ML030690635
| ML030690635 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/30/2023 |
| From: | Essig T NRC/NMSS/IMNS/MSIB |
| To: | Alvarado M Industrial Dynamics Co, LTD |
| References | |
| Download: ML030690635 (1) | |
Text
August 30, 2023 Industrial Dynamics Company Attn: Michelle Alvarado 3100 Fujita Street Torrance, CA 90505
Dear Ms. Alvarado:
This letter is in response to the question you raised during a telephone conversation with NRC staff regarding whether your procedures for shipping radioactive sources to entities holding a general license pursuant to 10 CFR 31.5 are authorized. As we understand the issue, when you arrange for a new device to be installed at the facility of the general licensee, your procedures allow for the general licensee to temporarily store a source in the unopened Type A shipping container in a locked area until a specific licensee arrives to install the source in a previously-shipped device. You have requested written confirmation as to whether this practice is generally acceptable. You indicated that your specific concern involved a shipment of specifically-licensed sealed sources that had been sent to Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri, for subsequent (usually within 24-hour) installation in a generally licensed device.
10 CFR 31.5 states that a general license is... issued to commercial and industrial firms.
.. to receive, possess, use or transfer... byproduct material contained in devices....
(emphasis added). General licensing of such devices was first authorized in 1959 as a part of the Part 30 regulations. The Statements of Consideration issued at the time stated: Experience has indicated a need for a simplified procedure to allow users of such devices to possess and use byproduct material, when contained in such devices, without obtaining a specific license.
29 FR 1089 (February 12, 1959)(emphasis added). The terms of the regulation itself as well as the Statements of Consideration make it clear that the general license applies only to byproduct material when it is contained in the devices. The general license granted pursuant to 10 CFR 31.5 does not authorize storage or possession of specifically licensed byproduct material.
In addition, 10 CFR 30.41(a) states, No licensee shall transfer byproduct material except as authorized pursuant to this section. 10 CFR 30.41(b) (5) allows for transfer only to a person authorized to receive such byproduct material under terms of a specific license or a general license.... 10 CFR 30.41(c) requires that [b]efore transferring byproduct material to... a general licensee... the licensee transferring the material shall verify that the transferees license authorizes the receipt of the type, form, and quantity of byproduct material to be transferred. Your procedures for shipping specifically licensed byproduct material separately from the device to a general licensee for storage do not appear to be in accordance with these regulations.
M. Alvarado 2
During its consideration of this matter, the NRC staff consulted with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to determine whether this storage of byproduct material might fall within the definition of storage incident to transport such as would not require a specific license.
Transportation ends with the receipt of the material by the consignee, in this case, the general licensee. Therefore, the staff has determined that these shipments, as you have described them, do not fall within the definition of storage incident to transport.
In summary, for the reasons described above, the staff has determined that a general licensee such as Anheuser-Busch would not be authorized to store the sources under its Part 31 general license and that your procedures authorizing such a practice are not in accordance with NRC requirements.
Sincerely, Thomas H. Essig, Chief Materials Safety and Inspection Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS
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- SEE PREVIOUS CONCURRENCE OFC MSIB E
MSIB OGC MSIB NAME BKTharakan*
MGBailey*
STreby*
THEssig DATE 3/13/03 3/13/03 4/8/03 4/ /03