UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

REGION I 

2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD., SUITE 100 

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 

October 21, 2014 

Raymond Rusin, Director 

Radiation Control Program 

Environmental and Health Services 

 Regulations 

3 Capitol Hill 

Providence, RI 02908 

Dear Mr. Rusin: 

A periodic meeting with you and your staff was held on September 18, 2014. The purpose of 

this meeting was to review and discuss the status of the Rhode Island Agreement State 

Program. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was represented by Daniel Collins, 

Michelle Beardsley, and me. 

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

resulting from the discussions. A Management Review Board (MRB) meeting to discuss the 

outcome of the periodic meeting has been scheduled for November 13, 2014 at 3:00pm. Call in 

information for the MRB has been provided in a separate transmission. 

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

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (610) 337-5214 or 

via e-mail at Monica.Ford@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns. 

 Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

 Monica Lynn Ford 

 Regional State Agreements Officer 

 Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

 U.S. NRC Region I 

Enclosure: 

Periodic Meeting Summary for Rhode Island 

cc w/encl.: Charma Waring, Supervisor 

 Radioactive Materials Section 

 

 
October 21, 2014 

Raymond Rusin, Director 

Radiation Control Program 

Environmental and Health Services 

 Regulations 

3 Capitol Hill 

Providence, RI 02908 

Dear Mr. Rusin: 

A periodic meeting with you and your staff was held on September 18, 2014. The purpose of 

this meeting was to review and discuss the status of the Rhode Island Agreement State 

Program. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was represented by Daniel Collins, 

Michelle Beardsley, and me. 

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

resulting from the discussions. A Management Review Board (MRB) meeting to discuss the 

outcome of the periodic meeting has been scheduled for November 13, 2014 at 3:00pm. Call in 

information for the MRB has been provided in a separate transmission. 

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

any additional remarks about the meeting in general, please contact me at (610) 337-5214 or 

via e-mail at Monica.Ford@nrc.gov to discuss your concerns. 

 Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

 Monica Lynn Ford 

 Regional State Agreements Officer 

 Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

 U.S. NRC Region I 

Enclosure: 

Periodic Meeting Summary for Rhode Island 

cc w/encl.: Charma Waring, Supervisor 

 Radioactive Materials Section 

Distribution: 

M. Beardsley, NMSS L. Dimmick, NMSS K. Meyer, NMSS D. White, NMSS 

P. Henderson, NMSS L. Dudes, NMSS J. Dwyer, RI D. Collins, RI 

D. Janda, RI M. Ford, RI S. Abraham, NMSS 

SUNSI Review Complete: MLF (Reviewer’s Initials) 

\\nrc.gov\nrc\R1\Shared\State Agreement Files\Rhode Island\9-18-14 Periodic meeting summary with Letter.docx 

After declaring this document “An Official Agency Record” it will be released to the Public. 

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OFFICE DNMS/RI E 

NAME MFord/mlf 

DATE 10/21/14 

 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR 

RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH’S 

RADIATION CONTROL PROGRAM 

DATE OF MEETING: September 18, 2014 

NRC Attendees Rhode Island Department of Health Attendees 

Monica Ford, State Agreements Officer, 

Region I 

Ray Rusin, Director, Radiation Control Program 

Michelle Beardsley, Health Physicist, 

Office of Federal and State Materials 

and Environmental Management 

Programs 

Andrew Powers, Chief, State Licensing Unit 

Dan Collins, Director, Division of 

Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I 

Charma Waring, Supervisor, Radiation Control 

Program 

 William Dundulis, Risk Assessment Toxicologist 

 Dennis Klaczynski, Radiological Health Specialist 

 Edward D’Arezzo, Associate Director, Division of 

Environmental and Health Services Regulation 

DISCUSSION: 

During the October 2011 Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) review 

of the Rhode Island Agreement State Program (the Program), the review team found the State’s 

performance satisfactory for the performance indicators Technical Staffing and Training, 

Technical Quality of Licensing, and Technical Quality of Incidents and Allegations; satisfactory 

but needs improvement for the performance indicators Technical Quality of Inspections and 

Compatibility Requirements; and unsatisfactory for the performance indicator Status of Materials 

Inspection Program. The review team made six recommendations. On January 17, 2012, the 

Management Review Board (MRB) met to consider the proposed final IMPEP report. The MRB 

found the Program adequate to protect public health and safety, but needs improvement, and 

compatible with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) program. The MRB directed 

that Rhode Island be placed on monitoring, that calls between the Rhode Island Department of 

Health (RDH) and NRC staffs be conducted quarterly, and that a Periodic Meeting take place 

approximately one year from the 2011 IMPEP review. RDH provided their response to the 

IMPEP findings in a letter dated January 6, 2012. NRC acknowledged RDH’s responses in a 

letter dated February 6, 2012 (ML120240375) and felt that Rhode Island did not fully respond to 

all recommendations and should update their action plan accordingly. 

A periodic meeting was held with the Program on December 12, 2012. Subsequent to this 

Periodic Meeting, the MRB met on April 2, 2013 to consider the findings of the Periodic Meeting. 

