ML23104A086

Enclosure 2_Official Transcript of the Public Meeting on the Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Fee Rule

ML23104A086
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Issue date:	03/21/2023
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NRC-2292
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Official Transcript of Proceedings

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Fee Rule

Docket Number: (n/a)

Location: teleconference

Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Work Order No: NRC-2292 Pages 1-79

NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433 1

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

+ + + + +

PUBLIC MEETING

+ + + + +

FISCAL YEAR 2023 PROPOSED FEE RULE

+ + + + +

TUESDAY

MARCH 21, 2023

+ + + + +

The meeting convened via

videoconference, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, Sophie Holiday,

Facilitator, presiding.

NRC STAFF PRESENT

SOPHIE HOLIDAY, Facilitator

BILLY BLANEY, OCFO

THERESA CLARK, NMSS

JAMES CORBETT, OCFO

CHRISTIE GALSTER, OCFO

JO JACOBS, OCFO

ANTHONY ROSSI, OCFO

CARRIE SAFFORD, NMSS

JASON SHAY, OCFO

BRIAN SMITH, NRR

NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 2

ALSO PRESENT

DANIEL ASHWORTH

JOHN BUTLER

TOM HOLLY

JANET SCHLUETER

NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome and Logistics..............................4

Opening Remarks....................................9

FY 2023 Proposed Fee Rule Overview................11

Questions and Answers.............................54

How to Submit Public Comments.....................77

Closing Remarks...................................79

Adjourn

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P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S

10:00 a.m.

MS. HOLIDAY:Good morning and welcome to

today's virtual public meeting to discuss the NRC's

Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Fee Rule.

My name is Sophie Holiday and I am an

Executive Technical Assistant here at the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, as you'll hear

it referred during this meeting. It is my pleasure to

facilitate today's meeting.

Before I launch into my remarks, I would

like to inform you that for accessibility purposes,

you may turn on the closed captioning for this meeting

by selecting the three dots on the top of your screen,

it has the word "more" underneath it. From the drop

down menu, depending on your version of Microsoft

Teams, you can select language and speech or

accessibility to turn on the live captions.

The goals for today's meetings are to,

one, provide you with an overview of the budget

hearing considerations associated with the FY2023

proposed fee rule which was published in the Federal

Register on March3,2023. Two, answer any clarifying

questions that you may have. And, three, share the

different methods by which you may submit comments on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 5

the proposed rule by our deadline of April 3, 2023.

Now, a term that you will hear a lot today

is fees. This simply refers to the amount of money

that the NRC charges to applicants and licensees for

the services that we provide.

Under the Independent Offices

Appropriation Act, 1952, or the IOAA, we are

statutorily required to recover the costs for NRC

work that provides specific benefits to identifiable

recipients, such as licensing activities,

inspections, and special projects.

You will also hear the term NEIMA, which

stands for the Nuclear Energy Innovation and

Modernization Act. NEIMA requires that the NRC

recovers, to the maximum extent practicable,

approximately 100 percent of the Commission's budget

authority each fiscal year, less those activities

excluded from fee recovery.

There will be other terms or acronyms

referenced on the slides which are, of course,

defined on our very last slide titled "Glossary."

Next slide, please. One more slide,

please. Thank you. As you can see on this slide, the

meeting will essentially have three parts.

First, we'll hear presentations from NRC NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 6

staff to highlight the FY 2023 budget and the proposed

fee rule, followed by a licensee fee policy overview

and presentations to cover the Nuclear Reactor Safety

Program, which is the Operating New Reactors Business

Lines, the Fuel Facilities Business Lines, and the

Nuclear Material Users Business Line.

The second part will include a

presentation on the proposed policy change which

expands the Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations

Section 171.15.

Lastly, I will facilitate a question and

answer session during which you will have the

opportunity to interact with the staff to ask any

clarifying questions on the proposed rule.

Now, let's cover a few ground rules. As

stated earlier, this is a completely virtual public

meeting being held on Microsoft Teams. A link to the

presentation slides, which you can see on the screen

here can be found on the NRC's public meeting schedule

website.

Please keep in mind that we are also

transcribing this meeting to make sure we fully

capture your questions and to assist in the

development of a meeting summary.

This summary will be placed into the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 7

NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management

System, or ADAMS, as a publicly available document

approximately 30 days after the meeting.

You can help us get a clean recording and

have a smooth meeting by muting your telephones

and/or microphones when you are not speaking.

Additionally, we ask that you minimize any background

noise if you choose to speak and that you identify

yourself and any group or organizational affiliation,

if applicable.

The NRC categorizes this meeting as an

information meeting with a question and answer

session. So, attendees will have an opportunity to

ask questions of the NRC staff or make comments about

the topics discussed throughout the meeting.

However, I'd like to be clear that the

NRC is not accepting any comments made at today's

meeting as official comments on the proposed rule

itself. Rather, comments will have to be submitted in

writing to receive formal consideration. We'll be

going over the various ways you can provide your

formal comments later on in the meeting.

You may notice that our chat feature is

open and accessible to those who have joined us on

the MS Teams application. We will not be using the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 8

chat feature to receive any comments on the meeting

presentations or as formal comments on the proposed

rule. That said, the chat should only be utilized if

you encounter any technical issues with Teams during

this meeting.

Alternatively, you may send me an email

at sophie.holiday@nrc.gov for your technical

difficulty.

Now I'd like to take a moment to

introduce the NRC staff panelists in attendance here

today. First, we have Mr. Jason Shay, the Budget

Director, who will be discussing how our budget

reflects our activities and the relationship between

budget and fees.

Next, we have Ms. Christie Galster,

Senior Accountant on the Licensee Fee Policy Team.

She will provide a license fee policy overview of the

FY23 proposed fee rule.

Next, we have Mr. Brian Smith, Division

Director for the Division of New and Renewed Licenses

in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, or NRR,

which will discuss the Reactor Safety Program which

consists of the Operating and New Reactors Business

Lines.

Next, we have Ms. Carrie Safford, Deputy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 9

Director for the Division of Fuel Management within

the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and

Safeguards, or NMSS. She will provide an overview of

the Fuel Facilities Business Line.

After that, we have Ms. Theresa Clark,

Deputy Director for the Division of Material Safety,

Security State and Tribal Programs, also within NMSS.

And she will provide an overview of the Nuclear

Materials Users Business Line.

Following Theresa, we have Mr. Anthony

Rossi who is a Team Leader of the Licensee Fee Policy

Team in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

Anthony will provide us with an overview of the

proposed policy change to expand 10 CFR Part 171.15.

And last, but not least, we have Mr.

James Corbett, the Acting Chief Financial Officer at

the NRC who I will now turn the meeting over to for

some opening remarks.

Thank you, James, the floor is yours.

MR. CORBETT: Thank you, Sophie. Good

morning. I'm James Corbett, the Acting Chief

Financial Officer at the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission. I'm happy to be here today as we engage

with NRC stakeholders about -- around the fiscal year

2023 proposed feerule.

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In my role, I've had the opportunity to

gain a much greater understanding of the factors at

play with the proposed fee rule.

I would like to start by sharing my deep

appreciation for my staff's work developing this

year's fee rule and acknowledge that their success

would not be possible without our various partner

offices across the NRC.

I also want to thank you for joining us

today in this public meeting. It is our view that

this virtual format enhances our dialogue with NRC

stakeholders, and we welcome your questions and

comments during the Q&A portion of the meeting.

Next slide, please. As we get started, I

want to briefly emphasize the type of inquiries that

would be considered in scope for the proposed fee

rule. Today's panel is best prepared to provide

timely responses on topics that are within the scope.

Some examples of in scope comments are

the NRC's methodology for calculating fees, changes

to fee regulations, or the fee schedules.

A few examples of what we consider to be

out of scope comments are general comments on agency

efficiencies, regulatory practices and processes,

technical guidance to licensees, or public NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 11

participation in the budget formulation process.

Even though this meeting on our fees is

not the proper venue for out-of-scope questions, we

really do want to hear from you. So, we encourage you

to use the appropriate venues so we can address any

questions or concerns directly.

In closing, I want to emphasize that the

NRC is continually evaluating our fee setting

processes to determine improvements to increase

transparency, equity, and timeliness.

As always, we welcome your questions and

formal comments and look forward to a continued

dialogue with you, our stakeholders.

Again, thank you foryour participation.

And I will now turn the meeting over to our Budget

Director, Jason Shay, who will provide a budget

overview of the key considerations that relate to the

fiscal year 2023 proposed fee rule.

Next slide, please.

