ML20055D287
| ML20055D287 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/15/1990 |
| From: | Faulkner H NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | Miller V NRC OFFICE OF GOVERNMENTAL & PUBLIC AFFAIRS (GPA) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20055D259 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-90-169 NUDOCS 9007060102 | |
| Download: ML20055D287 (5) | |
Text
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NUCLEAR REGULATOMY COMMISSION n
REGISNIV 811 RV AN PLARA DRIVE. SUITE 1000 ARLINGTON. TEXAS 70011
,,,p Mt 151990 6M VandyL. Miller,Assistantf MEMORANDUM FOR:
g State Agreements Program, 51 i
FROM:
Howard J. Faulkner, Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator L
SUS.'ECT:
NEBRASKA REVIEW VISIT BACKGROUND A review visit of the Nebraska Radiation Control program was made on February 21-22,1990, by Howard Faulkner in Lincoln, Nebraska. Additionally, I metwithrepresentativesoftheDepartmentofEnvironmentalControl(DEC)to discuss the low-level waste (LLW) facility for the Central Interstate Compact (CIC). The following subject areas were addressed with the Department of Health (DOH) in connection with the radiation control progra,m.
1.
Low-Level Waste Facility 2.
Organization and Staffing Level 3.
Status of Regulations 4.
Out-of-State Licensees 5.
Status of Materials inspections 6.
Radiological Assessment of Curtis Metals Site 7.
Significant Incidents 8.
Review of Last State Inspection of University of Nebraska 9.
Possible NRC Accompaniment at the Next University of Nebraska Inspection DISCUS $10,N The visit included a detailed review of the State's file on the chemical explosion incident at the University of Nebraska and the last regular inspection of the University.
Issues relating to the State's regulatory program for the LLW facility were discussed extensively also. Specifics on each subject area follow, f
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Vandy L. Miller, SP 1.
Recently, DOH and DEC had met to discuss the division of responsibilities and interactions for the two departments in relation
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l to regulating the low-level waste fecility for tie CIC. A second meeting occurred on February 22 during my visit. This meeting l
included each Department's attorneys to assist in reviewing the regulations of each in connection with licensing the LLW facility.
At present, the division of authorities and responsibilities between 3
the two departments has not been fully decided, but the State is getting close to finalizing a regulatory plan.
One possibility is that both 00P and DEC would separately issue licenses for the facility for their specific regulatory areas. Mr Borchert stated that NRC should be more direct in stating our position regarding the regulatory radiation protection aspects of this waste facility.
Following postponement of the planned NRC-Nebraska management meeting l
L scheduled for February 15. DOH acknowledged the State's need to i
contact NRC regarding rescheduling the meeting. The purpose of the i
meeting is to discuss the subjects raised in Mr. Borchert's letter of September 15, 1989 to Mr. Kamerer.
2.
Recently the Bureau within the Department of Health that includes the i
Division of Radiological Health changed name from the Bureau of Health Protection to the Bureau of Environmental Health. The management chain and staffing level of the Radiological Health Division (RH)remainthesame. At the working level, the Division has one full-time person to conduct materials licensing and inspection, and one part-time person for amending regulations. RH has been actively recruiting a low-level waste Section Chief. So far L
they have had only two applicants and neither is properly qualified.
The lack of ap)11 cations is partially due to the low salary being offered, and tie Division is interacting with the state personnel office in an attempt to raise the salary level.
RH has requested an additional nine positions for LLW; the request is being reviewed by the L,egislative Appropriations Comittee.
3.
At the last routine review we noted that the State's regulations were not in full conformance with NRC's regulations. The State's revised regulations are still not in place. -The process of amending the regulations started in 1987.
It included a public hearing in 1988, with the revised regulations being sent to the Attorney General's office in Decenber 1988. RH is now in the process of responding to the Attorney General's coments.
It remains uncertain when the State's regulations will be formally amended. The timely modification of State regulations to conform with NRC regulations has been and remains a recurring problem. However, it should be noted that fully compatible regulations for LLW have been adopted.
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O Vandy L. Miller, Sp
- 4 The state has five out-of-state licensees. All appear to be legitimate situations because of specific or unique circumstances, e.g., a foreign supplier, an interstate pipeline, etc.
I stressed the need to keep out-of-state licenses to a minimum.
5.
For approximately 170 licenses, RH has one full-time person devoted to materials licensing and inspection. Typically, she makes 35 inspections per year. At this point.in time, there are 6 hold-over inspections from 1988, and 44 inspections for 1990 for a total of 50 inspections remaining to be performed in 1990.
Estimating that 30 more inspections will be done this year, leaves 6 backlog of 20 uncompleted inspections at the en6 of the year. At the last routine review, State manpower levels below the NRC guideline of 1.0-1.5 FTE per 100 licenses were identified. That situation remains unchanged.
In the Agreement materials area the State does not have cnough professional staff assigned to properly regulate 170 licenses.
The state needs more resources to properly administer the radiation health program for materials. RH plans to add additional staff when their licensing fee program starts; however, this program is included in the amended regulations that'are still being processed.
6.
