November 21, 2006

John Linc Stine, Director

Environmental Health Division

Minnesota Department of Health

625 Robert St. N.

P.O. Box 64975

St. Paul, MN 55164-0975

Dear Mr. Stine:

An orientation meeting with Minnesota was held on November 14, 2006. The purpose of this

meeting was to review and discuss the implementation of Minnesota’s Agreement State

program. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was represented by Aaron McCraw from

the NRC's Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Programs, and me.

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

resulting from the discussions.

If you believe that the comments, conclusions, or actions to be taken do not accurately

summarize the meeting discussion, or you have any additional remarks about the meeting in

general, please contact me at (630) 829-9661, or e-mail to JLL2@NRC.GOV to discuss your

comments.

Sincerely,

/RA/

James L. Lynch

State Agreements Officer

Enclosure: 

As stated

cc: Linda Bruemmer, MN

George Johns, MN

Distribution:

J. Schlueter, FSME

A. McCraw, FSME

S. Reynolds, RIII

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DATE 11/21/06

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Enclosure

ORIENTATION MEETING SUMMARY FOR MINNESOTA

DATE OF MEETING: NOVEMBER 14, 2006

ATTENDEES: NRC STATE

Jim Lynch John Stine

Aaron McCraw Linda Bruemmer

George Johns

Sherrie Flaherty

Craig Verke

Brandon Juran

Susan McClanahan

Tim Donakowski

DISCUSSION:

Agreement

Minnesota became the 34th Agreement State on March 31, 2006. The Agreement discontinued

NRC regulatory authority in the State for: a) Byproduct materials as defined in Section 11e.(1)

of the Atomic Energy Act; b) Source materials; and c) Special nuclear materials in quantities not

sufficient to form a critical mass. The Agreement does not cover land disposal of radioactive

material, uranium recovery processes, or sealed source and device evaluation.

Organization

The Agreement State Program is administered by the Radioactive Materials Unit, Indoor

Environments and Radiation Section, Division of Environmental Health, Department of Health. 

George Johns is the supervisor of the Radioactive Materials Unit. The Section manager

position is currently vacant, with the recent promotion of Linda Bruemmer to Assistant Division

Director. Interviews for the position are ongoing, with a decision expected shortly. Minnesota

regulates approximately 196 specific licenses, including naturally occurring or acceleratorproduced radioactive material (NARM). A recent reorganization separated the x-ray program

into its own Unit, allowing the Radioactive Materials Unit Supervisor to focus on the radioactive

materials program. Management support for the Program appears excellent.

Radiation Control Program Staffing

The Program is fully staffed, with no vacancies or significant turnover since the Agreement

signing. Four staff members perform inspections and licensing reviews. All are cross-trained in

both inspection and licensing to provide maximum flexibility and backup. Another experienced

staff member provides technical support to the program. A full-time administrative staff person

also supports the Radioactive Materials Unit.

Training
2 Enclosure

Formalized training requirements have been developed for inspectors and license reviewers. 

The Radioactive Materials Unit Supervisor trains and accompanies each inspector before

certifying them to conduct independent inspections. All staff members have completed all of

the core training courses with the exception of the Root Cause course. Additionally, three staff

members, as well as the Supervisor, have attended the NRC Security Systems and Principles

Training Course for Materials Inspectors. Inspectors are accompanied at least annually by the

Radioactive Materials Unit Supervisor.

The Program initiated an excellent outreach program for licensee physicists. Approximately

semiannually, general information meetings are held with medical physicists and health

physicists. Good attendance and participation was noted.

Inspections

At the time of Agreement, Region III provided an approximate three-month “cushion” of

completed inspections to allow Minnesota to concentrate on structuring its program without

concern about overdue inspections. Only one inspection was completed overdue since the

Agreement, a result of a program code error. Since the signing of the Agreement, the Program

has completed 22 routine inspections, as well as 8 reciprocity inspections of 23 candidate

licensees that have entered the State.

The Program has enforcement authority and has issued administrative penalty orders, with

associated fines, to two licensees.

The State has also made considerable progress in completing actions associated with the

implementation of increased controls. The Program is currently on pace to complete all 24 of

the inspections required in the first three years of implementation, by Spring 2007.

The State has a considerable array of radiation detection instrumentation. The Program is

capable of detecting alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiation. The Program is very proactive

at securing detection equipment for HAZMAT teams and commercial vehicle inspection units

and training the individuals on the principles of radiation and the proper use of the detection

equipment.

Licensing

No significant licensing backlog exists. A considerable number of licensing actions have been

completed since the Agreement was signed. All licenses have been converted to Minnesota

format and the State has taken commendable efforts to make all Minnesota licenses consistent

and easy to use for the license reviewers, inspectors, and licensees. Licenses are peer

reviewed and then signed by the Unit Supervisor and the Section Manager.

A total of 7 Minnesota licenses had active financial surety instruments at the time of the

Agreement. Since then, 4 instruments were converted to change the beneficiary from NRC to

Minnesota. Of the remaining licensees, only one has been unresponsive to the Program’s

requests for action. The Program is considering alternative actions including separating the

license into quantities that do not require financial assurance individually.

Regulations

At the time of the meeting, the State’s regulations were up-to-date and fully compatible. The

status of NRC amendments that will need to be addressed in the future was discussed. One
3 Enclosure

NRC amendment coming due in the very near future, “Financial Assurance for Materials

Licensees - Parts 30, 40, and 70,” has not been addressed by Minnesota according to the State

Regulation Status Sheet maintained by the NRC.

Program staff indicated that they currently have one rulemaking package in process. The

package will cover amendments to transportation, medical specialty boards, portable gauge

security, and financial surety regulations. The affected regulations are currently covered by

license conditions, when needed, while the package goes through the rulemaking process. The

Minnesota regulation process typically takes 9 months to a year to complete.

Self Assessments

Program managers were encouraged to perform self-assessments of their Agreement State

program, prior to the IMPEP review, using the procedures maintained by NRC's Office of

Federal and State Materials and Environmental Programs.

Incidents

Minnesota staff responded to four reportable incidents since the Agreement signing. All of the

incidents were responded to appropriately, with an on-site inspection performed when needed. 

Close coordination was maintained with the NRC.

Inspectors input incident information directly into the Nuclear Material Events Database (NMED)

as incidents occur. A review of NMED identified timely and quality input of incidents.

Allegations

One allegation was transferred to Minnesota from NRC since the Agreement. The allegation

involved unapproved use of industrial radiography sources. Minnesota staff investigated the

allegation and took prompt, appropriate action. Investigation results were provided to the

Regional State Agreements Officer.

Sealed Sources and Devices

The Minnesota Agreement does not include Sealed Source and Device (SS&D) authority. 

Amendment of the Agreement to include an SS&D program may be considered if licensees

begin source or device manufacturing, but is not foreseen in the near future.

CONCLUSIONS:

The Minnesota Radiation Control Program appears to be a capable, stable Agreement State

program. Staffing has remained consistent since the Agreement and the training level for staff

members is good.

Management support for the program is excellent.

The initial IMPEP review of the Minnesota Radiation Control Program is tentatively scheduled

for November 2007.