MR. SHAY: Yes, thank you, James. And good

morning. Again, my name is Jason Shay, Budget

Director in the Office of the Chief Financial

Officer. It's a pleasure to be here today. And my

goal over the next two slides is to provide you an

overview of the FY 2023 budget, including authorized NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 12

carryover and the relationship between budget and

fees.

Next slide, please. So, if I can draw

your attention to the FY 2023 enacted column, the

resources for the FY 2023 enacted budget totals

$927.2 million, including 2,859.6 FTEs.

This represents an increase of

approximately $37.5 million or 4.2 percent when

compared to the FY 2022 enacted budget.

The FY 2023 budget FTEs decreased by

201.5 FTEs or approximately.7 percent when compared

to the FY 2022 enacted budget.

Now, I'm going to go down the list here

of major programs.

So, the first one on the list, the

Nuclear Reactor Safety Program increased by

approximately $13.3 million for 2.8 percent when

compared to the FY 2022 enacted budget, primarily due

to increases in salaries and benefits.

Now, while the Nuclear Reactor Safety

Program budget increased overall, there was a

decrease of 34.7 FTEs, primarily associated with the

anticipated transition of Vogtle Electric Generating

Plant Unit 4 from construction to operations and the

anticipated closure of Palisades Nuclear Plant.

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As was mentioned earlier, Brian Smith

will be providing a presentation on the Nuclear

Reactor Safety Program, including a discussion on

workload.

The Nuclear Materials and Waste Safety

Program increased by approximately $3.3 million or

2.5 percent when compared to the FT 2022 enacted

budget, primarily, again, due to increases in

salaries and benefits.

The FTEs also increased by 11.2, that's

primarily for projected workload, including routine

and non-routine inspections and training and

qualification of the inspectors to support rulemaking

activities associated with decommissioning,

financial assurance requirements, for sealed and

unsealed radioactive material, and to support

licensing actions related to enrichment and

manufacture of HALEU Advanced Reactor Fuel, and

accident tolerate fuel.

Now, Carrie Safford and Theresa Clark

will be providing presentations on the Fuel

Facilities and Nuclear Materials Users Business Lines

including a discussion on workload also.

The last major program, the Corporate

Support Program, increased by approximately $19 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 14

million, or 7.1 percent when compared to the FY 2022

enacted budget.

And FTEs also increased by 2.

The Corporate Support Business Line

constitute approximately 31 percent of agency's total

budget, authority, and reflects the agency's effort

to meet the corporate support cap in Section 102 of

NEIMA to maximum extentpracticable.

The FY2023 enacted budget for the

Corporate Business Line increased primarily due to

increases in salaries and benefits consistent with

the other major programs, for support of the agency's

cybersecurity operations to comply with OMB mandates,

and for IT infrastructure resources and software

licenses.

Now, before I move on to the next slide,

I do want to mention that the NRC follows the

direction of Congress and the explanatory statement

that accompanies the annual Appropriations Act, once

again, in FY 2023, Congress directed the NRC to use

$16 million in authorized carryover to fund the

University Nuclear Leadership Program, or UNLP.

Now, carryover by definition, may be used

to describe funds that were appropriated but not

obligated in a prior fiscal year or funds that were NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 15

de-obligated because the funds were no longer needed

in subsequent fiscal years.

Now, while congressional direction to use

carryover has been a trend either to offset our budget

or to fund the UNLP, the agency has received questions

from stakeholders on the use of carryover in previous

roles.

While the meeting will not include a

discussion on the NRC's FY 2024 Congressional Budget

Justification which was published on March 13th of

this year, I do want to highlight that the NRC is

requesting the use of approximately $27 million of

carryover to offset its Nuclear Reactor Safety

Program budget request.

Next slide, please. This slide represents

the agency's budget authority offsetting fees and net

budget authority calculations.

The NRC must recover to the maximum

extent practicable $790.2 million of its FY 2023

enacted budget for fees assessed to NRC licensees and

applicants.

This results in a net budget authority of

$137 million, a slight increase when compared to the

FY 2022 enacted budget.

The Nuclear Energy Innovation and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 16

Modernization Act requires the NRC to recover to the

maximum extent practicable 100 percent of its annual

budget less excluded activities.

Now, under NEIMA, excluded activities

include any fee-relief activity identified by the

Commission, Generic Homeland Security, waste

incidental to reprocessing activities, Nuclear Waste

Fund, and advance reactors regulatory readiness

activities.

Along with Inspector General Services for

the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the

University Nuclear Leadership Program.

These fee-relief identified by the

Commission are consistent with prior year fee rules.

Some examples include international activities,

regulatory support to agreement states, fee exemption

for nonprofit educational institutions, and agreement

state oversight.

So, after accounting for the excluded

activities and any net billing adjustments, the NRC

must recover approximately $791.4 million in fees in

FY 2023 which Christie Galster will go over in further

detail during her presentation.

So, with that, I'm now going to turn the

presentation over to Christie who will be discussing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 17

our fee calculation. Christie?

MS. GALSTER: Thank you, Jason. Good

morning, today I'll be presenting an overview of the

fiscal year 2023 proposed fee rule. The statutory and

regulatory framework --oh, next slide, sorry.

The statutory and regulatory framework

authorizing NRC's fee policy includes the Independent

Offices Appropriation Act, or IOAA, which requires

the NRC to collect fees for service.

This is established under 10 CFR Part

170. These services provide a specific purpose and

have identifiable recipients who are billed as hours

expended times the NRC hourly rate.

Examples of these services are activities

such as license renewals, license reviews, and

inspections.

The other law affecting NRC fee

collections is NEIMA, the Nuclear Energy Innovation

and Modernization Act of 2018 which requires the NRC

to recover to the maximum extent practicable a 100

percent of its annual budget minus certain excluded

activities.

NEIMA also sets a ceiling on the annual

fee for power reactors at the 2015 rate as adjusted

with yearly inflation. The annual appropriation NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 18

enacts the NRC's budget authority to which we

formulate the required fee recovery amount.

If absent, the Congressional Budget

Justification, or CBJ, requested budget acts as our

budgetary authority.

The NRC did receive its 2023 signed

appropriation as of December the 29th which is

utilized in this year's proposed fee rule.

Next slide. As stated in the proposed

FY2023 fee rule, the budgetary authority for the

salaries and expense and Office of Inspector General

appropriations totaled in $927.2 million.

This slide illustrates the budget and fee recovery

for the proposed FY2023 fee rule.

As you can see from the top circle on the

slide, NRC's budgetary authority minus the excluded

activities of $137 million calculates the fee base

budget of $790.2 million. The required recovery

amount is also the amount of the fully fee-based

budget.

The second circle displays the adjusted

fee recovery rate totaling the $791.4 million which

is to be collected with a combination of Part 170 and

171 fees. At the very bottom of the slide are two

subsets of budget authority excluded activities.

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First, the fee-relief resources

authorized by the Commission totaling $97.1 million.

This is an increase of $5.6 million from last year

based on the rise of the salaries and benefits that

Jason just mentioned.

And the second set of statutory

activities excluded specifically identified with in

the NEIMA regulations total $39.9 million, an

increase of $400,000 from last year.

Next slide. An important step in

estimating and recovering Part 170 fees per IOAA is

developing the hourly rate and understanding the

components that are involved.

In developing the hourly rates budget,

the components include mission direct salaries and

benefits and mission indirect resources which support

the agency's core activities such as supervisory and

administrative assistant support.

The third component is the agency support

which consists of the Corporate Support Business Line

along with the Inspector General funding.

These three components sum to the $777.5

million which is the total resources included within

the Part 170 hourly rate.

The final step in multiplying is the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 20

mission direct FTEs of 1,672 by the mission directly

FTE productive hours annually of 1,551.

That is then divided by the total

budgetary resources of the $777.5 million.

This calculates the Part 170 hourly rate

of $300. This is an increase of $10 or 3.4 percent

from the previous year.

The hourly rate increase is primarily due

to the salaries and benefits increase per OMB

guidance, as Jason previously mentioned, to support

the federal pay raises, but this was offset by a rise

in the productive hours resulting from the staff's

reduced leave during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FTE rate at the bottom of the slide

presents the full cost of an FTE. The amount is

calculated by using the budgetary resources of the

$777.5 million divided by those mission direct FTEs.

Next slide. Here's an illustration of how

the calculation for the Part 170 professional hourly

rate is formulated. As you can see, the total

budgetary resources to calculate the Part 170 hourly

rate is in the numerator.

And the denominator, we have the product

of direct FTEs multiplied by the annual productive

hours. These components have an inverse relationship NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 21

on the hourly rate computation.

Next slide. Business Lines budgets versus

Fee Class budgets, the percentages of appropriated

resources varies between the Congressional Budget

Justification business lines and the fee rule

allocation by fee classes.

