Congressional Budget Justification: Fiscal Year 2021 (NUREG-1100, Volume 36)
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Date Published: February 2020
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001
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Overview
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Congressional Budget Justification reflects the NRC's continued commitment to protecting public health and safety and ensuring the long-term safety and security of nuclear power facilities and nuclear materials. The NRC's FY 2021 budget request provides the resources necessary to accomplish mission critical activities related to safety and security in the Nuclear Reactor Safety Program and the Nuclear Materials and Waste Safety Program. The FY 2021 budget request also reflects changes directed by Public Law 115-439, "Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act" (NEIMA).
The NRC's fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget request is $863.4 million, including 2,868 full-time equivalents (FTE). In addition, the budget includes $17.7 million for the continued development of a regulatory infrastructure for advanced nuclear reactor technologies. The FY 2021 budget request does not include funding for licensing activities related to the proposed Yucca Mountain deep geologic repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and other high level radioactive waste. When compared to the NRC's FY 2020 total budget authority, which included the use of $40 million in authorized prior-year carryover, this request represents a decrease of $32.2 million or approximately 3.6 percent and includes 102 fewer FTEs.
As shown in the figure below, since FY 2014, the agency budget has decreased by 17 percent, excluding resources for the licensing activities related to the proposed Yucca Mountain deep geological repository and the Integrated University Program. The agency has also reduced FTE by 25 percent during this period.
The Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) component of the FY 2021 proposed budget is $13.5 million, including 63 FTE, of which $12.3 million is for auditing and investigation activities for NRC programs, and $1.2 million is for the auditing and investigation activities of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). These resources will allow the OIG to carry out the Inspector General's mission to provide independent, objective audit and investigative oversight of NRC and DNFSB operations to protect people and the environment.
In accordance with NEIMA, the NRC's FY 2021 budget request provides for approximately 100 percent fee recovery, less fee-relief activities identified by the Commission, which include international activities less amounts for import and export licensing; activities associated with amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund; generic homeland security activities; Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) activities under Section 3116 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005; OIG services for DNFSB; the Integrated University Program; and advanced reactor regulatory infrastructure activities. The NRC will recover $740.4 million of the FY 2021 budget from fees assessed to NRC licensees. This will result in a net appropriation of $123.0 million, which is a decrease of $4.5 million when compared to the FY 2020 Enacted Budget.