ML20154C137
| ML20154C137 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/01/1998 |
| From: | Duane White NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Tefft D NEW HAMPSHIRE, STATE OF |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9810060161 | |
| Download: ML20154C137 (6) | |
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October 1,1998 Diane E. Tefft, Administrator Radiological Health Bureau Division of Public Health Services Health and Welfare Building 6 Hazen Drive Concord, NH 03301-6527
SUBJECT:
PERIODIC MANAGEMENT MEETING
Dear Ms. Tefft:
A periodic meeting with New Hampshire was held on September 10,1998. The purpose of this meeting was to review and discuss the status of New Hampshire's Agreement State program.
The NRC was represented by Richard Blanton from the NRC's Office of State Programs and l
myself. Specific topics and issues of importance discussed at the meeting included prospective j
program restructuring within the Division of Public Services, action on previous IMPEP review j
findings and Nuclear Materials Events Database reporting, follow-up and closure information.
I have completed and enclosed a general meeting summary, including any specific actions that will be taken as a result of the meeting.
If you feel that our conclusions do not accurately summarize the meeting discussion, or have any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (610) 337-5042 or E-mail to ADW@NRC. GOV to discuss your concems.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely, a
k Duncan White State Agreements Officer Division of Nuclear Materials Safety
Enclosure:
As stated cc:
R. Bores, RI R. Blanton, OSP l
l 9810060161 981001
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PDR STPRO ESGNH W
D. Tefft 2
New Hampshire Radiological Health Bureau Distribution DCD (SPO 1)
R. Blough, RI G. Pangburn, RI l
P. Lohaus, OSP
.j K. Schneider, OSP l
l DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\DNMS\\DOCWORK\\MISCLTR\\LNHRAD.D To receive a copy of this docuenent, indicate in the hos: "C" = Copy w/o attach /enci
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NAME DWhitM "
RBlanton DATE 10/01/98 9/30/98 by e-mail 10/ /90 10/ /98 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
AGREEMENT STATE MEETING
SUMMARY
FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE DATE OF MEETING: September 10,1998 ATTENDEES:
NRC STATE Duncan White, RI Diane Tefft, Administrator Richard Blanton, OSP Dennis O'Dowd, Materials Suoervisor DISCUSSION:
A significant portion of the meeting discussed New Hampshire's actions on the 1997 IMPEP review findings. The proposed status for each of the recommendations in Section 5.0 of the 1997 New Hampshire final IMPEP report is summarized below (numbers correspond to those in the attachment). The actions taken by the Radiological Health Bureau (RHB) for the suggestions from the 1997 report are also provided, but since these do not require a response from the State, no status is provided.
- 1. Open:
The State indicated that it currently has a backlog of inspections that are priority 3 and lower. This is primarily due to the loss of one inspector from the program and the training of a new inspector. The Program Administrator is fully aware of the inspection status and has directed staff that the completion of inspections is a priority.
- 2. Closed:
There have been two enforcement conferences since the last review, and both inspection reports were issued within 30 days. The Materials Supervisor indicated that reports have been completed in a timely manner even when inspectors have been rotated into the Machine Source section.
- 3. Closed:
RHB has been successful in filling vacated positions. One health physicist left the program, has been replaced and the replacement is currently being trained in materials licensing. A vacant clerical position in RHB is also expected to be filled shortly. Thero has also been better utilization of personnel when they move between the Materials and Machine Source sections. Finally, the Program is actively interviewing to fill a vacancy in the emergency response section and plans to utilize the new hire on a program wide basis. This will probably include the responsibility for maintaining NMED and response to incidents.
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- 4. Closed:
A follow up inspection at a medical licensee has been scheduled for one year from a recently held enforcement conference.
5.
The program has established a policy of conducting initialinspections within 12 months for priority 3 and higherlicenses.
6.
RHB is currently meeting inspection goals for reciprocity inspections.
7.
The program has been using the September 1997 NRC/OAS training and qualifications report as their written plan. NRC staff suggested that the State issue a memo to file confirming the State's intent.