The important distinction is that the

budgetary business lines within the CBJ incorporate

fee and non-fee resources.

As discussed previously, NEIMA requires

the NRC, through the fee rule process, to recover the

annual budget of that $927.2 minus those certain

excluded activities of $137 million.

This results in the total fee class

budget of the $790.2 million.

Reconciliation of this year's budgeted

business lines to the proposed fee class budgets are

available in the accompanied work papers to the 23

proposed fee rule located on NRC's public website.

Next slide. In the next few slides, I'll

be reviewing the annual fee calculations.

Illustrated in this table are the

operating power reactor annual fees over the last

four years along with this year's proposed annual

fee.

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The first component, the budgetary

resources of $665.3 million allocated to the power

reactors fee class increased by $19.9 million or 3

percent higher than last year.

The contributing factor to the rise in

resources is the salaries and benefits costs for the

agency. However, the closure of Palisades and the

development of operating reactor licensing action

infrastructure for process improvements along with

special projects were some activities which decreased

in FTEs offsetting the increase in salaries and

benefit costs.

The second component, the Part 170

estimated billings for operating and new reactors

total $160.2 million this year which declined by $5.6

million or 3.4 percent from 2022.

The decrease is primarily due to the

workload decline for Palisades and the delay of

expected design and license applications including

white papers and topical reports.

The Part 171 billing adjustment increased

by $4.4 million primarily due to the elimination of

last year's credit of $3.4 million. The remaining

proposed annual fee recovery amount of $510.2

million, an increase of $29.9 million or 6.2 percent NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 23

from last year.

The recovery amount divided by the 93

operating reactor which incorporates the closure of

Palisades and the proposed inclusion of Vogtle Unit

3 in the operating reactor fleet, an annual fee per

reactor of $5.486million.

Next slide. Continuing with the overview

of annual fees, this slide illustrates the non-power

production or utilization facilities fee class Part

171 over a five-year period.

Proposed for the FY2023 fee rule, the

budgetary resources are approximately $6 million

resulting in a reduction of $73,000 from the

resources in 2022.

The decrease is due to SHINE Medical's

operating license application nearing completion. And

this is offset, again, by the rise in the S&Bs across

the agency.

The Part 170 estimated billings in

FY2023 declined by $53,000 compared to last year.

As the activities associated with the

restart of NIST reactor have reduced, however, the

workload for the advanced test reactor and the

medical isotope production facilities remains steady.

With SHINE construction inspection along with Kairos NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 24

Power Hermes construction application.

The main driver for this year's annual

fee increase of $27,000 is the result of the 171

billing adjustment transitioning from a credit last

year to a surcharge this year.

Next slide. In this slide, the fuel

facilities fee class annual fee is displayed. The

FY2023 budgetary resources allocated to the fuel

facilities fee class is $4.2 million or 18.9 percent

higher than in fiscal year 2022.

Factors contributing to the increase

include licensing actions related to enrichment and

manufacturing of high-assay low-enriched uranium

fuel, advanced reactor fuel, and accident tolerant

fuel, and also reviews of the greater than critical

mass facility license renewals, and a new facility

application.

In addition, support for Honeywell

NSITRIS restart activities as well as resources for

rulemaking.

Next, the Part 170 estimated billings

total $9 million. This is a rise from the previous

year by $1 million.

The increase in Part 170 workload

consists of Westinghouse completion of their license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 25

renewal, Nuclear Fuel Services U-Metal amendment

requiring additional staff time, and Louisiana Energy

Services transitioning of the authority to operate

from the Department of Energy to the NRC.

The third component adjustments rose by

$300,000, mainly resulting from the generic

transportation resource increase for salaries and

benefits.

The remaining annual fee amountof $19.9

million is a 21 percent increase, or $3.5 million

rise from the prior year.

The effort factors for both the safety

and safeguards remains unchanged for most licensees

except for the safety effort factors for the fee

category 2.A.(1), which is the UF6 conversion since

the licensee plans to resume full operations in 2023

as well as the safeguard effort factors declined for

the limited operations fee category 1.A.(2)(a) for

downgrade operations which started this past December

of 2022.

Next slide. The last fee class to cover

today is the Material Users Fee Class. This year,

the budgetary resources rose by $4.6 million or 13

percent from the previous year.

The main contributing factor of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 26

increase is to support for the new estimation tool

rulemaking activities and the agency's rise in

salaries and benefits.

The estimate Part 170 workload increased

slightly by $300,000 which was offset with the change

in the Part 171 billing adjustment of $200,000.

The annual fee recovery for this year's

proposed fee rule totals $39.6 million which is

fairly and equitably distributed to over 2,400

licensees within 60 diverse fee categories.

As the beginning of 2023, the Material

Users Fee Class had over 30 percent of its licensees

qualify as small entities with the reduced annual

fee.

Details of the inputs and calculations

formulating the Material Users 2023 proposed annual

fees are located within the fee rule work papers

currently on the NRC public website.

This concludes the overview presentation

on the FY2023 proposed fee rule.

I'd now like to turn you over the Brian

Smith.

MR. SMITH: Good morning, everyone. I'll

be providing an overview of the budget for the NRC's

Nuclear Reactor Safety Program, which is comprised of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 27

both the Operating Reactors, New Reactors Business

Lines.

The program encompasses licensing and

oversight of civilian nuclear power reactors as well

as non-power production and utilization facilities,

resource intense reactors, for example.

The goal of the program is to ensure that

those activities are completed in a manner that

protects public health and safety. It also provides

reasonable assurance of the security of facilities

and the protection against radiological sabotage.

Now, the operating reactors and new

reactors business lines can be split between mission

direct, mission indirect, and excluded resources.

Mission direct resources account for

about 75 percent of the enacted budget of 1,753 FTE

in fiscal year 2023.

Mission indirect resources account for

approximately 21 percent of the enacted budget and

supports supervisors, administrative assistants,

program analysts, and travel needs.

Excluded activities are not recovered

through fees and represent workloads like Generic

Homeland Security, university research and grant

programs, advanced reactor regulatory NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 28

infrastructure, and any fee-relief activities such as

the regulatory support for agreement states, medical

isotope production infrastructure, and fee exemption

for nonprofit educational institutions.

Next slide, please. Licensing and

oversight are the most significant mission direct

product lines. Examples of some of the activities

that's performed within those product lines are shown

on this slide.

The NRC ensures the safety and security

of operating power reactors and non-power production

or utilization facilities within our established

regulatoryframework.

We license reactors to operate, and we

ensure that the new and existing reactor designs meet

regulatory requirements.

We also oversee the continued safe

operation of those reactors through our inspection

program.

In the Operating Reactors Business Line,

we continue to see interest in programs that provide

increased operational flexibility.

Requests for subsequent license renewal

which represent an extension to a license from 60 to

80 years account for a significant workload in the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 29

Operating Reactors Business Line. And the NRC has

invested significant resources in ensuring that that

can be done safely.

There is also increased activities and

licensing new non-power production or utilization

facilities such as test reactors and medical isotope

facilities.

Oversight activities are the largest core

portion of the business line. That includes the

onsite resident inspectors at each power reactor, as

well as the safety and security inspections conducted

out of our four regional offices.

In the New Reactors Business Line, NRC

completed efforts to issue the final rule certifying

NuScale's small modular reactor design and recently

completed the acceptance review of NuScale's standard

design approval application.

The NRC continues to provide licensing

and oversight of construction efforts at Vogtle Units

3 and 4. Construction inspection of Vogtle Units 3

and 4 is led by our Region II office, and NRR has a

small team of licensing, ITAAC, and construction

experts at headquarters to ensure the NRC is able to

make the findings necessary to support the transition

to operations.

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We are conducting pre-application

meetings with multiple light-water SMR, small modular

reactors, and non-light water advanced reactor

developers, and reviewing topical reports and white

papers supporting the technical merits of these

future design applications.

We also recently provided the draft Part

53 rulemaking package to the Commission for their

consideration.

Next slide, please. To develop the

budgets for the Operating Reactors and New Reactors

Business Lines, we first review the current

environment and perform workload forecasting.

As part of that, we look for significant

drivers that can impact our future workload. This

includes technical, regulatory, and legislative

developments that have the potential to either

generate additional work or reduce work.

That could include a rulemaking or

guidance change that we expect to drive new

submittals from licensees or known plant closures

that will reduce the overall size of our program.

We then look at the historical data and

trends to measure how our execution in previous years

lines up with the budget assumptions at the time.

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We use that data to inform the future

budget and identify areas where the assumptions we

used previously are still applicable with the future

work we anticipate.

