Title 10
SECTION 171.15
171.15 Annual fees: Reactor licenses and independent spent fuel storage licenses.
§ 171.15 Annual fees: Reactor licenses and independent spent fuel storage licenses.(a) Each person holding an operating license for a test or research reactor; each person holding an operating license for a power reactor licensed under 10 CFR part 50 or a combined license under 10 CFR part 52 that has provided notification to the NRC that the licensee has successfully completed power ascension testing; each person holding a 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 power reactor license that is in decommissioning or possession only status, except those that have no spent fuel onsite; and each person holding a 10 CFR part 72 license who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52 license and provides notification in accordance with 10 CFR 72.80(g), shall pay the annual fee for each license held during the Federal fiscal year in which the fee is due. This paragraph (a) does not apply to test or research reactors exempted under § 171.11(b).
(b)(1) The FY 2020 annual fee for each operating power reactor that must be collected by September 30, 2020, is $4,621,000.
(2) The FY 2020 annual fees are comprised of a base annual fee for power reactors licensed to operate, a base spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee, and associated additional charges (fee-relief adjustment). The activities comprising the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning base annual fee are shown in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 2020 base annual fee for operating power reactors are as follows:
(i) Power reactor safety and safeguards regulation except licensing and inspection activities recovered under part 170 of this chapter and generic reactor decommissioning activities.
(ii) Research activities directly related to the regulation of power reactors, except those activities specifically related to reactor decommissioning.
(iii) Generic activities required largely for NRC to regulate power reactors (e.g., updating part 50 or 52 of this chapter, operating the Incident Response Center, new reactor regulatory infrastructure). The base annual fee for operating power reactors does not include generic activities specifically related to reactor decommissioning.
(c)(1) The FY 2020 annual fee for each power reactor holding a 10 CFR part 50 license or combined license issued under 10 CFR part 52 that is in a decommissioning or possession-only status and has spent fuel onsite, and for each independent spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license or a 10 CFR part 52 combined license, is $188,000.
(2) The FY 2020 annual fee is comprised of a base spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee (which is also included in the operating power reactor annual fee shown in paragraph (b) of this section) and a fee-relief adjustment. The activities comprising the FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are shown in paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The activities comprising the FY 2020 spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning rebaselined annual fee are:
(i) Generic and other research activities directly related to reactor decommissioning and spent fuel storage; and
(ii) Other safety, environmental, and safeguards activities related to reactor decommissioning and spent fuel storage, except costs for licensing and inspection activities that are recovered under part 170 of this chapter.
(d)(1) The fee-relief adjustment allocated to annual fees includes a surcharge for the activities listed in paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section, plus the amount remaining after total budgeted resources for the activities included in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and (iii) of this section are reduced by the appropriations the NRC receives for these types of activities. If the NRC's appropriations for these types of activities are greater than the budgeted resources for the activities included in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii) and (iii) of this section for a given fiscal year, annual fees will be reduced. The activities comprising the FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment are as follows:
(i) Low-level waste disposal generic activities;
(ii) Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or class of licenses (e.g., support for the Agreement State program); and
(iii) Activities not currently subject to 10 CFR part 170 licensing and inspection fees based on existing law or Commission policy (e.g., reviews and inspections conducted of nonprofit educational institutions, costs that would not be collected from small entities based on Commission policy in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., regulatory support for Agreement States, generic decommissioning/reclamation activities for fee classes other than power reactors and spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning, the in-situ leach rulemaking, activities for unregistered general licensees).
(2) The total FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the operating power reactor class of licenses is a $1,152,477 fee-relief credit, not including the amount allocated to the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning class. The FY 2020 operating power reactor fee-relief adjustment to be assessed to each operating power reactor is approximately a $12,131 fee-relief credit. This amount is calculated by dividing the total operating power reactor fee-relief credit, $1,152,477, by the number of operating power reactors (95).
(3) The FY 2020 fee-relief adjustment allocated to the spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning class of licenses is a $71,443 fee-relief credit. The FY 2020 spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning fee-relief adjustment to be assessed to each operating power reactor, each power reactor in decommissioning or possession-only status that has spent fuel onsite, and to each independent spent fuel storage 10 CFR part 72 licensee who does not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license, is a $586 fee-relief credit. This amount is calculated by dividing the total fee-relief credit by the total number of power reactors licenses, except those that permanently ceased operations and have no fuel onsite, and 10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license.
(e)(1) Each person holding an operating license for an SMR issued under 10 CFR part 50 or a combined license issued under 10 CFR part 52 after the Commission has made the finding under 10 CFR 52.103(g), shall pay the annual fee for all licenses held for an SMR site. The annual fee will be determined using the cumulative licensed thermal power rating of all SMR units and the bundled unit concept, during the fiscal year in which the fee is due. For a given site, the use of the bundled unit concept is independent of the number of SMR plants, the number of SMR licenses issued, or the sequencing of the SMR licenses that have been issued.
(2) The annual fees for a small modular reactor(s) located on a single site to be collected by September 30 of each year, are as follows:
| Bundled unit thermal power rating | Minimum fee | Variable fee | Maximum fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Bundled Unit | |||
| 0 MWt ≤250 MWt | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| >250 MWt ≤2,000 MWt | TBD | TBD | N/A |
| >2,000 MWt ≤4,500 MWt | N/A | N/A | TBD |
| Additional Bundled Units | |||
| 0 MWt ≤2,000 MWt | N/A | TBD | N/A |
| >2,000 MWt ≤4,500 MWt | N/A | N/A | TBD |
(3) The annual fee for an SMR collected under paragraph (e) of this section is in lieu of any fee otherwise required under paragraph (b) of this section. The annual fee under paragraph (e) of this section covers the same activities listed for power reactor base annual fee and spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning reactor fee.
(f) The FY 2020 annual fees for licensees authorized to operate a research or test (non-power) reactor licensed under 10 CFR part 50, unless the reactor is exempted from fees under § 171.11(b), are as follows:
| Research reactor | $81,300 |
| Test reactor | $81,300 |