Press Release-07-076, NRC Considering Request by Pennsylvania to Become an Agreement State.

Press Release-07-076: NRC Considering Request by Pennsylvania to Become an Agreement State.

ML071660154
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Issue date:	06/15/2007
From:	Office of Public Affairs
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Press Release-07-076
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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov No.07-076 June 15, 2007 NRC CONSIDERING REQUEST BY PENNSYLVANIA TO BECOME AN AGREEMENT STATE The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a request from Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania to assume part of the NRCs regulatory authority over certain nuclear materials in the state. If the request is accepted, Pennsylvania will become the 35th state to sign such an agreement with the NRC.

Under the proposed agreement, the NRC would transfer to Pennsylvania the responsibility for licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of processes related to the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM -

defined as enriched uranium or plutonium); (2) naturally occurring or accelerator produced byproduct material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); and (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient to support a nuclear chain reaction.

If the agreement is approved, approximately 690 NRC licenses, many of them for medical and industrial uses, would be transferred to Pennsylvanias jurisdiction. In addition, Pennsylvania would retain regulatory authority for approximately 460 NARM licenses. The NRC would retain jurisdiction over regulation of commercial nuclear power plants and federal agencies using certain nuclear material in the state, as well as a number of other activities identified in 10 CFR Part 150. In addition, NRC would retain authority for the review, evaluation and approval of sealed sources and devices containing certain nuclear materials within the state.

An announcement of the proposed agreement, along with a summary of the NRC staffs draft assessment of the Pennsylvania program, will be published for comment once a week for four consecutive weeks in the Federal Register. Comments should be sent to Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Copies of the proposed agreement, the governors request and supporting documents, as well as the NRC staffs assessment are available through the NRCs Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room staff at 301-415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209, or by sending an e-mail message to pdr@nrc.gov . These documents are also available for public inspection at the NRC Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.

Thirty-four other states have previously signed such agreements with NRC. They are:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

More information about the Agreement State program is available on the NRCs Web site at this address: http://nrc-stp.ornl.gov/.

News releases are available through a free list serve subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html . The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link.

E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.