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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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Non-power Production or Utilization Facility License Renewal ADAMS
Accession No. ML18031A000, dated June 17, 2019.4 The definition includes production or utilization facilities, licensed under 50.21a or c, or 50.22, as applicable, that are not nuclear power reactors or production facilities within the meaning of paragraphs 1 and 2 of 50.2, which defines production facility. This definition includes currently operating and future research and test reactors and proposed medical radioisotope facilities that would be licensed under 10 CFR
part 50. As such, non-reactor NPUF
licensees, such as SHINE, would be included in the same annual fee class as currently operating research and test reactors that pay 10 CFR part 171
annual fees. This approach is consistent with the current approach of combining limited numbers of similar facilities into a single annual fee category, where test reactors of which only one is currently operational are assessed the same 10
CFR part 171 annual fees as research reactors. In addition, the NRC expects that NPUF facilities will request that a single license under 10 CFR part 50
authorize the operation of multiple utilization and/or production facilities.
Based on the number of facilities authorized to operate under a single license, the number of staff hours dedicated to licensing and oversight activities for these facilities is not expected to differ significantly compared to those for the current operating fleet of NPUFs. Furthermore, stakeholders have previously supported this approach regarding the assessment of 10 CFR part 171 annual fees for future NPUFs. Therefore, a single annual fee would be appropriate even where an NPUF licensee has multiple facilities operating under a single 10 CFR part 50
license.
SMR licenses can be issued under 10
CFR part 50 or 52. Currently, 171.15
requires the NRC to assess annual fees to a 10 CFR part 50 SMR licensee upon issuance of an operating license, or to a 10 CFR part 52 SMR COL holder after the Commission has made the finding under 52.103g for all licenses held 4 The NPUF draft final rule would also revise the definition of research reactor in 170.3 and 171.5
to conform to other definitions in 10 CFR chapter I. The NRC is not proposing to change the definition of Research reactor in the specific exemption for federally-owned and State-owned research reactors in 170.11a9 or 171.11b2. The current definition in 171.11b2 is based on the language of OBRA90. Further, a substantively similar definition of research reactor was included in the provisions of NEIMA that relate to the NRCs fee recovery structure. Changing the definition of research reactor in 171.11b2 would therefore be inconsistent with NEIMA.

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for an SMR site. The annual fee would be determined using the cumulative licensed thermal power rating of all SMR units and the bundled unit concept. For a given site, the use of the bundled unit concept is independent of the number of SMR plants, the number of SMR licenses issued, and the sequencing of the SMR licenses that have been issued. There are currently no operating SMRs; therefore, the NRC has not yet assessed an annual fee for this type of licensee.
The NRC recognizes that, after the issuance of an operating license under 10 CFR part 50 for NPUFs and SMRs, or a COL and 52.103g finding under 10
CFR part 52 for SMRs, fuel or targets or both must be loaded and startup testing for NPUFs and power ascension testing for SMRs must be completed before the facility begins full licensed operation. As discussed in the statement of considerations for the FY 2020 final fee rule, 10 CFR part 52 COLs for power reactors contain a standard license condition that requires the submittal of written notification to the NRC upon successful completion of power ascension testing. Therefore, the NRC
will incorporate a similar license condition into all future 10 CFR part 50
operating licenses for NPUFs and SMRs, and 10 CFR part 52 COLs for SMRs to ensure that the licensee will promptly notify the NRC of the successful completion of startup testing or power ascension testing. The annual fee assessment for future NPUFs and SMR
licenses under 10 CFR part 50, and SMRs under 10 CFR part 52, will begin on the date of the licensees written notification of the successful completion of startup testing or power ascension testing.
Accordingly, the NRC is amending 171.15a and e so that annual fees commence upon written notification to the NRC of successful completion of startup testing and power ascension testing, rather than upon issuance of the operating license for 10 CFR part 50
NPUFs and SMRs, or issuance of the 52.103g finding for 10 CFR part 52
COL holders for SMRs, but upon written notification to the NRC of successful completion of startup testing and/or power ascension testing. The NRC finds this change to 10 CFR part 171 to be reasonable, fair, and equitable, and to be supported by the public comments the NRC received on PRM1711, which was submitted by Dr. Michael D. Meier on behalf of the Southern Nuclear Operating Company ADAMS Accession No. ML19081A015, and on the FY 2020
proposed fee rule 85 FR 9328; February 18, 2020. The NRC is also making conforming changes by revising 170.3,
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Definitions, 171.3, Scope, 171.5, Definitions, and 171.17, Proration.
FY 2021Administrative Changes The NRC is making seven administrative changes:
1. Change Small Entity Fees.
As stated in SECY080174, Fiscal Year 2009 Proposed Fee Rule and Advance Rulemaking for GridAppropriate Reactor Fees, dated November 7, 2008 ADAMS Accession No. ML083120518, the NRC
determined that the maximum small entity fee should be adjusted biennially using a fixed percentage of 39 percent applied to the prior two-year weighted average of materials users fees for all fee categories that have small entity licensees. The 39 percent was based on the small entity annual fee for FY 2005, which was the first year the NRC was required to recover only 90 percent of its budget authority. This methodology remains in place; however, the NRC
does also consider whether or not implementing an increase will have a disproportionate impact on the NRCs small entity licensees when compared to other licensees. Therefore, the increase for the upper and lower tier fees were capped at a 21 percent increase.
For the FY 2021 proposed fee rule 86
FR 10459; February 22, 2021, the NRC
conducted a biennial review of small entity fees to determine whether the NRC should change those fees. The NRC
used the fee methodology, developed in FY 2009, which applies a fixed percentage of 39 percent to the prior two-year weighted average of materials users fees, when performing its biennial review. Based on this methodology and as a result of the FY 2021 biennial review, the NRC is increasing the upper tier small entity fee from $4,500 to $4,900 and increasing the lower tier fee from $900 to $1,000. This constitutes a 9 percent and 11 percent increase, respectively. The NRC believes these fees are reasonable and provide relief to small entities, while at the same time recovering from those licensees some of the NRCs costs for activities that benefit them.
2. Amend 170.1, Purpose, to change the reference to the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1952.
The NRC is amending 170.1 to replace the of after Independent Offices Appropriation Act with a comma to make the reference to the legislation consistent with references in other NRC contexts.
3. Amend 170.3, Definitions, to eliminate definitions for Balance of plants, Nuclear Steam Supply
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