UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 

October 18, 2016 

MEMORANDUM TO: Commissioner Baran 

FROM: Annette Vietti-Cook, Secretary /RA/ 

SUBJECT: COMJMB-16-0001 – PROPOSED STAFF RE-EVALUATION OF 

CATEGORY 3 SOURCE ACCOUNTABILITY 

This memorandum is to inform you that all Commissioners have responded to your proposal 

regarding Category 3 source material accountability. 

 

The attached SRM provides staff direction on this issue. 

This completes action on COMJMB-16-0001. 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc: Chairman Burns 

 Commissioner Svinicki 

 EDO 

 OGC 

 
UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 

October 18, 20016 

MEMORANDUM TO: Victor M. McCree 

 Executive Director for Operations 

FROM: Annette L. Vietti-Cook, Secretary /RA/ 

SUBJECT: STAFF REQUIREMENTS – COMJMB-16-0001 – PROPOSED 

STAFF RE-EVALUATION OF CATEGORY 3 SOURCE 

ACCOUNTABILITY 

Given the agency’s operating experience with the higher-risk sources, and in light of the findings 

by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), staff should evaluate whether it is necessary to 

revise our regulations or processes governing source protection and accountability to continue 

to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety. 

The staff should submit a notation vote paper to the Commission that includes the following: 

1) an evaluation of the pros and cons of different methods of requiring transferors of 

Category 3 sources to verify the validity of a transferee's license prior to transfer; 

2) an evaluation of the pros and cons of including Category 3 sources in the National 

Source Tracking System; 

3) an assessment, based on these evaluations, of these and any additional options that the 

staff identifies for addressing the source accountability recommendations made by the 

GAO; 

4) a vulnerability assessment which identifies changes in the threat environment between 

2009 and today that argue in favor of or against expansion of the NSTS to include 

Category 3 sources; 

5) a regulatory impact analysis of the accrued benefit and costs of the change, to include 

impacts to the NRC, Agreement States, non-Agreement States, and regulated entities; 

6) a discussion of potential regulatory actions that would not require changes to our 

regulations that arose from or were considered by the staff working groups, to include 

changes to guidance, training, and other program improvements such as more closely 

monitoring the implementation of the staff recommendations using the Integrated 

Materials Performance Evaluation Program process; 

7) any other factors arising from the staff's currently ongoing assessment that the staff 

concludes would bear on the Commission's deliberation on the proposed change. 

The staff’s evaluations for the notation vote paper should begin after completion of the ongoing 

broader evaluation of the overall source protection and accountability strategy for sources due 

to the Congress at the end of this year.
The results of the assessment of the security requirements in 10 CFR Part 37, as required by 

the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills for Fiscal Year 

2015, should be used to inform the staff's evaluation.

In conducting these evaluations, the staff should assess the risks posed by the aggregation of 

Category 3 sources into Category 2 quantities and consider the current views of our Agreement 

States partners. 

The staff should continue to collaborate with its Agreement State partners, non-Agreement 

States, regulated entities, public interest groups, industry groups such as those in the medical 

and industrial fields, and the reactor community, to fully assess the regulatory impact for any 

recommendations made in the notation vote paper. 

The staff's evaluation and notation vote paper should be provided to the Commission within 10 

months of the issuance of this Staff Requirements Memorandum. 

cc: Chairman Burns 

 Commissioner Svinicki 

 Commissioner Baran 

 OGC 

 CFO 

 OCA 

OPA 

ODs, RAs, ACRS, ASLBP (via E-Mail) 

PDR