UNITED STATES 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

REGION IV 

611 RYAN PLAZA DRIVE, SUITE 400 

ARLINGTON, TEXAS 760114005 

August 19,2004 

Mr. William Floyd, Manager 

Radiation Control Bureau 

Field Operations Division 

New Mexico Environment Department 

P.O. Box 261 10 

Santa Fe, NM 87502 

Dear Mr. Floyd: 

A periodic meeting with New Mexico was held on July 21 , 2004. The purpose of this meeting 

was to review and discuss the status of New Mexico's Agreement State program. The NRC 

was represented by Mark Satorius, Director, Division of Nuclear Safety from NRC's Region IV 

Office, and Cardelia Maupin (by telephone), Agreement State Project Officer for New Mexico, 

from the NRC's Office of State and Tribal Programs, and me. Specific topics and issues of 

importance discussed at the meeting included staffing and training, regulations update, and 

materials inspection status. 

I have completed and enclosed a general meeting summary, including any specific actions 

resulting from the discussions. 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) 860-81 16 or e-mail to mlml@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns. 

Sincerely, 

Linda McLean 

State Agreements Officer 

Region IV 

cc: 

Paul Lohaus, Director 

Office of State and Tribal Programs 

Enclosure: Agreement State Periodic Meeting 

Summary for New Mexico 
William Floyd 

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CLCain 

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DOCUMENT NAME: draft: S:\DNMS\SAO\Periodic Meetings\2004\New MexicoE004 Periodic Meeting 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax 
NEW MEXICO PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY 

DATE OF MEETING: July 21 , 2004 

ATTENDEES: 

Mark Satorious, Director, Division of Nuclear Safety, Region IV 

Linda McLean, Regional State Agreements Officer, Region IV 

Cardelia Maupin, Agreement State Project Officer, STP (by phone) 

State of New Mexico 

John Parker, Bureau Chief 

William Floyd, Program Manager 

Stanley Fitch, Environmental Specialist 

Margaret Roybal, Environmental Specialist 

Sherry Miller, Environmental Specialist 

Michael Ortiz, Environmental Specialist 

Edward Digil, Environmental Specialist 

DISCUSSION: 

The New Mexico Agreement State Program is administered by the Radiation Control Bureau in 

the Field Operations Division of the New Mexico Environment Department. The day-today 

operations are carried out by the Radiation Protection Program (the Program) which reports to 

the Bureau Chief. The Program is supervised by a Program Manager. The Agreement State 

Program regulates approximately 200 specific licenses authorizing Agreement materials. 

The following is a summary of the meeting held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on July 21,2004, 

between representatives of the NRC and the State of New Nlexico. During the meeting, the 

topics suggested in the letter dated May 10, 2004, from Mrs. McLean to Mr. Floyd were 

discussed. The discussion pertaining to each topic is summarized below. 

The proposed status for each of the recommendations in Section 5.0 of the 2001 New Mexico’s 

final IMPEP report is summarized below. A copy of Section 5.0 of the IMPEP report is attached 

for reference. 

Recommendation: 

1. The review team recommended that the State adopt the regulations, or other legally 

binding requirements, which are overdue for adoption. 

Current Status: The State submitted eight rule making packages for NRC review. The 

NRC had no comments as the result of the review, and the rules became effective on 

April 15, 2004. The State currently has the following five overdue regulations. 
NEW MEXICO PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY 

0 “Recognition of Agreement State Licenses in Areas Under Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction 

Within an Agreement State,” 10 CFR Part 150 amendment (62 FR 1662) that became 

effective February 27, 1997. 

0 “Respiratory Protection and Controls to Restrict Internal Exposures,” 10 CFR Part 20 

amendment (64 FR 54543 and 64 FR 55524) that became effective February 2,2000. 

0 “Energy Compensation Sources for Well Logging and Other Regulatory Clarifications,” 

10 CFR Part 39 amendment (65 FR 20337) that became effective May 17,2000. 

e “New Dosimetry Technology,” 10 CFR Parts 34,36, and 39 amendments (65 FR 63749 

and 66 FR 1573) that became effective January 8,2001. 

e “Requirements for Certain Generally Licensed Industrial Devices Containing Byproduct 

Materials,’’ 10 CFR Parts 30, 31, and 32 (65 FR 791 62) that became effective February 

16,2001. 

It is recommended that this item remain open. 

Other topics covered at the meeting included: 

2. Strenaths and/or weaknesses of the State Droaram as identified bv the State or NRC, 

includina identification of actions that could diminish weaknesses. 

Strenqths: The Program has an experienced and motivated staff, and is fully staffed for 

radioactive material activities. The State promulgated rules to establish a dedicated fee 

structure to support the Program. On May 19, 2002, the State’s fee schedule was 

adopted. This has provided the Program with greater opportunities for staff training and 

for public outreach. The fees have provided adequate money for staff training, better 

radiation detection equipment and other equipment needed for the Program. In 

addition, the Program has been able to increase salary levels and travel per diem levels. 

Weaknesses: The Program has inadequate administrative support. 

3. Status of State Proaram includinq: 

a. Staffing and Training: Two new staff have been hired in fiscal year (FY)04. The two 

are being crossed trained in X-ray and radioactive materials inspections. Three 

positions have been approved for the X-ray inspection program: one for FY05 and two 

for FY06. Each staff member will be able to take at least one training course in FY05. 

b. Materials Inspection Program: The Program has no overdue inspections. Also, 

there is no backlog in licensing actions. 

c. Regulations and Legislative changes: This item is discussed above. 

d. Program reorganizations: Since the last periodic meeting, a new Bureau Chief has 

been appointed. (The Radiation Control Bureau’s organizational chart is attached.) 
NEW MEXICO PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY 

e. Changes in Program budgevfunding: This item is discussed under the Program 

strengths. 