Historical data also allows us to employ

some trending for areas where the workload in a given

year can be highly variable in terms of quantity and

complexity or where we can incorporate efficiencies

gained based on previous data.

We also rely heavily on communication

with our stakeholders to identify accurate dates for

plan submittals. We consider letters of intent and

regulatory engagement plans provided by licensees and

applicants to the NRC. We collect information from

our project managers and we consider responses to our

periodic regulatory issue summaries on that topic.

In order to budget for large licensing

projects, we try to balance the appropriate resource

needs against the relative certainty that an

application will be submitted on schedule and when in

the year the application is expected, for example, at

the beginning or end of the fiscal year.

We recognize that business plans within

the industry are subject to change and may be

influenced by many factors.

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But this is an area of better certainty

and the information we receive leads to more accurate

budgeting for the NRC.

Once we've identified the workload

drivers, we determine the level of effort needed in

each of our areas of responsibility. We develop and

assign resources for major projects and then allocate

those resources across the NRC offices to align with

the type of work being performed.

Next slide, please. The one point I want

to make clear is that we develop our budget,and the

Part 170 fee estimates on different timelines.

The Operating Reactors and New Reactors

budgets, just like our other business line budgets,

are prepared two years in advance.

This budget includes resources to be

recovered to the assessment of Part 170 fees in

addition to the resources for all other mission

direct and mission indirect programs.

The budget reflects anticipated changes

in the Part 170 workload such as the permanent closure

of power plants or new licensing applications.

Unlike the budget, the Part 170 fee

estimates are prepared at the beginning of a given

fiscal year. Fact of life changes and the intervening NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 33

time will drive the Part 170 fee estimates lower or

higher than what wasanticipated in the budget.

Changes such as a license renewal

application that was submitted early, a delayed

application for design certification, an early

reactor closure, or a cancelled application for a

combined operating license will impact the Part 170

fee estimates and, in turn, impact the Part 171 annual

fees.

Next slide, please. The fiscal year 2023

operating reactors budget include a reduction for the

closure of Palisades and reduced resources for

licensing action infrastructure development.

There were also increases to support

licensing the Kairos Hermes test reactor construction

permit application.

In addition to changes anticipated in the

budget, the fiscal year 2023 Part 170 fee estimates

were reduced to continued impacts of COVID-19 on our

operating reactors oversight programs.

Next slide, please. For new reactors, the

fiscal year 2023 budget included increases for

construction permit applications and design

certifications. One application under review now is

NuScale standard design approval application.

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Licensing and construction inspection

activities at the new Vogtle units were significantly

reduced based on the assumption that transition to

operations would be completed for the site.

In addition to the changes anticipated in

the budget, the 2023 Part 170 fee estimates declined

due to delays in the submittal of several licensing

applications.

This reduction was partially offset by an

increase in the Part 170 fee estimates, construction

inspection, and licensing at Vogtle that caused the

transition to operations was delayed.

Now, I'll turn the meeting over to Carrie

Safford, Deputy Director for the Division of Fuel

Management inNMSS.

MS. SAFFORD: Sorry about that, I'll try

again. Thanks, Brian.

Good morning, my name is Carrie Safford

and I'm the Deputy Director of the Division of Fuel

Management in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety

and Safeguards. I'll be providing an overview this

morning of the budget for the NRC's Fuel Facilities

Business Line.

The Fuel Facilities Business Line

encompasses licensing and oversight of a variety of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 35

fuel cycle facilities. And the goal of the program is

to ensure that those activities are completed in a

manner that protects public health and safety.

It also provides reasonable assurance of

the security of facilities.

Next slide, please. Licensing and

oversight are the most significant activities that we

do in the Fuel Facilities Business Line, although I

would be remiss if I didn't mention rulemaking as

well.

Examples of some of the activities

performed within those product lines are shown on

this slide. To run through a few, in licensing, we've

got the development and maintenance of the overall

program. We have amendments, decommissioning funding

plans, emergency plans, security, license renewals,

and environmental reviews.

We have a robust oversight program and,

in addition, we have a number of rulemaking

activities and associated guidance development.

The NRC ensures the safety and security

of operating fuel facilities within our established

regulatory framework.

We license the fuel facilities to

operate,and we ensure that any new applications for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 36

10 CFR Part 70 licenses meet the regulatory

requirements.

Other Part 70 applicants and licensees

include certain medical isotope production facilities

and university programs using greater than critical

mass quantities of special nuclear material.

We also oversee the continued safe

operation of these facilities through our inspection

program based in our Region II offices.

Next slide, please. Much like the

Operating Reactors Business Line, in developing the

budget for fuel facilities, we take a look at the

current environment and forecast future workload.

We also look for the significant drivers

that impact our workload such as pre-application

activities for new facilities, potential major

amendments and license determinations.

Estimates are data-driven to the extent

practicable. Historical data and trends give us an

indication in the power execution in previous years

lined up with budget assumptions. That data then

informs our future budget and identifies areas where

the assumption we used previously are still

applicable with the future work that we anticipate.

We identify trends in quantity and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 37

complexity or where we can incorporate efficiencies

gained and lessons learned from previous data and

apply that information appropriately.

We also rely heavily on communication

with our stakeholders to identify accurate dates for

planned submittals.

We consider letters of intent provided by

licensees and applicants to the NRC and we collect

information from our project managers.

In order to budget for large licensing

projects, we try to balance the appropriate resource

needs against the relative certainty that an

application will be submitted on schedule and when in

the year the application is expected, the beginning,

the middle, or the end of the year.

We recognize the business plans within

the industry are subject to change and may be

influenced by many factors. But this is an area where

better certainty in the information we receive leads

to more accurate budgeting.

Next slide, please. The 2023 budgetary

resources allocated for fuel facilities fee classes

is $4.2 million higher, which is approximately 18.8

percent higher than in 2022.

Factors contributing to the increase NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 38

include licensing actions related to enrichment and

manufacturing of HALEU fuel, advanced reactor fuel,

and accident tolerant fuel, reviews of greater than

critical mass facilities, license renewals, and a new

facility applications. Additionally, more resources

have been used to support restart activities.

Next, the Part 170 estimated billings

total $9 million, which rose by $1 million from the

previous year.

The increase in Part 170 workload

consisted of the completion of Westinghouse license

renewal and the NFS U-Metal amendment requiring

additional staff time.

Louisiana Energy Services transitioning

of the authority to operate from DOE to the NRC and

upgrades to NIST-800-53 Revision 5 also applied.

In terms of our Part 170 direct fee

collections, we have had schedule shifts for a number

of licensing actions.

For example, we received a new

application for the TRISO-X fuel facility that is

under review. And a majority of that review will be

completed in fiscal year 2024.

An area of growth in the Fuel Facilities

Business Line is the increased importance of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 39

information security at some of our sites. This

additional workload is directly billed to the

respective licensee.

I would like to highlight that the Fuel

Facilities Business Line has two stakeholder meetings

each year that often include discussion of fees and

other topics of mutual interest.

One of these areas is the importance of

early and frequent engagement with the NRC,

submission of letters of intent, and regulatory

engagement plans.

The next opportunity for engagement on

this topic is during the next stakeholder meeting

which will be held in early May.

The public meeting will be noticed

through our usual system so interested parties can

monitor the website for more information on topics

and timing when it becomes available.

Thank you. And I'll now turn my

presentation over to Theresa Clark.

MS. CLARK: Good morning, everyone.

Thanks, Carrie. So, again, my name is Theresa Clark.

I'm the Deputy Director of the Division of Material

Safety, Security State and Tribal Programs in the

Office of Nuclear Materials, Safety and Safeguards.

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And I'm going to talk to you about the

Nuclear Materials Users Business Line as well as the

related fee classes in the materials fee category.

Next slide, please. So, the Nuclear

Materials Users Business Line is one that's very

exciting to lead because this is a nationwide program

that affects over 18,000 licensees across the NRC and

39 agreement states.

So, when we put our budget together, it

supports regulation and guidance development across

-- that are used across all those jurisdictions as

well as our direct activities of the over 2,400 NRC

licensees inthe materials program.

And this is a very broad and diverse set

of licensees which can be anything from a

manufacturer of an exempt product like smoke

detectors to an industrial irradiator facility that

sterilizes medical equipment, for example, broad

scope medical facilities that might do cancer

treatment, and small businesses, for example,

radiography licensees who inspect pipe welds and

construction projects. So, a lot of different types

of activities.

And so, when we talk about the fact that

we have 60 fee classes, that's why you're seeing some NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 41

of that diversity of work.

So, when we build our budget for fiscal

year 2023 or for every year, we split our work out

into a variety of categories.

