ML22341A123
| ML22341A123 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/07/2022 |
| From: | Flaherty S NRC/NMSS/DMSST/ASPB |
| To: | Kevin Williams NRC/NMSS/DMSST |
| References | |
| Download: ML22341A123 (3) | |
Text
MEMORANDUM TO:
Kevin Williams, Director Division of Materials Safety, Security, State and Tribal Programs Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards FROM:
Sherrie Flaherty Senior Intergovernmental Liaison State Agreement and Liaison Programs Branch Division of Materials Safety, Security, State and Tribal Programs Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF MEETING WITH MISSISSIPPI AGREEMENT STATE PROGRAM PERSONNEL On November 29 and 30, 2022, I met with Ronald Rogers, Program Director of Radiological Health, and Jeff Algee, Radioactive Materials Branch Director with the Mississippi State Department of Health. The purpose of the meeting was, at the request of the state, to provide assistance and guidance to Mississippi as they continue to implement the Performance Improvement Plan dated 11/28/2022 (ML22340A646) following the 2022 IMPEP.
Items of discussion were as follows:
In addressing the staffing deficiency, Mississippi recently hired two health physicists to perform inspections who are in the process of becoming qualified inspectors with the program. Mississippi has contracted with one qualified individual to perform Priority 5 inspections in order to reduce inspection backlog. The Program Director and Branch Director are tracking training and qualifications to ensure inspectors are qualified.
Mississippi has a plan in place, including documentation, for refresher training.
To maintain qualified licensing staff, the Program Director stated that licensing continues to be completed by two qualified contracted employees, one is designated the Licensing Lead.
Licensing actions are peer reviewed and tracked in Web Based Licensing (WBL) by the Branch Director and Licensing Lead.
Current tracking of inspections is done through an Access database. In order to have consistency with licensing and inspection data, Mississippi will be moving that process into WBL, but no timeline has been determined. We looked at the capabilities with the current Mississippi data in WBL. It appears the licensee information is in the system and would only need updated inspection date information to be ready for use. We spent some time going through tracking inspection processes in WBL. We also looked at creating reports in WBL to monitor the status of inspections. The Branch Director was unfamiliar with how WBL could be used for tracking the inspection program. We reached out to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) WBL team and they will provide Mississippi with training on WBL inspection process use when Mississippi is ready to move into WBL.
December 7, 2022 Signed by Flaherty, Sherrie on 12/07/22
K. Williams 2
We discussed tracking reciprocity and the determination of reciprocity candidates.
Mississippi is considering tracking reciprocity inspections in WBL. Mississippis current reciprocity procedure requires annual inspections of 20% of priority 1, 2, and 3 licensees.
Due to current conditions, Mississippi is unable to make that goal and is considering making changes to determining reciprocity candidates but no timeline for this has been determined.
Mississippi is creating a new inspection report to document findings that is more aligned with NRC inspection procedures and consistent between inspectors in the program. It was not completed at the time of this meeting but was in process. We discussed the use of inspection forms that combine check boxes and narrative language in order to efficiently capture the inspectors findings. We looked at a couple of examples from NRC and other states.
Mississippi is working on a plan to communicate inspection findings more efficiently and consistently with licensees. We discussed how WBL could be used to aid with this plan.
Standard form letters could be created through WBL and the timing of issuance of these letters could be tracked. We looked at examples of how this is currently done in other states.
The Branch Director will consider this as part of the plan.
I will follow-up with the Branch Director in about 30 days to see if he has any questions or if I can provide additional information about the topics we discussed. Please let me know if you would like any additional information regarding this meeting.
CONTACT: Sherrie Flaherty Sherrie.flaherty@nrc.gov
ML22341A123 OFFICE NMSS/MSST NAME SFlaherty DATE 12/07/2022