POLICY ISSUE 

INFORMATION 

December 8, 2010 SECY-10-0159

FOR: The Commissioners 

FROM: Charles L. Miller, Director 

 Office of Federal and State Materials 

 and Environmental Management Programs 

SUBJECT: U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION IMPLEMENTATION 

PLAN FOR THE RADIATION SOURCE PROTECTION AND SECURITY 

TASK FORCE REPORT 

PURPOSE: 

The purpose of this paper is to provide the Commission with the updated “U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC) Implementation Plan for the Radiation Source Protection and 

Security Task Force Report.” This plan highlights the interagency efforts in the area of radiation 

source protection and security. This paper does not address any new commitments or resource 

implications. 

SUMMARY: 

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) created an interagency task force on radiation source 

protection and security under the lead of the NRC. After the receipt of the first draft report by 

the Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force (Task Force), the Commission 

directed the staff in the Staff Requirements Memorandum on COMSECY-06-0032, “Draft Report 

to the President and the U.S. Congress on the Radiation Source Protection and Security Task 

Force Report,” dated August 3, 2006, to develop a plan, including prioritization, cost estimates, 

and the staff view on how to proceed with implementation of the recommendations in the report 

for which NRC has responsibility. 

CONTACT: Kim Lukes, FSME/DMSSA 

 301-415-6701
The Commissioners -2- 

The staff submitted the first implementation plan to the Commission in SECY-06-0231, “NRC 

Implementation Plan for the Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force Reporting,” 

dated November 22, 2006. This implementation plan addressed the recommendations and 

actions from the Task Force report that was provided to the President and U.S. Congress on 

August 15, 2006. The staff used this implementation plan to organize and track the efforts 

related to the Task Force recommendations and actions. 

The staff updates the implementation plan annually. These updates are provided to the 

Commission on an annual basis to provide the Commission with information on the 

implementation of the Task Force recommendations and actions. 

BACKGROUND: 

The EPAct required the establishment of an interagency task force on radiation source 

protection and security under the leadership of the NRC. The EPAct mandates that not later 

than 1 year after the date of the legislative’s enactment, and not less than once every 4 years 

thereafter, the Task Force shall submit to the President and Congress a report and 

recommendations on materials source security. The report includes an evaluation of the 

security of radiation sources in the United States, with a specific focus on potential terrorist 

threats, including acts of sabotage, theft, or use of a radiation source in a radiological dispersal 

device. In 2006, the NRC submitted the first Task Force report to the President and Congress. 

The report contains 10 recommendations and 18 actions that address security and control of 

radioactive sources. In accordance with the EPAct, the Task Force also submitted its 

quadrennial report to the President and Congress on August 11, 2010. This report is publicly 

available in the Agencywide Documents Access & Management System (ADAMS) 

(ML102230141). This report captures the many accomplishments achieved over the past 

4 years, including the closeout of a number of significant recommendations and actions from the 

first report. Eleven new recommendations are proposed in the 2010 report. Three of the 

recommendations and actions, if carried out, are identified as possibly impacting or 

necessitating legislative change. 

 

DISCUSSION: 

For the past 4 years, the Task Force has successfully guided the implementation activities 

associated with the Task Force report recommendations evident by the progress noted in the 

recently-issued 2010 report. The Task Force, however, has not yet had the opportunity to meet 

and discuss the implementation plans for the 2010 Task Force recommendations. Similar to 

what was done in 2006, the Task Force plans to meet in January 2011 to decide upon the 

implementation plans and assign lead responsibility for each of the new recommendations in the 

2010 report, as well as address plans for the open recommendations and actions from the 2006 

report. Before these activities can begin, the Task Force is reflecting upon the lessons learned 

from the report development process in order to prepare for an improved and more streamlined 

process and schedule for the next report in 2014. 
The Commissioners -3- 

Also, initially, the Task Force intends to proactively generate high-level government attention on 

the 2010 report and the challenges highlighted in that report. The staff anticipates receiving 

feedback on the issues presented in the report on improving radiation source protection and 

security. Accordingly, the Task Force plans to dedicate its attention to respond to this 

feedback. Once the Task Force has accomplished this task, the Task Force will move forward 

with the implementation of the recommendations at its next meeting in January 2011. 

