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Home > Nuclear Materials > Medical, Industrial, and Academic Uses of Nuclear Materials > General License Registration and Tracking

General License Registration and Tracking

The NRC has registered approximately 1,200 of its general licensees (GLs) and to keeps track of approximately 45,000 more general licensees.

For more information, see the following topics:

Background

A generally licensed device is a device containing radioactive material that is typically used to detect, measure, gauge, or control the thickness, density, level, or chemical composition of various items. Examples of such devices are gas chromatographs (detector cells), density gauges, fill-level gauges, and static elimination devices. See our General Licenses Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.

A general licensee is a person or organization that acquires, uses, or possesses a generally licensed device and has received the device through an authorized transfer by the device manufacturer/distributor or by change of company ownership where the device remains in use at a particular location.

NRC decided to register and track generally licensed devices because the NRC wanted to increase control and accountability of generally licensed devices and to prevent them from becoming orphan sources.

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Process Description

The general licensee does not initiate the registration of their devices. The registration process is initiated by the NRC. When the distributor of the generally licensed device makes its quarterly report to the NRC of distributions to general licensees, the information is entered into the General License Tracking System (GLTS). The GLTS is used to create the registration form that is mailed to the general licensee annually along with instructions for completing the form. The mailings are sent out alphabetically on a monthly basis to accommodate companies with several general licensees. The NRC sends out about 200 mailings per month.

Two Federal Register Notices were issued to describe the rulemaking associated with this new system and registration process:

The new rules went into effect on February 16, 2001.

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Status

The General License Tracking System and Registration Program are operating normally. Registrations were issued to approximately 1,500 general licensees. Eighty percent of the registrants responded with a completed registration form. The NRC is following up on the remaining twenty percent to determine their status, update NRC records, and complete the second round of registrations. NRC began issuing the third round of annual registrations in May 2005, and it is expected that registrations will be sent to 1,200 general licensees. A registration fee of $620 will be collected from each general licensee in this round of registrations.

Related Regulations and Guidance

  • Section 31.5 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations - NRC's current regulations concerning general licenses
  • NUREG-1556, Volume 16, "Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses: Program-Specific Guidance About Licenses Authorizing Distribution to General Licensees"

See also Medical, Industrial, and Academic Uses of Nuclear Materials Regulations, Guidance, and Communications page and the frequently asked question, What are the requirements for a general license?

Related Documents and Other Resources

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007