So, just like others, we have a lot of

licensing oversight work, but we also have a lot of

work related to the execution of that national

program that I mentioned, the National Materials

Program. And that's where we see some of our fee-

relief and excluded activities come in because our

support to agreement states is an excluded activity

when we're helping them develop guidance and

supporting their training of staff.

So, on this slide, you'll see licensing

where, you know, just like in other business lines,

we support the review of new applications, renewals

to those license applications and amendments, which

are supported under the annual fee.

We also have state, tribal, and federal

programs. I've mentioned the agreement states a

couple of times, but the implementation of the NRC's

Tribal Policy Statement also falls under the Nuclear

Materials Users Business Line. So, we have staff in

my division that support outreach to federally

recognized Native American tribes.

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You'll also see an acronym here on this

slide, IMPEP. That's the Integrated Materials

Performance Evaluation Program where both the NRC and

those 39 agreement states are audited every few years

to make sure that they're implementing a safe and

effective program.

Next slide, please. Here's where you'll

see also oversight as another business line. So, we

have inspectors -- inspections conducted mostly be

regional based inspectors. We also develop the

inspection program that's carried out across the

National Materials Program. And those inspections do,

in some cases, lead toenforcement.

We have a special set of activities under

Generic Homeland Security that, again, is an excluded

activity. And that's where we put together the

Integrated Source Management Protocol, or the ISMP,

which is a tool that's used nationwide to ensure

source security of high-risk radioactive sources.

So, those sources are tracked in the

National Source Tracking System. And we also use

other components of this IT portfolio to manage

licensing an inspection both at the NRC and in a

growing number of agreement states.

So, these activities support our overall NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 43

goals related to radioactive source security.

Next slide, please. On this slide, you'll

see rulemaking where, I believe, Christie mentioned

earlier that we have some rulemakings included in our

budget increases. I'll show that later on.

We have rulemakings related to a variety

of topics, including our medical and industrial

licensees. And we also provide support to the

rulemaking guidance development in a variety of

topics.

And then, in the research area, our

partners in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research

help us develop the technical basis that's used in

rulemakings to ensure that we have the suite of health

physics analysis codes for dose analysis and other

applications and that we have the guidance that's

needed to address the emerging technologies of the

future.

Next slide, please. So, when we look to

develop the Nuclear Materials Users budget, we have

a variety of data sources. But the ones that I want

to focus on today are how we develop the licensing

and oversight budgets that are key to these fee

collections.

And so, if fiscal year 2023, we really NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 44

transformed how we develop those by doing estimates.

And I'd like to give major credit here to Sullivan

Donaldson who was instrumental to developing these.

And we have a growing source of live,

real-time data that we can use from that integrated

source management portfolio which captures licensing

and inspection data as well as from our timekeeping

system.

And we can marry those inputs together

for both the backward and the forward look when we're

developing out budget.

So, our online licensing system allows us

to forecast the workload in terms of how many license

applications we expect to have in a given year, how

many amendments we think we'll process, and other

licensing activities.

And then, similarly, to project how many

inspections we'll be doing. Some inspections we do on

an annual cycle, some every three years, some every

five years.

And so, we have that data in the system

to project in any given year how much our workload

is. And then we can link those forecasts up with

historical looks at how we've spent our money over

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or a given type of licensing action.

And that has allowed us to have a real

data focused method of estimating our budgets for

this fiscal year that we're talking about here. And

we really appreciate having those data sources

available to us at our fingertips.

Next slide, please. So, the changes in

the fiscal year 2023 budget we described when we put

our budget out several of --a while back.

And so, the primary drivers are really

the first here is what I was just talking about that

data driven resource estimation tool.

With all this data at our fingertips, we

had a much better estimate of how much resources our

regional offices needed to carry out those the

licensing and inspection workload that was projected

for a given year.

And we wanted to make sure that we

weren't just giving them resources without the data

underpinning. And we found that, in some cases,

certain offices were underfunded. And so, we made

sure that they had the resources they needed to carry

out that work.

We also had increases related to

rulemaking. Christie mentioned decommissioning and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 46

financial assurance. There's others related to our

medical activities as well as guidance for release of

pets who are treated with radiopharmaceuticals.

And then, finally, we have increased our

tribal outreach, as I mentioned a little bit earlier.

And so, our resources are applied to what we need to

do that increased outreach.

Next slide, please. So, all of those

budget estimates and some increases to some extent

get put into the calculations for the fee process.

And as I mentioned, there are 60 different fee

classes. I think Christie mentioned that as well.

And so, the changes to the actual fees

that are charged to our licensees come largely from

what was discussed earlier about the fully cost in

FTE, the changes to salaries and benefits which are

reflected across a variety of fee categories.

We looked at whether there were other

aspects driving it. And then, small changes to the

number of licensees. And then, the amount of work

that's excluded versus on the fee-based. Those are

not significant drivers to the overall fee changes.

And then, within the materials fee class,

as I said, we distribute our fees to 60 diverse fee

categories that reflect the types of work that we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 47

conduct for those different fee categories.

Some require more effort than others. And

so, we work to fairly distribute the amount that we

have to collect across all of those categories.

And we, again, use data to develop that

distribution method. We look back at how much effort

used on licensing and inspection to each of those fee

categories. And we provided analysis to our budget

analyst and our fee analyst so that we can do that

distribution.

And in the 2023 fee rule, that includes

an updated assessment that included two more years of

data. So, we're looking at fiscal years 2017 through

2021 and the average hours on the licensing and

inspection activities. And then, we use that

information to distribute to the feecategories.

Next slide, please. And now, I'll turn it

over to Anthony Rossi. I appreciate your time.

MR. ROSSI: Good morning. My name is

Anthony Rossi. I am the License Fee Policy Team

Leader.

In this fee rule, we're proposing one

policy change to the small modular reactor annual

fees, amending 10 CFR 171.15.

Next slide, please. In our approach to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 48

determine the best approach to this policy change, we

engaged with stakeholders in a multi-year effort to

develop a fair and equitable approach for charging

annual fees to advance in very small SMRs.

NRC staff discussed various approaches

and developed alternative proposals which were

presented and discussed in multiple public meetings

on advanced reactors.

The proposed policy change reflects a

consensus approach from this process.

Next slide, please. To review, in 2016,

the NRC established a rule for light water small

modular reactors in order to assess fair and

equitable annual fees.

The primary reason for this rulemaking

was the much smaller size of the light-water SMRs

when compared to the existing fleet of commercial

power reactors. And due to their smaller size, it is

anticipated that SMRs may require less regulatory

effort.

Without this 2016 rule, light-water SMRs

would be charged the same annual fee as the current

operating fleet of large power reactors.

At this time, the 2016 rule was developed

-- I'm sorry, at the time the 2016 rule was developed, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 49

advanced technologies were not included due to the

fact that the light-water SMR designs discussed with

NRC in pre-application discussions were similar to

the current U.S. operating fleet of reactors in terms

of physical configuration, operational

characteristics, and applicability to the NRC

existing regulatory framework.

NRC made the commitment to consider the

inclusion of non-light water advanced SMRs in a

future rulemaking once the agency had an increased

understanding of the technical factors with respect

to non-light water or advanced reactors.

For fee purposes, the 2016 rule defined

SMRs as light-water power reactors that have a

licensed thermal power rating or less than or equal

to 1000 megawatts thermal.

The 2016 rule scaled the annual fees for

light-water SMRs to the size of their reactor based

upon the licensed thermal power rating.

Another characteristic of SMRs that was

considered is the design concept that multiple SMRs

could be placed on one multi-module site.

As a result, the 2016 rule established a

provision to fairly and equitably assess annual fees

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concept which would base the annual fee on the

cumulative licensed thermal power rating or all of

the units on a single multi-module site rather than

charge an annual fee for each unit on the site.

The result of the 2016 rule was to fairly

and equitably assess annual fees for multi-module

site -- I'm sorry, the result of the 2016 SMR rule

was to fairly and equitably assess annual fees to

light water SMRs rather than charge the same fee per

unit as the existing fleet of large commercial power

reactors.

The annual fee assessed to light water

SMRs would be consistent with the anticipated reduced

regulatory effort for these smaller power reactors.

As of this date, there are no SMRs

licensed to operate, thus, no annual fees have been

assessed.

Next slide, please. As a result of this

recent collaborative effort, we have proposed

revisions to the SMR annual fee policy in this

proposed fee rule.

The following changes to the 2016 rule

are proposed. Change the definition of SMRs to be

technology inclusive and not limited to light water

SMRs. Establish a new minimum fee for SMRs equal to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 51

the annual fee charged to the non-power production or

utilization facilities or bundled units on a single

site with the cumulative thermal power rating of less

than or equal to 20 megawatts thermal.

