ML20198E184

Notation Vote Disapproving with comments,SECY-98-232, Seaman Nuclear Application for License to Distribute Portable Moisture Density Gauges to General Licensees

ML20198E184
Person / Time
Issue date:	10/14/1998
From:	Mcgaffigan E NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
To:	Hoyle J NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY)
Shared Package
ML20198E143	List: ML20198E138 ML20198E159 ML20198E166 ML20198E183 ML20198E184 ML20198E194
References
SECY-98-232-C, NUDOCS 9812230358
Download: ML20198E184 (2)

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. NOTATION VOTE r

RESPONSE SHEET TO: John C. Hoyle, Secretary l FROM: COMMISSIONER MCGAFFIGAN

SUBJECT:

SECY-98-232 - SEAMAN NUCLEAR'S APPLICATION FOR A l LICENSE TO DISTRIBUTE PORTABLE MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGES TO GENERAL LICENSEES l

Approved Disapproved v Abstain Not Participating COMMENTS:

See attached comments.

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14 , l 'I DATE 1

Entered on "AS" Yes X No l

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CORRESPONDENCE PDR l

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Commissioner McGaffican's Comments on SECY-98-232:

l- At this time, I disapprove the stafTs plan to issue a license to Seaman Nuclear for distribution of certain portable moisture density gauges to persons generally licensed. I am more concerned with the licensing process described by the staff rather than its results. Therefore, I offer the following for the staff's consideration.

l l The paper states that the staffintends to discuss with Califomia and North Carolina-the Agreement States where the other two device distributors are located-the basis for the staff's plan to issue a distribution license to Seaman Nuclear for certain portable moisture density i

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gauges, which contain sources that clearly meet the threshold for the proposed registration program. In other words, the staffintends to " inform" the Agreement States of NRC's decision I in this matter. This limited approach to coordinating with the Agreement States does not appear adequate since two of the three U.S. distributors are located in Agreement States and, as stated m the paper, the staff's proposed action may establish a significant precedent by adding thousands l

of devices to the generally-licensed " pool" subject to the proposed registration program, assuming there is an industry shift to general licensing for this type of device. Also, it is not

clear whether NRC would have a regulatory basis for imposing on other licensees a commitment l

similar to that made by Seaman Nuclear to annually " contact" users of such devices to confirm possession, or whether Agreement States would be willing to impose such requirements. The j staff should more fully engage the interested and affected Agreement States by soliciting their l

input on these and related matters. The staff should then inform the Commission ofits findings and provide their recommendation on whether to proceed with issuing a distribution license to Seaman Nuclear.

l In addition, I am reluctant to make this decision prior to reviewing the results of the ongoing i materials risk assessment study which has the potential to result in a restructuring of the current materials licensing program for several types of devices including the ones discussed in this l paper. For example, the risk study could indicate that the device in question be authorized under a specific license for safety reasons rather than a general license as proposed in this paper.

i Currently, the staffis scheduled to provide its recommendations on how to proceed in this area by December 31,1998.' I would be willing to revisit the Seaman Nuclear issue at that time.

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Also, as part of the Agreement State consultation discussed above, the staff should share the risk l study results and its preliminary recommendations on how to proceed with licensing these l gauges with the Agreement States so that they can also make informed decisions on this issue l whether it is in the context of providing input to the staff or of their own licensing decisions.

l If the Commission does not approve the proposal before us and the staff chooses to resubmit it, the staff should provide the Commission with an estimate of the resource impact of adding approximately 5,000 generally-licensed devices to the " pool" subject to the proposed registration program and whether the program's timeline as described in SECY-98-199 would be negatively impacted.