Therefore, the enclosed NRC implementation plan currently only provides the status of the 2006 

Task Force recommendations and actions and only introduces the new 2010 Task Force 

recommendations. As noted above, the Task Force intends to meet in January 2011 to develop 

an implementation strategy for the new 2010 recommendations. This strategy will address 

issues that could complicate implementation, lead offices, resource estimates, and task 

breakdowns for each of the new recommendations from the 2010 report. The implementation 

decisions that will be made in regard to the new and open recommendations and actions will 

continue to be maintained in the implementation plan once the Task Force has had the 

opportunity to make these decisions. The plan will remain as a living publicly available 

document in ADAMS (ML102560440). Recognizing that implementation of certain new 

recommendations could have an impact on current NRC policy or budget, such as 

implementation of 2010 Recommendation 2 which could involve policy decisions and need for 

significant resources, the staff will engage the Commission, as early as possible, through 

existing processes. However, the staff would like the Task Force to initially discuss all of these 

new recommendations before elevating issues relating to the implementation of the 

recommendations. 

RESOURCES:

This is the first update of the implementation plan which highlights the interagency efforts in the 

area of radioactive source protection and security and includes the 11 new recommendations 

that were identified in the quadrennial report that was provided to the President and Congress in 

2010. These new recommendations are not addressed by the current budget. Resources for 

these unbudgeted recommendations will be reallocated, if needed, from lower priority activities 

or addressed through the Planning, Budgeting, and Performance Management process. 

COORDINATION: 

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed this paper and has no legal objection. 

 /RA Jennifer Golder Acting for/ 

Charles L. Miller, Director 

Office of Federal and State Materials 

 and Environmental Management Programs 

Enclosure: 

NRC Implementation Plan for the Radiation 

 Source Protection and Security Task 

 Force Report 
The Commissioners -3- 

Also, initially, the Task Force intends to proactively generate high-level government attention on the 2010 

report and the challenges highlighted in that report. The staff anticipates receiving feedback on the issues 

presented in the report on improving radiation source protection and security. Accordingly, the Task Force 

plans to dedicate its attention to respond to this feedback. Once the Task Force has accomplished this task, 

the Task Force will move forward with the implementation of the recommendations at its next meeting in 

January 2011. 

Therefore, the enclosed NRC implementation plan currently only provides the status of the 2006 Task Force 

recommendations and actions and only introduces the new 2010 Task Force recommendations. As noted 

above, the Task Force intends to meet in January 2011 to develop an implementation strategy for the new 

2010 recommendations. This strategy will address issues that could complicate implementation, lead offices, 

resource estimates, and task breakdowns for each of the new recommendations from the 2010 report. The 

implementation decisions that will be made in regard to the new and open recommendations and actions will 

continue to be maintained in the implementation plan once the Task Force has had the opportunity to make 

these decisions. The plan will remain as a living publicly available document in ADAMS (ML102560440). 

Recognizing that implementation of certain new recommendations could have an impact on current NRC policy 

or budget, such as implementation of 2010 Recommendation 2 which could involve policy decisions and need 

for significant resources, the staff will engage the Commission, as early as possible, through existing 

processes. However, the staff would like the Task Force to initially discuss all of these new recommendations 

before elevating issues relating to the implementation of the recommendations. 

RESOURCES:

This is the first update of the implementation plan which highlights the interagency efforts in the area of 

radioactive source protection and security and includes the 11 new recommendations that were identified in 

the quadrennial report that was provided to the President and Congress in 2010. These new 

recommendations are not addressed by the current budget. Resources for these unbudgeted 

recommendations will be reallocated, if needed, from lower priority activities or addressed through the 

Planning, Budgeting, and Performance Management process. 

COORDINATION: 

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed this paper and has no legal objection. 

 /RA Jennifer Golder Acting for/ 

Charles L. Miller, Director 

Office of Federal and State Materials 

 and Environmental Management Programs 

Enclosure: 

NRC Implementation Plan for the Radiation 

 Source Protection and Security Task 

 Force Report 

WITS 200700044/EDATS: SECY-2010-0140/FSME201000214, WITS 200900097/EDATS: SECY-2010-0583/FSME201000409, 

WITS 200900094/EDATS: SECY-2010-0258/FSME201000293, and WITS 200900092/EDATS: SECY-2010-0363/FSME201000307 

ML103050432 

OFC MSSA MSSA MSSA MSSA NSIR OGC CFO TechEd FSME 

NAME KLukes EQuinones TReis CEinberg for 

RLewis 

RCorreia MYoung GPeterson PTressler 

for CPoland 

CMiller 

JGolder for 

DATE 11/02/10 11/04/10 11/26/10 11/29/10 11/19/10 11/22/10 12/7/10 12/2/10 12/8/10 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY