The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued its final figures for fee collections that will provide the bulk of its funding for the current 2018 federal budget year.
The nuclear industry regulator is budgeted at $922 million for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, up by $4.9 million from the prior fiscal 2017, according to a Federal Register notice.
Federal law requires the agency to secure 90 percent of its funding through fees, with exceptions made for a handful of programs such as international operations. For fiscal 2018 that means billing licensees and license applicants $789.3 million. That will be further broken down to: $280.8 million in user fees for inspections, special projects, and other specific operations; and $508.5 million in annual fees.
The professional hourly rate for specific services will increase from $263 to $275, due largely to a 7.3 percent drop in the number of “mission-direct” full-time equivalent positions from fiscal 2017, according to the Federal Register notice. That was counterbalanced by a 2.4 percent fall in budgeted resources and a minimal rise in productive hours, the NRC said.
“Fee relief activities” – those operations funded through congressional appropriations rather than fees – are not expected to reach the 10-percent budget level this year. That gives the NRC $3.9 million in fee-relief credit, $3.4 million of which will be directed toward operating-power reactor licensees. The remainder will be spread among licensees for spent fuel storage and reactor decommissioning, fuel facilities, materials users, and uranium recovery.
For fiscal 2018 spent fuel storage and reactor decommissioning operations, the NRC will take in $24.2 million in fees, up from $23 million in the prior year. The full budget for this work will rise from $29.5 million to $33.8 million on a year-over-year basis. That is partly due to the license application review for planned consolidated spent fuel storage facilities in New Mexico and Texas.