Since it is anticipated that the

regulatory effort for these SMRs will be similar to

the NPUF regulatory effort. And establish a new

variable rate that gradually increases the annual fee

for SMRs or bundled units on a single site with

license thermal power ratings greater than 20

megawatts thermal, but less than or equal to 250

megawatts thermal. This avoids an abrupt increase to

a higher minimum fee once the thermal power rating is

above 20 megawatts thermal.

All other components of the 2016 SMR rule

are retained and applied to light-water and non-light

water or advanced SMRs. This proposed policy change

will assist industry in planning and budgeting for

future SMR annual fees.

At this time, there are no operational

licensed SMRs. Because the annual regulatory costs

associated with SMRs is uncertain before such a

licensed facility is operational, the NRC will re-

evaluate the variable annual fee structure at the

appropriate time to ensure consistency with NEIMA.

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This re-evaluation will occur once SMR

facilities become operational and sufficient

regulatory cost data becomes available.

Next slide, please. This chart

illustrates the proposed revised policy for SMRs.

A minimum fee equal to the annual fee for the NPUF

fee class is assessed up to 20 megawatts thermal.

Above 20 megawatts thermal, the minimum

fee gradually increases at a variable rate as the

licensed thermal power rating increases to 250

megawatts thermal.

At 250 megawatts thermal, consistent with

the 2016 rule, a second minimum fee is applied which

is equal to the average of the spent fuel storage

reactor decommissioning fee class and the NPUF fee

class annual fees.

Above 250 megawatts thermal, a different

variable fee formula is added to this minimum fee,

gradually increasing the annual fee up to 2000

megawatts thermal at which the maximum fee is equal

to the annual for the current fleet of operating power

reactors.

The same pattern continues as licensed

thermal capacity increases where multiple -- or

multiples of the maximum fee are applied at 6500 and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 53

11000 megawatts thermal respectively.

At this time, I will turn it back to our

moderator, Sophie Holiday.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Jason, Christie,

Brian, Carrie, Theresa, and Anthony for your

respective presentations.

We have allotted 30 minutes for this

question and answer portion of this meeting, albeit

we're running a little bit ahead of schedule. So, if

need be, we can extend the Q&A session as well.

Alternatively, if we run out of time to

address any follow up questions, the NRC staff will

include the questions and their responses as part of

the meeting summary.

I'd also like to remind you that as I

stated earlier, the NRC is not accepting any comments

made at today's meeting as official comments on the

proposed rule.

Rather, comments will have to be

submitted in writing to receive formal consideration.

At this time, to ask a question, please

utilize the raise hand function on Teams. You can

find this at the top of your window with the hand

icon.

For those that have joined us via the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 54

audio bridge line, you can dial star five to raise

your hand that way. Teams will automatically put you

into queue in the order of your hand raising. Once I

have called your name, I will unmute your microphone.

Alternatively, if you have joined us via

the audio bridge line, you can press star six to

unmute your microphone.

Once unmuted, you are free to ask your

question. To ensure that everyone is given an

opportunity to ask their questions, should you have

any, we request that each person only ask one question

at a time.

If there are no additional questions or

time permits, we will take your additional questions.

As a kind reminder, since this meeting is being

transcribed, we ask that you state your name and any

organizational group affiliation if applicable.

If there's a particular panel member that

you would like to address your question to, you may

also do that as well.

At this time, see Mr. John Butler, your

hand is raised. You may proceed with your question.

MR. BUTLER: Good morning, can you hear

me?

MS. HOLIDAY: Yes, we can.

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MR. BUTLER: Great, this is John Butler.

I'm with NEI. I have a number of questions, but I'll

take my turns as they come.

My first question is related to

carryover. So, I don't know who this would be

addressed to, but I'll just ask the question.

My question is, what level of carryover

does the agency desire to have for the purpose of

addressing lapses and appropriations, you know,

short-term lapses and appropriations which, in the

past, has been about two weeks of funding for that

lapse of appropriation?

Can you give me a figure of what level of

carryover would be necessary to support that?

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Jason will direct that question today.

MR. SHAY: Yes, thanks, John, for the

question. Typically, I think we strive -- we talk

about internally about ten days' worth of carryover

funding. And again, that changes from year to year

based on the cost of doing business.

So, typically ten days, ten Business days

is our kind of sweet spot.

MR. BUTLER: Approximately how many

million would that be?

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MR. SHAY: Again, I think that's from year

to year due to cost escalations. I don't want to throw

out a number, you know, just arbitrarily. But again,

I think ten days is where we like to be at.

MR. BUTLER: But that's primarily just the

salary and benefits for that ten days?

MR. SHAY: No, there's the cost of some of

the guard services. There's some other things in

there that we have to take into consideration just

Because the people, if there is a shutdown or in terms

of like, you know, during that time frame of staying

open, there's things that we have to consider, rent.

MR. BUTLER: Can you give me a ballpark

what that is?

MR. SHAY: Again, ballpark, I'll say, you

know, $25 million-ish.

MR. BUTLER: Okay, great, thank you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Next, I'm see Janet Schlueter, your hand

raised. If you would please, unmute your microphone

and ask your question.

MS. SCHLUETER: Yes, thank you. This is

Janet Schlueter from the NEI. And I think it would be

helpful if maybe we went back to slide 17 that has to

do with the Fuel FacilitiesBusiness Line.

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So, first, I wanted to say thank you to

the staff for putting together this slide Because it

gives a great overview of where the Fuel Cycle

Business Line has been in the past versus today.

And we had a lot of conversation with the

NRC back in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in order to try to

inform their budget formulation processes and

assumptions so that the Fuel Facilities Business Line

moved into a more right sized program, if you will,

to reflect the fleet.

Because numbers were, at the time,

representative of a much larger fleet. But as you can

see by the number of licensees on this slide, we've

held steady in the seven to eight zone now for several

years.

And so, as we went into those

conversations and the NRC made those adjustments, you

can see that the annual fee for this category of

licensee has gone down quite a bit, and appropriately

so, as the NRC had determined.

But then, this year, we now have an 18.5

percent increase across the board, except for

Honeywell which is going to see a much large increase

due to restart. Right?

So, I hear the discussion about salaries NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 58

and benefits being a reason for that increase, but

also as I go back to the Federal Register Notice, and

I think it's on page 13364, there's a description

paragraph there about the basis for the increase.

And as I read them and listen to you guys

talk, it really is focused on licensing actions for

enrichment, you know, enriched uranium, critical mass

licensing, restart activities, material control and

county inspection.

So, all these activities from our vantage

point look more like Part 170 or billable hour

activities. So, I'm struggling to figure out how did

the Fuel Facilities Business Line see this huge

increase?

Whereas, when I hear you discuss it for

other Business lines, they're in the 2 percent, 3

percent, 4, 5 percent range, but the Fuel Facilities

Business Line sees this enormous increase which now

puts the Category 1 fuel facilities up at an annual

fee level that is creeping back up close to the

operating power plant level, which in the past, NRC

has acknowledged from a risk perspective is not

appropriate. But it's inching back up and we can't

decipher from the Federal RegisterNotice why.

And as you can imagine, these licensees, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 59

they have planned back in calendar year 2022 for an

FY2023 annual fee that is now not budgeted because

it's 18.5 percent higher.

So, you have to come up with that money

somewhere and it's not an easy task to try to find

funding to have that kind of gap filled which will

now be in your, NRC's, third and fourth quarter of

this fiscal year, meaning they're going to paying

these bills before the end of September.

So, lots of tidbits there, but I'm hoping

somebody can explain to us a full bases for the 18.5

percent across the fleet. Thank you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you for your question,

Janet.

Carrie, if you can?

MS. SAFFORD: Sure, hi Janet, it's Carrie,

I'll try. I don't know how satisfactory the response

is going to be.

Starting I guess with your last point

first about licensees and their budgets and the fact

that the budget increase hits them in their last

quarter that they budgeted for last year.

It's the nature of the fee rule process

and putting in a new fee rule on an annual basis. And

it's the nature of the timing of it.

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With respect to the increase and whether

or not, you know, we're able to let people know in

advance, of course, we can't do that. This is

something that goes to the Commission. The Commission

reviews it and it's all pre-decisional up until the

point where the Federal Register Notice and the

associated papers come out. So, that's the answer

there.

With respect to the big jump, as you

characterize it for the Part 171 annual fee

resources, going back to formulation which would have

occurred in 2021 for the 2023 year, we have to base

that off the information we have.

If work doesn't materialize, if direct

fee billable work doesn't materialize, it will, due

to NEIMA, get rolled over into the annual fee. And I

hope I'm saying that right. Somebody stop me or kick

me if I'm getting it wrong, I'm trying here.

