UNITED STATES 

 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 REGION I 

 475 ALLENDALE ROAD 

 KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-1415 

February 25, 2009 

David J. Allard, CHP, Director 

Bureau of Radiation Protection 

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 

Rachel Carson State Office Building 

P.O. Box 8469 

Harrisburg, PA 17105-8469 

Dear Mr. Allard: 

An orientation meeting with Pennsylvania was held on December 17, 2008. The purpose of this 

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

program. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was represented by Daniel S. Collins, 

Deputy Director of the Region I Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Michelle Beardsley of the 

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 feel that our comments, conclusions, or actions to be taken do not accurately summarize 

the meeting discussion, or have any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please 

contact me at (610) 337-5371, or email to Donna.Janda@nrc.gov to discuss your comments. 

Sincerely, 

 /RA J. J. Kottan for/ 

Donna M. Janda 

Regional State Agreements Officer 

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

Enclosure: As stated 

cc w/encl: 

Michelle Beardsley, FSME 

Daniel Collins, RI DNMS 
February 25, 2009 

David J. Allard, CHP, Director 

Bureau of Radiation Protection 

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 

Rachel Carson State Office Building 

P.O. Box 8469 

Harrisburg, PA 17105-8469 

Dear Mr. Allard: 

An orientation meeting with Pennsylvania was held on December 17, 2008. The purpose of this meeting was to 

review and discuss the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Agreement State program. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission was represented by Daniel S. Collins, Deputy Director of the Region I Division of Nuclear Materials 

Safety, Michelle Beardsley of the 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 feel that our comments, conclusions, or actions to be taken do not accurately summarize the meeting 

discussion, or have any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (610) 337-5371, or 

email to Donna.Janda@nrc.gov to discuss your comments. 

Sincerely, 

 /RA J. J. Kottan for/ 

Donna M. Janda 

Regional State Agreements Officer 

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

Enclosure: As stated 

cc w/encl: 

Michelle Beardsley, FSME 

Daniel Collins, RI DNMS 

 

Distribution w/encl: 

Aaron McCraw, FSME 

Monica Orendi, FSME 

John Kinneman, RI DNMS 

SUNSI Review Complete: DMJ (Reviewer=s Initials) 

DOCUMENT NAME: S:\State Agreement Files\Pennsylvania\PA Dec 2008 cover letter.doc ML090560598 

After declaring this document AAn Official Agency Record@ it will be released to the Public. 

To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box: "C" = Copy without attachment/enclosure "E" = Copy with attachment/enclosure "N" = No copy 

OFFICE DNMS/RI DNMS/RI FSME 

NAME DJanda/jjk f/ DCollins/dsc MBeardsley/mrb 

DATE 02/19/09 02/25/09 02/25/09 
Enclosure 

ORIENTATION MEETING SUMMARY FOR 

PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

BUREAU OF RADIATION PROTECTION 

DATE OF MEETING: December 17, 2008 

ATTENDEES: 

NRC

Daniel Collins, Deputy Director, Region I DNMS 

Donna Janda, RSAO, Region I 

Michelle Beardsley, Health Physicist, FSME 

Pennsylvania DEP

David Allard, CHP, Director, Bureau of Radiation Protection 

L. Ray Urciolo, Chief, Radiation Control Division 

Robert Maiers, Chief, Decommissioning & Surveillance Division 

Rich Janati, Chief, Nuclear Safety Division 

Benjamin Seiber, Program Analyst 

Ronald Hamm, Chief, Radioactive Materials Section 

Rusty Diamond, Regional Director, Radiation Protection Program Liaison 

Richard Morrison, Bureau of Regulatory Counsel 

Terry Derstine, Radiation Protection Program Manager, SERO 

Scott Wilson, Radiation Protection Program Manager, SCRO 

Steve Acker, Radiation Protection Program Supervisor, SCRO 

James Yusko, Radiation Protection Program Manager, SWRO (via telephone) 

John Chippo, Radioactive Materials Section 

Jennifer Kelly, Radon Certification Section 

Martin Siegel, Bureau of Radiation Protection 

 Frank Costello, Radiation Protection Program, SERO 

DISCUSSION: 

Agreement

Pennsylvania became the 35th Agreement State on March 31, 2008. The Agreement 

discontinued NRC regulatory authority in the Commonwealth for: a) byproduct materials as 

defined in Section 11e.(1), 11e.(3), and 11e.(4) of the Act; b) source materials; c) special nuclear 

materials not sufficient to form a critical mass; and d) land disposal of all waste for such 

materials. The Agreement does not cover safety evaluations of sealed sources and devices or 

regulation of 11e.(2) byproduct material resulting from the extraction or concentration of source 

material from ore processed primarily for its source material content or its management or 

disposal. 

 

Organization

The Pennsylvania Agreement State Program (Program) is administered by the Bureau of 

Radiation Protection (BRP), which is located within the Deputate of Waste, Air, and Radiation 

Management, which is located in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. 
2 

Enclosure 

David Allard is the Bureau Director. The licensing of radioactive materials resides primarily in 

the BRP Radiation Control Division but the Regional Offices also perform some licensing 

activities. Regional Office staff members perform inspection and compliance activities. 

Pennsylvania administers approximately 925 specific licenses, including naturally-occurring and 

accelerator-produced radioactive material (NARM). 

