UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGI ON IV

611 RYAN PLAZA DRIVE, SUITE 400

ARLINGTON, TEXAS 76011-4005

December 2, 2008 

MarySue Semerena, Administrator 

Environmental Health Unit 

Department of Health and Human Services 

301 Centennial Mall South 

P.O. Box 95026 

Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5026 

Dear Ms. Semerena: 

A periodic meeting with Nebraska was held on November 4, 2008. The purpose of this meeting 

was to review and discuss the status of the Nebraska Agreement State Program. I have 

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

from the discussions. 

If you feel that my conclusions do not accurately summarize the meeting discussion, or have 

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (817) 860-8143 or 

email Randy.Erickson@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns. 

 Sincerely, 

 /RA/

 Randy Erickson 

Enclosure: 

Periodic Meeting Summary for Nebraska 

cc w/enclosure: 

Julia A. Schmitt, Program Manager 

Office of Radiological Health 

Department of Health and Human Services 

301 Centennial Mall South 

P.O. Box 95026 

Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5026 
Nebraska Department of Health 

 & Human Services 

-2- 

bcc (via e-mail distribution): 

Arthur Howell 

Chuck Cain 

Robert Lewis, FSME 

Terry Reis, FSME 

Duncan White, FSME 

Linda McLean 

Randy Erickson 

Aaron McCraw, FSME 

Janine Katanic, FSME 

William Rautzen, FSME 

MLXXXXXXXXX 

SUNSI Review Completed: Yes ADAMS: X Yes □ No Initials: RRE 

X Publicly Available □ Non-Publicly Available □ Sensitive X Non-Sensitive 

S:\dnms\!SAO\PeriodicMeetings\2008\Nebraska\Nebraska Periodic Meeting Summary.doc 

Final: s:\dnms\ltrs-memos\ 

RIV: RSAO 

RRErickson 

/RA/ 

12/02/08 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax
ENCLOSURE 

AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR NEBRASKA 

DATE OF MEETING: NOVEMBER 4, 2008 

NRC Attendees Nebraska Attendees 

Randy Erickson, RSAO Julia A. Schmitt, Program Manager 

 Bryan Miller, Health Physicist 

 Howard Schuman, Health Physicist 

 Trudy Hill, Health Specialist 

 Beverly Spang, Staff Assistant 

DISCUSSION: 

The Nebraska Agreement State program (the Program) is administered by the Office of 

Radiological Health consisting of four program areas all under the direction of the Program 

Manager. These include Radioactive Materials, Materials Security, X-Ray and Emergency 

Response. The Program reports to the Environmental Health Unit of the Health Licensure and 

Investigations Section of the Division of Public Health (Division). The Chief Medical Officer 

leads the Division and reports to the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Health and 

Human Services. At the time of the meeting, the Nebraska program regulated approximately 

150 specific licenses. 

The previous IMPEP review was conducted the week of September 18-21, 2006. At the 

conclusion of the review, the team recommended that Nebraska’s performance for all 

performance indicators reviewed be found satisfactory, and made no recommendations 

regarding the performance of the Program. Additionally, the review team recommended, and on 

December 14, 2006, the Management Review Board agreed, that the Nebraska Agreement 

State Program was adequate to protect public health and safety and was compatible with NRC's 

program. 

Other topics covered at the meeting included. 

Program Strengths: The Nebraska Program is a stable program that has not 

experienced any staff losses since 2000. Their dedicated staff is very experienced and 

works together cohesively. Both the Program Manager and the Unit Administrator are 

supportive of the staff’s activities, and the staff is supportive of each other. The Program 

is very proactive in addressing health, safety and security of radioactive materials within 

the State. As an example, while searching for generally licensed devices, the Nebraska 

Program initially identified the tritium exit sign losses involving a major retailer and has 

worked together with that retailer to close those issues within their borders. The staff 

meets bi-weekly where a comprehensive review of all licensing, inspection, and incident 

and allegation activities are conducted. They also assign new work at these meetings 

based on the current workload of the staff. Goals are discussed and benchmarked, and 

schedules are adjusted as necessary. Peer reviews are conducted on all licensing 

actions and inspection reports which as resulted in a high degree of consistency within 

the Program. 
Nebraska Periodic Meeting Summary 

-2- 

ENCLOSURE 

Program Weaknesses: The Program noted they are behind on one regulation that will 

come due on January 31, 2009. It is currently out for a public comment period. 

However, the program does not believe that the regulation will be in effect by January 

31, 2009, so they will issue Orders to those licensees that are subject to the NSTS 

requirements. The Program also cited restrictions on out of state travel as something 

that has hindered their ability to attend training classes and participate in other activities 

such as participating on IMPEP reviews or NRC working groups. 

Feedback on NRC’s Program: 

The Program noted that very few individuals in Agreement States have security 

clearances. Those with security clearances have been issued by agencies within the 

Federal government other than the NRC. States believe that the expansion of these 

clearances is important to their efforts to work cohesively with an agency that is 

becoming ever more security conscious. The lack of a clearance limits a State’s ability 

to participate in certain NRC working groups or to be made aware of credible threats that 

exist within their borders. They are requesting that NRC consider sponsoring the 

issuance of security clearances to Agreement State management personnel. 

