UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

REGION III 

2443 WARRENVILLE RD. SUITE 210 

LISLE, IL 60532-4352 

May 29, 2014 

Mr. Thomas Hogan, Director 

Environmental Health Division 

Minnesota Department of Health 

625 Robert St., N. 

P.O. Box 64975 

St. Paul, MN 55164-0975 

Dear Mr. Hogan: 

A periodic meeting with your program was held on April 29, 2014. The purpose of the meeting 

was to review and discuss the status of Minnesota’s Agreement State Program. The Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission was represented by Patrick Louden, Joseph O’Hara, and me. 

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

will be taken as a result of the meeting. 

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 (630) 829-9661, or 

email to james.lynch@nrc.gov to discuss your comments. 

Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

James L. Lynch 

State Agreements Officer 

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc w/encl: Sherrie Flaherty, Supervisor 

 Radioactive Materials Unit 

 
May 29, 2014 

Mr. Thomas Hogan, Director 

Environmental Health Division 

Minnesota Department of Health 

625 Robert St., N. 

P.O. Box 64975 

St. Paul, MN 55164-0975 

Dear Mr. Hogan: 

A periodic meeting with your program was held on April 29, 2014. The purpose of the meeting 

was to review and discuss the status of Minnesota’s Agreement State Program. The Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission was represented by Patrick Louden, Joseph O’Hara, and me. 

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

will be taken as a result of the meeting. 

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 (630) 829-9661, or 

email to james.lynch@nrc.gov to discuss your comments. 

Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

James L. Lynch 

State Agreements Officer 

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc w/encl: Sherrie Flaherty, Supervisor 

 Radioactive Materials Unit 

ADAMS Accession Number: ML14154A407 

DOCUMENT NAME: G:\DNMSIII\Work in progress\LTR - 2014 Minnesota Periodic Meeting Summary.docx 

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To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the concurrence box "C" = Copy without attach/encl "E" = Copy with attach/encl "N" = No copy

OFFICE RIII DNMS RIII DNMS RIII DNMS RIII DNMS 

NAME JLLynch:jaw*JLL 

DATE 05/29/14 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Enclosure 

AGREEMENT STATE PERIODIC MEETING SUMMARY FOR THE MINNESOTA 

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION 

DATE OF MEETING: APRIL 29, 2014 

DISCUSSION: 

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

Indoor Environments and Radiation Section, Division of Environmental Health (the Division). 

The Division is a part of the Minnesota Department of Health. Sherrie Flaherty is the supervisor 

of the Radioactive Materials Unit. The Section manager position was vacant at the time of the 

meeting, with the recent promotion of Dale Dorschner to Assistant Division Director. Since the 

meeting, Mary Navara was named Section Manager. Minnesota regulates approximately 

166 specific licenses. Management support for the Program appears excellent. 

The State’s last IMPEP review was conducted in November 2011. The review team found 

Minnesota’s performance to be satisfactory for all performance indicators reviewed. 

Accordingly, the review team recommended, and the Management Review Board agreed, that 

the Minnesota Agreement State Program was adequate to protect public health and safety, and 

compatible with Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) program. The next IMPEP review 

was extended for an extra year, based on good performance. 

Other topics covered at the meeting included: 

Program Strengths: The Unit has excellent communications between staff members and 

has streamlined many processes without sacrificing the quality of regulatory products or 

the emphasis on protection of health and safety. The staff is very knowledgeable of the 

status of the program. Unit staff has a good understanding of new regulatory initiatives 

and associated expectations. The Agreement State program has good managerial and 

financial support. 

The Unit holds semi-annual meetings with licensee physicists to discuss regulatory 

issues, recent industry problems, and methods for increasing communication. These 

meetings have been very successful and were well received by the licensee community. 

Plans are being made to expand these meetings to radiation safety officers. State 

managers emphasized their strong relationship with licensees. 

Program Weaknesses: Division managers noted that the Program’s database is not 

very efficient and needs upgrading. The NRC representatives suggested that the new 

live Web Based Licensing program may be a good fit for Minnesota. The NRC provides 

IT support for Web Based Licensing, which would relieve the State of that responsibility. 

NRC Attendees Minnesota Attendees

Jim Lynch, RSAO Aggie Leitheiser, Asst. Commissioner 

Pat Louden, Division Director Tom Hogan, Division Director 

Joe O’Hara, FSME Dale Dorschner, Assistant Division 

Director 

Sherrie Flaherty, Unit Supervisor 
Minnesota Periodic Meeting Summary Page 2 

Feedback on NRC’s Program: 

The State expressed appreciation for the recent webinar training on Title 10 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 37. They encouraged the NRC to do additional 

webinar training and suggested that licensing and inspection of cyclotron operations may 

be a valuable topic. 