The MRB again directed that the State remain on monitoring, that calls between the Program 

and the NRC continue to be conducted quarterly, and that another Periodic Meeting be held 

with the Program 18 months from the date of the previous periodic meeting. This summary is a 

reflection of that periodic meeting. 

 
 2 

TOPICS COVERED DURING THE MEETING INCLUDED:

Program Strengths

The Program has an experienced and well-trained staff. Although the Program is currently short 

staffed the current staff is very dedicated and has a willingness to put forth the effort to get the 

job done. The Program also has a very good professional relationship with its licensees 

allowing for openness and good communication. 

Program Challenges

The Program feels that staffing issues are a challenge of the program. The Program currently 

has two staff vacancies accounting for 0.8 of the 2.6 full time equivalents (FTE) allocated to the 

Program. The Program is hoping to post one of the vacant positions during their fiscal year 

2015 which will account for an additional 0.5 FTE. 

 

Feedback on the NRC’s Program

The Program commented that both the overall relationship and communications with the NRC 

are good and that they appreciated NRC’s continued support of the Agreement States. The 

Program also mentioned that document comment turnaround times established by the NRC can 

be too short and that it can be difficult to respond timely when multiple documents come out for 

comment at the same time. 

Agreement State Program Staffing and Training

The Program consists of four technical staff positions and a Supervising Radiological Health 

Specialist (supervisor) position, which was vacant at the time of the last IMPEP review. Since 

the October 2011 IMPEP the Program was given permission and subsequently filled the 

Supervisor position with an existing technical staff member thereby creating a vacancy at the 

technical staff level. Another vacancy at the technical staff level was created when a staff 

member who was out on extended medical leave retired. These two vacancies comprised 0.7 

FTE. One of the two vacant positions was then moved to a structural deficit position (0.4 FTE 

for the Program) with no plans to fill it. In July 2014 another staff person retired. While this 

retirement did not impact the Program since the retiree’s work was with mammography, it has 

allowed the Program to delegate that position as 0.5 FTE for radioactive materials and 0.5 FTE 

other. This will help to make up for the position lost to the structural deficit and creates a 0.8 

FTE shortfall in the Program which is currently allocated for 2.6 FTE. The Program hopes to be 

able to post the one vacant position and recoup 0.5 FTE in fiscal year 2015. As a result of the 

2012 periodic meeting and at the Program’s request, the NRC drafted a letter of support 

discussing the Program’s staffing issues and sent it to the Rhode Island Director of Health on 

March 25, 2014 (ML13354B813). 

The Program itself is 100 percent fee funded, however, since neither of the two vacant positions 

comprises a full FTE in the Program, and since no money has currently been allocated from the 

general fund to cover the other assigned duties comprising the remaining portions of each FTE, 

the Program is unable to fill these two positions. The four technical staff positions, two of which 

are currently vacant, all provide partial support to the Program. The two remaining technical 

staff and the supervisor are all fully qualified license reviewers and inspectors. 
 3 

The 2011 IMPEP team generated one recommendation for this performance indicator. The 

recommendation and its status are listed below. 

Recommendation 1: The review team recommended that the State document its training and 

qualification program for license reviewers and inspectors, including the reimplementation, use, 

and update of licensing and inspection qualification cards for each staff member. 

Status: Current qualification cards have been brought up to date. Going forward, the Program 

plans to change the way they track training and qualification. The Program plans to integrate 

the tracking of training and qualification into the office wide electronic system already in use by 

the Office of Facilities Regulation. This integration is dependent on staffing levels and workload. 

Due to the staff vacancies, no date has been set for the integration. 

Organization

The Rhode Island Agreement State Program is located in the State Licensing Unit, in the Office 

of Facilities Regulation, which is in the Division of Environmental and Health Services 

Regulation, located within the Rhode Island Department of Health. 

Program Budget/Funding

The Program is 100 percent fee funded. The funds are placed into a restricted receipt account 

for the Radiation Control Program. Although the money is placed into a restricted fund the 

Program does face some challenges and needs approval before using the money for 

purchases. The surplus money at the end of each fiscal year cannot be taken and placed into 

the State’s general fund without an approved change to the legislation. Both fiscal years 2015 

and 2016 budgets for the State face projected deficits. In order to make up for the deficits each 

Division has to find ways to cut costs to cover their share. Per program management the 

deficits do not impact travel within the State, however depending on the circumstances out of 

State travel can be impacted. There are no anticipated furloughs in fiscal year 2015 and 2016. 

 

Inspection and Licensing Programs

At the time of the IMPEP review 12 of 42 Priority 1, 2, and 3 inspections had been completed 

overdue. The Program stated that they have since made inspections a top priority and have 

completed all but four inspections in accordance with their assigned inspection frequencies. 

The Program has had no initial inspections since the last IMPEP review. However, the Program 

has received three new license applications. One has just recently been issued and the other 

two are in progress. The Program has continued to be attentive to reciprocity inspections, 

completing inspections on greater than 20 percent of candidate licensees for calendar years 

2013 and 2014. 

