UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 

April 15, 2016 

MEMORANDUM TO: Glenn M. Tracy 

Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Waste, 

Research, State, Tribal, Compliance, Administration, 

 and Human Capital Programs 

Office of the Executive Director for Operations 

Adam S. Gendelman, Attorney 

Reactor and Materials Rulemaking Division 

Office of the General Counsel 

Joel T. Munday, Acting Deputy Director 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety 

 and Safeguards 

Jack B. Giessner, Director 

Division of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards 

NRC Region III 

FROM: Lisa C. Dimmick, Senior Health Physicist /RA/ 

 Agreement State Programs Branch 

 Division of Material Safety, State, Tribal, 

 and Rulemaking Programs 

 Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards 

SUBJECT: MINUTES: FEBRUARY 22, 2016, SPECIAL MANAGEMENT 

REVIEW BOARD MEETING 

 Enclosed are the minutes of the Special Management Review Board (MRB) meeting 

held on February 22, 2016, to discuss the periodic meetings held with the Pennsylvania, 

Massachusetts, and Nevada Agreement State Programs. If you have comments or questions, 

please contact me at (301) 415-0694. 

Enclosure: 

Meeting Minutes 

cc: Santiago Rodriquez, NM 

 Organization of Agreement States 

 Liaison to the MRB 
MRB Members 

Distribution: 

RidsEdoMailCenter 

MSampson, OEDO 

RidsOgcMailCenter 

RidsNmssOd 

DCollins, MSTR 

PHenderson, MSTR 

PMichalak, MSTR 

LRoldan-Otero, MSTR 

RidsRgn4MailCenter 

MShaffer, RIV 

LHowell, RIV 

BTharakan, RIV/RSAO 

RidsRgn1MailCenter 

JTrapp, RI 

JNick, RI 

DJanda, RI/RSAO 

State of PA 

State of MA 

State of NV 

OAS Board 

JWeil, OCA 

ML16071A109 

OFC MSTR/ASPB 

NAME LDimmick 

w/edits 

DATE 04/15/16 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY 
MINUTES: SPECIAL MANAGEMENT REVIEW BOARD MEETING OF 

FEBRUARY 22, 2016 

The attendees were as follows: 

In person at U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland: 

Glenn Tracy, MRB Chair, OEDO Dan Collins, NMSS 

Adam Gendelman, MRB Member, OGC Lisa Dimmick, NMSS 

Joel Munday, MRB Member, NMSS Paul Michalak, NMSS 

 

By videoconference: 

Jack Giessner, MRB Member, Region III Donna Janda, Region I 

Mark Shaffer, Region IV Jim Trapp, Region I 

Randy Erickson, Region IV Binesh Tharakan, Region IV 

Jackie Cook, Region IV Jim Lynch, Region III 

 

By telephone: 

Santiago Rodriguez, MRB Member, NM Lizette Roldan-Otero, NMSS 

Dave Allard, PA Duncan White, NMSS 

Joe Melnic, PA Jack Priest, MA 

John Chippo, PA Joshua Daehler, MA 

Terry Derstine, PA Marvin Lewis 

Karen Beckley, NV Adrian Howe, NV 

Robert Gallaghar, Region I 

1. Convention. Ms. Lisa Dimmick convened the meeting at 1:04 p.m. (ET). She noted 

that this Management Review Board (MRB) meeting was open to the public; one 

member of the public participated in this meeting. Ms. Dimmick then transferred the lead 

to Mr. Glenn Tracy, Chair of the MRB. Introductions of the attendees were conducted. 

2. Periodic Meeting Discussions: 

Periodic Meeting with the Pennsylvania Agreement State Program 

Ms. Donna Janda led the discussion of the results of the periodic meeting held with the 

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (Department) (Agencywide 

Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession Number: 

ML15225A588). The meeting was held in Harrisburg on June 2, 2015. Ms. Janda noted 

that the last Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) review of 

the Pennsylvania Agreement State Program (Program) was conducted in January 2014. 

Pennsylvania’s performance was found satisfactory for all indicators. In addition, 

Pennsylvania was found adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible 

with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) program. Based on a discussion 

regarding potential impacts of budget constraints on staffing during the April 2014 MRB 

meeting, the MRB directed that a periodic meeting be performed in one year with special 

emphasis on reviewing Pennsylvania’s staffing and hiring status. 

Ms. Janda summarized Pennsylvania’s status since the 2014 IMPEP review. She noted 

the strengths of the Program being experienced, well-trained staff. Senior management 
Special MRB Minutes -2- 

from the Department are supportive of the Program. Fees can carry over to the next 

fiscal year. Also the Program can adopt regulation amendments by reference. She 

noted some of the challenges facing the Program are the imminent retirements of 

experienced staff and salary freezes for managers. At the time of the periodic meeting, 

the Program had 665 licensees. There were five staff level vacancies, no overdue 

inspections, no backlog of licensing actions, no rules overdue for adoption, and 

response to incidents and allegations has been appropriate. The Program is addressing 

the open recommendation on incident investigation and reporting. Pennsylvania reported 

that it is conducting reactive inspections for all incidents reportable to NRC within 24 

hours, and monthly meetings are held to review open incidents. To ensure root causes 

are determined and events are reported, Pennsylvania’s internal tracking spreadsheet 

was updated to include this information. The MRB discussed Pennsylvania’s succession 

planning and knowledge transfer activities. The MRB discussed NRC training and 

Project AIM. 