Agreement State Program Staffing

The Program has 14 staff members in the three Regional Offices performing inspections. Four 

of these staff members also perform limited licensing duties. In addition, the Program has 3 staff 

members in the Central Office performing licensing duties. Each Regional Office has a 

Radiation Protection Program Manager (RPPM) who directly supervises the radioactive 

materials section in each Region. The Program currently has 4 staff vacancies in the Regional 

Offices and 2 supervisor vacancies, one in the Southwest Regional Office (RPPM position) and 

one in the Central Office (Licensing Supervisor position). Although the Program is managed 

from a Restricted Fund which carries over between fiscal years, due to Commonwealth budget 

issues and a hiring freeze, the vacant positions were not allowed to be filled until recently. The 

Bureau Director is actively seeking to fill the vacant positions. The Chief of the Radiation Control 

Division will perform the functions of the Licensing Supervisor until a qualified acting Section 

Chief can be identified. 

Training

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

Support for staff training exists in the Program. The Program appreciates the NRC’s policy on 

funding training for Agreement States. Several staff members have attended the NRC Security 

Systems and Principles Training Course for Materials Inspectors. The Program has sponsored 

NRC training courses in the past and anticipates sponsoring additional courses in the future. In 

addition, because of the high demand for attendance at NRC qualification courses, the Program 

anticipates sponsoring courses which are equivalent to NRC courses in scope in order to meet 

the demands of staff training and qualification. 

Inspections

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

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

concern about overdue inspections. Only two inspections were completed overdue since the 

Agreement. Both of these resulted from an incorrect due date being listed for the inspections 

prior to the Agreement. There is no backlog of routine inspections. Regional Program 

Managers are conducting inspection accompaniments on at least an annual basis. 

The Program has completed 10 reciprocity inspections of 23 candidate licensees that have 

entered the Commonwealth. Program staff identified an issue with reciprocity inspections not 

being assigned a priority code and is working with the Commonwealth’s IT department to 

address the issue. This did not impact the inspections of reciprocity licensees. 
3 

Enclosure 

The Program has several out-of-state licensees which has created a challenge in the most 

effective approach to conduct inspections as the licensees do not maintain an office in 

Pennsylvania and only work in the Commonwealth on an occasional basis. The Program placed 

legally binding requirements in the form of license conditions to require the licensees to notify 

the Program 36 hours prior to performing work in the Commonwealth. 

The Program maintains a sufficient number and variety of calibrated radiological survey 

instrumentation for use during inspections. Additionally, the Program has a radioanalytical 

laboratory available for sample analyses. 

Licensing

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

completed since the Agreement was signed. Most of the licenses have been converted to 

Pennsylvania licenses and some licenses have been merged with NARM licenses as 

appropriate. 

A total of 38 licenses had active financial assurance instruments at the time of the Agreement. 

Since then, a total of 16 instruments were converted to change the beneficiary from NRC to 

Pennsylvania. Of the remaining licenses, thirteen are in the process of being converted and 9 

licenses have not yet been converted due to the unresponsiveness of the licensees. The 

Program’s legal counsel is following up with these licensees. 

All licensing actions are reviewed by the Radioactive Materials Section Chief. The individual 

occupying this position at the time of the orientation meeting retired from the Commonwealth 

and a replacement is being sought to fill the position as soon as possible. In the interim, 

licensing actions will be signed by a qualified license reviewer such as the Division Chief or the 

Program Director. 

Program staff did not anticipate the volume of reciprocity requests received beginning on the 

effective date of the Agreement, which required much effort by the licensing staff to review and 

act on the requests. NRC has shared this information with other prospective Agreement States 

to assist in their planning activities. 

Status of Decommissioning Sites

Seven decommissioning sites were transferred to Pennsylvania on the effective date of the 

Agreement. Four of these sites are actively undergoing decommissioning. The Program has 

contracted with Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for technical assistance with 

these four complex decommissioning sites. 

Regulations

At the time of the meeting, the Commonwealth’s regulations were up-to-date and fully 

compatible. There are currently no outstanding NRC amendments to be addressed. The 

Commonwealth adopts NRC regulations by reference and uses license conditions or Orders as 

appropriate. If rulemaking is required, the Pennsylvania regulatory process typically takes 

approximately 16 months to complete. 
4 

Enclosure 

Generally Licensed Devices

Pennsylvania has a very active program for generally licensed devices and plans to track NRCregistered devices in the Commonwealth’s database system known as eFACTS. The Program 

mailed postcards to general licensees regarding requirements for tritium exit signs and 

contacted local municipalities’ building codes offices regarding requirements for proper disposal 

of these signs prior to remodeling or demolition of buildings. The Program is working with Air 

Quality Regional Inspectors to conduct walk-downs for tritium exit signs and other generally 

licensed devices at facilities before issuing permits. 

Security

The current security climate and potential future security measures were discussed in detail, 

including discussions on fingerprinting requirements and security of self-shielded irradiators. 

The Program is aware of relevant security issues. 

The Program has completed the initial round of inspections of licensees subject to the Increased 

Controls Order. 

Incidents/Allegations

Pennsylvania responded to 21 incidents since the Agreement signing. Program staff 

communicates reportable incidents to the NRC Operations Center and Region I. The Nuclear 

Materials Events Database (NMED) Event Coordinator is responsible for ensuring all information 

regarding incidents is entered into NMED in a timely manner. A review of NMED identified timely 

and quality input of incidents. 

Allegations are handled by the Regional field operations staff. Six allegations have been 

investigated since the Agreement signing, none of which were referred by the NRC. Four of 

these allegations have been closed and two allegations remain under investigation. 

Conclusions

The Pennsylvania Radiation Protection 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 Pennsylvania Radiation Protection Program is tentatively 

scheduled for October 2009.