4 Event Reporting, including follow-up and closure information in NMED. 

It was noted that the Program needs to complete and close out some events in the 

NMED database. The Program expressed an interest in scheduling an NMED training 

course in New Mexico. They have talked to the NMED Project Manager about arranging 

a course. They also contacted other Agreement States to see if they are interested in 

attending. 

5. Response to Incidents and Allegations. 

a. Status of allegations and concerns referred by the NRC for action: One allegation 

was forwarded to the Program. The allegation was appropriately reviewed and closed. 

b. The Program has an adequate number and types of survey meters to support the 

current inspection program as well as for responding to incidents and emergency 

conditions. The Program followed written procedures for responding to events. The 

procedures addressed the actions to be taken upon the notification of an event, the 

event tracking system, event evaluation and investigation, documentation, notification to 

the NRC Operations Center, and the reporting of events to the NMED. 

6. Information exchange and discussion: 

a. Self auditdcomputer tracking: The Program performs routine quality assurance 

audits of inspection reports and licenses, and also has an on-going process for 

reviewing the Program to identify needed improvements. 

b. Inspector accompaniments: The Program Manager'accompanies inspectors on a 

weekly bases. 

c. NRC current initiatives. The NNMSS database was discussed. Lessons learned from 

the State's perspective are as follows. 

i. The Program followed up with its licensees. Some of their licensees indicated that 

they forwarded the information to the NRC, but that it apparently had been misplaced by 

the NRC contractor. The Program recommends better controls on receipt of information 

by NRC contractor. 

ii. There were several different contact persons for receipt of the information. The 

Program recommends one central contact for collection of the database information. 

This will assist in completing item 1 above. 

iii. The Program indicated that the licensee collection form was long and difficult to fill 

out. The Program recommends that the form be simplified and streamlined. 
NEW MEXICO PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY 

iv. The Program indicated that they received many calls from licensees who could not 

open the "excel" format, and that they had to printout the forms and hand deliver them 

to licensees. The Program recommends that the forms be available in several different 

computer friendly formats so that they and their licensees will be able to access the 

information. 

v. The Program noted a problem within their own system regarding serial numbers and 

the tracking of their licensees. The Program indicated that they were in the process of 

completing their input to the database for the last outstanding licensee. 

. 

7. Schedule for the next IMPEP review: Summer 2005 
New Mexico Final Report Page 12 

NRC has not required States to have a program for licensing a 1LRW disposal facility until such 

time as the State has been designated as a host State for a LLRW disposal facility. When an 

Agreement State has been notified or becomes aware of the need to regulate a LLRW disposal 

facility, they are expected to put in place a regulatory program which will meet the criteria for an 

adequate and compatible LLRW disposal program. There are no plans for a LLRW disposal 

facility in New Mexico. Accordingly, the review team did not review this indicator. 

5.0 SUMMARY 

As noted in Sections 3 and 4 above, the review team found New Mexico's performance to be 

satisfactory for all six performance indicators reviewed. Accordingly, the review team 

recommended and the MRB concurred in finding the New Mexico Agreement State program to be 

adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with NRC's program. Based on the 

results of the current IMPEP review, the next full review will be in approximately four years. 

Below is the recommendation, as mentioned earlier in the report, for evaluation and 

implementation, as appropriate, by the Program. 

RECOMMENDATION: 

1. The team recommends that the State adopt the regulations, or other legally binding 

requirements, which are overdue for adoption. (Section 4.1.2) 
Attachment 1 

5.0 SUMMARY 

As noted in Sections 3 and 4 above, the review team found New Mexico's performance to be 

satisfactory for all six performance indicators reviewed. Accordingly, the review team 

recommended and the MRB concurred in finding the New Mexico Agreement State program to 

be adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with NRC's program. Based on 

the results of the current IMPEP review, the next full review will be in approximately four years. 

Below is the recommendation, as mentioned earlier in the report, for evaluation and 

implementation, as appropriate, by the Program. 

RECOMMENDATION: 

1. The team recommends that the State adopt the regulations, or other legally binding 

requirements] which are overdue for adoption. (Section 4.1.2 of the Integrated Materials 

Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) report on the New Mexico Agreement State 

Program.) 
RADIATION CONTROL BUREAU 

Organizational Chart 

March 2004 

Bernice Garduno 

Secretary 

I 

Myra Martinez 

-- Secretary 

I 7 

IL Coordinator 

Mike Taylor Bill Floyd 

Env. ScientisffSpecialist - 0 

Indoor Radon Outreach 

Staff Manager 

Radiation Protection Program 

Coordinator II I 

Bobby Lopez 

Env. ScientisffSpecialist - A 

WlPP Emergency Response 

Margaret Roybal 

Env. ScientisffSpecialist - A 

Exec. Secretary - 0 

Rad Tech Program 

Ed Vigil 

Env. ScientistlSpecialist - A I I I 

Vacant 

Env. ScientisffSpecialist - 0 

1 I 

Michael Ortiz 

Env. ScientisffSpecialist - 0 

Stanley Fitch 

Env. ScientistlSpecialist - A 

L I 

Sherry Miller 

Env. ScientistlSpecialist - A i I 1 

Env. ScientistlSpecialist - A