NRC: News Release - 2003-042 - NRC Considering Request by Wisconsin to Be an "Agreement State"

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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs	Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
www.nrc.gov

No. 03-042

April 2, 2003

NRC CONSIDERING REQUEST BY WISCONSIN
TO BE AN “AGREEMENT STATE”
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering a request from Wisconsin to assume part of the agency’s regulatory authority over certain nuclear materials in the State. If the request is accepted, Wisconsin will become the 33^rd State to sign such an agreement with the NRC.

Under the proposed agreement, the NRC would transfer to Wisconsin the responsibility for licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as a result of processes related to the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM) ; (2) uranium and thorium source materials; and (3) SNM in quantities not sufficient to support a nuclear chain reaction.

If the agreement is approved, approximately 260 NRC licenses, most of them for medical and industrial uses, would be transferred to Wisconsin’s jurisdiction. The NRC would retain jurisdiction over about 10 nuclear materials licenses and over regulation of nuclear reactors in Wisconsin. It would also continue to regulate Federal agencies that use certain nuclear material in the State.

Before entering into the agreement, NRC will review the State’s radiation control program to ensure it is adequate to protect public health and safety and is compatible with NRC’s program for regulating the radioactive materials covered in the agreement.

An announcement of the proposed agreement, along with a summary of the NRC staff draft assessment of the Wisconsin program, will be published for public comment once a week for four consecutive weeks in the Federal Register. Interested persons are invited to provide comments to Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch, Division of Freedom of Information and Publications Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Copies of the proposed agreement, the Governor’s request and supporting documents, as well as the NRC staff’s assessment are available through the NRC’s 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-two 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, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. In addition, Pennsylvania and Minnesota are in various stages of entering into agreements with the NRC.