8.
Annual inspection accompaniments are being performed in accordance with program policy.
j New Hampshire Meeting Summa;y 2
The program managers indicated that they have made significant progress in utilizing Internet and electronic media resources. All of RHB's health physics staff has Intemet access and the i
program is working on developing a home page.
RHB management requested that NRC notify the State when inspections are performed in their jurisdiction. RHB wanted to use these opportunities to inspect the licensee under their New Hampshire license and have new inspectors accompany the NRC inspector for training purposes NRC staff described the notification process that Region I uses to inform the States of up coming inspections. Region I verified that quarterly inspection schedules are forwarded to the RHB Program Administrator in a timely manner. The most recent schedule received by New Hampshire was for the October - December 1998 period.
1 Since the last IMPEP review, one health physicist (Chris Pirie) left the program. His position was filled the program's radiochemist (Twila Kenna). Dr. Kenna is actively working in the materials section and is currently being trained to perform materials licensing. She has been scheduled for licensing and inspections training. The filling of the position by Dr. Kenna was accomplished by RHB despite an overall downsizing of State operations. The radiochemist position vacated has not yet been filled. Another health physicist (Deborah Russell) working part-time status has retumed to full time status. Additional discussion of personnel issues can be found under New Hampshire's actions in response to the third IMPEP recommendation detailed above.
The Program Administrator described an ongoing reorganization process at the Division level.
Although it is expected that the RHB will be left intact, there will be some streamlining of administrative functions. Ms. Tefft's concem is that a potential long term effect of the reorganization could be the downgrading (i.e., lower pay scales) of positions.
The Program Administrator indicated that the RHB budget for the current fiscal year did not experience any reduction from the previous budget. At this time, anticipated funding for next few fiscal years looks stable. The funding for the RHB comes from a variety of sources, of which approximately 15% of RHB's budget is from direct appropriation with the remainder collected through the collection of fees and grants.
Since the time of the last IMPEP review, the NRC has not referred any allegations to the State for follow-up. The Materials Supentisor stated that information for NMED is sent monthly to NRC's contractor (INEL). The individual assigned the task of maintaining NMED has recently left the program and RHB management is aware of the need to reassign this task to another staff person. NRC staff emphasized that reportable incidents should be directed to the NRC Operations Center and that timely follow-up information be provided to NMED in order to closeout an incident.
Minor changes to New Hampshire regulations were recently completed as of August 4,1998.
The program is in the process of revising a significant portion of their regulations. The revisions have been forwarded to OSP and comments have been provided to the program. The Program Administrator has been advised by legal staff that New Hampshire is unable to implement NRC changes in regulations by license conditions and needs to make the changes through rulemaking.
New Hampshire Meeting Summary 3
The next IMPEP review is scheduled for fiscal year 2001 (October 2000 through September 2001). The next periodic management meeting between the NRC and New Hampshire will be held in approximately 18 months.
CONCLUSION:
==
Conclusion:==
The New Hampshire radioactive materials program is currently behind in the number of inspections and some inspections are overdue.
Action:
Continue to monitor New Hampshire's progress in completing inspections in accordance with their frequency and eliminating the backlog.
l
l ATTACHMENT l
Summary of recommendations and suggestions from 1997 IMPEP Review of the New Hampshire program Recommendations:
1.
Schedule, assign, and inspect core and non-core licensees at regular intervals in accordance with the State's established inspection priority system.
2.
Review and revise the inspection report preparation procecs for those containing enforcement actions to ensure timely issuance of inspection findings.
3.
Evaluate the number of staff needed to implement the program.
4.
Conduct appropriate follow-up to confirm implementation of the licensee's corrective actions when prior inspection identified significant problems.
Suggestions:
5.
Establish a clear policy for the initial inspection (at six or 12 months) of priority 3 and higher licenses and adhere to the established policy.
6.
Increase the number of reciprocity inspections to meet the inspection goals established in IMC 1220.
7.
Develop a written training and qualifications plan.
8.
Adhere to the policy of annual supervisory accompaniments of allinspectors.