Ms. Janda stated that the staff recommends that the next IMPEP review of the 

Pennsylvania Agreement State Program be conducted as scheduled in January 2019 

with a periodic meeting in June 2017. The MRB agreed with the staff’s 

recommendation. 

Periodic Meeting with the Massachusetts Agreement State Program 

Ms. Janda led the discussion of the results of the periodic meeting held with the 

Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) (ADAMS Accession Number: 

ML16042A390). The meeting was held in Boston on July 30, 2015. Ms. Janda noted 

that the last IMPEP review of the Massachusetts Agreement State Program (Program) 

was conducted in July 2014. The Commonwealth’s performance was found satisfactory 

for four indicators, and satisfactory, but needs improvement, for three performance 

indicators: Technical Quality of Inspections, Technical Quality of Licensing Actions, and 

Technical Quality of Incident and Allegation Activities. The review team made one 

recommendation to strengthen the Commonwealth’s incident response program. The 

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

improvement, and compatible with the NRC’s program. The MRB directed NRC staff to 

initiate a period of monitoring and requested that calls between the Massachusetts DPH 

staff and the NRC staff be conducted on a quarterly basis. The MRB also directed that a 

periodic meeting be conducted in July 2015. 

Ms. Janda summarized the status of the Program since the 2014 IMPEP review. She 

noted the strengths of the Program being experienced, well-trained staff, and good 

interactions between staff and management. She noted some of the challenges facing 

the Program: hiring freeze and retirements of experienced staff, including a qualified 

Sealed Source & Device reviewer. At the time of the periodic meeting, the Program had 

433 licensees. There were three staff level vacancies. The Program was current on 

inspections. The licensing actions are prioritized and the quality issues identified in the 

2014 IMPEP review have been addressed. There were no regulation amendments 

overdue for adoption, and response to incidents and allegations has been appropriate. 

Massachusetts has addressed the open recommendation concerning its incident 

response program. 

As a follow-up to inspection weaknesses observed in 2014 IMPEP review, the NRC staff 

accompanied a Massachusetts inspector on July 29, 2015. The NRC staff determined 
Special MRB Minutes -3- 

the inspection was adequate to assess radiological health, safety, and security of the 

licensed facility. The MRB discussed staffing and NRC’s training. 

Ms. Janda stated that the staff recommends that the next IMPEP review of the 

Massachusetts Agreement State Program be conducted as scheduled in July 2018, 

continue with monitoring, and conduct a periodic meeting in January 2017. The MRB 

agreed with the staff’s recommendation. 

Periodic Meeting with the Nevada Agreement State Program 

Mr. Binesh Tharakan led the discussion of the results of the Periodic meeting held with 

the Nevada Radiation Control Program (ADAMS Accession Number: ML15218A630). 

The meeting was held in Carson City on July 9, 2015. Mr. Tharakan noted that the last 

IMPEP review of the Nevada Agreement State Program (Program) was conducted in 

July 2013. Nevada’s performance was found satisfactory for all indicators. In addition, 

Nevada was found adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with the 

NRC’s program. 

Mr. Tharakan summarized the status of the Program since the 2013 IMPEP review. He 

noted the strengths of the Program being inspection timeliness, leadership, staff 

diversity, and support from supervisors. He noted some of the challenges facing the 

Program include support for the program by Nevada senior management and staff 

turnover. At the time of the periodic meeting, the Program had 252 licensees and two 

staff level vacancies. The Program was current on inspections, and no backlog of 

licensing actions. There were two regulation amendments overdue for adoption, and 

response to incidents and allegations has been appropriate. The Program is addressing 

the two open recommendation from the 2013 IMPEP review: One concerning the 

development/implementation of a licensing and inspection database, and one 

concerning adoption of rule changes within the required timeframe. The MRB discussed 

NRC training. 

Mr. Tharakan stated that the staff recommends that the next IMPEP review of the 

Nevada Agreement State Program be conducted as scheduled in July 2017. The MRB 

agreed with the staff’s recommendation. 

3. Comments from members of the public. Marvin Lewis expressed his concerns over 

shipments of High Enriched Uranyl Nitrate (HEUNL) being transported via rail and truck 

from Chalk River Laboratories in Canada to the U.S. and the danger this poses should 

there be a catastrophic accident. He further expressed concern for the first responders 

and that the first responder pool in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and is dependent on 

volunteers. The MRB requested the NRC to provide Mr. Lewis with contact information 

who might better respond to his comments. 

4. Process Changes/Comments. None applicable to these reviews. 

5. Precedents/Lessons Learned. None applicable to these reviews. 

6. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m. (ET).