I met jointly with personnel of DOH and DEC to discuss the situation at Curtis Metals in Curtis, Nebraska. The facility is used to reclaim lead from used automobile batteries. High radioactivity levels were cetected in groundwater monitoring wells in 1989. Later sampling has not shown similarly high ievels. At the request of the State, a radiological soil survey was performed by ARIX, Inc. Their report indicates that there are areas of slightly elevated radio-activity levels due to U-238 and Ra-226 on the site.
However, there is insufficient activity to explain the initial high groundwater level. The State has concluded that it is not an immediate health problem but they will continue to require that the groundwater be monitored.
Furthermore, the State is considering sampling for Ra-228. At the moment '.he State believes that the radiation is due to naturally occurring materials and that the one instance of very high levels may be due to radon.
The State will keep Region IV informed of their iuture sampling results.
7.
One significant incident occurred in Nebraska in 1989. This was a chemical explosion involving radioactive carbon-14 at a University of Nebraska laboratory. The State promptly investigated the incident, which occurred in July, but they had difficulty obtaining an incident report from the licensee because of the University's interpretation of reporting criteria. Belatedly, the University submitted a report dated October 24, 1989.
In reviewing the report the State has identified a number of violations including the use of radioactive material in an unauthorized location, and they are critical of many aspects of the University's response to the incident. A special O
L-t Vandy L. Miller, SP 4-inspection at the University to address these issues was planned but it has not been made. The State has not formally notified the i
University of their findings and concerns, although a response is being drafted currently.
8.
A detailed review was made of the files of the last State inspection l
to the University of Nebraska which occurred in May 1988. The University has three materials licenses; a broad license, a license for a plutonium / beryllium source used in a suberitical assembly, and a license for a cobalt-60 source used for general research. A notable inspection effort was made by the state that utilized four people for a total of 15 man-days. A large part of the effort focused on training, an area of numerous violations in the past. The inspection identified 12 violations, 5 of which were in the training area. A thorough report of the inspection was prepared by the State indicating that followup audits of individual laboratories should be performed by the State in the coming next 6 months.
Formal correspondence reporting the inspection findings was sent promptly to the University.
In a nine page letter, the University took issue with a number of these violations and they have repeatedly contested making required corrections.
Although the University may be a i
i difficult licensee, it has been over 9 months since receipt of the most recent correspondence from the University without a response by i
the State. To finally close-out the remaining few items requires l
some professional and management attention on the State's part which appears difficult to arrange.
Two other items related to the University of Nebraska licenses are noted. The University's broad license expired on 4/30/89. Although the license remains in timely renewal status, the application has not been reviewed pending resolution of the remaining violations from the last inspection. Also, the University is an Inspection Priority 1 license and it should be inspected annually. Almost 2 years have lapsep since the last inspection.
The University is a major licensee that is not receiving necessary regulatory attention. The long time to close-out the last inspection, the lack of attention to the renewal application, and the infrequent inspections conducted recently show a serious lack of oversight on the State's part.
9.
In light of the above discussion, an NRC accompaniment at the next University of Nebraska inspection seems appropriate.
In addition to meeting with DOH, I also met with J. Ringenberg, DEC program manager for the low-level radioactive waste division and L
C. Dale Jacobson their lead consultent.
Mr. Ringenberg stated that the LLW facility is funded by the Central Interstate Compact and is 8
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Vandy L. Miller, SP !
4 being developed by U. S. Ecology which will be the facility license i
applicant. The license application is expected to be submitted about aid-1990. DEC is the State's regulatory authority for 10 CFR Part 61 facilities. DOH will have responsibility for radiation protection aspects of the facility. Details of the State's licensing procedure and the division of responsibilities and interactions between the two i
departments are still being finalized. A number of documents describing the parties, the process, the division of responsibilities, the interactions, etc., should be completed soon and copies will be sent to NRC.
DEC has regularly interacted with NRC's LLW staff. However, they have not routinely interacted with the Regional Office or State Program staff.
I explained that the Agreement between NRC and the State of Nebraska is administered by the Office of State Programs and l
i the Regional Office for NRC. Whereupon, Mr. Ringenberg invited us to l-meet with DEC on any future visits to Lincoln.
In the future, his office will keep in better contact with State Programs and the
- Region, in connection with the low-level waste facility, Mr. Ringenberg stated that NRC could helo Nebraska by:
- 1) developing a model or l
providing guidance on a LLW facility license, 2) holding workshops or l
meetingsforhostStatesonly,and3)developingguidanceonthe transportation of 'ow-level waste to the host states.
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CONCLUSIONS The implementation of radiation protection regulations compatible with those of l
NRC is overdue and should be corrected expeditiously. The radiological liealth program suffers from a lack of personnel resources; aditional people for the licensing and inspection of materials are needet Protracted negotiations to resolve incident and inspection violations rat serious concerns about the effectiveness of the radiation protection prcuam. Corrective action and management attention are needed.
The next routine review of the Nebraska program is tentatively scheduled for the summer of 1990.
l.
I How r J. Faulkner, l
Spec al Assistant to the l
Regional Administrator n.
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