ML20216B788
| ML20216B788 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/05/1998 |
| From: | Bangart R NRC OFFICE OF STATE PROGRAMS (OSP) |
| To: | Godwin A ARIZONA, STATE OF |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9803130186 | |
| Download: ML20216B788 (6) | |
Text
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L mas - s issa
~ Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85049 L
Dear Mr. Godwin:
i The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes our January 15,1998, telephone discussion about your January 5,1998, letter to Frank A. Wenslawski, Chief, NRC Materials
- Branch, Walnut Creek Field Office. The Record incorporates your earlier comments made as a result of your review of a draft document. Unless you recommend further revisions, I will consider the Record as final.
~
In our recent February 17,1998, telephone conversation, you were advised that NRC is no
! longer requesting a written legal opinion from the Arizona Attomey General's office regarding regulatory jurisdiction for these sites #acilities. Instead, in order to address this issue efficiently, we now believe that an informal consultation with an appropriate representative of the Arizona Attorney General's office will suffice if this consultation results in a modification to the position described in your January 5,1998, letter, we request a letter describing that modification.
l l
Since this matter involves fundamental questions of NRC and Agreement State regulatory j authority, its resolution could impact other Agreement States. Therefore, I request a timely l
response and look forward to our cooperative efforts to achieve the goal of establishing greater
! assurance that all former AEC licensed sites #acilities were appropriately decontaminated before license termination.
l Sincerely, W W ha d . Eanh,5 rector
~
9003130186 990305 l ES DR Office of State Programs
Enclosure:
As stated \ ,
l \
Distnbution*
DlR RF DCD (SP08) PDR (YES.f_ NO )
PLohaus I
SDroggitis DSollenberger JGreeves, DWM/NMSS CHackey, RIV CMaupin JHickey LMcLean, RIV JMyers RScamno, RIV JHomor, RIV.*WC Arizona File FWenslawski, RIV EDO r/f ,
DOCUMENT NAME: G:\GODWIN.RB2 *See previous concurrence.
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OFFICE OSP.DMK l NMSS:D l OGC DEDR/EDO l l
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NAME RBangart:kk tsMiit CPaperiello FCameron HLThompson*
) DATE 02/04/989 2/24 02/05/98* 02/10/98* 02/27 /98 g y I*1L- Q 14 _ OSP FILE CODE: SP-AG-2 1 [ r7 ~~ "vn Q g ll$lll$lll$$}lllg
Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85049
Dear Mr. Godwin:
The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes our January 15,1998, telephone L discussion about your January 5,~1998, letter to Frank A. Wenslawski, Chief, NRC Materials L Branch, Walnut Creek Field Office. The Record incorporates your riier comments made as a -
result of your review of a draft document. Unless you recom further revisions, I will
. consider the Record as final.
In our recent February 17,1998, telephone con ation, you were advised that NRC is no
! longer requesting a written legal opinion fro Arizona Attorney General's office regarding regulatory jurisdiction for these sites / faci ' s. Instead, in order to address this issue efficiently, we now believe that an informal cons ation will suffice. If this consultation results in'a
, modification to the position descri in your January 5,1998, letter, we request a letter describing that modification.
i Since this matter involves f amental questions of NRC and Agreement State regulatory I authority, its resolution id impact other Agreement States. Therefore, I request a timely response and look fonw rd to our cooperative efforts to achieve the goal of establishing greater assurance that all former AEC licensed sites / facilities were appropriately decontaminated before license termination.
l Sincerely, i l Richard L. Bangart, Director Office of Stats Programs
Enclosure:
i As stated
!' Distribution:
l DIR RF DCD (SP08) PDR (YESJ_ NO )
l PLohaus SDroggitis DSollenberger JGreeves, DWM/NMSS , . CHackey, RIV CMaupin JHickey LMcLean, RIV l' JMyers - RScarano, RIV JHomor, RIV/WC !
Arizona File FWenslawski, RIV '
DOCUMENT NAME: G:KH)DWIN.RB2 *See previous concurrence.
n , . r - i - e . c- -- r . c .
- v . . .
OFFICE OSP:D y g[' NMSS:D l OGC DEQRyED l l NAME RBangart:kk l LW CPaperiello FCameron HLTH$lHlbson 1 DATE 02/04/98* cM 02/05/98* 02/10/98* 02/lA/98
l l 1
,. q.
I l
Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director '
Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85049 l
Dear Mr. Godwin:
The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes ur January 15,1998, telephone discussion about your January 5,1998, letter to Frank A. nslawski, Chief, NRC Materials Branch, Walnut Creek Field Office. The Record incorporat s your earlier comments made as a result of your review of a draft document. Unless, you rec mmend further revisions, I will consider the Record as final.
