Status Report on Development of a Memorandum of Understanding between

 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

The Conference Report accompanying the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act

for Fiscal Year 2003 directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a report providing a

detailed estimate of the cost of bringing 10 DOE Science laboratories into compliance with the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) and the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration’s (OSHA’s) standards for nuclear safety and worker safety. In support of this

report, funds are provided to NRC and OSHA to conduct compliance audits of the laboratories

not later than March 31, 2004, with the first four to be completed by September 30, 2003. Both

NRC and OSHA have completed the compliance audits for the first four laboratories.

The attached two MOUs govern the interactions of NRC and OSHA under current statutory

authority: “Memorandum of Understanding between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Worker Protection at NRC-licensed

Facilities,” 53 FR 43950 (October 31, 1988) and “Memorandum of Understanding With Respect

to the Gaseous Diffusion Plants,” 61 FR 40249 (August 1, 1996). As stated in the 1988 MOU,

“both NRC and OSHA have jurisdiction over occupational safety and health at NRC-licensed

facilities. Because it is not always practical to sharply identify boundaries between the nuclear

and radiological safety NRC regulates and the industrial safety OSHA regulates, a coordinated

interagency effort can ensure against gaps in the protection of workers and at the same time,

avoid duplication of effort.” In general under these MOUs, NRC applies its standards to

working conditions involving radiological hazards, OSHA applies its standards to working

conditions involving non-radiological hazards, and both agencies apply their standards to

conditions involving a combination of hazards.

Although the two agencies have not completed their audits of the ten science laboratories, the

NRC and OSHA staffs have met to discuss the potential need for modifying the existing MOUs

or developing a new MOU that would be applicable to the DOE laboratories should current

statutory authority be modified. One area of continuing discussion concerns the wide range of

radiation-producing machines that are present at the DOE Science laboratories. Some of the

small, analytic-type machines represent only a relatively moderate radiological hazard to

laboratory staff and visiting researchers, with little or no potential for offsite or environmental

impacts. However, DOE’s large accelerators and prototype nuclear fusion machines create, or

have the potential to create, radiation fields that, if not properly controlled, can be hazardous to

workers, the public, and the environment. These public and environmental effects can be

caused by both direct radiation from the machines and also through the radiation activation of

ground water and solid materials. At the same time, these large machines have significant

risks associated with non-radiological hazards, such as high voltage electrical systems and

large quantities of oxygen-displacing refrigerants. An additional consideration is that several

laboratories have programs involving the medical use of accelerator-produced radiation or

radioactive materials. These programs represent both a worker hazard and a risk to patients. 

It is premature for the NRC to make recommendations on a division of responsibility between

the two agencies until the ten audits are completed. Both agencies are including the radiationproducing machines at the laboratories within the scope of their audits. Following completion of

all audits by both NRC and OSHA, the NRC will provide the Senate and House Appropriations

Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development our recommendations on how
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responsibilities for health and safety, as well as protection of the public and the environment,

should be addressed.