That that is a significant impact, I

think, in the increase that you're seeing for this

year.

I recognize that it's going up. It is

increasing in looking at the chart, that's slide 17.

I recognize that it's increasing. That would be the

primary driver, in my view.

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I don't know if anyone else has anything

that they'd add as a primary driver.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Carrie. I'd also

like to remind everyone that the NRC published the FY

2023 Congressional Budget Justification, I believe,

in April of 2022. That is a publicly available

document and that outlines the staff's projected

workload as they were determining their budget

formulation.

So, while the NRC staff cannot release

pre-decisional information regarding the proposed fee

rule, the CBJ, the Congressional Budget

Justification, does outline the anticipated resources

that the staff budgeted for based on the anticipated

workload.

Thank you. All right?

MS. SCHLUETER: Well, yes, thank you for

that process focused answer. I guess I'm still just

struggling, based on the Federal RegisterNotice, to

understand why all those activities that really do

appear to be licensing and inspection and Part 170

seem to be falling over into the 171 bucket.

And that's the part that just doesn't

make sense to us out here.

So, it's, you know, if anybody can think NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 62

of anything additional that would help clarify how

those two buckets seem to be getting all sloshed

together, that would help.

Yes, you know, we're aware and we'll be

taking a look at the FY2024, you know, congressional

request, but I would think that NRC would have a way

to be more agile when it comes to predictions that

took place what is now a year and a half, two years

ago and then the reality of today's environment.

So, I'm just very concerned that this

business line is beginning to creep up again with no

real clear articulated transparent basis for the

increase in the annual fee.

Although, I recognize there are advanced

fuel, you know, work going on, but that's licensee

and applicant specific. It is not in the broad

category of the annual fee that is generic activities

that applies across the fleet like jelly. So, thank

you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Janet.

Okay, next up, I see in the queue Daniel

Ashworth. If you are ready, you can unmute your

microphone and ask your question.

MR. ASHWORTH: Yes, thank you. This is

Daniel Ashworth and David Spangler with BWX NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 63

Technologies.

Janet, thank you for your statement

earlier. We are in agreement that the proposed

licensing fees are non-proportional increase. That

is, the reactors or operating reactors are seeing

approximately 6 percent as compared to fuel

facilities increase of 18.5 which, as was stated and

we'll reiterate, this increase is not commensurate

with the risk profile of fuel cycle facilities versus

operating reactors.

BWX Technologies, with our two sites,

NOGL and NFS, that's Category 1 fuel cycle

facilities, based on your proposed fees would be

incurring an additional $1.6 million for, as you all

stated earlier, no additional planned safety factors

at these two sites.

The corporation between the two sites

accounts and pays for upwards of approximately 40

percent of fees collected from fuel cycle facilities.

And you know, superficially, it appears

that you're asking current fuel cycle facilities to

shoulder the burden or cost of work that either didn't

materialize as you stated a minute ago, or either

future anticipated work for potential new licensees.

Which in turn, may be competitors of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 64

ours, BWXT, NOGL, and Nuclear Fuel Services in the

markets we serve.

Thank you, it's not really a question

just more of a statement.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, we appreciate

your statement.

All right, next up I see Mr. John Butler,

your hand is up again. Please go ahead and unmute

your microphone and ask your question.

MR. BUTLER: All right, thank you.

Again, I don't know who this should be

directed to, so I'll just say at random, Jason. I

know that in the 2023 budget, there's a portion of

the rental payments for 3 White Flint that are

covering or subsidizing FDA and NIH. Can you give me

that number and what that rental subsidy is in the

2023 budget?

MR. SHAY: Yes, John, one second, I have

that here. Just let me take a look at my notes, one

second.

John, let me come back to you, bear with

me just one second, I'm just pulling up a document

real quick.

MR. BUTLER: All right.

MR. SHAY: Sorry, it's slow pulling up.

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Do you have another question, John? I

don't want to like delay the point with this document.

So, might as well go on.

MR. BUTLER: I don't know if this goes to

Brian or not, but when you're doing your predictions

of workload, clearly, I mean, you're focused on the,

I guess, as you start that, two years out.

But how far out do you try to project

future workload? Is it -- do you try to go out as

far as five years or even ten years in any of those

predictions?

Recognizing, I know, that that would be

very uncertain as you -- the further out you get. But

I'm just curious, how far out do you try to plan?

MR. SMITH: We -- well, we don't develop

the budgets for -- like right now, we're working on

fiscal year 2025. We're not developing the budget for

fiscal year 2026 at this time.

But we are taking into account the

applications that we're aware of that we would either

be receiving in fiscal 2026 or 2027 or be continuing

to review that we received earlier like in 2024 or

2025.

We do have tables; I don't know they're

in the CBJ. I know we develop them that we provide to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 66

our Commission that looks out to -- for new

applications and license renewals that goes out to

2028.

MR. BUTLER: If that could be made

publicly available, that would be fantastic. So, if

someone could look into that.

MR. SMITH: Okay. There are some aspects

of it that are non-public, some schedules are

proprietary.

Sometimes when we do that, we'll just say

Unnamed Plant 1 or Unnamed Plant 2.

MR. BUTLER:Understand, thank you.

MR. SHAY: Hey John, I've got an answer to

your question. It's $5,650,000 for the rent subsidy.

MR. BUTLER: Great, thank you very much.

MR. SHAY: Yes, sorry about that. My notes

document froze on me. So, appreciate your patience.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Okay, Janet, I see your hand is raised,

but I'm going to go to T. Holly first just so that we

give another person an opportunity to ask a question.

And then, I'll circle back to you.

So, T. Holly, if you would, please unmute

your microphone, state your name, and any affiliation

if appropriate.

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Go ahead, please.

T. Holly, if you can hear me, you can

unmute your microphone and ask your question.

MR. HOLLY:Hello, this is Tom Holly, can

you hear me now?

MS. HOLIDAY: Yes, we can.

MR. HOLLY: Okay, thank you. I have a

phone line and as well as the computer, so thank you.

Tom Holly, I'm the licensing manager at

BWXT Nuclear Fuel Services.

I just wanted to thank, again, the NRC

for the public meeting and just echo here the comments

that my colleagues made in Lynchburg and express, you

know, again, our concern as a Cat 1 fuel facility.

And just look forward to continuing to

work, you know, with the NRC to understand that

changes in the fee base, specifically, again, for us

as a Cat 1.

That's all I have, not a question. Just

wanted to, you know, let the group know that both

sides are participating in the call and are very

interested in the outcome of this rule.

So, thank you, again.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you, Tom.

Okay, Janet, if you would, go ahead and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 68

unmute your microphone and ask your question.

MS. SCHLUETER: All right, don't worry,

I'm not going back to fuel cycle again.

But if you'd go back to slide 16, the one

before, this one is on the research and test reactors,

the non-power production facilities.

So, my question here is, and I'm asking

this on behalf of my colleague, Hillary Lane at NEI

that takes care of the community, so we see an

increase for this category of licensee.

And if we go back to the Federal Register

Notice on page 10, I wanted to read just a sentence

to you Because we don't understand it.

It says, furthermore, the proposed annual

fee is increasing as a result of an increase in the

10 CFR Part 171 billing adjustment (moving from a

credit to a surcharge) due to the timing of invoices

issued in FY 2022.

If someone could explain the difference

between a credit and a surcharge or what those are

and why did that adjustment result in this increase?

MS. HOLIDAY: Sure, thanks for your

question, Janet.

MS. SCHLUETER: And there's some billing

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that's sort of enveloped as well.

MS. HOLIDAY: Sure, thanks for your

question, Janet.

Billy Blaney is going to answer your

question.

MR. BLANEY: Hi Janet, this is Billy

Blaney.

So, the time of the invoice adjustment is

the timing in which invoices are paid from the prior

years.

So, we have invoices that are paid from

prior year which are also, you know, we may have an

increase in invoices paid the prior year which would

be additional funds received this year.

Or we may have an increase and decrease

in invoices that will not be paid in this year.

So, you have invoices that are paid from

prior years that give us kind of additional money in

this current year, and then you may have invoices for

the current year that are paid in a future year. So,

it would be less money received in this year.

Just trying to simplify that a little bit

to try to make it clear.

So, we compare what is received this year

compared to what will be received in future years or NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 70

not paid in the current year.

So, last year, there was a credit to --

everybody received a credit because there was more

money received in the current year.

And right off the top of my head, I'm

probably assuming this Because we had some deferrals

from COVID, so we had additional money paid from prior

years last year.

Whereas, this year, we no longer have

those additional invoices or, you know, an influx of

additional invoices paid from prior years in the

current year.