My understanding is that you will consult with the Arizon Attorney General's Office. This consultation will establish the State's legal position on th question of whether NRC or the State of Arizona has regulatory authority for potentially conta inated sites / facilities which had operations authorized by former AEC licenses that wer terminated prior to Arizona becoming an Agreement State in 1967. Upon receipt of Arizona' legal position, we will proceed to '
I resolve any remaining issues associated with your Ja uary 5,1998, letter and the Arizona legal opinion.
1 Since this matter involves fundamental questions of RC versus Agreement State regulatory l authority, its resolution could impact other Agreeme t States. Therefore, I request a timely I response and look forward to our cooperative effort to achieve the goal of establishing greater assurance that all former AEC licensed sites /faciliti s were appropriately decontaminated i before license termination.
Sincerely, Richard L. Bangart, Director Office of State Programs
Enclosure:
As stated Distribution:
DIR RF DCD ( P08) PDR (YES NO )
PLohaus SDroggitis DSollenberger JGre ves, DWM/NMSS CHackey, RIV ,
CMaupin JHic ey LMcLean, RIV JMyers RS rano, RIV JHornor, RIV/WC Arizona File FW nslawski, RIV i
DOCU:.:ENT NAME: G:\GODWIN.RB2 r u.c.w . cor or w. oocum.nuaa.t. in in. bor c em . menmer. e = cm -e .wuu n v . wo em l OFFICE OSP:D fj g NMSS:D / \ OD V DEDR/EDO NAME RBangart:k< 8 W CPaperiello / FCameron HLThompson DATE 02 9 /98 02/ /98 02/10/98 02/ /98 OSP FILE CODE: SP-AG-2 l
~ .
Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency i 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85049
Dear Mr. Godwin:
The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes our January 15,1998, telephone discussion about your January 5,1998, letter to Frank A. Wenslawski, Chief, NRC Materials Branch, Walnut Creek Field Office. The Record incorporades your earlier comments made as a result of your review of a draft document. Unless, you recommend further revisions, I will consider the Record as final.
My understanding is that you will consult with the Ariz a Attomey General's Office This consultation will establish the State's legal position on he question of whether NRC or the State of Arizona has regulatory authority for potentially condminated sites / facilities which had operations authorized by former AEC licenses that were terminated prior to Arizona becoming an Agreement State in 1967. Upon receipt of Arizon'a's legal position, we will proceed to resolve any remaining issues associated with your january 5,1998, letter and the Arizona legal opinion.
Since this matter involves fundamental questions of NRC versus Agreement State regulatory authority, its resolution could impact other Agree' ment States. Therefore, I request a timely response and look forward to our cooperative efforts to achieve the goal of establishing greater assurance that all former AEC licensed sites /fa'cilities were appropriately decontaminated before license termination.
Sincerely, Richard L. Bangart, Director Office of State Programs
Enclosure:
As stated Distnbution- l DlR RF _ DCD (SP08) PDR (YES NO ) !
PLohaus l SDroggitis DSollenberger JGreeves, DWM/NMSS CHackey, RIV CMaupin JHickey LMcLean, RIV JMyers RScarano, RIV JHomor, RIV/WC Arizona File FWenslawski, RIV 1 DOCUhiENT NAME: G:\GODWIN.RB2 vo =e. .e == e a. mee.m m nor c . cm.sw.n.o=nu.noow. r co, * .n.o=nu.noow. v wo em OFFICE OSP:D 6 ?! NMSS;:# l OGC DEDR/EDO l l NAME RBangart:k< M CPapeMll/ FCameron HLThompson DATE 02P/98 / 02/6/98 02/ /98 02/ /98 l OSP FILE CODE: SP-AG-2 ,
l I b
L !
l Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director l Arizona Radiation Regu! story Agency l
4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 65049
Dear Mr. Godwin:
The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes ur January 15,1998, telephone discussion about your January 5,1998, letter to Frank A. W nslawski, Chief, NRC Materials i Branch, Walnut Creek Field Office. The Record incorporat your earlier comments made as a result of your review of a draft document. Unless, you re mend further revisions, I will consider the Record as final.
My understanding is that you will consult with the Arizon Attorney General's Office. This consultation will establish the State's legal position on t question of whether NRC or the State of Arizona has regulatory authority for potentially conta inated sites / facilities which had operations authorized by former AEC licenses that wer terminated prior to Arizona becoming an Agreement State in 1967. Upon reca'pt of Arizona' legal position, we will proceed to resolve any remaining issues associated with your Ja uary 5,1998, letter and the Arizona legal opinion.