The Program has approximately 42 specific licensees. The Program takes all received licensing 

actions and places them in a computer tracking system and assigns them a log number. This 

database is very generic and does not contain any security related information. All licensing 

actions are worked on in a timely manner then reviewed by a senior staff member before being 

signed by the Program Director. The Program has addressed maximum possession limits as 

requested by RCPD Letter 10-007. The Program has incorporated NRC’s pre-licensing 

guidance into its own specific Rhode Island “Enhanced Pre-Licensing Guidance.” At the time of 

the periodic meeting, the Program has a working backlog of approximately 23 licensing actions 

consisting of renewals, amendments, initial applications, and changes of control. A majority of 
 4 

the outstanding actions are renewals (15 of the 23). Rhode Island is prioritizing and completing 

health and safety actions first and working on the renewals as time allows. Eleven of the fifteen 

renewals have been in progress for more than one year. All other actions have been in 

progress for less than one year. The Program’s licenses are on a 10 year renewal cycle. 

The 2011 IMPEP team generated four recommendations for these performance indicators. 

Each recommendation along with its status is listed below. 

Recommendation 2: The review team recommends that the State take appropriate measures 

to conduct Priority 1, 2, and 3 inspections and initial inspections in accordance with the 

inspection priority in Inspection Manual Chapter 2800. 

Status: Since the previous IMPEP, Rhode Island has made inspections a top priority. Rhode 

Island has completed all but four Priority 1, 2, and 3 inspections in accordance with the 

inspection priority in Inspection Manual Chapter 2800. Rhode Island has had no new license 

applications requiring an initial inspection since October 2011. 

Recommendation 3: The review team recommends that the State take measures to ensure 

that inspection records and narrative reports are documented in accordance with the Program’s 

Inspection Manual. 

Status: The Program has taken measures to ensure that inspection records and narrative 

reports are documented in accordance with the Program’s Inspection Manual. Inspection 

reports are reviewed by senior level staff for completeness. The Program will continue to 

address this recommendation as forms are updated. 

Recommendation 4: The review team recommends that a Program supervisor or other 

appropriately qualified senior staff member accompany each inspector, at least annually, to 

ensure quality and consistency in the inspection program. 

Status: Both inspectors were accompanied by a senior staff member in calendar year 2012. 

For calendar year 2013, the technical staffer that performs inspections was accompanied by the 

supervisor in January 2013 and the supervisor who also performs inspections was accompanied 

by a senior level staff person in December 2013. For calendar year 2014 neither of the two 

supervisory accompaniments has been completed. The Program supervisor is aware of the 

need to complete these accompaniments and the plan is to have both completed before the end 

of the calendar year. 

Recommendation 5: The review team recommends that the State conduct initial and 

subsequent security-related inspections in a manner that provides for verification of licensee 

compliance with the requirements. 

Status: The Program has incorporated this into their inspection process and will be 

implementing it as inspections occur. The Program has focused on performing security-related 

inspections along with the routine health and safety inspections. During these inspections the 

Program is verifying licensee requirements with both security-related and health and safety 

requirements. 

 
 5 

Regulations and Legislative Changes

The Program is continuing to work on promulgating regulations. The Program sent in a 

package of proposed regulations to the NRC on August 28, 2013 that contained regulation 

changes through Regulation Amendment Tracking System (RATS) ID 2012-4. The NRC 

responded to the Program in a letter dated December 4, 2013 which contained 39 comments 

(ML13240A262). The Program finalized the proposed regulations on January 15, 2014 but was 

unable to make any changes in regards to NRC comments at that time. The Program hopes to 

have regulations which address the 39 comments and incorporates an equivalent to 10 CFR 

Part 37 ready for adoption by the summer of 2015. 

Recommendation 6: The review team recommends that the State adopt all currently overdue 

regulations required for compatibility and adopt future regulation amendments within their 

required three year time frame. 

Status: The Program has adopted all regulation changes through RATS ID 2012-4. There are 

no currently overdue regulations due for adoption. The Program is beginning to work on 

addressing comments from the previous rulemakings and also is working on incorporating 10 

CFR Part 37 into their regulations. 

Event Reporting

The Program has reported three events to the NRC since the 2011 IMPEP review. All 

reportable events have been reported to the NRC accordingly and appropriate follow-up through 

NMED has occurred. The Program stated that all staff is aware of event reporting criteria. 

Response to Incidents and Allegations

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

are quickly reviewed for their effect on public health and safety. Staff is dispatched to perform 

onsite investigations when necessary. The Program is aware of the need to maintain an 

effective response to incidents and allegations. One allegation has been received by the 

Program since the 2011 IMPEP review. 

CONCLUSIONS: 

Rhode Island continues to be an effective Agreement State program with experienced and welltrained staff. There are two vacancies in the Program accounting for 0.8 FTE. The Program 

has completed four inspections overdue since the previous IMPEP review. There is a small 

licensing backlog and there are no regulations overdue for adoption at this time. 

NRC staff recommends that the Program continue on Monitoring and the next IMPEP review be 

conducted as scheduled in October 2015.