September 4, 2007

Paul S. Schmidt, Manager

Radiation Protection Section

Division of Public Health

Department of Health and Family Services

P. O. Box 2659

Madison, WI 53701-2659

Dear Mr. Schmidt:

A periodic meeting with Wisconsin was held on August 8, 2007. The purpose of this meeting

was to review and discuss the implementation of Wisconsin’s Agreement State program. The

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was represented by Aaron McCraw from the

NRC's Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, Steve

Reynolds of the NRC Region III office, 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 or conclusions 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 via e-mail at JLL2@NRC.GOV to discuss your comments.

 Sincerely,

/RA/

 James L. Lynch

 State Agreements Officer

Enclosure: 

As stated

cc: T. Sieger, WI

 C. Warzecha, WI

Distribution:

R. Lewis, FSME

D. White, FSME

A. McCraw, FSME

K. Lukes, FSME

S. Reynolds, RIII

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NAME JLLynch:jc

DATE 09/04/07

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR WISCONSIN

DATE OF MEETING: AUGUST 8, 2007

ATTENDEES: NRC STATE

Steve Reynolds Tom Sieger

Aaron McCraw Chuck Warzecha

Jim Lynch Paul Schmidt

Cheryl Rogers

DISCUSSION:

Agreement and Reviews

Wisconsin became the 33rd Agreement State on August 11, 2003. 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.

An Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) review of the radioactive

materials program was conducted in August 2005. All performance indicators were found to be

satisfactory and no recommendations were made. The Wisconsin program was found to be

adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with NRC’s program.

Organization

The Radiation Control Program is administered by the Radiation Protection Section, Division of

Public Health, Department of Health and Family Services. Paul Schmidt is the Manager of the

Radiation Protection Section. Cheryl Rogers is the Supervisor of the Radioactive Materials

Licensing and Inspection Unit, which is part of the Section. Wisconsin regulates approximately

335 specific licenses, including naturally occurring or accelerator-produced radioactive material

(NARM). Management support for the program appears good and the program is well funded.

Paul Schmidt is the current Chair of the Organization of Agreement States (OAS) and is the

former Chair of the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc.

Radiation Control Program Staffing

The program is fully staffed, with two vacancies recently filled by recent college graduates,

Sean Matyas and Kurt Pedersen. Mike Welling left the program to join the Virginia radiation

control program. Mike Mack retired from the program. A total of 6.5 FTE is dedicated to the

inspection and licensing programs. One of these staff members, Megan Shober, is located in

the Green Bay field office. All are cross-trained in both inspection and licensing to provide

maximum flexibility and backup. In addition, a half-time training coordinator, Dan Stefenel,

assists the program with training needs.
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Training

A training matrix was developed for all employees to track their training history. Formalized

training requirements were developed for inspectors and license reviewers. The training

coordinator conducts in-house courses. The Unit Supervisor trains and accompanies each

inspector before certifying them to conduct independent inspections.

During this meeting, the two new staff members were attending the NRC Security Systems and

Principles training course. Three staff members, and one manager, have had the security

training previously.

Inspections

The Unit Supervisor said that a few inspections have gone overdue since the Agreement

signing. She was well aware of the due dates but made informed decisions based on program

priorities. Wisconsin inspection frequencies are at least as frequent as NRC’s.

The first round of Increased Controls inspections have been completed (25 total) and five of

those inspections have additional follow-up actions required by the licensees. Wisconsin is

awaiting guidance from the NRC regarding the next round of IC inspections. Steve Reynolds

indicated that the security working group would be issuing such guidance in the near future.

The State recently issued an information notice regarding inspection findings of a Department

of Transportation inspector. Program managers hope the information notice will help licensees

self-identify common weaknesses in their transportation programs.

The State has more stringent reciprocity inspection goals than those identified in NRC

Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 1220. All service providers working under reciprocity are

inspected annually. Priority 1 and Priority 2 licensees have inspection goals of 50% and 30%,

respectively.

Licensing

No significant licensing backlogs exist. Amendments are completed in approximately 30 days.

The Unit Supervisor indicated that they had modified the licensing process to require prelicensing site visits for all new licenses. A pre-licensing checklist is used for all licensing

actions.

A total of 17 Wisconsin licenses had active financial surety instruments at the time of the

Agreement. Since then, 16 instruments were converted to change the beneficiary from NRC to

Wisconsin. The remaining licensee has yet to provide the State with an adequate financial

surety instrument. The licensee obtained a letter of credit, which is an acceptable means of

financial assurance; however, the letter references a standby trust agreement that has not been

established. The State is continuing a dialogue with the licensee to resolve the issue. The

Region III representatives offered to contact the licensee to assist in getting the issue resolved

so that the surety instrument held by NRC could be canceled. On August 23, 2007, Region III

contacted the licensee by telephone and received assurance that the issue would be swiftly

settled.
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Self Assessments

Wisconsin performed a self assessment of the radioactive materials program covering the

period of January 2006 to June 2007. The self assessment used the IMPEP questionnaire as

an outline for the audit. Results of the self assessment were shared with the NRC

representatives.

Regulations

To date, the State’s regulations are up-to-date and compatible. A regulation review letter was

sent to the State in March 2007 identifying nine corrections to the regulations which need to be

implemented. The Unit Supervisor stated that those items would be addressed in the next

rulemaking.

Security

Increased Controls inspections are being performed on schedule, as discussed above.

In updating the National Source Tracking System interim inventory, the State encountered

communication glitches with the NRC’s contractor when providing information for the inventory. 

The issues were resolved and input is approximately 85% complete. The full update will be

completed soon.

Incidents

Wisconsin staff members responded to approximately 17 reportable incidents since the last

IMPEP review. On-site inspections were performed, when appropriate, and staff communicated

reportable incidents promptly to the NRC Operations Center and to Region III.

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 Wisconsin from NRC since the last IMPEP review. The

allegation involved training and dosimetry availability at a medical facility. Wisconsin staff

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

provided to the Regional State Agreements Officer.

General Licenses

Wisconsin has an active program for registering and inspecting generally licensed devices. 

Program staff each do a number of generally licensed inspections each year. The National

Source Tracking System interim inventory was updated in late 2006 and included Wisconsin

general licenses down to Category 3.5.

CONCLUSIONS:

The Wisconsin 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.
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Management support for the program is very good. The managers were impressed by the

IMPEP process and saw great benefit in Wisconsin’s participation in the program and the

potential for development of similar peer review audits for other programs in the Division. The

NRC representatives urged the managers to consider allowing senior staff members to

participate on future IMPEP teams.

State managers stated that a number of the Agreement States were concerned with the

dissemination of the Commission’s decision on the fingerprinting rule. They could not

understand why some information was initially withheld and then later released. Extensive

dialogue has occurred on this issue between OAS and the NRC.

The next IMPEP review of the Wisconsin Radiation Control Program is tentatively scheduled for 

Summer 2009.