March 5, 2003

Michael E. Henry

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality

Permits Division

Office of Environmental Services

7220 Bluebonnet Road

P.O. Box 82135

Baton Rouge, LA 70884-2135

Dear Mr. Henry:

A periodic meeting was held with you and your staff on February 19, 2003. The purpose of this

meeting was to review and discuss the status of Louisiana’s Agreement State Program. The

NRC was represented by Elmo Collins from NRC’s Region IV Office, Andrew Mauer from the

Office of State and Tribal Programs, and me. I have completed and enclosed a meeting

summary, including any specific actions that will be taken as a result of the meeting.

If you feel that our conclusions do not accurately summarize the meeting discussion, or have

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (817) 860-8116 or

e-mail mlm1@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns.

/RA

Linda McLean

Regional State Agreements Officer

Region IV

Enclosure:

As stated

cc w/enclosure:

Paul Lohaus, Director 

Office of State and Tribal Programs 
bcc:

SPO1

e-mail DCD

E. Collins

L.McLean

V.Campbell

J. Piccone, STP

K. Schneider, STP

L. Rakovan, STP

A. Mauer, STP

W. Maier

J. Whitten

DOCUMENT NAME: S:\DNMS\SAO\Periodic Meetings\2003\Louisiana/Periodic Meeting

Summary
AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY

LOUISIANA

DATE OF MEETING: February 19, 2003

ATTENDEES:

NRC

Elmo Collins, Director, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region IV

Linda McLean, Regional State Agreements Officer, Region IV

Andrew Mauer, STP

State of Louisiana

Michael Henry, State Liaison Officer

Lourdes Itturralde.

Verretta Johnson

Jodi Miller

Sharon Parker 

Joe Noble

Ann Troxler

Jennifer Moutin

In addition, Mr. Collins and Mrs. McLean met with Dr. Bohlinger, Mr. Wascom, and Mr. Vince to

discuss some items from the meeting. 

DISCUSSION:

The following is a summary of the meeting held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on February 19,

2003, between representatives of the NRC and the State of Louisiana, Department of

Environmental Quality (the Department). During the meeting, the topics suggested in the letter

dated December 19, 2002, from Mrs. McLean to Mr. Henry, were discussed. The discussion

pertaining to each topic is summarized below.

The status of the recommendation outlined in Section 5.0 of the final IMPEP report was 

discussed and is summarized below. 

The review team recommended that the Department either use the existing site characterization

to terminate the cesium-137 contamination possession license; recharacterize the site using

current decommissioning criteria; or require the licensee to begin decommissioning activities in

accordance with the Decommissioning Timeliness Rule. 

Status at Last Periodic Meeting: The Department recharacterized the site and found that the

site does not meet the criteria for license termination. The Department has contacted the EPA

for their assistance in decontaminating the site under EPA’s Super Fund program. The EPA

has done extensive sampling at the site, but has not yet decided to include this site to their

Super Fund program. 
Current Status: The EPA has included this site to their Super Fund program. Decontamination

of the site has been on going. It is expected that the work will be completed by April 2003. 

It is recommended that this item be closed at the next IMPEP review.

Strengths and/or weaknesses of the State program as identified by the State or NRC, including

identification of actions that could diminish weaknesses. 

Strengths: The State has had very little turn-over; therefore, the Department’s staff is well

qualified and experienced. In addition, the dedication and conscientiousness of the

Department’s staff was recognized as a major program strength. Another program strength is

the Department’s new database system and management tool called TEMPO.

Weaknesses: The reorganization that occurred in 1999-2000 has been a challenge to the

Department. On July 1, 1999, the Department began a significant reorganization. The

Department is divided into four Offices which report to the Secretary. The Office of

Environmental Services contains the Permits Division; the Office of Environmental Compliance

contains the Surveillance and Enforcement Divisions; the Office of Management and Finance

has the Laboratory Services Division; and the Office of Environmental Assessment includes the

Environmental Planning Division. 

The reorganization assigned Departmental offices by function rather than by program specialty.

Thus, all Departmental inspection and compliance activities, including emergency response, are

performed by the Surveillance Division. This Division inspects radioactive materials, hazardous

materials, radiation-producing machines, air quality, water quality, asbestos, underground

storage tanks, tire disposal, etc. The Permits Division is responsible for all licensing/permitting

in the same manner. The radioisotope laboratory is part of the Laboratory Services Division. 

Enforcement is performed by the Enforcement Division. Regulations are developed and

maintained by the Environmental Planning Division. Staff is still adjusting to the new

organization. 

Feedback on NRC’s program as identified by the State and including identification of any action

that should be considered by NRC.

The Department would like NRC to reconsider providing funding to Agreement States for

training. 

Status of State Program or policy changes under development or recently completed including:

a. Changes in program staff/program reorganization: See above section on the

Department’s reorganization. 

b. Legislative changes: The Department may have field citation capabilities, (i.e.,

inspectors will be authorized to issue monetary fines). 

c. Changes in program budget/funding: Fees have been increased by 10% this fiscal year

with an additional 5% authorized in the future. All fees go into a general fund for the

entire Department’s budget. 
Status of NRC program changes (similar to those in 4) that could impact Agreement States.

Topics discussed: Portable gauge rulemaking: A package was shared with the Agreement

States in mid-December on the proposed rulemaking. Since that time NRC has modified the

rule language because of possible conflicts with the DOT/NRC Memorandum of Understanding. 

A new version of the package is currently still within the working group.

Panoramic Irradiator Compensatory Measures: These are currently under consideration by the

Commission. The State of Louisiana has one panoramic irradiator licensee at Louisiana State

University.

Periodic Meetings: Currently the NRC is reviewing the Periodic Meeting process and is

reviewing comments received by NRC staff and Agreement States

Status of Inspections: 

The Department acknowledged that they have overdue inspections and they are behind in

reciprocity inspections. In addition, not all inspectors have been accompanied annually. (The

exact number of reciprocity or overdue inspections was not available for this meeting.) It was

suggested that they use the calculation in Procedure SA-101, “Status of Materials Inspection

Program” to determine where they are in the rating categories. 

Status of all allegations and concerns previously referred by NRC to the Agreement State

Radiation Control Program for action, and methods used to resolve allegations that have been

closed.

There were no allegations forwarded to the State during this review period. 

Compatibility of Agreement State regulations.

The State of Louisiana is current with all of their regulations. There was one amendment

(RATS-ID 1998-6) mentioned that STP hasn't reviewed. A review of the State's regulations

shows that the amendment was adopted. The State has since furnished a copy of this

amendment to STP for review.

NMED reporting including event follow-up and closure information.

The State of Louisiana consistently provides complete information to NMED. 

Date of the next IMPEP Review.

The next IMPEP is scheduled for fiscal year 2004. The State requested that the review be

scheduled for the first quarter of FY04.