Cost Projections for Uranium Recovery Licensing Actions

Cost Projection Table

The table below offers resource estimates for many of the common licensing and oversight activities in the area uranium recovery. This information is being offered to enhance stakeholder awareness of the costs associated with these activities. It will also aid licensees and applicants in the planning and budgeting of future applications. This information was developed through a sampling of licensing and oversight actions that were completed in the past few years. The data provided in the table below are estimates. The actual costs may vary depending on the specific circumstances. The NRC encourages licensees and applicants to engage early in the process when submitting new actions. Licensees are encouraged to work with their NRC project manager to discuss details of any specific application. The table will be updated on a biennial basis.

The estimated hours shown in this chart represent NRC professional staff hours associated with project management, health physics, hydrogeology, and engineering. The distribution of time among professional staff members (job categories) working on a project vary within each activity and from project to project. However, a single professional hourly rate is applied to all hours regardless of which professional staff contributed these hours. Indirect costs are included in the applied hourly rate as published in the current NRC Fee Rule. The average, high, and low estimates of hours shown in this chart are only intended to provide an approximate estimate of the total cost of NRC work on a billable activity based upon historical data.

In addition, contractors are used to assist the NRC to complete projects. Contractors can be used to supplement NRC staff or provide a particular expertise required for the project. Similar to the hourly estimates, the average, high, and low estimates for contractor costs shown here are only intended to provide an approximate estimate of total contractor billable costs on an activity based upon historical data.

Resource Estimates for Uranium Recovery (April 2023)
Major Licensing Action	Billed Number of NRC Direct Staff Hours:  Low Estimate of Level of Effort	Billed Number of NRC Direct Staff Hours:  High Estimate of Level of Effort	Billed Number of NRC Direct Staff Hours:  Average Estimate of Level of Effort	Billed Contractor Costs:  Low Estimate of Level of Effort	Billed Contractor Costs: High Estimate of Level of Effort	Billed Contractor Costs: Average Estimate of Level of Effort
COST ESTIMATES FOR DECOMMISSIONING AND LOW LEVEL WASTE BUSINESS LINE
Uranium Recovery New Facility 1	7,410	9,607	8,352	$236,858	$1,706,097	$759,561
Uranium Recovery License Renewal 1	2,396	10,498	6,331	$0	$182,343	$92,951
Uranium Recovery Expansion of Existing Facility Expansions With An Increase in Production Area 2	954	12,335	6,068	$0	$994,741	$451,250
Uranium Recovery Expansions With No Increase in Production Area 3	123	396	260	$0	$0	$0
Uranium Recovery Financial Assurance Review 4	15	187	65	$0	$0	$0
Uranium Recovery  Routine Inspections 5	87	252	155	$0	$0	$0

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1. NRC staff hours can vary depending on the scope, size, and location of the facility, as well as quality of the licensee's submittal and extent of Tribal consultations. 

2. This category is for expansions where new production areas, that were not considered in the initial evaluation, are added to the license. Example would be addition of new wellfields and satellite facilities adjacent to the existing license. Second example would be expanding to recover uranium from a different aquifer.  NRC staff hours for this action can vary depending on the size of the area being added to the license and complexity of the proposed addition.

3. This category is for expansions where the production area does not change, but the licensee seeks to increase capacity. Examples of these types of actions would include: adding or modifying the capacity of a dryer, or increasing the allowable flow rate of the processing plant.  NRC staff hours can vary for this action depending on the nature and complexity of the expansion.

4. NRC staff hours for this type of review can vary depending on the magnitude of the change in the financial assurance amount, quality of the supporting information included in the submittal, as well as the overall size of the facility can influence the amount of time needed for the NRC staff to complete its review.

5. NRC staff hours for inspections can vary depending on the activities being conducted by the licensee, the size of the facility, the amount of time that has passed since the previous inspection, and the performance of the licensee.