10 CFR 171.5 – Definitions
Budget means the funds appropriated by Congress for the NRC for each fiscal year, and if that appropriation is not passed on or before September 1 for that fiscal year, the funds most recently appropriated by Congress for the most recent fiscal year.
Terms Used In 10 CFR 171.5
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
- Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
Budget authority means the authority, in the form of an appropriation, provided by law and becoming available during the year, to enter into obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays involving Federal Government funds. The appropriation is an authorization by an Act of Congress that permits the NRC to incur obligations and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Fees assessed pursuant to Public Law 115-439 are based on the NRC’s budget authority.
Bundled unit means multiple SMRs on a single site that are considered a single unit for the purpose of assessing an annual fee. A bundled unit is assessed an annual fee based on the cumulative licensed thermal power rating of all licensed SMRs on the same site. The maximum capacity of a bundled unit is a cumulative licensed thermal power rating of 4,500 MWt. A single SMR can be part of two bundled units if it completes the capacity of one unit and begins the capacity of an additional unit. 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, or the sequencing of the SMR licenses that have been issued. Bundled units with capacities greater than 2,000 MWt and less than or equal to 4,500 MWt are assessed a maximum fee that is equivalent to the annual fee paid by the current reactor fleet. Above 4,500 MWt establishes an additional bundled unit.
Byproduct material means—
(1) Any radioactive material (except special nuclear material) yielded in, or made radioactive by, exposure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or using special nuclear material;
(2)(i) Any discrete source of radium-226 that is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction, before, on, or after August 8, 2005, for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity; or
(ii) Any material that—
(A) Has been made radioactive by use of a particle accelerator; and
(B) Is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction, before, on, or after August 8, 2005, for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity; and
(3) Any discrete source of naturally occurring radioactive material, other than source material, that—
(i) The Commission, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the head of any other appropriate Federal agency, determines would pose a threat similar to the threat posed by a discrete source of radium-226 to the public health and safety or the common defense and security; and
(ii) Before, on, or after August 8, 2005, is extracted or converted after extraction for use in a commercial, medical, or research activity.
Certificate holder means a person who holds a certificate of compliance, or other package approval issued by the Commission.
Commission means the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission or its duly authorized representatives.
Federal fiscal year means a year that begins on October 1 of each calendar year and ends on September 30 of the following calendar year. Federal fiscal years are identified by the year in which they end (e.g., fiscal year 1987 begins in 1986 and ends in 1987).
Government agency means any executive department, commission, independent establishment, corporation, wholly or partly owned by the United States of America which is an instrumentality of the United States, or any board, bureau, division, service, office, officer, authority, administration, or other establishment in the executive branch of the government.
Greater Than Class C Waste or GTCC Waste means low-level radioactive waste that exceeds the concentration limits of radionuclides established for Class C waste in 10 CFR 61.55.
High enriched uranium fuel means uranium enriched to 20 percent or greater in the isotope uranium-235.
Low enriched uranium fuel means uranium enriched below 20 percent in the isotope uranium-235.
Materials license means a license, certificate, approval, registration or other form of permission issued or granted by the NRC under the regulations in 10 CFR parts 30, 31 through 36, 39, 40, 61, 70, 71, 72, and 76.
Maximum fee is the highest fee paid by a single bundled unit. It is applied to all bundled units on an SMR site with a licensed thermal power rating greater than 2,000 MWt and less than or equal to 4,500 MWt and is equal to the flat annual fee paid by existing fleet power reactors.
Minimum fee means the lowest annual fee assessed for an SMR or a bundled unit in a thermal power rating fee assessment tier.
Non-power production or utilization facility means a production or utilization facility licensed under 10 CFR 50.21(a) or (c), or 10 CFR 50.22, as applicable, that is not a nuclear power reactor or production facility as defined under paragraphs (1) and (2) of the definition of “production facility” in 10 CFR 50.2.
