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# Technical Assistance Request: Application of the Financial Assurance Requir ement in 10 CFR 30.35, 40.36, and 70.25 to Waste Brokers Located in Agreement States

## HPPOS-309 PDR-9306240427

See the memorandum from J. E. Glenn to R. R. Bellamy dated September 31, 1990. 

This memo responds to a technical assistance request (TAR), dated October 24, 1990, inquiring about the applicability of the financial assurance requirements of 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70 to Radiac Research Corporation and NDL Organization, Inc., waste brokers in agreement states. The TAR was referred by NMSS to the Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning (LLWM) who coordinated its response with the Office of the General Counsel (OGC).

Radiac Research Corporation and NDL Organization, Inc., each have an NRC license which allows them to receive and possess packaged solid waste byproduct, source, and special nuclear material, and to transfer such packages to authorized land burial facilities. The possession limits listed in their licenses are such that financial assurance would be required pursuant to 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70. However, their licenses do not permit storage at any location owned to controlled by the licensee in a non-Agreement State. Both licensees also have an Agreement State license from New York State which allows them to store radioactive material at their facility in New York. During routine operations, the licensee sends a truck to customer facilities which picks up prepackaged waste and then either returns to the licensee's Agreement State facility or proceeds to the licensed burial site. Hence, the licensee has no NRC licensed facilities other than their trucks and these are returned to the to the Agreement State for decontamination.

Upon consultation with OGC, it was determined by LLWM that the Decommissioning Rule requirements apply to these waste broker licensees. Implementation of the regulation occurs when possession limit thresholds are met, not be storage or transportation statues described in this situation. Since the licensees' possession quantities of radioactive materials exceeds 105 time the applicable quantities set forth in Appendix C to 10 CFR Part 20, they are required to provide pursuant to 10 CFR 30.35 (a), a decommissioning funding plan for the eventual decontamination and disposal of their trucks and facilities. Each decommissioning plan pursuant to 10 CFR 30.35 (e) must provide a cost estimate for decommissioning (the cost estimate may be greater or lesser than the amounts of financial assurance prescribed by paragraph (d) of 10 CFR 30.35), a selection of a financial assurance method for assuring funds for decommissioning, a copy of the method used to obtain the dollar value that is reflected in the cost estimate, and a means of adjusting the cost estimates and associated funding levels periodically over the life of the facilities. However, licensees are always entitled, pursuant to 10 CFR 30.11 (a), to request an exemption to the Decommissioning Rule requirements and such requests are evaluated on the merits of each specific case.

It was also noted that the Decommissioning Rule is a matter of compatibility with Agreement States.

The key points in LLWM's response to the TAR are as follows:
        - The financial assurance requirements apply to waste brokers because of the quantities of licensed material they are authorized to possess.
        - The waste brokers must submit a decommissioning funding plan (DFP) for the eventual decontamination of their trucks, equipment, and facilities.
        - The DFP, which may be for an amount greater or less than that prescribed in 10 CFR 30.35 (d) (and equivalent provisions of 10 CFR Parts 40 and 70), must contain all the information specified in 10 CFR 30.35 (e).
        - The waste brokers may request, pursuant to 10 CFR 30.11, an exemption from there financial assurance requirements.
        - The provisions of 10 CFR 30.35, 40.36, and 70.25 are a matter of compatibility with the Agreement States.

**Regulatory references:** 10 CFR 30.35, 10 CFR 40.36, 10 CFR 70.25

**Subject codes:** 5.8, 9.0, 12.2

**Applicability:** Byproduct, Source, and Special Nuclear Materials 

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Monday, October 30, 2017