ML23104A086
| ML23104A086 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/21/2023 |
| From: | NRC/OCFO |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-2292 | |
| Download: ML23104A086 (1) | |
Text
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
JAMES CORBETT, OCFO
CHRISTIE GALSTER, OCFO
JO JACOBS, OCFO
ANTHONY ROSSI, OCFO
JASON SHAY, OCFO
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
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 4
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.
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 10
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.
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 13
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
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.
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 19
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.
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 22
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.
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 30
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.
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 31
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.
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 32
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.
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 34
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.
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 40
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.
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 42
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
time, how many hours we spend on a given inspection 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 45
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
for multi-module sites by establishing a bundled unit 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 50
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.
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 52
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.
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 55
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?
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 56
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.
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 57
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.
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 60
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.
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 61
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.
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 65
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.
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 67
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
-- there's some timing of the billing issue there 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 69
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
percentage of the budgetary resources for each fee 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 71
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.
There's a review process that happens 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 72
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.
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 73
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?
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 76
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
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.
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 79
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.
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 80
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.)
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