The Division indicated that they appreciated the good support they receive from 

NRC Region III and enjoy the good relationship and communication that they have with 

the NRC in general. The Division was also appreciative of NRC’s funding for Agreement 

State training. 

Staffing and Training: 

The Minnesota program has a Unit Supervisor, four technical staff, and an administrative 

support person. Three of the technical staff are fully trained and the fourth is beginning 

her qualification process. The staff members are cross-trained in all areas of the 

program. The Division Director stated that succession planning is being done to keep 

the program running smoothly as people leave the program. 

 

Program Reorganizations: 

The Unit has not experienced any program reorganizations since the previous IMPEP 

review and none are expected. 

Changes in Program Budget/Funding: 

The Unit has a solid source of funding through a dedicated fee fund. The Program has 

paid off the deficit that was incurred during the Agreement State startup. Fees average 

approximately 65-70% of NRC’s annual fees. The Unit is not facing any travel 

restrictions at this time. 

Materials Inspection Program: 

The Unit reported that they have not performed any inspections overdue during the 

review period and had no overdue inspections at the time of the meeting. The Unit 

typically performs between 60 and 80 inspections per year. 

A peer inspector accompaniment process is being initiated in the Unit. The intent is to 

have inspectors learn from each other by observing inspection techniques and 

approaches. 

The Unit performs pre-licensing visits for all new license applicants that are unknown to 

the program. 

The Unit regularly performs reciprocity inspections. Minnesota is meeting the inspection 

targets in Inspection Manual Chapter 1220. 
Minnesota Periodic Meeting Summary Page 3 

Materials Licensing Program: 

License actions are kept current with no licensing backlog. License applications are 

generally completed within four weeks of receipt. All licensing actions are peer reviewed 

and then reviewed and signed by the Unit Supervisor. This three-part review helps 

maintain accuracy and consistency of license documents. The Unit performs 

approximately 100 licensing actions per year. 

Regulations and Legislative Changes: 

The State is up to date on all regulation amendments currently required for 

compatibility. The regulation promulgation process takes approximately 1.5 years 

to complete, so it is important to keep up on newly published regulations to ensure 

publication within 3 years. Minnesota’s 10 CFR Part 37 equivalent regulations are 

expected to be adopted this year. The State will look at the possibility of adopting 

regulations through incorporation by reference. This would free up limited resources 

to other parts of the program. 

Event Reporting, including Follow-up and Closure Information in NMED: 

The Program had reported eight events to NMED since the 2011 IMPEP review. All of 

the events were appropriately reported to the NRC, and were properly entered into, and 

updated, within NMED. Very good communication with Region III was noted during 

events. 

Response to Incidents and Allegations: 

The Unit 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 Unit Supervisor 

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: 

The NRC did not refer any allegations to Minnesota since the last IMPEP review. 

Several allegations were received directly by the State during the period and were 

investigated appropriately and in a timely fashion. 

Significant Events and Generic Implications: 

The Unit did not identify any significant events or generic issues since the 2011 

IMPEP review. 
Minnesota Periodic Meeting Summary Page 4 

Current State Initiatives: 

Unit staff members continue to accompany NRC inspectors during reactor inspections. 

These accompaniments provide valuable insight to the State and increased 

communications with the NRC. Future accompaniments are planned, and were 

encouraged by NRC staff. 

State’s Mechanisms to Evaluate Performance: 

The Unit uses peer reviews of licensing actions and inspection reports to insure the 

quality of regulatory products. Inspectors are accompanied annually by the Unit 

Supervisor. The Unit Supervisor is considering reimplementing annual internal 

assessments of the radioactive materials program, if time and workload allows. 

Current NRC Initiatives: 

The NRC staff discussed ongoing initiatives with the Minnesota representatives. 

These included the Agreement State Program enhancement activities, medical event 

definition, combining of NRC agreement state program policy statements and the 

potential merging of NMSS and FSME. 

CONCLUSIONS: 

The Minnesota Agreement State Program remains a strong, stable program with excellent 

management support. Staffing has remained consistent since the Agreement and the training 

level for staff members is on target. The State has established innovative outreach programs to 

physicists, radiographers and neighboring Agreement States. Minnesota managers indicated 

that they will continue to support the IMPEP program, which they view as a valuable process. 

The NRC staff recommends that the next IMPEP review to be held, as currently scheduled, in 

late 2016.