This part establishes the methodology for FEMA to assess and collect user fees from Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensees of commercial nuclear power plants to recover at least 100 percent of the amounts that we anticipate to obligate for our Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Program as authorized under Title III, Public Law 105–276, 112 Stat. 2461, 2502. Public Law 105–276 established in the Treasury a Radiological Emergency Preparedness Fund, to be available under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2011 et. seq.), and under Executive Order 12657 (3 CFR, 1988 Comp., p. 611), for offsite radiological emergency planning, preparedness, and response. Beginning in fiscal year 1999 and thereafter, the Administrator of FEMA must publish fees to be assessed and collected, applicable to persons subject to FEMA's radiological emergency preparedness regulations. The methodology for assessment and collection of fees must be fair and equitable and must reflect the full amount of costs of providing radiological emergency planning, preparedness, response and associated services. Our assessment of fees include our costs for use of agency resources for classes of regulated persons and our administrative costs to collect the fees. Licensees deposit fees by electronic transfer into the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Fund in the U.S. Treasury as offsetting collections.

The regulation in this part applies to all persons or licensees who have applied for or have received from the NRC:

(a) A license to construct or operate a commercial nuclear power plant;

(b) A possession-only license for a commercial nuclear power plant, with the exception of licensees that have received an NRC-approved exemption to 10 CFR 50.54(q) requirements;

(c) An early site permit for a commercial nuclear power plant;

(d) A combined construction permit and operating license for a commercial nuclear power plant; or

(e) Any other NRC licensee that is now or may become subject to requirements for offsite radiological emergency planning and preparedness.

The following definitions of terms and concepts apply to this part:

Biennial exercise means the joint licensee/State and local government exercise, evaluated by FEMA, conducted around a commercial nuclear power plant site once every two years in conformance with 44 CFR part 350.

EPZ means emergency planning zone.

Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee (FRPCC) means a committee chaired by FEMA with representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Interior, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of State, Department of Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, National Communications System, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other Federal departments and agencies as appropriate.

FEMA means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Fiscal Year means the Federal fiscal year, which begins on the first day of October and ends on the thirtieth day of September.

NRC means the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Obligate or obligation means a legal reservation of appropriated funds for expenditure.

Persons or Licensee means the utility or organization that has applied for or has received from the NRC:

(1) A license to construct or operate a commercial nuclear power plant;

(2) A possession-only license for a commercial nuclear power plant, with the exception of licensees that have received an NRC-approved exemption to 10 CFR 50.54(q) requirements;

(3) An early site permit for a commercial nuclear power plant;

(4) A combined construction permit and operating license for a commercial nuclear power plant; or

(5) Any other NRC license that is now or may become subject to requirements for offsite radiological emergency planning and preparedness activities.

Plume pathway EPZ means for planning purposes, the area within approximately a 10-mile radius of a nuclear plant site.

RAC means Regional Assistance Committee chaired by FEMA with representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Department of Interior, and other Federal departments and agencies as appropriate.

REP means Radiological Emergency Preparedness, as in FEMA's REP Program.

Site means the location at which one or more commercial nuclear power plants (reactor units) have been, or are planned to be built.

Site-specific services mean offsite radiological emergency planning, preparedness and response services provided by FEMA personnel and by FEMA contractors that pertain to a specific commercial nuclear power plant site.

Technical assistance means services provided by FEMA to accomplish offsite radiological emergency planning, preparedness and response, including provision of support for the preparation of offsite radiological emergency response plans and procedures, and provision of advice and recommendations for specific aspects of radiological emergency planning, preparedness and response, such as alert and notification and emergency public information.

We, our, us, means and refers to FEMA.

(a)(1) We assess user fees from licensees using a methodology that includes charges for REP Program services provided by both our personnel and our contractors. Beginning in FY 1995, we established a four-year cycle from FY 1995–1998 with predetermined user fee assessments that were collected each year of the cycle. The following six-year cycle will run from FY 1999 through FY 2004. The fee for each site consists of two distinct components:

(i) A site-specific, biennial exercise-related component to recover the portion of the REP program budget associated only with plume pathway emergency planning zone (EPZ) biennial exercise-related activities. We determine this component by reviewing average biennial exercise-related activities/hours that we use in exercises conducted since the inception of our REP user fee program in 1991. We completed an analysis of REP Program activities/hours used during the FY 1991–1995 cycle at the end of that four-year cycle. We will make adjustments to the site-specific user fees for the next proposed FY 1999–2004 six-year cycle.

(ii) A flat fee component that is the same for each site and recovers the remaining portion of the REP Program budgeted funding that does not include biennial exercise-related activities.

(2) We will assess fees only for REP Program services provided by our personnel and by our contractors, and we will not assess fees for those services that other Federal agencies involved in the FRPCC or the RAC's provide.

(b) Determination of site-specific, biennial exercise-related component for our personnel. We will determine an average biennial exercise-related cost for our personnel for each commercial nuclear power plant site in the REP Program. We base this annualized cost (dividing the average biennial exercise-related cost by two) on the average number of hours spent by our personnel in REP exercise-related activities for each site. We will determine the average number of hours using an analysis of site-specific exercise activity spent since the beginning of our user fee program (1991). We determine the actual user fee assessment for this component by multiplying the average number of REP exercise-related hours that we determine and annualize for each site by the average hourly rate in effect for the fiscal year for a REP Program employee. We will revise the hourly rate annually to reflect actual budget and cost of living factors, but the number of annualized, site-specific exercise hours will remain constant for user fee calculations and assessments throughout the six-year cycle. We will continue to track and monitor exercise activity during the six-year cycle, FY 1999–2004. We will make appropriate adjustments to this component to calculate user fee assessments for later six-year cycles.

