UNITED STATES

 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 REGION I

475 ALLENDALE ROAD

KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406-1415 

February 9, 2005

Kirksey E. Whatley

Director

Office of Radiation Control 

State Department of Health 

201 Monroe Street

P.O. Box 303017

Montgomery, AL 36130-3017

Dear Mr. Whatley :

A periodic meeting with the Alabama Office of Radiation Control was held on February 1, 2005. 

The purpose of this meeting was to review and discuss the status of Alabama’s Agreement 

State program. Specific topics and issues of importance discussed at the meeting included 

program strengths, staffing and training, performance of licensing and inspection activities, 

incidents and allegations and the updating of regulations for compatibility. 

I have completed and enclosed a general meeting summary. There were no specific actions 

identified during the meeting. 

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

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at 610-337-5358 or

email to sam9@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns. 

Thank you and your staff for the exchange of information and kindness extended during my

visit.

Sincerely,

Original signed by Sheri Minnick

Sheri Minnick

Regional State Agreements Officer

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety
DISTRIBUTION

SPO1

G. Pangburn, RI

F. Costello, RI

J. Zabko, STP

P. Larkins, STP

SISP Review Complete: fmc 2/11/05

DOCUMENT NAME: E:\Filenet\ML050420048.wpd

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OFFICE DNMS/RI N DNMS/RI DNMS/RI

NAME SMinnick SAM9

DATE 2/9/05

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR ALABAMA 
DATE OF MEETING: February 1, 2005 

ATTENDEES: 

NRC 

Sheri Minnick, RSAO, Region I 

STATE 

Kirksey E. Whatley, Director, Office of Radiation Control (ORC) 

James L. McNees, Assistant Director, ORC 

David Walter, Director, Licensing Branch, ORC 

David Turberville, Director, Inspection Branch, ORC 

Myron Rilley, Inspector

DISCUSSION: 

A meeting was held with the Alabama representatives on February 1, 2005 in Montgomery, 

Alabama. The topics listed in NRC letter dated January 7, 2005 (ML 050070066), to Mr.

Whatley were discussed. Details for each area are discussed below. 

The previous IMPEP review was conducted during the period of April 8 -12, 2002. During the 

2002 review, no recommendations or suggestions were made by the team. The Management 

Review Board met on June 24, 2002, concurred on the team’s findings, and found the Alabama 

program adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission’s program. 

Alabama has a comprehensive radiation control program that includes AEA materials, NORM

and NARM, electronic products, environmental surveillance, and emergency preparedness. 

Their program includes about 435 licenses and about 500 general licensees (non tritium). The

program has a Sealed Source & Device capability but there are no sealed source or device

manufacturers in the State. All materials licensing and inspections are performed out of the

Montgomery, Alabama office.

The Program Director explained that their program has good administrative, legislative, legal,

and laboratory support, good equipment, and stable sources of funding. The Office has a

Director, an Assistant Director, and four technical Branches: Inspection Branch; Licensing

Branch; Healing Arts and X-Ray Branch; and the Emergency Planning and Environmental

Monitoring Branch. The Assistant Director is a Certified Health Physicist, provides technical

assistance to the staff, handles complaints and allegations, monitors the IMPEP performance

indicators, and conducts a Radon monitoring/awareness program. The Office is organized

under the Department of Public Health. 

The program supports participation on working groups and committees associated with

technical issues under discussion with the NRC and the Organization of Agreement States, and

the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors. 

The technical staff are fully qualified with a great amount of technical knowledge. Additional

resources, namely X-Ray staff, have been and are continuing to be cross trained as materials

inspectors. All inspection documents are reviewed by an additional staff member before
becoming finalized. There are no overdue inspections. Sufficient equipment and

instrumentation is available for routine inspections and event evaluations. Most of the survey

equipment is calibrated in-house by the staff. 

Since the last IMPEP, the program has lost one license reviewer, a position that the program is

actively seeking to fill. All licensing documents are signed by the Director. There is no licensing

backlog.

The program conducts a certification program for Industrial Radiography. Exam dates 

and application forms are available, and examination dates for 2005 have been 

scheduled in Montgomery, Alabama on February 9, June 29, August 23, and 

December 13, 2005. 

The program conducts self-assessments utilizing the IMPEP indicator guidance criteria prior to 

MPEP reviews, and the Management Review Board previously acknowledged that this was a 

good practice. The Assistant Director has participated on several IMPEP teams and monitors 

the status of the indicators in the Alabama program. The Director related that this participation 

was helpful to them to better understand the IMPEP program and helpful in the assessment of 

their own program. 

The Office Director related that Alabama had experienced very few allegations, that allegations

were processed on a case-by-case basis, and that follow-up inspections were conducted as

needed. A review of the allegations referred to the State by the NRC Region I office indicated

that there had been no allegations referred to the State since the last periodic meeting. Since

the 2002 IMPEP, one allegation was referred to the State and that the State’s allegation report

had been received by the NRC. The State has been very responsive to the Regional requests

when replies or actions were needed to close out the allegations. The State referred one

allegation to Region I.

The mechanism for reporting events, what events to report, the timeliness of reporting,

completeness of the reports, and closing out reports was discussed. Upon review of the NMED

system, and the NRC Operating Events, the reports show that events are being appropriately

reported and documented to NRC and the NMED system. 

The STP’s procedures for reviewing proposed State regulations and the regulation 

amendments needed for adequacy and compatibility and the availability of the regulations on 

the NRC bulletin board were briefly discussed. The RSAO confirmed that the program is 

receiving NRC regulation changes as published and distributed. The Regulation Assessment 

Tracking System (RATS) data sheet for Alabama was reviewed, which shows 

that Alabama is up to date with providing NRC with regulations. 

The next Alabama IMPEP review is currently scheduled for the 2006 fiscal year. 
CONCLUSION: 

The Alabama program has effective management, well trained technical staff, and sufficient 

equipment and resources to carry out the Agreement Program under the IMPEP criteria. The 

State does not currently have any inspection or licensing backlogs and the staff are active in 

participating in the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors activities, Organization 

of Agreement State activities, and NRC/State working groups. All of the IMPEP Indicators 

were discussed and there were no performance issues identified during the meeting. 

ACTION ITEMS: 

None