Nonprofit educational institution means a public or nonprofit educational institution whose primary function is education, whose programs are accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association, who is legally authorized to provide a program of organized instruction or study, who provides an educational program for which it awards academic degrees, and whose educational programs are available to the public.
Nuclear reactor means an apparatus, other than an atomic weapon, used to sustain fission in a self-supporting chain reaction.
Operating license means having a license issued pursuant to § 50.57 of this chapter. It does not include licenses that only authorize possession of special nuclear material after the Commission has received a request from the licensee to amend its licensee to permanently withdraw its authority to operate or the Commission has permanently revoked such authority.
Person means:
(1) Any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group, Government agency other than the Commission; any state or any political subdivision of, or any political entity within, a state; any foreign Government or nation or any political subdivision of any such government or nation; or other entity; and
(2) Any legal successor, representative, agent, or agency of the foregoing.
Power reactor means a nuclear reactor designed to produce electrical or heat energy and licensed by the Commission under the authority of section 103 or subsection 104b of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and pursuant to the provisions of § 50.21(b) or § 50.22 of this chapter.
Quality assurance program approval is the document issued by the NRC to approve the quality assurance program submitted to the NRC as meeting the requirements of § 71.101 of this chapter. Activities covered by the quality assurance program may be divided into two major groups: those activities including design, fabrication and use of packaging and those activities for use only of packaging.
Registration holder as used in this part means any manufacturer or initial distributor of a sealed source or device containing a sealed source that holds a certificate of registration issued by the NRC or a holder of a registration for a sealed source or device manufactured in accordance with the unique specifications of, and for use by, a single applicant.
Research reactor means a nuclear reactor licensed by the Commission under the authority of subsection 104c of the Act and pursuant to the provisions of § 50.21(c) of this chapter for operation at a thermal power level of 10 megawatts or less, and which is not a testing facility as defined in this section.
Small modular reactor (SMR) for the purposes of calculating fees means the class of power reactors having a licensed thermal power rating less than or equal to 1,000 MWt per module. This rating is based on the thermal power equivalent of an SMR with an electrical power generating capacity of 300 MWe or less per module.
Small modular reactor site (SMR site) is the geographically bounded location of one or more SMRs and a basis on which SMR fees are calculated.
Source material means:
(1) Uranium or thorium, or any combination thereof, in any physical or chemical form; or
(2) Ores which contain by weight one-twentieth of one percent (0.05%) or more of
(i) Uranium,
(ii) Thorium, or
(iii) Any combination thereof.
Source material does not include special nuclear material.
Special nuclear material means:
(1) Plutonium, uranium-233, uranium enriched in the isotope 233 or in the isotope 235, and any other material which the Commission, pursuant to the provisions of section 51 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, determines to be special nuclear material, but does not include source material; or
(2) Any material artificially enriched by any of the foregoing, but does not include source material.
Testing facility means a nuclear reactor licensed by the Commission under the authority of subsection 104c of the Act and pursuant to the provisions of § 50.21(c) of this chapter for operation at:
(1) A thermal power level in excess of 10 megawatts; or
(2) A thermal power level in excess of 1 megawatt, if the reactor is to contain:
(i) A circulating loop through the core in which the applicant proposes to conduct fuel experiments; or
(ii) A liquid fuel loading; or
(iii) An experimental facility in the core in excess of 16 square inches in cross-section.
Variable fee means an annual fee component that is added to the minimum fee. The variable fee is designed to gradually increase as licensed thermal power capacity is added within the bundled unit fee assessment tier. The variable fee is calculated as the product of the incremental increase in the thermal power rating multiplied by the variable rate.
Variable rate means the factor used to calculate the variable fee component of the annual fee. To determine the total annual fee, the incremental increase in the licensed thermal power rating within the fee assessment tier is multiplied by the variable rate resulting in a variable fee that is added to the minimum fee. There is a different factor for each SMR or bundled unit fee assessment tier. Each factor represents the difference between the lower licensed thermal power rating within each tier and the actual thermal power rating for the unit or site.