NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov

 

No. 07-076 June 15, 2007

NRC CONSIDERING REQUEST BY PENNSYLVANIA

TO BECOME AN “AGREEMENT STATE” 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a request from Gov. Edward G. Rendell of

Pennsylvania to assume part of the NRC’s regulatory authority over certain nuclear materials in the

state. If the request is accepted, Pennsylvania will become the 35th state to sign such an agreement with

the NRC.

Under the proposed agreement, the NRC would transfer to Pennsylvania the responsibility for

licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as

a byproduct of processes related to the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM -

defined as enriched uranium or plutonium); (2) naturally occurring or accelerator produced byproduct

material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); and (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient

to support a nuclear chain reaction. 

If the agreement is approved, approximately 690 NRC licenses, many of them for medical and

industrial uses, would be transferred to Pennsylvania’s jurisdiction. In addition, Pennsylvania would

retain regulatory authority for approximately 460 NARM licenses. The NRC would retain jurisdiction

over regulation of commercial nuclear power plants and federal agencies using certain nuclear material

in the state, as well as a number of other activities identified in 10 CFR Part 150. In addition, NRC

would retain authority for the review, evaluation and approval of sealed sources and devices containing

certain nuclear materials within the state.

An announcement of the proposed agreement, along with a summary of the NRC staff’s draft

assessment of the Pennsylvania program, will be published for comment once a week for four

consecutive weeks in the Federal Register. Comments should be sent to Michael T. Lesar, Chief,

Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of

Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Copies of the proposed agreement, the governor’s request and supporting documents, as well as

the NRC staff’s assessment are available through the NRC’s Agency-wide Documents Access and

Management System (ADAMS). Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public

Document Room staff at 301-415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209, or by sending an e-mail message to

pdr@nrc.gov . These documents are also available for public inspection at the NRC Public Document

Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. 
Thirty-four other states have previously signed such agreements with NRC. They are: 

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New

Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode

Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. 

More information about the Agreement State program is available on the NRC’s Web site at

this address: http://nrc-stp.ornl.gov/. 

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