As it works to finalize this year’s budget, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission on Friday proposed a number of fee changes for nuclear
facilities.
The agency expects to collect $915.3 million in fees in
fiscal year 2011, which is $400,000 more than it received in 2010. By law, the
agency has to collect about 90 percent of its budget from fees charged to the sites
it oversees. The fee proposal and the NRC’s funding level could change in the
coming weeks as Congress continues to debate this year’s federal budget.
The NRC also has proposed a higher hourly rate to better
cover overhead expenses, the agency said, boosting it to $273 per hour.
Annual fees for power reactors and uranium recovery
facilities have decreased, according to an NRC release, while those for spent
fuel storage facilities, non-power reactors, fuel facilities and Department of
Energy uranium recovery and transportation increased.
The fees the agency has proposed for 2011, broken down by
license type, are:
Operating Power Reactors (including spent fuel
storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee) — $4,669,000
Spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning — $241,000
Test and research reactors (non-power reactors) — $86,100
High-enriched uranium fuel facility — $6,078,000
Low-enriched uranium fuel facility — $2,287,000
UF6 conversion facility — $1,242,000
Conventional mills — $31,900
Radiographers — $25,700
Well loggers — $9,900
Gauge users (Category 3P) — $4,800
Broad scope medical licensees (Category 7B) — $45,000