(c) Determination of site-specific, biennial exercise-related component for FEMA contract personnel. We have determined an average biennial exercise-related cost for REP contractors for each commercial nuclear power plant site in the REP Program. We base this annualized cost (dividing the average biennial exercise-related cost by two) on the average costs of contract personnel in REP site-specific exercise-related activities since the beginning of our user fee program (1991). We will continue to track and monitor activity during the initial six-year cycle, FY 1999–2004, and we will make appropriate adjustments to this component for calculation of user fee assessments during subsequent six-year cycles.

(d) Determination of flat fee component. For each year of the six-year cycle, we recover the remainder of REP Program budgeted funds as a flat fee component. Specifically, we determine the flat fee component by subtracting the total of our personnel and contractor site-specific, biennial exercise-related components, as outlined in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, from the total REP budget for that fiscal year. We then divide the resulting amount equally among the total number of licensed commercial nuclear power plant sites (defined under 354.2) to arrive at each site's flat fee component for that fiscal year.

(e) Discontinuation of charges. When we receive a copy from the NRC of their approved exemption to 10 CFR 50.54(q) requirements stating that offsite radiological emergency planning and preparedness are no longer required at a particular commercial nuclear power plant site, we will discontinue REP Program services at that site. We will no longer assess a user fee for that site from the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Site-specific and other REP Program services provided by FEMA and FEMA contractors for which FEMA will assess fees on licensees include the following:

(a) Site-specific, plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise-related component services. (1) Schedule plume pathway EPZ biennial exercises.

(2) Review plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise objectives and scenarios.

(3) Provide pre-plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise logistics.

(4) Conduct plume pathway EPZ biennial exercises, evaluations, and post exercise briefings.

(5) Prepare, review and finalize plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise reports, give notice and conduct public meetings.

(6) Activities related to Medical Services and other drills conducted in support of a biennial, plume pathway exercise.

(b) Flat fee component services. (1) Evaluate State and local offsite radiological emergency plans and preparedness.

(2) Schedule other than plume pathway EPZ biennial exercises.

(3) Develop other than plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise objectives and scenarios.

(4) Pre-exercise logistics for other than the plume pathway EPZ.

(5) Conduct other than plume pathway EPZ biennial exercises and evaluations.

(6) Prepare, review and finalize other than plume pathway EPZ biennial exercise reports, notice and conduct of public meetings.

(7) Prepare findings and determinations on the adequacy or approval of plans and preparedness.

(8) Conduct the formal 44 CFR part 350 review process.

(9) Provide technical assistance to States and local governments.

(10) Review licensee submissions pursuant to 44 CFR part 352.

(11) Review NRC licensee offsite plan submissions under the NRC/FEMA Memorandum of Understanding on Planning and Preparedness, and NUREG–0654/FEMA–REP–1, Revision 1, Supplement 1. You may obtain copies of the NUREG–0654 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office.

(12) Participate in NRC adjudication proceedings and any other site-specific legal forums.

(13) Alert and notification system reviews.

(14) Responses to petitions filed under 10 CFR 2.206.

(15) Congressionally-initiated reviews and evaluations.

(16) Responses to licensee's challenges to FEMA's administration of the fee program.

(17) Respond to actual radiological emergencies.

(18) Develop regulations, guidance, planning standards and policy.

(19) Coordinate with other Federal agencies to enhance the preparedness of State and local governments for radiological emergencies.

(20) Coordinate REP Program issues with constituent organizations such as the National Emergency Management Association, Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, and the Nuclear Energy Institute.

(21) Implement and coordinate REP Program training with FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) to assure effective development and implementation of REP training courses and conferences.

(22) Participation of REP personnel as lecturers or to perform other functions at EMI, conferences and workshops.

(23) Any other costs that we incur resulting from our REP Program Strategic Review implementation and oversight working group activities.

(24) Costs associated with a transition phase should we decide to advertise and award a contract for technical support to the REP Program. Transition phase activities may include training new contractor personnel in the REP Exercise Evaluation and Planning courses, and on-the-job training for new evaluators at a select number of REP exercises.

(25) Services associated with the assessment of fees, billing, and administration of this part.

(26) Disaster-initiated reviews and evaluations.

(a) Electronic billing and payment. We will deposit all funds collected under this part to the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Fund as offsetting collections, which will be available for our REP Program. The Department of the Treasury revisions to section 8025.30 of publication I–TFM 6–8000 require Federal agencies to collect funds by electronic funds transfer when such collection is cost-effective, practicable, and consistent with current statutory authority. Working with the Department of the Treasury we now provide for payment of bills by electronic transfers through Automated Clearing House (ACH) credit payments.

(b) We will send bills that are based on the assessment methodology set out in § 354.4 to licensees to recover the full amount of the funds that we budget to provide REP Program services. Licensees that have more than one site will receive consolidated bills. We will forward one bill to each licensee during the first quarter of the fiscal year, with payment due within 30 days. If we exceed our original budget for the fiscal year and need to make minor adjustments, the adjustment will appear in the bill for the next fiscal year.

Where a licensee fails to pay a prescribed fee required under this part, we will implement procedures under 44 CFR part 11, subpart C, to collect the fees under the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (31 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.).