10 CFR Part 171 - ANNUAL FEES FOR REACTOR LICENSES AND FUEL CYCLE LICENSES AND MATERIALS LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE, REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM APPROVALS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LICENSED BY THE NRC

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a final rule amending regulations that became effective August 23, 2016. The fiscal year (FY) 2016 final fee rule, published June 24, 2016, amended the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to NRC applicants and licensees. This document corrects the annual fee for materials licensees in the category “Nuclear laundries” from the FY 2016 rate of $0 to the FY 2015 rate of $40,100. This correction allows Agreement States to continue to collect fees in this fee category.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a final rule in the Federal Register on May 24, 2016, amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fee regulations to establish a variable annual fee structure for light-water small modular reactors. The final rule contained a grammatical error in a definition, an incorrect reference format, and an incomplete signature date. This document corrects the final rule by revising the sections that contain these errors and completing the signature date.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees and, for the first time, the NRC is recovering its costs when it responds to third-party demands for information in litigation where the United States is not a party (“Touhy requests”). These amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90), which requires the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its annual budget through fees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fee regulations to establish a variable annual fee structure for light-water small modular reactors (SMR). Under the variable annual fee structure, an SMR's annual fee would be calculated as a function of its licensed thermal power rating. This fee methodology complies with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees and, for the first time, the NRC is proposing to recover its costs when it responds to third-party demands for information in litigation where the United States is not a party (“Touhy requests”). These proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 as amended (OBRA-90), which requires the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its annual budget through fees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to make miscellaneous corrections. These changes include renaming the Office of Information Services, renaming the Computer Security Office and removing it as a standalone office, capitalizing the words Tribe, Tribes, and Tribal, correcting a Web site address, correcting a misspelling, removing a submission requirement, correcting an email address, correcting a room number, removing a Federal Register notice requirement, and adding missing information collection references. This document is necessary to inform the public of these non-substantive changes to the NRC's regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its licensing, inspection, and annual fee regulations to establish a variable annual fee structure for light-water small modular reactors (SMR). Under the proposed variable annual fee structure, an SMR's annual fee would be calculated as a function of its licensed thermal power rating. This proposed fee methodology complies with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90). The NRC will hold a public meeting to promote full understanding of the proposed rule and to facilitate public comments.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. These amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), generic homeland security activities, and Inspector General (IG) services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). These fees represent the cost of the NRC's services provided to applicants and licensees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), generic homeland security activities, and Inspector General (IG) services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). These fees represent the cost of the NRC's services provided to applicants and licensees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting a final rule that was published in the Federal Register (FR) on June 30, 2014, and amended the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to the NRC's applicants and licensees. This action is necessary to correct a typographical error in the fee category description in the Schedule of fees for materials licenses and other regulatory services, including inspections, and import and export licenses. NRC is also correcting a percentage shown for FY 2014 in Table VII, Effort Factors for Fuel Facilities.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of June 30, 2014, that amends the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to the NRC's applicants and licensees. The final rule inadvertently included the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) accession number for the fiscal year (FY) 2014 proposed fee rule work papers. This document corrects the final rule to provide the ADAMS accession number for the FY 2014 final fee rule work papers.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. These amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities, and Inspector General (IG) services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). These fees represent the cost of the NRC's services provided to applicants and licensees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. These fees represent the cost of NRC services provided to applicants and licensees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. The President signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 on March 26, 2013, giving the NRC a total appropriation of $985.6 million for FY 2013. The NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY 2013 budget is approximately $864.0 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees is approximately $859.6 million.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing interim staff guidance for implementation of the final rule, Distribution of Source Material to Exempt Persons and to General Licensees and Revision of General License and Exemptions (Distribution of Source Material Rule). The Distribution of Source Material Rule amended the NRC's regulations to require that the initial distribution of source material to exempt persons or to general licensees be explicitly authorized by a specific license. The Distribution of Source Material Rule also modified the existing possession and use requirements of the general license for small quantities of source material and revised, clarified, or deleted certain source material exemptions from licensing.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to require that the initial distribution of source material to exempt persons or to general licensees be explicitly authorized by a specific license, which includes new reporting requirements. The rule is intended to provide the NRC with timely information on the types and quantities of source material distributed for use either under exemption or by general licensees. In addition, the rule modifies the existing possession and use requirements of the general license for small quantities of source material to better align the requirements with current health and safety standards. Finally, the rule revises, clarifies, or deletes certain source material exemptions from licensing to make the exemptions more risk informed. This rule affects manufacturers and distributors of certain products and materials containing source material and certain persons using source material under general license and under exemptions from licensing.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. The NRC is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) which is set to expire on March 27, 2013. Based on the FY 2013 budget submitted to the Congress, the NRC is proposing fees in this rulemaking based on the FY 2013 budget which is estimated to be $1,053.2 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees is approximately $924.8 million. These fees are subject to change pending congressional action which may include sequestration, full-year CR or issuance of an FY 2013 appropriation which differs from the FY 2013 budget submitted to Congress which could result in higher or lower fees than those proposed in this rulemaking.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2012 (77 FR 39899), and effective on August 6, 2012. That final rule amended the NRC regulations to make technical corrections, including updating the street address for the Region I office, correcting authority citations and typographical and spelling errors, and making other edits and conforming changes. This correcting amendment is necessary to correct the statutory authority that is cited in one of the authority citations in the final rule.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is confirming the effective date of August 22, 2012, for the direct final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of July 3, 2012 (77 FR 39385). This direct final rule amended the size standard that the NRC uses to qualify an NRC licensee as a “small entity” under the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended. The NRC is increasing its receipts-based, small business size standard from $6.5 million to $7 million to conform to the standard set by the Small Business Administration (SBA). This document confirms the effective date.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in fiscal year (FY) 2012, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. Based on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, signed by President Obama on December 23, 2011, the NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY 2012 budget is $1,038.1 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees to licensees is $901 million.