Cost Recovery for Contested Hearings Involving U.S. Government National Security Initiatives

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to allow the agency to recover its costs associated with contested hearings on licensing actions involving U.S. Government national security initiatives through licensing fees assessed to the affected applicant or licensee. This final rule is a special exception to the Commission's longstanding policy of not charging this type of fee for contested hearings. In this case, the Commission will charge its contested hearing costs directly to the involved licensee or applicant rather than recovering its costs through the annual fees assessed to all licensees within the affected class.