Society News Archive
On 18 October 2016, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) asked the staff to conduct an evaluation of, among other things, the pros and cons of different methods of requiring transferors of Category 3 quantities of radioactive material to verify the validity of a transferee's license prior to transfer, the pros and cons of including Category 3 sources in the National Source Tracking System (NSTS), and the risks posed by aggregation of Category 3 sources into Category 2 quantities.
As part of the request for public comment, the NRC has developed specific questions that are separated into sections based on the topics and applicability to relevant stakeholders. These include general questions related to license verification, general questions related to the NSTS, specific questions for licensees related to license verification, specific questions for licensees related to the NSTS, specific questions for Agreement States related to license verification, specific questions for Agreement States related to the NSTS, and other questions.
The NRC is requesting comments on license verification involving transfers of Category 3 quantities of radioactive material and the inclusion of Category 3 sources in the NSTS. Please note that Table 1 of Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 37 provides the thresholds for Category 1 and Category 2 quantities of radioactive material and Appendix E of 10 CFR Part 20 provides the thresholds for Category 1 and 2 sources included in NSTS. The list of radionuclides subject to physical security requirements in 10 CFR Part 37 is different than the list of radionuclides included in NSTS. NRC regulations do not include a definition for Category 3 but the NRC has historically considered the Category 3 threshold to be greater than one-tenth of the Category 2 threshold but less than the Category 2 threshold. The questions may be found on the regulations.gov website under docket ID NRC-2016-0276.
Responses to this solicitation will be considered by NRC in preparing a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate, pursuant to Public Law 113–235, Section 403 and will inform staff consideration of the regulatory impacts for any recommendations related to Category 3 source security and accountability, which will be documented in a paper to be provided to the NRC in August 2017. The NRC, however, does not intend to provide specific responses to comments or other information submitted in response to this request.
More information can be found in the Federal Register notice.