The Program believes that NRC should consider the impacts on the Agreement State 

programs of the Inspection Manual Chapter 2800 revision in regards to the addition of a 

secondary priority code (Priority 2) for all facilities subject to Additional Security 

Requirements. Current NRC policy requires the inspection of facilities with multiple 

priority codes to be performed at the more restrictive frequency. This would result in all 

licensees subject to Additional Security Requirements to be inspected at either a one or 

two year inspection frequency. Requiring this could have a significant negative effect on 

Agreement State programs, especially smaller programs or programs struggling to retain 

staff. 

The Program also requested that NRC consider revising the Inspection Manual Chapter 

1220 requirement that States and Regional Offices conduct reciprocity inspections on a 

minimum of 20 percent of candidate licensees annually. Many programs struggle under 

normal conditions to meet this requirement, and it becomes even more difficult to meet 

this requirement in today’s environment of increased security as well as other requests 

of Agreement States. 

The Program noted that the disposal of low level radioactive wastes is a concern that will 

begin to negatively affect licensees across the nation and ultimately become a problem 

for Agreement States and the NRC. They requested that NRC begin to look into the 

issue and work to develop a method for long term low level waste disposal for licensees 

in all States. 

The Program would like to commend NRC for their openness and free access to NRC 

management and staff, and for their willingness to earnestly listen to the concerns of the 

Agreement State Programs. The Program wanted to reiterate their appreciation for NRC 

support for Agreement State staff training. 
Nebraska Periodic Meeting Summary 

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ENCLOSURE 

Staffing and training: 

The Program has a total of three Health Physicists dedicated to the radioactive materials 

program. They are supported by one Health Specialist and one Staff Assistant. The 

Program is managed by the Program Manager. Currently the Program has no vacant 

technical positions; however, a continued increase in NRC requirements could result in a 

need to expand the staff which they believe would cause a hardship for the Program. 

Program reorganizations: 

 The Department underwent reorganization effective July 1, 2007. This change in structure 

had little effect on the Program. The name was changed and changes were made in the 

reporting structure. 

Changes in Program budget/funding. 

 The Program has not experienced problems with budgeting or funding. The Program 

recently published a revised fee schedule sufficient to remove them from any general 

revenue funding and make them a 100 percent fee funded program. The increased fee 

rule is currently out for public comment. 

Materials Inspection Program: 

The Program reported that they currently have no overdue inspections. Routine 

inspections are generally performed by the due date and initial inspections are typically 

performed within 12 months of issuance. They have identified and located approximately 

350 general licensees and issue annual certifications of possession to each of them. 

The Program previously experienced difficulty in performing inspections on at least 20 

percent of candidate reciprocity licensees; however, they are currently keeping up with 

these inspections. The Program initially identified 12 licensees who were required to 

implement Increased Controls. The Program reported that they only have one Increased 

Controls inspection left to be performed by the due date of May 14, 2009. They also 

reported that fingerprinting orders have been issued to all affected licensees. 

 Annual supervisory accompaniments were defined by the Program Manager as 

performance based accompaniments. Because the three health physicists are all long 

term, seasoned inspectors; the Program Manager will either accompany each inspector 

through the year on investigations or special inspections then evaluate their performance 

on this work, or an accompaniment is performed by a peer. They also perform peer 

reviews on all inspection reports generated. They believe this model is a more effective 

way to comprehensively evaluate staff performance rather than one supervisor 

accompaniment each year. 
Nebraska Periodic Meeting Summary 

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ENCLOSURE 

Regulations and Legislative changes: 

The Program’s rules and regulations are mostly up to date. One regulation will be due on 

January 31, 2009, and it is out for a public comment period. When the public comment 

period has been completed, they will forward it to NRC for review. 

As noted above, the program does not believe that the regulation will be in effect by 

January 31, 2009, so they will issue Orders to those licensees that are subject to the 

NSTS requirements. 

Event reporting, including follow-up and closure information in NMED.

 The Program reported that all NMED information is up to date. All items are closed. 

Response to incidents and allegations.

The Program continues to be sensitive to notifications of incidents and allegations. 

Incidents are quickly reviewed for their affect on public health and safety. Staff is 

dispatched to perform onsite investigations when necessary. The Program Manager has 

placed a high emphasis on maintaining an effective response to incidents and allegations. 

Status of allegations and concerns referred by the NRC for action. 

One allegation was referred by NRC to the Program since the 2006 review. That 

allegation was addressed but is not yet closed. 

Significant events and generic implications. 

The Program reported one event with potential generic implications. This involved smoke 

detectors with pre-filters located in pool irradiators. The significance of the issue is 

currently being evaluated. 

Current State Initiatives. 

None noted. 

Emerging Technologies. 

None noted. 

Large, complicated, or unusual authorizations for use of radioactive materials.

 None noted. 
Nebraska Periodic Meeting Summary 

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ENCLOSURE 

State’s mechanisms to evaluate performance. 

As noted above the Program identified their process for performing peer reviews on 100 

percent of all licensing and inspection activities as one mechanism for evaluating 

performance. They also noted their biweekly staff meetings as another method for 

ensuring that performance is continuously evaluated. 

 

Current NRC initiatives: 

 NRC staff discussed ongoing initiatives with the Program. These included pre-licensing 

 guidance, fingerprint orders, national source tracking, web based licensing, generally 

 licensed devices, and the issues associated with tritium exit signs. 

Schedule for the next IMPEP review:

 It is recommended that the next IMPEP review to be held in two years.