Final Supporting Statement for Small Business Standards

FINAL SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR
SURVEY OF NRC MATERIALS LICENSEES TO SUPPORT RULEMAKING FOR NRC’S
SMALL ENTITY SIZE STANDARDS
(3150-XXXX)
NEW
Description of the Information Collection
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for the licensing and regulation of
source, byproduct, and special nuclear material in a manner which will protect the public
health and safety, national security, and the environment. The majority of NRC licensees are
materials licensees who are engaged in numerous activities involving the use of nuclear
material that are regulated by the NRC. NRC licensees are grouped into categories in
accordance with their use of nuclear material. It is possible to find many industries represented
in a given category of material’s user. Therefore, it is not possible to align NRC licensees with
Small Business Administration (SBA) size standards which are based on North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS). In addition, the agency’s standards differ from those
used by the SBA because of the need to recover 90 percent of the annual budget through fees,
as required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliations Act of 1990 (OBRA-90).
The inability to match NRC licensees to existing SBA criteria for determining small entities led
the NRC to survey its licensees in order to acquire economic data that will enable the NRC to
ensure the appropriate definition of a small entity within the nuclear regulatory context. Since
the agency has not surveyed its materials licensees since 1993, the staff is conducting another
survey to gather financial data to determine if a change to the size standards is needed. NRC
materials licensees are being asked to complete an online questionnaire which requests
information such as number of employees, and annual receipts.
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Need for and Practical Utility of the Collection of Information
The NRC has its own standards for categorizing small business size entities. NRC
non-manufacturing licensees with average gross receipts equal to or less than
$7 million, manufacturing entities that have an average of 500 employees or fewer,
small governmental jurisdictions with a population less than 50,000, and education
institutions that are not state or publicly supported and have 500 employees or
fewer pay a lower fee of $4,100. These are noted in Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) § 2.810, “NRC size standards.” The agency’s standards
differ from those used by the SBA because it is difficult to align NRC licensees with
SBA size standards and the OBRA-90 requirement for NRC to recover 90 percent
of the annual budget through fees.