Since this matter involves fundamental' questions of RC versus Agreement State regulatory authority, its resolution could impact other Agreeme t States. Therefore, I request a timely response and look forward to our cooperative effo to achieve the goal of establishing greater assurance that all former AEC licensed sites /facilit' s were appropriately decontaminated before license termination.-
Sincerely, Richard L. Bangart, Director Office of State Programs
Enclosure:
As stated Diekibution:
DIR RF PLohaus DCD SP08) PDR (YES t[NO )
SDroggitis DSollenberger 'JGr ves, DWM/NMSS CHackey, RIV CMaupin JH' key LMcLean, RIV JMyers R carano, RIV JHomor, RIV/WC
- Arizona File enslawski, RIV DOCUMENT NAME: G:\GODWIN.RB2 *See previous concurrence.
Ta receh,e a cop ' of Ihis document, indicato in the bos: "C" = Copy attachment / enclosure "E" = Cop r with attachment / enclosure "N" a No copy OFFICE OSP:D d 9] NMSS:[f l OGC DEDR/EDO l l NAME RBangart:k( 8W CPaperielig FCameron HLThompson DATE 029 /98 02/5/98* 02/ /98 02/ /98 OSP FILE CODE: SP-AG-2
i pmr g t UNITED STATES
- S U NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I
'E WASHINGTON, D.C. 30eeH001
% ,, March 5, 1998 l Mr. Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85049 i
Dear Mr. Godwin:
The enclosed Telephone Conversation Record summarizes our January 15,1998, telephone discussion about your January 5,1998, letter to Frank A. Wenslawski, Chief, NRC Materials Branch, Walnut Creek Field ONice. The Record incorporates your earlier comments made as a result of your review of a draft document. Unless you recommend further revisions, I will consider the Record as final, in our recent February 17,1998, telephone conversation, you were advised that NRC is no longer requesting a written legal opinion from the Arizona Attomey General's office regarding regulatory jurisdiction for these sites #acilities. Instead, in order to address this issue efficiently, we now believe that an informal consultation with an appropriate representative of the Arizona Attorney General's office will suffice. If this consultation results in a modification to tise position described in your January 5,1998, letter, we request a letter describing that modification.
Since this matter involves fundamental questions of NRC and Agreement State sgulatory authority, its resolution could impact other Agreement States. Therefore, I request a timely response and look forward to our cooperative efforts to achieve the goal of establishing greater assurance that all former AEC licensed sites #acilities were appropriately decontaminated before license termination.
Sincerely, kgt ( p M Richard L. Bangart, Directo Office of State Programs !
Enclosure:
As stated I
l TELEPHONE CONVERSATION RECORD Date: Thursday, January 15,1998
Participants:
Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulation Agency Richard L. Bangart, Director Office of State Programs, NRC
Subject:
A. V. Godwin January 5,1998 Letter to F. A. Wenslawski, WCFO, Region IV Mr. Godwin retumed my call from the previous day. I explained that OSP will take NRC lead responsibility for responding to his letter because of the potentially significant policy and legal issues that were identified. I I emphasized that the likelihood of any significant health and safety concem associated with any of the formerly licensed sites or facilities was essentially zero, based on NRC's and other Agreement State experience to date. I further explained that it was not so much a " mistake" that the licenses were terminated, but that NRC prccedures for license termination have changed with time and that cleanup criteria for unrestricted release have also changed. The NRC evaluation of formerly terminated licenses resulted from GAO reviews and recommendations that the bases for license termination be well documented. We discussed the fact that in the very large majority of cases, no site / facility remediation was necessary. We also discussed that j a rather modest amount of effort is often all that is required to evaluate most of the formerly terminated licenses and that a recent letter from Illinois documented that it had spent only the equivalent of about $50,000 in staff time to evaluate 54 formerly terminated licenses transferred from NRC. We discussed an example former AEC/NRC license located in Arizona for which no further action would be appropriate. This license authorized only relatively short half-life radioactive material and subsequent major construction activities had c. i curred at the licensees former use location.
Mr. Godwin noted that efforts to obtain information about some formerly licensed sites / facilities may be difficult and could require more than nominal resources to complete. He also noted that in the event a site / facility with unacceptable levels of contamination is identified, the required regulatory effort could be significant and if the former licensee or a responsible party could not be identified, the State may subject to certain unacceptable liabilities. Mr. Godwin stated that his q budget was not sufficiently large to accommodate the unplanned work requested /recorrmended l by NRC for the five former licenses that had conducted activities in Arizona, even if only a small or modest amount of effort would be required.
I We discussed the Commission's direction to staff to evaluate approaches that could be used to l obtain assistance for Agreement States to conduct the eva' %ns of former licensed j sites / facilities and complete any additional regulatory actice oat are necessary. I also explained that staff required information from Agreement States about the anticipated costs and amounts of assistance needed before the staff could respond to the Commission. Staff analysis to date indicates that legislation may be needed to provide funding assistance to Agreement !