So, this year, we actually have a

surcharge. So, we have more invoices that we're

predicting will not be paid in the current year that

will be paid in future years.

Does that help you out?

MS. SCHLUETER: I think so, yes. Yes, it

does. It explains the difference in the use of the

terms and how that can impact anyone collection, you

know, the year -- the collection in any one fiscal

year versus what you've budgeted.

MR. BLANEY: Yes, and we base the

surcharge and credit percentages based on the

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class. So, that's how we divide up the overall credit

or surcharge to each individual fee class.

MS. SCHLUETER: Okay, thank you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Okay, John, I see your hand

is up again.

If you would, go ahead and unmute your

microphone.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you.

I have a general question to kind of

teach me something about the budget process.

Can someone speak to how the budget for

research, the Office of Research, is developed? And

specifically, is there any external input considered

in that budget development?

MR. SHAY: Hey John, thanks for your

question.

So, yes, research is a partner office and

they get their resources and -- from the business

line leads with any organization.

So, either materials side or the reactor

side.

So, they coordinate their needs and the

needs of the respective business lines every budget

cycle.

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internally where business line leads look at the

requests from the partner offices and it goes through

an extensive review throughout the process in terms

of what they're requesting, timeliness, those types

of things.

MR. BUTLER: And at what level is the

approval of that budget?

MR. SHAY: First, it's -- the first

iteration is CFO/EDO level. Then it goes to the Chair

and the Commission for a vote.

And then, of course, typical process to

OMB and then to Congress.

MR. BUTLER: All right, so is it -- it

sounds like you're saying the research budget is

developed from, basically, user need requests? Is

that fair or --

MR. SHAY: Well, they are a partner office

by our definition. And so, they do coordinate and

collaborate with their respective business line lead.

So, they do partner in terms of the

workload that's being requested by the business lines

or through other mechanisms, either maybe SRMs,

things like that that are directed by the Commission.

MR. BUTLER: Okay, all right, I got you.

Thank you very much.

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MR. SMITH: Jason, this is Brian Smith

from NRR and I'll add a little bit to that.

So, it's the majority of their budget is

like John said, from what we call a user need request.

It's a request from our program office, NRR, to the

Office of Research to conduct research activities for

us.

And those user need requests can span a

number of years to start the research and take it all

the way to completion.

And so, that's where a lot of their

budget comes from. They do support some licensing

reviews for us as well. They may develop some plant-

specific models that we'll utilize as part of the

licensing review.

And as you asked, who all's involved in

the development of their budget, it starts at the

staff level and works up through branch chiefs. All

the division directors take a look at the work that

research is proposing to do for the future budgets

all the way up to the office director.

Then it gets into what Jason said, to the

CFO-EDO level.

So, it's reviewed at all levels.

MR. BUTLER: Brian, very helpful, thank NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 74

you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Before we take our next question, I would

like to remind everybody that the purpose of today's

meeting is to discuss the proposed fee rule.

So, if possible, your question should be

related to the proposed fee rule, and particularly,

any clarifying questions as it pertains to the fee

rule. Okay?

So, at this time, I would like to open it

up to Janet again.

MS. SCHLUETER: All right, I have a

generic question.

I think, if I recall, it's back on maybe

slide 13. But it has to do with the Mission Direct

FTE hours.

So, for many years now, the Mission

Direct FTE at NRC has been about 1,551, it really

hasn't changeda whole lot.

So, I was just curious as to when NRC has

last revisited this number for its accuracy? You

know, does it reflect sort of current staff

practices?

And the reason I ask this is Because I

think that, you know, all of us have seen in our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 75

companies, in our, you know, whether it's industry or

government, you know, we are all being able to take

advantage of the use of information technology and

digital systems much more today here, sitting here in

2023 than we ever have, of course.

We have things like digital platforms

which are shared between the NRC and licensees for

document sharing.

We had a decrease in travel during COVID,

which to some degree, that continues a little bit

Because there are some efficiencies that we have all

recognized have occurred by having virtual exit

meetings, entrance meetings, and so forth.

So, a little bit of less travel, more

ubiquitous use of IT, digital platforms, all these

things are allowing us in the private company world,

too, to be more efficient.

So, I would think at some point it would

be fair to say that NRC might want to turn a

microscope on that area to see, you know, is that

still the right number for staff?

And I realize you, you know, there's the

holiday hours and vacation and so forth, but is that

same time still necessary to be allocated for travel

and training, for example?

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Any thoughts about that? Has that been

looked at in the last five years?

MS. HOLIDAY: Thanks for your question,

Janet.

If I can, I'd like to call on Christie to

address this question.

MS. GALSTER: Hi, hi Janet, this is

Christie.

So, as you can see, the last few fee

rules, I believe, starting with maybe 2019 or 2020,

are annual productive hours have been very close to

the 1,510.

And it did actually increase this year by

41 hours4.74537e-4 days <br />0.0114 hours <br />6.779101e-5 weeks <br />1.56005e-5 months <br /> due to exactly what you said, people are

taking less travel hours. So, it actually did

increase.

We do have, like I said, we do have work

papers that break into this number. I believe this

is, yes, the COVID period, and that is why the travel

hours and vacation hours did actually decline, hence,

the productive hours increased for this particular

fee rule.

I can only speak to this year. I'm not

really sure -- I believe that we're still going to be

using the same methodology, but we will take this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 77

information back to the budget folks and see what

else --the other components they're looking into.

MS. SCHLUETER: Thank you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Okay, John, I see your hand is raised

again. Go ahead and please ask your question.

MR. BUTLER: All right, I think this will

be my question, so bear with me.

It's kind of going back to the first

question on carryover.

I know in the proposed or 2024 budget,

there's a use of carryover to reduce licensee fees.

Is there any latitude to utilize any of currently

available carryover for the 2023 budget?

MR. SHAY: John, thanks for the question.

No, I mean, not at this time, obviously.

Through our appropriations, we do have our

appropriated amounts already given to us. And like I

said earlier, you know, we are following the

appropriation language and the explanatory statements

to the fullest. And we would not be able to offset

our budget using carryover this year.

MR. BUTLER: All right, thank you.

MS. HOLIDAY: Thank you.

Okay, before we wrap it up, are there any NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 78

other individuals that would like to ask a question

that has not done so yet? Now is your opportunity.

And I am not seeing any. So, Joe, if we

could go to --sorry, we're advancing the slides.

All right, so, at this time, I'd like to

discuss with you the five different methods by which

you can submit your comments on the record for this

proposed rule.

As I stated earlier during this meeting,

the deadline to submit your comments for

consideration is April 3, 2023. There are five

methods that are reflected on this slide and the

following slide.

The NRC will highly encourage that you

use the very first option which is the Federal

Rulemaking website listed here on the top of the

slide. That includes the electronic comment

submission and it's located under Docket ID Number

NRC-2021-0024.

Alternatively, you can also email your

comments to the email address listed in the second

row, rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov. If you email your

comments, please be sure to specify the Docket Number

NRC-2021-0024 so that that can be binned together

with all of the comments.

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The third option you see on the screen is

to fax your comments. You can fax them to the

Secretary at 301-415-1101. Again, specify the Docket

ID Number NRC-2021-0024.

Next slide, please. You may also mail in

comments. You can mail them to the Secretary at the

address listed here, Attention Rulemakings and

Adjudications Staff. Again, include the NRC Docket ID

Number 2021-0024.

You can hand-deliver your comments here

at the NRC Headquarters location, 11555 Rockville

Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between the hours of 7:30

a.m. and 4:15 p.m.

Should you have further questions or need

additional information, please feel free to contact

Anthony Rossi, License Fee Policy Team Leader at the

contact information here.

Lastly, I would appreciate if you took

the time to fill out our public meeting feedback form.

This can be found on the NRC's public meeting schedule

page for this particular meeting.

Your opinion on how this meeting went

will help us improve upon future meetings. So,

please, if you would, take a moment to let us know

your thoughts.

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Thank you for your time, your attention,

and your engagement during this meeting.

Without further ado, I would like to turn

this meeting back over to James Corbett for closing

remarks. James?

MR. CORBETT:Thank you, Sophie.

As you guys can see, there's plenty of

ways to make your comments. So, to our public

commenters, we really appreciate your comments and

your feedback. To all our staff and stakeholders, I

hope you have a better understanding of your fee

setting program and its relationship to our budget

formulation activities. We look forward to any

comments that you may submit on our proposed rule.

And I would liketo thank Sophie for her

exceptional facilitation today.

And I would also like to thank my folks,

the licensee Fee Policy Team, for their outstanding

work and all of our partners for putting together the

presentation and the slides that you see today.

With that, we are concluded, thank you.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter

went off the record at 11:38 a.m.)

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