UNITED STATES

 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 REGION I

475 ALLENDALE ROAD

KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406-1415 

October 23, 2006

Beverly O. Hall, Chief

Radiation Protection Section

Division of Environmental Health

Department of Environment & Natural Resources

3825 Barrett Drive

Raleigh, NC 27609-7221

Dear Ms. Hall:

A periodic meeting with the North Carolina Radiation Protection Section was held on August 23,

2006. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the status of the North Carolina 

Agreement State program. The NRC was represented by William Rautzen from the NRC’s

Office of State and Tribal Programs and me. Specific topics and issues of importance

discussed at the meeting included the reorganization of the Section and the Section’s actions in

response to the recommendations from the 2004 Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation

Program review.

I have completed and enclosed a general 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 discussions, or have

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (610) 337-5042 or

by e-mail at adw@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Original signed by Duncan White

Duncan White, CHP

Regional State Agreements Officer

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety

Enclosure: As stated

cc:

W. Rautzen, MSSA

L. Cox, North Carolina
B. Hall 2

North Carolina Radiation Protection Section

DISTRIBUTION

RIDS SPO1

G. Pangburn, RI

J. Schlueter, MSSA

S. Moore, MSSA

A. McCraw, MSSA

DOCUMENT NAME: C:\FileNet\ML062970108.wpd

SUNSI Review Complete: DWhite

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OFFICE DNMS/RI N DNMS/RI DNMS/RI

NAME DWhite adw

DATE 10/23/06

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR 

NORTH CAROLINA RADIATION PROTECTION SECTION

DATE OF MEETING: August 23, 2006

ATTENDEES:

Duncan White, RSAO

Bill Rautzen, ASPO

Lee Cox, Supervisor, Radioactive Materials Branch

Beverly Hall, Chief, Radiation Protection Section

DISCUSSION:

A. IMPEP Recommendations

There were two recommendations from the last Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation

Program (IMPEP) review of the North Carolina Agreement State program that occurred August

16-20, 2004

1. The review team recommends that the Branch develop and implement a reliable and

comprehensive licensing and inspection, and SS&D product evaluation database that

serves as an effective planning, tracking and management tool.

Current Status: The Branch has revised and updated both the licensing and inspection

and the SS&D databases. The databases are able to generate the information needed

to serve as effective management tools. It is recommended that this item be verified at

the next review.

2. The review team recommends that the Branch assess their licensing quality control

process and tools to improve accuracy and consistency of licensing actions.

Current Status: The Branch has implemented a quality assurance/quality control program

to improve the quality and consistency of the licensing actions. These include templates

for individual license types and a single set of license conditions. It is recommended that

this item be verified at the next review.

B. Program Status

Earlier this year, the Branch was reorganized to address the need for staff in order to meet

increased responsibilities. Overall, the Branch has an additional 2.5 FTEs. Incident response 

activities are now part of the Branch since most incidents are related to radioactive materials. 

Staff assignments were also realigned with separation of licensing, incident response and

inspection responsibilities. Two individuals are now home-based inspectors, another two

individuals work out of the Raleigh office on inspection and licensing and yet another two

individuals are assigned licensing, regulations and sealed source and device (SS&D)

evaluations. One individual is assigned as a waste coordinator and another individual is

assigned as incident coordinator and lead on security inspections. These individuals have been

participating in two year programs of Certified Public Management and Masters of Arts program

in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense) from the Naval Post Graduate School in

Monterey, California respectively which has consumed a significant amount of time. Both
North Carolina Periodic Meeting Summary Page 2 

August 23, 2006

individuals will be completing the programs in October 2006 which will allow them to refocus

efforts on their lead responsibilities. Another individual is part time with the Branch and assigned

the general licensing program. The Branch also includes a supervisor and administrative

assistant. The Branch Supervisor indicated the reorganization has worked well since its

implementation. 

There are currently no vacancies in the Branch. Since the last IMPEP review, one individual left

the Branch and that vacancy was filled with a trainee. The Branch found it impossible to recruit

a fully trained individual at the low salary offered, so a trainee position was created and filled.

The Branch Supervisor reported that there are no overdue inspections or licensing backlog. The

Branch has identified 49 licensees that required inspections for increased controls. The Branch

has started the inspections and has planned to increase the number of increased control

inspections performed. The Branch anticipates completing the required increased controls

inspections by the end of the year. With regard to the protection of sensitive information, the

Branch has received feedback from their Attorney General that this information can be protected

under State law.

