WASHINGTON, DC – Energy and Commerce Committee members today sent a letter to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) budget development process and fee collection determination as part of the committee’s ongoing oversight to ensure efficient NRC operations and to increase agency accountability. In February, NRC staff reported that they received feedback from stakeholders that stated NRC’s process for setting fees is “opaque and difficult to understand.” 

In the letter to GAO, Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) write, “NRC licensees and stakeholders have raised concerns about whether the level of fees that the NRC assesses to applicants and licensees is justified. The NRC staff also reported that the agency’s budget process has often led it to request more resources from Congress than have actually been needed in the execution year, and recommended that NRC clearly define and justify the overhead costs in a budget.”

In 2014, annual fees increased 8 percent and overhead as a percentage of the NRC’s budget grew from 28 percent to 47 percent from 2004-2014. 

To view the letter, click here.

###