in the event the NRC issues a final safety evaluation for a requested activity of the Commission later than the NRC established milestone schedule date. Section 504 of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024 (ADVANCE Act)—signed into law on July 9, 2024—amended the performance and reporting requirements in Section 102(c) of NEIMA.
On May 23, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” directing the NRC to take additional actions to reform the NRC. Section 5 of EO 14300 directs the NRC to work “with its DOGE Team, the Office of Management and Budget, and other executive departments and agencies as appropriate” to “undertake a review and wholesale revision of its regulations and guidance documents” and include specific changes as part of this revision. Among these changes, Section 5(a) of EO 14300 directs the NRC to “[e]stablish fixed deadlines for its evaluation and approval of licenses, license amendments, license renewals, certificates of compliance, power uprates, license transfers, and any other activity requested by a licensee or potential licensee, as directed under the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, rather than the nonbinding ‘generic milestone schedules’ guidelines the NRC has already adopted.” It further states that “[t]he deadlines shall include: (1) a deadline of no more than 18 months for final decision on an application to construct and operate a new reactor of any type, commencing with the first required step in the regulatory process, and (2) a deadline of no more than 1 year for final decision on an application to continue operating an existing reactor of any type, commencing with the first required step in the regulatory process.” Notably, this provision refers to the “final decision on an application” and not the “final safety evaluation.” Section 5(a) also notes that “these are maximum time periods” and directs the NRC to “adopt shorter deadlines tailored to particular reactor types or licensing pathways as appropriate.”
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Tuesday, September 08, 2026