NRC Amends Licensing, Inspections and Annual Fees

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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
	Office of Public Affairs	Telephone: 301/415-8200
	Washington, DC 20555-001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

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No. 99-118
June 7, 1999

NRC AMENDS LICENSING, INSPECTION AND ANNUAL FEES

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its licensing, inspection and annual fees that it charges to licensees for the 1999 fiscal year.

The agency is required to collect nearly all of its operating budget through fees. For fiscal year 1999, the Commission must recover $449.6 million.

This year, the Commission is rebaselining the annual fees. In the future, rebaselining will occur every three years or sooner, if warranted.

Under the rebaselining method, the agency determines the approximate costs attributable to each type of licensee, such as power reactors or fuel facilities. These costs, less the estimated amounts to be recovered through fees for actual licensing and inspection services at specific facilities, comprise the annual fee. While rebaselining can result in significant fee increases for some licensees, the agency believes it provides a fair and equitable allocation of costs.

The Commission also approved a new annual fee category for all power reactors with facilities being decommissioned that store spent fuel in a dry cask facility or in a pool. Reactor licensees who have ceased operations and have no fuel onsite will not be assessed the new spent fuel storage/decommissioning fee.

In other decisions regarding the fee rule, the Commission expanded cost recovery for certain reviews and inspections, eliminated "flat" license amendment fees for small materials licenses, and increased hourly rates for inspection and other professional services performed by NRC staff.

The Commission announced these changes after public comments were received and considered on the proposed rule published in April.

For fiscal year 1999, fees for certain classes of licensees increased, while others decreased. The fiscal year 1999 rebaselined annual fees for some licensees are as follows:

Class of Licensee	Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Fee	1998 Amount
Power Reactors (including spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee for FY 1999)	$2,776,000	2,976,000
High enriched uranium fuel facility	3,281,000	2,604,000
Low enriched uranium fuel facility	1,100,000	1,278,000
Typical Materials Licensees
Radiographers	14,700	14,000
Broad scope medical	27,800	23,500
Distribution of radiopharmaceuticals	3,800	4,400

The final rule will be available in the Federal Register, and published on the internet at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov . To request a mailed copy of the final rule, contact the License Fee and Accounts Receivable Branch, Division of Accounting and Finance, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, at 301-415-7554, or e-mail fees@nrc.gov.