§ 2214. NRC user fees and annual charges
(a)
Annual assessment
(c)
Annual charges
(1)
Persons subject to charge
Except as provided in paragraph (4), any licensee or certificate holder of the Commission may be required to pay, in addition to the fees set forth in subsection (b) of this section, an annual charge.
(2)
Aggregate amount of charges
(A)
In general
The aggregate amount of the annual charges collected from all licensees and certificate holders in a fiscal year shall equal an amount that approximates the percentages of the budget authority of the Commission for the fiscal year stated in subparagraph (B), less—
(iii)
amounts appropriated to the Commission for the fiscal year for implementation of section 3116 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005; and
(iv)
amounts appropriated to the Commission for homeland security activities of the Commission for the fiscal year, except for the costs of fingerprinting and background checks required by section
2169 of this title and the costs of conducting security inspections.
(3)
Amount per licensee
The Commission shall establish, by rule, a schedule of charges fairly and equitably allocating the aggregate amount of charges described in paragraph (2) among licensees. To the maximum extent practicable, the charges shall have a reasonable relationship to the cost of providing regulatory services and may be based on the allocation of the Commission’s resources among licensees or classes of licensees.
(4)
Exemption
(A)
In general
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the holder of any license for a federally owned research reactor used primarily for educational training and academic research purposes.
(B)
Research reactor
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term “research reactor” means a nuclear reactor that—
(i)
is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section
2134
(c) of this title for operation at a thermal power level of 10 megawatts or less; and