83 FR 55113 - Categorization of the Licensee Fee Category for Full-Cost Recovery

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 213 (November 2, 2018)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) from Mr. Christopher S. Pugsley, Esq. (the petitioner), on behalf of Water Remediation Technology (WRT), LLC, dated July 3, 2018, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations regarding full-cost recovery of licensee fees. The petition was docketed by the NRC on August 2, 2018, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-170-7. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-170-7 to determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is not instituting a public comment period for this PRM as the staff anticipates considering the issues raised in the petition in the upcoming fiscal year 2019 proposed fee rule, and the public will have an opportunity to comment at that time.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 213 (Friday, November 2, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55113-55114]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24002]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 170 and 171

[Docket No. PRM-170-7; NRC-2018-0172]


Categorization of the Licensee Fee Category for Full-Cost 
Recovery

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a 
petition for rulemaking (PRM) from Mr. Christopher S. Pugsley, Esq. 
(the petitioner), on behalf of Water Remediation Technology (WRT), LLC, 
dated July 3, 2018, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations 
regarding full-cost recovery of licensee fees. The petition was 
docketed by the NRC on August 2, 2018, and has been assigned Docket No. 
PRM-170-7. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-170-7 to 
determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is 
not instituting a public comment period for this PRM as the staff 
anticipates considering the issues raised in the petition in the 
upcoming fiscal year 2019 proposed fee rule, and the public will have 
an opportunity to comment at that time.

DATES: The PRM is available on November 2, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0172 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this petition. You may 
obtain publicly-available information

[[Page 55114]]

related to this petition by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0172. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, 
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this 
document. The petition, PRM-170-7, is available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML18214A757.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Renu Suri, Office of the Chief 
Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0161, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. The Petitioner

    Mr. Christopher S. Pugsley, Esq. (the petitioner) submitted this 
petition on behalf of WRT, requesting that the NRC amend its 
regulations to re-categorize licensees performing water treatment 
services from a full-cost recovery category to a category with a fixed 
annual fee.

II. The Petition

    The petitioner is requesting that the NRC revise parts 170 and 171 
of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) to re-
categorize WRT as a licensee that does not require full-cost recovery 
for fees billed to it during the life of its license, address 
consistency issues between 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 for small entities, 
and extend the timeframe in which a request for a fee exemption must be 
submitted under Sec.  170.11. The petitioner also requests that the 
rule change be actively considered in the NRC's fiscal year 2019 
rulemaking for its fee regulations.

III. Discussion of the Petition

    The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations to re-
categorize WRT as a licensee that does not require full-cost recovery 
for fees billed to it during the life of its license under 10 CFR part 
170, address consistency issues between 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 for 
small entities, and consider this rule change during the FY 2019 
revision of the fee rule. The petitioner assists small community water 
systems with compliance with the uranium drinking water standard: 
``WRT's license operations are not intended to process source material 
for its commercial value thereby reducing the financial benefit to the 
licensee as compared to uranium recovery facilities that process ores 
primarily for their source material content.'' The petitioner suggests 
that the NRC should further ease the financial burden on community 
water systems so that they may comply with the uranium drinking water 
standard. The petitioner also notes NRC actions that seem to agree with 
his recommendation.
    The petitioner also requests additional conforming and related 
changes. The petitioner asserts that the NRC should consider addressing 
consistency issues between 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 fees for uranium 
water treatment licensees that are recognized by the NRC as small 
entities. The petitioner also requested that the NRC consider amending 
language under Sec.  170.11 to extend the time within which a licensee 
may appeal the assessment of fees and apply for a fee exemption. The 
petitioner notes that NRC could approve the petition as an alternative 
to revising the NRC's fee recovery requirements during the next 
revision of the annual fee rule.

IV. Conclusion

    The NRC will examine the issues raised in PRM-170-7 to determine 
whether they should be considered in rulemaking.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of October, 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-24002 Filed 11-1-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P