The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently issued a final rule amending the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees for applicants and licensees for FY 2025, aligning with fee-related provisions in both the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act and the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA). Notably, the rule introduces a targeted hourly rate reduction for advanced nuclear reactor developers, aimed at encouraging innovation while preserving full-cost recovery for routine regulatory functions.
The NRC recently published its FY 2025 final fee rule work papers detailing its budget requirements. The NRC’s FY 2025 budget is $994.1 million—no change from FY 2024. After accounting for excluded activities, the NRC must recover $808.8 million through service and annual fees. The NRC’s service and annual fees, codified in 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171, respectively, are essential components of its overall funding structure. One notable change in the FY 2025 fee rule is the reduced hourly rate of $148 per hour for advanced nuclear reactor applicants and pre-applicants for certain activities—a more than 50% reduction from the previous full-cost professional hourly rate of $318.
The NRC is amending § 170.3, “Definitions,” to include definitions for the terms “advanced nuclear reactor applicant,” “advanced nuclear reactor pre-applicant,” and “qualifying application.” The NRC is defining an “advanced nuclear reactor applicant” as an entity that has submitted a “qualifying application” to the NRC, which includes applications for operating licenses, combined licenses, manufacturing licenses, construction permits, early site permits, limited work authorizations, design certifications, or standard design approvals. Additionally, the NRC is defining “advanced nuclear reactor pre-applicants” as entities that have submitted a licensing project plan in preparation for a future qualifying application.
The introduction of the reduced hourly rate will make all stages of advanced reactor licensing significantly more cost effective, from early pre-application engagement, such as technical discussions and topical report reviews, to formal licensing reviews. By cutting hourly costs by more than 50%, this new rate lowers a key financial barrier to entry, supports innovation, and encourages earlier regulatory engagement with the NRC. For example, in January 2023, the NRC provided estimated NRC staff effort and costs for different types of applications, including license amendments, combined licenses, design certifications, and early site permits.
Based on these estimates, if the NRC typically spends approximately 29,000 hours reviewing early site permits, the resulting NRC fees billed to applicants would be just over $9 million. If billed at the reduced hourly rate, the same scope of work would result in just over $4 million in fees, representing a significant cost savings. (This reduction probably understates total savings for future applicants given the shortened review times NRC is driving in its regulatory reforms.) While the final rule becomes effective on August 25, 2025, the reduced hourly rate provision, mandated by Section 201 of the ADVANCE Act, will take effect on October 1, 2025.
Practical Impacts by the Numbers: What Licensees Will Pay in Annual Fees
The NRC implemented reductions across several major license classes while modestly increasing or maintaining fees for others.
Operating Reactors: The annual fee for the operating power reactor fee class, divided equally among the 94 licensed operating power reactors, is decreasing 0.3%, from $5,336,000 to $5,319,000.
Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning: 10 CFR Part 50 and 52 power reactor licensees and 10 CFR Part 72 specific licensees will pay $326,000 in annual fees—no change from the prior year.
Fuel Cycle Facilities: Fuel cycle licensees saw fee reductions across all categories. For example, high-enriched uranium facilities saw a nearly 5% reduction in their annual fee for FY 2025, decreasing from $6,412,000 to $6,101,000; low-enriched uranium facilities saw a nearly 5% reduction in their annual fee for FY 2025, decreasing from $2,173,000 to $2,068,000.
Non-Power Production or Utilization Facilities (NPUFs): Only two out of 29 operating NPUF licensees are subject to annual fees, and those NPUF licensees will pay $96,800 in annual fees in FY 2025, down from $97,200 in FY 2024.
Materials Users: The diverse category of materials licensees under 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70 saw mixed results. The FY 2025 annual fees are decreasing for eight fee categories and increasing for the remaining 48 of the fee categories within the materials users fee class, and the increases range from approximately 1–24% compared to FY 2024 fees.