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IN RESPONSE, PLEASE
REFER TO: M980331B

April 27, 1998

The Commission was briefed by representatives of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Agreement States on issues of concern to the Agreement States and by the NRC staff on the status of the IMPEP program.

The Commission urged the Organization of Agreement States to consider the following actions:

• discuss Agreement States' concerns directly with NRC's Office of Investigation to ensure mutual understanding of the problems and perspectives associated with the conduct of NRC investigations.
  
  
• generally discuss Agreement States' concerns directly with NRC's Office of Public Affairs to improve cooperation between the Agreement States and the NRC in the areas of information sharing, coordination on release of sensitive information, timely issuance of press releases, and professional courtesy. Discussions with AEOD should be considered to improve cooperation on handling of Agreement State event information and discussions directly with NRC's Agency Allegations Adviser should be considered to improve cooperation on processing of Agreement State allegations.
  
  
• conduct a survey prior to the next OAS meeting to determine the current status and estimated costs of Agreement State efforts to address the issue of potentially contaminated sites formerly licensed by the NRC or the AEC and provide the results to the NRC for the purpose of deciding whether NRC should seek funding relief for the states from the Congress.

The Commission requested that the NRC staff :

• consider establishing a standard period of heightened oversight after which an Agreement State program still found "adequate, but needs improvement," would be referred to the Commission for appropriate action.
  
  
• further improve the timeliness of issuing IMPEP final Agreement State reports through the establishment of cutoff dates for State and NRC reviews of draft reports and a cutoff date for new information to be incorporated into the final report.