PRELIMINARY FEE METHODOLOGY FOR RECOVERING GTCC-LLW MANAGEMENT COSTS

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is currently planning a fee to recover costs of managing Greater- Than-Class-C Low-Level Waste (GTCC-LLW). A cash flow basis will be used for fee calculations to ensure recovery of all applicable program costs. Positive cash flows are revenues received from waste generators. Negative cash flows are program expenses for storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of the wastes and for program development, evaluation, and administration. Program balances are the net result of positive and negative cash flows each year. The methodology calculates fees that will recover all program expenses taking into account cost inflation. The methodology is similar in many respects to the procedure used by DOE for determining the adequacy of the fee for high-level waste (HLW) management (DOE 1987), which has been developed and refined over a number of years.