NRC Amends Licensing, Inspection, and Annual Fees for Fiscal Year 2022
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 22-023 June 22, 2022
CONTACT: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200
NRC Amends Licensing, Inspection, and Annual Fees for Fiscal Year 2022
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2022.
The FY 2022 final fee rule, published today in the Federal Register, includes fees required by the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act necessary to recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100 percent of the NRC’s total budget authority for FY 2022, less the budget authority for excluded activities. A proposed fee rule was published for public comment on Feb. 23.
The FY 2022 final fee rule reflects a total budget authority of $887.7 million, an increase of $43.3 million from FY 2021. After accounting for exclusions from the fee-recovery requirement and net billing adjustments, the NRC must recover approximately $752.7 million in fees in FY 2022. Of this amount, approximately $198.8 million will be recovered through fees for services (Part 170), and approximately $553.9 million will be recovered through annual fees (Part 171).
Compared to FY 2021, annual fees are decreasing for fuel facilities, spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning activities, and for a uranium recovery facility licensee. Annual fees are increasing for operating power reactors, non-power production or utilization facilities, the U.S. Department of Energy Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Program, DOE transportation activities, and for 47 materials users fee categories. While the operating power reactors annual fee is increasing in FY 2022, it does not exceed the annual fee cap established by NEIMA. Generally, annual fees are impacted by changes to the budget, fees for services, the number of licensees, and other factors.
The final fee rule also includes a change in the hourly rate charged for services, affecting licensees and applicants. The NRC has increased its hourly rate from $288 to $290 for FY 2022 and has adjusted license application fees accordingly.
The NRC estimates that the FY 2022 annual fees will be paid by the 93 licensees of operating commercial power reactors, three non-power production or utilization facilities, 122 spent nuclear fuel storage and decommissioning reactor facilities, eight fuel cycle facilities, one uranium recovery facility, and approximately 2,500 nuclear materials licensees.
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