States for this purpose i preposed that Arizona conduct reviews of formerly licensed .
sites / facilities only to confirm the absence of any significant health and safety concem and the l
r-o 2
absence of unacceptable levels of contamination that could require at least some site access controls. With that confirmation completed, any additional effort by ARRA could be deferred until the determination is completed on whether funding assistance will be provided by NRC.
Mr. Godwin clarified that Arizona's concem addressed not only funding assistance but also addressed the question of whether NRC or Agreement States are responsible for this action to evaluate former AEC/NRC licensed sites / facilities in Agreement States. ARRA believes this is an NRC responsibility. In support of this position, Mr. Godwin noted that radioactive material that requires remediation has been identified at some formerly AEC/NRC licensed sits: that l were evaluated in accordance with the GAO recommendations. He believes this residual radioactive material indicates that the AEC did not adequately perform oversight of these operations and that, therefore, this lapse is the responsibility of the Federal govemmerit. He indicated the GAO recommendations and associated criticisms about inadequate past oversight by AEC and NRC further support the Arizona position that these sites remain a Federal responsibility. ARRA believes that in this case the Federal govemment has failed to perform as required by law (Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended) and is now trying to get the States to perform tasks not performed by the Federal govemment. Thus, the ARRA position is that any additional necessary actions are the responsibility of the person not performing, which in this case is the Federal govemment.
Additionally, he stated that Agreement States were not informed of this responsibility for formerly licensed AEC/NRC facilities at the time of the signing of each Agreement. I acknowledged that the faimess or equity issue associated with this effort is known to NRC, but as approved by the '
Commission in SECY-97-188, NRC has no legal authority in Agreement States for these formerly licensed sites / facilities. ARRA continues to disagree with this NRC position and will not request the docket files for these formerly licensed sites / facilities and will not initiate any evaluations to confirm the absence of health and safety concems associated with these sites / facilities. I noted that ARRA's position may require involvement by the Commission before resolution can be achieved.
I informed Mr. Godwin that I would draft a telephone conversation summary record, transmit it to him for review and comment, and NRC staff would then respond in writing to his January 5, 1998 letter. He indicated that due to travel he would be in the office only on Friday during the week of January 19 -23,1998. I committed to have a draft of the telephone conversation record available for review when he retums to the office. He indicated that after he and I agreed on the summary, he would request a review by the Arizona Attomey General's office to obtain their analysis of the respective NRC and ARRA positions. He indicated that the legal review may require some time to complete.
ih lI
() bg Richard L. Bangart l
Jr41-07-1998 13:17 (C PAD PEG AGEtG h M$p- f02 C O~05 P.01 01
& Ptw Au G in RADIATION REGULATORY AGENCY g O"*'
4814 South doth Street Phoenix, Anzona 85040-2940 A
(602) 255-4845 Fax (602) 437-0705 January 5,1998 Frank A. Wenslawski Chief Materials Branch l U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comnu,ssion p,,, _,,, y,, g,,, 737, o,,,
lj,y,y j Walnut Creek Field OfIice 1459 Maria Lane, Suite 300 b M 0^ % '2 '
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Walnut Creek, CA 94596-5368 n,.
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wa Dear Mr. Wenslawski; Thank you for your letter ofDecember 16,1997. Your letter together with the one dated November 14,1997 signed by Mr. R.L Bangard, indicate a significant failure to perform duties required by the Atomic Energy Act, as amended. These letters indicate that the former U.S. Atomic Energy Commission did not assure the public health and safety by properly documenting the safety of terminated license sites.
The states who signed an Agreement with the AEC and later with the NRC, were induced to do so with the understanding that the health and safety oftheir dtizens had been protected by the respective federal agencies.
Now, without any offer of support, the NRC asks that the Agreement States assume a risk for which we were not informed of at the time we became an Agreement State. In fact, the licenses listed in you letter were not
- ransferred to Arizona. In addition, the NRC has removed the support for training of our personnel so that we can be assured of having competent personnel perform these surveys without incurring additional liability to the State or NRC. Now, some 30 years later, NRC comes fonvard and says we forgot to tell you about this.
I Since the Federal Govenunent issued the authorizations for these persons to possess and use these hazardous materials, inspected the authorized operations utilizing hazardous materials, approved the termination of such authorizations, failed to inform the State of Arizona of this potential liability, and failed to take any constructive action to correct any potential health and safety documentation problems for 20 years, I believe that this is properly a Federal problem. Our limited resources do not allow us to assume this liability, however we will contract to be your agent to investigate this matter funher. For these reasons, we do not believe that we need invoke j274 j.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, to return these licenses to you.
If you are made aware that a health and safety problem. beyond documentation, exists, please inform us immediately. We would expect you as the responsible Federal Agency to take the necessary actions to pro the health and safety of Arizona citizens, Sincerely y ,/
l?O
/ .
& ]&
Aubrey V. Godwin Director cc NRC Commissioners TOTAL P.Ot
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