The agency collected information through a survey in 1993. This survey of NRC
materials licensees confirmed the need for NRC to have its own size standards.
Since then, the NRC has updated the size standards via a direct final fee rule
(Agencywide Documents Access and Management System under Accession No.
ML120740377) in response to changes by SBA and their standards.
Since the agency has not surveyed its materials licensees since 1993, the staff will
conduct a survey to gather financial data to determine if a change to the size
standards is needed. The results of the analysis will be used to provide a
recommendation to the Commission that is backed with sound empirical data.
Without conducting a survey, the NRC staff does not have the data needed to
determine the impact of shifting from the current nuclear industry-specific standards
to those of the SBA.
2. Agency Use of Information
The NRC staff plans to use the data collected to support a rulemaking that would
either 1) retain the NRC’s industry-specific size standard, amend it to account for
inflation, and establish a review period and methodology for re-evaluating the
standard to determine future inflationary impacts; or 2) require licensees to consult
the size standards set by SBA.
3. Reduction of Burden Through Information Technology
There are no legal obstacles to reducing the burden associated with this information
collection. The NRC encourages respondents to use information technology when
it would be beneficial to them. NRC issued a regulation on October 10, 2003
(68 FR 58791), consistent with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, which
allows its licensees, vendors, applicants, and members of the public the option to
make submissions electronically via CD-ROM, e-mail, special Web-based interface,
or other means. It is estimated that approximately 100 percent of the potential
responses are filed electronically.
4. Effort to Identify Duplication and Use Similar Information
No sources of similar information are available. There is no duplication of
requirements.
5. Effort to Reduce Small Business Burden
Efforts to reduce the burden on small businesses include making the information
collection survey a voluntary activity, only asking for one respondent from each
organization, and making the survey available through a web-based interface.
Approximately 30 percent of respondents are estimated to be small businesses.
6. Consequences to Federal Program or Policy Activities if the Collection Is Not
Conducted or Is Conducted Less Frequently
This information collection activity supports review of the NRC’s standards for
categorizing small business entities. Information on this subject has not been
collected since 1993. If this information collection is not conducted then the NRC
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will not have up-to-date data from its licensees to support decision-making about
small business entity size standards, such as to align size standards with the SBA
or adjust size standards to account for inflation.
7. Circumstances Which Justify Variation from OMB Guidelines
There are no variations from OMB guidelines.
8. Consultations Outside the NRC
An opportunity for a 60-day public comment on the information collection
requirements for this clearance package was published in the Federal Register on
March 20, 2019 (84 FR 54). The NRC received one public comment from a
concerned citizen demanding that the NRC continue to make it so that even smaller
items have to be properly recorded when shipped or used, and that this would make
reference data less of a hassle to find and could help with budget concerns. These
matters are outside of the scope of this information collection. The primary purpose
of the FRN was for NRC to seek public comments on its intention to request the
OMB’s approval for an information collection on conducting a survey of NRC
materials licensees to support a potential rulemaking for NRC’s small entity size
standards. In addition, the NRC contacted 9 licensees and there were 0 comments
received from the 9 licensees.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents
Not applicable.
10. Confidentiality of Information
Confidential and proprietary information is protected in accordance with NRC
regulations at 10 CFR 9.17(a) and 10 CFR 2.390(b). However, no information
normally considered confidential or proprietary is requested.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
Not applicable.
12. Estimated Burden and Burden Hour Cost
The $275 hourly rate used in the burden estimates is based on the NRC’s FY 2018
professional hourly rate as noted in 10 CFR 170.20, “Average cost per professional
staff-hour.” For more information on the basis of this rate, see the Revision of Fee
Schedules; Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2018 (83 FR 29622, June 25, 2018).
The total estimated annualized burden is approximately 152 hours and estimated
annualized burden hour cost is approximately $41,800 (152 hrs x $275/hr). The
NRC staff estimates that a 50% response rate for this voluntary information
collection from the approximately 2,765 materials users licensees who will be
invited to participate. The burden hour estimate also assumes that the survey will
take 20 minutes (0.33 hours) to complete, for each respondent. The survey will be

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conducted one time during the three-year clearance period. There are no
recordkeeping or storage requirements associated with this activity. See Table 1.
13. Estimate of Other Additional Costs
None.
14. Estimated Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
The estimated annualized cost to the Federal Government is $11,384. The cost
includes approximately 120 staff hours at a rate of $275/hour over the three-year
clearance period (annualized to 40 hours at $275/hr =$11,000), and annualized
costs for survey software of approximately $384.
15. Reasons for Change in Burden or Cost
The NRC is requesting new clearance for a voluntary survey to collect information
from current materials users licensees to support decision making about small
business sizing standards. This survey would result in 152 hours of burden. The
NRC staff plans to use the results to identify if any changes to current small
business sizing standards are necessary and appropriate.
16. Publication for Statistical Use
Not applicable.
17. Reason for Not Displaying the Expiration Date
Not applicable.
18. Exceptions to the Certification Statement
None.
TABLE 1
ANNUALIZED REPORTING BURDEN

Section
Individual or
Households
Private
Sector
State,
Local, or
Tribal
Government
TOTAL

Number of
Respondents
Invited

Responses
per
Respondent

Total Number
of Responses
(50% Response
rate)

Burden
Hours per
Response

Total
One-Time
Reporting
Burden
(Hrs)

Annualized
Reporting
Burden

Cost at
$275/hr

0

0.0

0

0.00

0

0

$0

2,599

1.0

1,300

0.33

429

143

$39,325

166
2,765

1.0

83
1,383

0.33

27
456

9
152

$2,475
$41,800

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TOTAL BURDEN HOURS:
TOTAL BURDEN HOUR COST:
RESPONDENTS:
RESPONSES:

456 hours (152 hours annualized)
$41,800
461 respondents (2,765 invited respondents X 50%
response rate =1,383 one-time respondents / 3 yr
clearance period)
461 responses (461 respondents X 1
response/respondent)

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