United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 98-214 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Tuesday, December 1, 1998)

NRC PROPOSES CHANGES TO REGULATIONS

FOR DEVICES CONTAINING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend its regulations in Part 31

governing the use of radioactive material in certain measuring, gauging and controlling devices

to explicitly require licensees who possess the devices to provide information to NRC upon

request.

Companies and individuals are permitted to use the devices under an NRC “general

license,” which means that they need not have a specific license issued to a named individual

or organization with specific license conditions and requirements. A generally licensed device

usually consists of radioactive material contained in a sealed source within a shielded container.

The device is designed with inherent radiation safety features so that it can be used by persons

with no radiation training or experience. The general license is meant to simplify the licensing

process so that a case-by-case determination of the adequacy of radiation training or

experience of each user is not necessary.

There are about 45,000 general licensees under the Commission’s general license

program; they possess about 600,000 devices containing radioactive material. In the past,

these general licensees have not been contacted by the NRC on a regular basis because of the

relatively small radiation risk posed by the devices and the very large number of general

licensees. However, there have been a number of instances in which generally licensed

devices have not been properly handled or properly disposed of. In some cases, this has

resulted in unnecessary radiation exposure to the public and contamination of property.

A three-year NRC sampling of general licensees showed that approximately 15 percent

of those surveyed could not account for all of their devices. The NRC believes this situation

could be addressed by more frequent and timely contact between the general licensees and the

NRC.

While the Atomic Energy Act gives NRC the authority to request appropriate information

from licensees, the Commission has not previously included in its regulations an explicit

provision in this regard for generally licensed devices.

The NRC proposes to use the new requirements for certain general licensees to

establish a registration system. This system would cover generally licensed measuring,

gauging and controlling devices with quantities of certain radioactive materials posing a higher

risk to public safety or of property damage if the device were lost than would other generally

licensed devices. The majority of the devices meeting these criteria are used in commercial

and industrial applications measuring thickness, density or chemical composition in industries
such as petrochemical and steel manufacturing. About 6,000 general licensees possessing

about 24,000 devices will come under the registration requirement.

The proposed revisions would require the affected licensees to respond to NRC

requests for information within 30 days, in most cases.

Interested persons are invited submit comments on the proposed changes within 75

days after publication of a Federal Register notice on this subject, expected shortly. Written

comments should be mailed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Comments

may also be submitted via the NRC’s interactive rulemaking web site at

http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/rule.html .

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