Press Release-08-059, Independent External Review Panel Recommends Changes to NRCs Materials Licensing Process
| ML080780051 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/18/2008 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
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| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-08-059 | |
| Download: ML080780051 (2) | |
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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 Site: http://www.nrc.gov No.08-059 March 18, 2008 INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL REVIEW PANEL RECOMMENDS CHANGES TO NRCS MATERIALS LICENSING PROCESS The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Independent External Review Panel has recommended several changes to the NRCs process for granting licenses to possess radioactive materials aimed at eliminating vulnerabilities that could be exploited by terrorists or other adversaries.
The panel was chartered last October as part of the NRCs response to a Government Accountability Office report that identified several vulnerabilities in the agencys materials licensing process. GAO investigators were able to obtain an NRC materials license under fraudulent pretexts and then alter the license in order to procure radioactive materials in excess of the amounts authorized by the license.
The panels report and recommendations were presented today to the Commission in a public briefing.
Security of radioactive materials is of primary importance to the NRC, said Commission Chairman Dale E. Klein. We welcome the panels recommendations as part of our continuing effort to strengthen our licensing process.
The panels report contains a series of observations and recommendations for the NRC and its 34 Agreement States to improve their process for granting radioactive materials licenses.
Those recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Suspend the good faith presumption that new applicants or licensees seeking significant increases in their possession limits for radioactive materials are honest, perform site visits to a new applicants facilities before issuing a license, and conduct background checks on key personnel.
- Review publicly available licensing guidance to identify and remove information that might be helpful to an adversary seeking to exploit the process.
- Integrate the NRCs Web-Based Licensing System and the National Source Tracking System, both now under development, and include a mechanism for licensees and vendors to enter real-time information on transfers of radioactive materials.
- Develop detailed physical security requirements for licensees who possess risk-significant radioactive materials.
- Give security equal billing to health and safety when training NRC or Agreement State licensing officers, so that license reviewers are trained to recognize a malevolent applicant.
The Independent External Review Panel was chaired by Thomas E. Hill, former director of the Georgia Radiation Control Program, and included Benjamin Nerud of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Dr. Michael Ryan, chairman of the NRCs Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste & Materials.
The panels report is available through the NRCs ADAMS document system at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html by entering access number ML080700957.
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