NRC COMPLETES VIRGINIA AGREEMENT
TO REGULATE CERTAIN RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an agreement with the commonwealth of Virginia, under which Virginia will assume NRC’s regulatory authority over certain nuclear materials in the state.

Virginia becomes the 36th state to sign such an agreement with the NRC. The agreement is effective March 31.

Under the agreement, the NRC will transfer to Virginia 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) naturally occurring or accelerator-produced radioactive material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); and (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient to form a critical mass.

The NRC will transfer 386 licenses to the commonwealth’s jurisdiction. In addition, the commonwealth retains regulatory authority for approximately 216 NARM licenses. Approximately 180 of these NARM licenses currently are regulated by both Virginia and the NRC.

By law, NRC retains jurisdiction over commercial nuclear power plants and federal agencies using certain nuclear material in Virginia. In addition, NRC retains authority for the review, evaluation and approval of sealed radioactive materials and devices containing certain nuclear materials manufactured in Virginia and distributed throughout the country.

Before approving the agreement, NRC reviewed Virginia’s radiation control program to ensure it is adequate to protect public health and safety and is compatible with the agency’s own program for regulating the radioactive materials covered in the agreement. An announcement of the proposed agreement was published four times in the Federal Register in November and December, inviting comments from the public. The agency received one comment in favor of the proposed agreement.

The agreement will be announced soon in the Federal Register. Copies of the 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.Resource@nrc.gov.  These documents are also available for public inspection at the NRC Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.

Thirty-five 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, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009