NRC Reduces Hourly Rate for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Applicants and Pre-Applicants
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 25-037 June 24, 2025
CONTACT: Christine Saah Nazer, 301-415-8200
NRC Reduces Hourly Rate for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Applicants and Pre-Applicants
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has amended its regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2025. The fiscal year 2025 final fee rule was published today in the Federal Register.
In this rule, the NRC is making amendments to implement a reduced hourly rate for advanced nuclear reactor applicants and pre-applicants for certain activities as required by the ADVANCE Act of 2024. The reduced hourly rate is $148 per hour and represents an over 50% reduction from the full-cost professional hourly rate of $318 per hour. The reduced hourly rate will take effect on Oct. 1, 2025, consistent with the statutory effective date.
The FY 2025 final fee rule reflects a total budget authority of $944.1 million, the same as FY 2024. Under the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, the NRC is required to recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100% of the NRC’s total budget authority for FY 2025, less the budget authority for excluded activities. A proposed fee rule was published for public comment on Feb. 19, 2025.
After accounting for the exclusions from the fee-recovery requirement and net billing adjustments, the NRC must recover approximately $808.8 million in fees in FY 2025. The NRC assesses two types of fees: service fees, established in 10 CFR part 170, recovering the NRC’s costs of providing specific benefits to identifiable recipients (such as licensing work, inspections, and special projects); and annual fees, established in 10 CFR part 171, recovering generic and other regulatory costs not otherwise recovered. For FY 2025, approximately $205.4 million will be recovered through service fees under 10 CFR Part 170 and $603.4 million will be recovered through annual fees under 10 CFR Part 171.
Compared to FY 2024, annual fees are decreasing for the operating power reactors fee class, fuel facilities fee class, non-power production or utilization facilities fee class, the uranium recovery facilities fee class, and five materials users fee categories. Annual fees are increasing for most materials users’ fee categories and annual fees remain stable for the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning fee class.
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