Since the last IMPEP review, NRC staff found 61 events in the Nuclear Materials Events

Database (NMED). Twenty six (26) of the events were reportable and all were found to be

complete and updated in a timely manner. The Radioactive Materials Supervisor discussed an

initiative in 2005 resulting in the simultaneous inspections of all nuclear pharmacies of a

particular licensee due to the Branch’s concerns over the licensee’s rapid expansion in the State

and a contamination event at one of their facilities. The initiative was successful in re- focusing

the licensee’s attention on health and safety issues. There was one allegation referred by

Region I to the Branch. NRC staff determined that the State took appropriate action on this

matter. 

The Branch has processed a number of SS&D requests in 2006. One significant effort was the

amendment of all Troxler SS&D registry sheets to increase the leak test frequency from 6 to 12

months. The Branch is also working on two requests for general licensed chemical agent

detectors for use by the military. The Branch Supervisor noted that a number of manufacturers

and distributors in the State are going out of business and that the Branch needs to be proactive

in investigating and ensuring the proper transfer and/or disposal of radioactive material prior to

terminating their licensed activities in an orderly fashion.

The Branch is currently working on a number of requests for large and complicated licenses

including a commercial panoramic irradiator and new licenses to support the buildup of the fuel

cycle operations at Global Nuclear Fuels. With regard to decommissioning, the Branch will be

following up on a potential 10 CFR Part 20.304 legacy waste burial issue at North Carolina

State. A significant licensing issue that the Bureau is currently evaluating involves a potentially

large number of public and private water treatment systems (approximately 90 systems) across

the State that are designed to remove uranium and radium from the water to meet the new EPA

drinking water standard. One proposed solution for compliance is removal of uranium and

radium by anion/cation exchange on resin filter media. The Section is evaluating data and

information along with other States agencies to determine, if any, licensing issues could arise

with concentrated amounts of uranium and radium on resin media and backwash. 
North Carolina Periodic Meeting Summary Page 3 

August 23, 2006

Since the IMPEP review in 2004, there has been no legislative changes. NRC staff reviewed the

most recent State Regulation Status (SRS) Sheet dated August 15, 2006 with Branch staff. In

the table below, the current status and the State’s next action for each RATS ID either not done

or partially completed are presented.

RATS ID Status on SRS Sheet Current Status Next Actions 

1998-4 No action 2004 IMPEP report indicated

draft version reviewed by NRC

NRC will determine if the draft

and/or final version of the

amendment was submitted for

NRC review.

2002-2 No action Branch currently working with

advisory group on drafting

regulations

Start administrative process to

adopt regulations in January

2007

2004-1 No action No activity Branch will start work on

drafting regulations at a later

date

2005-1 No action No activity Branch will start work on

drafting regulations at a later

date

2005-2 No action Branch currently working with

advisory group on drafting

regulations

Start administrative process to

adopt regulations in January

2007

2006-1 No action No activity Branch will start work on

drafting regulations at a later

date

C. Other Discussion Topics

The Branch indicated that their strengths included licensing, timely completion of SS&D

evaluations and the regionalization of their inspection and incident response activities. 

Challenges for the program include recruiting qualified personnel due to low salaries, the

implementation of the increased controls, continued need to upgrade and automate the

inspection documentation process and improve the effectiveness of the general license

registration program.

In terms of feedback, the Branch had positive experiences with the NRC on the coordination of

the new irradiator application with NMSS and NSIR, the useful and applicability of NMED and

communications with the Region and STP on incidents. The Branch had a number of comments

where the NRC’s performance could have been better. These included the lack of timeliness

(two years) for the NRC to reach a decision on the North Carolina State irradiator/research

reactor issue, the onslaught of requests and mandates (particularly increased controls) and its

impact on State resources, the confusion exhibited by NRC in implementing the pre-licensing

review and the lack of knowledge and understanding exhibited by the NRC of the 1997

compatibility policy during the NARM rulemaking process.
North Carolina Periodic Meeting Summary Page 4 

August 23, 2006

NRC staff described the current status of NRC’s security initiatives involving material licensees,

changes in the Commission and new Chairman, management changes at the Region and

headquarters, current status of NRC’s activities with regard to the Energy Policy Act, proposed

reorganizations of NMSS, STP and NRR, transfer of Mississippi to Region IV, and status of

States pursuing Agreement State status.

D. Conclusions

NRC staff concluded that the next IMPEP review should be conducted as scheduled in FY 2008. 

Section and Branch management was invited to participate when NRC staff presents the results

of this periodic meeting to the MRB. No specific actions were identified as a result of this

meeting.