ML20212H053

Responds to Addressed to DA Cool Re NRC Fees for DOE Subcontractors Performing Sealed Source Recovery Work

ML20212H053
Person / Time
Site:	West Valley Demonstration Project
Issue date:	09/27/1999
From:	Funches J NRC OFFICE OF THE CONTROLLER
To:	Turi J ENERGY, DEPT. OF
Shared Package
ML20212H058	List: ML20212H053 ML20212H106
References
NUDOCS 9909300197
Download: ML20212H053 (4)

Text

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UNITED STATES -

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 4"

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20066 0001

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September 27, 1999 Mr. James A. Turi Acting Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management.

Environmental Management U.S. Department of Energy Germantown, MD 20874-1290

Dear Mr.. Turi:

I am responding to your June 8,1999, letter addressed to Donald A. Cool, regarding NRC fees for Department of Energy (DOE) subcontractors performing sealed source recovery work.

Specifically, you request that fees not be assessed under 10 CFR 150.20 (reciprocity) when DOE subcontractors are Agreement State licensees and perform source recovery work under DOE's Off-Site Source Recovery (OSR) program in non-Agreement states. You enclosed an

. April 16,1999, letter from James E. Orban, of DOE's Albuquerque Operations Office, also written to Donald A. Cool, concerning NRC's fee assessments in these instances.

The bases for your request are: (i; yn chose a subcontractor to keep costs down since your goalis to recover sources at the lowest possible cost; (2) recovering sealed sources is a DOE responsibility under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (P.L.99-240); (3) under the pilot program, DOE was taking sources from licensees NRC recommended as high priority cs h issues concerning licensees' ability to maintain control of the material; (4) NRC assessing tucs works against the efforts to keep costs down and remove sources from high priority licenseet {5) in taking sources, DOE ls reducing the number of problematic licensees requiring regulatory oversight, which saves NRC and Agreement States money; and (6) since DOE and NRC are both Federal agencies, the process of trading tax dollars back and forth is in itself an administrative burden.

The NRC Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards has informed us that the OSR program is based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DOE and the NRC concerning managevnt of sealed sources. Under the MOU, NRC may request DOE assistance in the recovery and disposition of byproduct, source, and special nuclear material in the possession of licensees and in the public domain that represent an actual or potential threat to the public health and safety. The DOE's subcontractor (s) will need NRC approval to perform L the source recovery operations in non-Agreement States if the subcontractor does not already hold an NRC specific license authorizing such activities.-

Based on the foregoing information,'l have determined that DOE's subcontractors will be exempted from the payment of Part 170 fees for requests filed with the NRC for approval to possess and use byproduct, source, or special nuclear material in the performance of source recovery operations requested by the NRC under the MOU. In addition, I have determined that DOE subcontractors who hold specific NRC licenses that are limited to authorization to -

possess and use licensed materials for purposes of source recovery under the MOU will be 9909300197 990927 PDR ADOCK 05000201 P

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J. Turi September 27, 1999 exempted from the Part 171 annual fees for that license. I am granting these exemptions pursuant to 10 CFR 170.11(b)(1) and 10 CFR 171.11(b), respectively, having determined l

that such exemptions are authorized by law and are in the public interest.

These fee exemptions are limited to requests filed with the NRC, and licenses issued by the NRC, for activities related to recovery of sources by the DOE at NRC's request under the

- MOU. These fee exemptions do not apply to any other activity (ies) that may be included in a request to the NRC or in a specific license Issued by the NRC covering the source recovery activities covered by the MOU.~ Such requests will be subject to Part 170 fees and such~

specific licensees will be subject to Part 171 annual fees.

In order to qualify for the fee exemptions, applications for NRC approval of these type of.

activities, including requests for reciprocity, must clearly state that the activities will be limited to source recovery and associated activities under the MOU. For example, the applicant could describe the specific activities necessary to perform source retrieval, packaging, delivery for transport, and other.known or potential activities associated with the source recovery, commit that no other activities would be performed without NRC approval, and commit that the activities would be conducted only in situations where NRC has requested DOE assistance with the source recovery under the MOU.

In addition, all requests to the NRC from DOE's subcontractors to possess and use licensed material in the source recovery operations covered by the MOU, including reciprocity requests filed under 10 CFR 150.20, should include a copy of this fee exemption letter.

Should you have any questions about our fee policy, please contact Glenda Jackson at 301 415-6057.

1 Sincerely, 4t%.NfM Jesse L. Funches Chief FinancialOfficer cc:

James E. Orban, Director Robert Campbell Waste Management Division U.S. Department of Energy Department of Energy EM-36, Cloverleaf Albuquerque Operations Office 19901 Germantown Rd PO Box 5400 -

Germantown, MD 20874-1290 Albuquerque, NM 87185-5400 Distribution: (See attached list)

• See previous concurrence.

DOCUMENT NAME: G nDAF9-123.wpd t

(To receive a copy of this document, Indicate in the box: C" Copy without attachment / enclosure E" = Co my with attachment / enclosure "N" = No copy.

OFFICE OCF0/DAF/LFARB C

WlSS C

OCF0/D/DAF N

OGC N

DCFO O N

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NAME '

GCJackson/08Dandois*

DACool*

JTurdici*

TRothschild*

I JF hes DATE 9/14/99 9/15/99 email' 9/20/99 9/14/99 email 9/$/99 9/J-f /99 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY I

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Distribution: Letter to Mr. James A. Turi. Dated sontomhar 27. 1400 G. Jackson, OCFO/DAF/LFARB D. Weiss, OCFO/DAF/LFARB S. Kimberley, OCFO/DAF/LFARB L. Tremper, OCFO/DAF/LFARB B. Jones,' OCFO/DAF/LFARB R. Messler, OCFO/DAF/LFARB M. Messler, OCFO/DAF/LFARB S. Crutchfield, OCFO/DAF/LFARB B. Brown, OCFO/DAF/LFARB M.E. Poteat, OCFO/DAF/LFARB James H. Joyner, Ill, DRMA, RGN I George G. Benoit, DRMA, RGN ll Brenda J. Holt, DRMA, RGN lli Kathleen J. Hamill, DRMA, RGN IV Sheryl O. Villar, Regional Licensing Staff, RI Diane M. Helm, Regional Licensing Staff, Ril Monte Phillips, Regional Licensing Staff, Rlll

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Collen A. Murnahan, Regional Licensing Staff, RIV OCFO/DF/LFARB RF OCFO/DAF RF (DAF 9-123)

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