Research reactors win reprieve on fees.Last summer, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent U.S. government commission, created by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and charged with licensing and regulating civilian use of nuclear energy to protect the public and the environment. (NRC NRC abbr. 1. National Research Council 2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Noun 1. NRC - an independent federal agency created in 1974 to license and regulate nuclear power plants ) imposed tariffs on reactors used for nonprofit research and training: $62,000 in annual licensing' fees and additional charges for radioisotopes used in research and medicine. These hefty bills threatened to shut down up to 30 of the nation's 37 university reactors (SN: 8/14/93, p. 101), many of which operate on annual budgets of $15,000 to $100,000. But bowing to extensive lobbying that involved numerous phone calls and some 200 letters, NRC announced on March 17 that it will reinstate To restore to a condition that has terminated or been lost; to reestablish. To reinstate a case, for example, means to restore it to the same position it had before dismissal. educational exemptions from the fees. Last July, Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. drafted a petition - signed by 11 other universities -- asking NRC to waive the fees. The document argued that because the entire nuclear industry benefits from the training and research carried out at academic facilities, it should pay the cost of regulating university reactors. These arguments - and insights gleaned by commission staff during site visits to the reactors last fall -were pivotal in its decision to rescind To declare a contract void—of no legal force or binding effect—from its inception and thereby restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had no contract ever been made. rescind v. the new fees, NRC said. |
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