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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
system at https www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doc-collections/rulemakingruleforum/active/RuleIndex.html, or by Docket ID NRC20140264 at http
www.regulations.gov.
No change was made to this final rule in response to this comment.
Comment: One commenter had questions regarding the categories of licensees that can qualify as small entities, and the categories of licensees whose average users fees are used to determine the maximum small entity fee. Anonymous Response: In implementing the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended, the NRC ultimately determined that it was appropriate for the agency to establish its own size standards that were consistent with the NRCs regulatory activities. The NRC
classifies its small business licensees by their use of nuclear materials since the NRCs materials categories cover a mix of industries. The NRCs materials licensees can use the size standards criteria to quality as a small entity for a reduced annual fee. The NRCs industry specific size standards were approved by the SBA.
License types that allow a licensee to be eligible to qualify as a small entity and pay a reduced annual fee are listed under 171.16. These include materials licenses i.e., 10 CFR parts 30, 40, 70, 71, and 76 licenses and 10 CFR part 72
licenses. The prior two-year weighted average of service fees for the qualifying fee categories that have small entity licensees is used in the biennial adjustment of the maximum small entity fee. Average service fees for types of licenses e.g., 10 CFR part 50 licenses that do not allow a licensee to be eligible to qualify as a small entity are not used in the determination of small entity fees.
No change was made to this final rule in response to this comment.

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H. Definition of Research Reactor Under 170.11, 171.11, and NEIMA
Comment: NEIMAs exemption of a research reactor is a reactor licensed under section 104c of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It does not mention that it needs to be Federal-owned and State-Owned research reactors used primarily for educational proposes. So any Research Reactor licensed under 104c of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954
and meets the requirement of operations list should be except sic from fees. 10
CFR 170.11 and 10 CFR 171.11 need to be changed to reflect NEIMA definition of exempt. Having research and test reactors exempt from both annual and performance fees would encourage
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private investment as NEIMA was trying to do. Anonymous Response: The NRC disagrees with this commenters position that, in order to be consistent with NEIMA, the NRC
should change the definition of research reactor in 170.11 and 171.11 to exempt from fees all research reactors licensed under Section 104c. of the Atomic Energy Act AEA. First, NEIMA in Section 102b3Dii makes the annual fee exemption applicable for federally owned research reactor used primarily for educational training and academic research purposes. In addition, the primary purpose of this rule is to update the NRCs fee schedules to recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100 percent of the NRCs total budget authority for the current fiscal year, less the budget authority for excluded activities, and to make other necessary corrections or appropriate changes to specific aspects of the NRCs fee regulations in order to ensure compliance with NEIMA.
The NRC has not proposed changing the definition of research reactor, or the types of research reactors that are exempt i.e., Federally-owned and Stateowned research reactors used primarily for educational training and academic research purposes in the specific exemptions in 170.11a9 or 171.11b2. The current research reactor definition in 170.11a9
and 171.11b2, and the types of research reactors that are exempt from annual fees, stemmed from language in OBRA90. NEIMA included substantively similar fee exemption language for research reactors. Changing the definition of research reactor in 170.11a9 or 171.11b2, or the types of research reactors that are exempt from fees pursuant to 170.11a9 and 171.11b2, to include all research reactors licensed under Section 104c. of the AEA would not be consistent with the exemption provision in NEIMA or its predecessor in OBRA90.
Section 106 of NEIMA, Encouraging private investment in research and test reactors, pertains to the financial criteria used to determine whether a utilization facility is licensed as a commercial facility under Section 103
of the AEA, Commercial Licenses, or as a research and development facility under paragraph c of Section 104, Medical Therapy and Research and Development, of the AEA. This subject of this provision of NEIMA does not relate to fees and is outside the scope of this final rule.
No change was made to this final rule in response to this comment.

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I. Accurate Invoicing Comment: What are the policies for fairness? Weve disputed invoices in the past because the NRC had already completed a task, we had been shut down for years and there was no need for the NRC to restudy, investigate or review the issue. Yet, we were told that the charges were valid because the employee did indeed work the hours they said on the project. Is it fair for us to have to pay for the same work twice?
We dont think so and the public would not think so. We cant tell from our recent billings what activity within a project. For example, an inspector or auditor comes out and visits. Then they go back and write their report and ask RAI, etc. We only get total hours worked on the project, not how much time it took them to write the report, how much time did they work on specific items they are reporting on. That would be useful information to us the licensee.
Anonymous Response: The NRC is firmly committed to the application of fairness and equity in the assessment of fees.
NEIMA requires the NRC to establish a schedule of fees that fairly and equitably allocates these fees among the NRCs licensees and certificate holders. As part of this process, each year the NRC
reassesses and publishes a proposed rule and final rule of the revisions of the fee schedules for each license fee class.
As stated in the proposed rule, under NEIMA, the NRC must recover, to the maximum extent practicable, approximately 100 percent of its annual budget, less the budget authority for excluded activities. The NRC must use its IOAA authority first to collect service fees for NRC work that provides specific benefits to identifiable recipients such as licensing activities, inspections, and special projects. Because the NRCs fee recovery under the IOAA for 10 CFR
part 170 fees for service will not equal 100 percent of the agencys total budget authority for the fiscal year less the budget authority for excluded activities, the NRC also assesses annual fees under 10 CFR part 171 to recover the remaining amount necessary to comply with NEIMA. In the FY 2021
proposed fee rule, each license fee class includes the specific information to detail how the annual fees are derived, such as the budgetary resources, and 10
CFR part 170 estimated billings for direct activities, specific adjustments, the explanations for the changes, and the comparison to the prior fiscal year in order to derive the 10 CFR part 171
annual fees.
Additionally, Section 102d of NEIMA required three sets of actions
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