ML070811111

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF FEDERAL AND STATE MATERIALS AND 

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555

May 2, 2007

NRC INFORMATION NOTICE 2007-16: Common Violations of the Increased Controls

Requirements and Related Guidance Documents

ADDRESSEES

All licensees who are implementing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Order

Imposing Increased Controls (EA-05-090), issued November 14, 2005 and December 22, 2005.

PURPOSE

The NRC is issuing this Information Notice (IN) to inform licensees of the information and

resources available to answer questions and clarify issues regarding the requirements of the

Increased Controls (IC). This IN also describes some of the common violations that have been

identified during IC inspections, in order to bring about awareness of these particular violations

and reduce their occurrence. It is expected that recipients will review this information for

applicability to their facilities and consider actions, as appropriate. However, suggestions

contained in this IN are not new NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action nor written

response is required.

DESCRIPTION OF CIRCUMSTANCES

The NRC has identified that some requirements of the IC are either being misinterpreted, or

incompletely implemented by licensees. It appears there are common misunderstandings

among licensees about the requirements set forth in the IC, and the intent behind those

requirements. It has also been observed that many licensees are either unaware of the

guidance that is available to assist in their implementation efforts, or unable to locate the

guidance documents. 

DISCUSSION

Prior to the issuance of the IC, meetings were held with, and correspondence received from,

affected stakeholders. This led to the development of an implementing guidance document

which contains acceptable approaches for achieving compliance with the IC. The implementing

guidance includes 201 Questions and Answers (Q&As), which address specific situations and

questions regarding the IC. The implementing guidance document, containing the 201 Q&As,

were distributed to licensees concurrent with the issuance of the IC Order.
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After the IC were issued, the NRC formed the Implementation of Increased Controls Working

Group (IICWG) to discuss various questions and situations regarding implementation of the IC. 

The purpose of the IICWG was to resolve issues and provide additional guidance to licensees

and regulating authorities when questions arose regarding the implementation of the IC and the

efforts of the licensee to comply. In addition, the IICWG continues to maintain a living

document which is updated with Supplemental Q&As whenever new issues or questions arise. 

Increased awareness of how to locate and use these guidance documents may help licensees

prevent the violations commonly identified during inspections. Below is a list of the guidance

documents available to licensees and their location on the NRC website, followed by a

discussion of violations commonly observed during initial inspections of the IC requirements. 

Guidance Documents 

The guidance documents available to licensees can be found in the NRC public website on the

“Security Orders” page, located at the following web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/security/index.html

Information specific to the IC is located at the bottom of this web page, under the heading

entitled “Holders of Material Licenses Authorized to Possess Radioactive Material Quantities of

Concern.” Beneath that heading are links to the IC documents shown below:

November 14, 2005 - Letter issued to Holders of Material Licenses Authorized to

Possess Radioactive Material Quantities of Concerns

Enclosure 1 - Order Imposing Increased Controls

Attachment B - Increased Controls for Licensees that Possess Sources

Containing Radioactive Material Quantities of Concern 

Attachment B - Table 1: Radionuclides of Concern

Enclosure 2 - Implementing Guidance with Questions and Answers for Licensees

that Possess Radioactive Material Quantities of Concern 

Supplemental Questions and Answers - (most current date shown here) 

The final two documents in the listing may be particularly useful to a licensee working to comply

with the IC Order. The document shown as “Enclosure 2 - Implementing Guidance with

Questions and Answers for Licensees that Possess Radioactive Material Quantities of Concern”

includes 201 Q&As which are categorized by IC requirements one through six, and by other

specific topics such as manufacturers and distributors, medical facilities, etc. The document

shown as “Supplemental Questions and Answers” is updated with new Q&As as they are

developed in response to requests for further clarification of the IC. Note that the date shown

on the Supplemental Q&A document will change to reflect the date when the latest Q&A was

approved by the IICWG. Therefore, licensees may wish to check the Security Orders web page

regularly to see if the date has changed, indicating the presence of new Supplemental Q&As.
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A review of common violations identified during initial inspection of licensees’ IC programs

indicated that licensees may not have completely understood the IC requirements or fully

reviewed the guidance documents. Licensees who have difficulty understanding or complying

with the requirements of the IC after fully reviewing the guidance documents mentioned above,

or are unsure whether their program is adequate, may contact the appropriate NRC Regional

Office for assistance. 

Common Violations Among IC Licensees

The following are examples of IC violations which have been identified during inspections. In

general, it appears that violations of the IC requirements most commonly involve those of IC 1,

2, 4, and 6. This also includes violations involving the documentation requirements found

among the IC. 

Documentation

An important component to the IC requirements, and a common topic among the guidance

documents previously mentioned, is documentation. There are parts of the IC requirements

which state that a licensee must have a “documented program,” or account for certain

provisions “in writing.” Many times licensees may have made a good faith attempt to comply

with the IC, but have failed to adequately document their actions or program. Thorough

documentation is often necessary to demonstrate full compliance. 

IC 1

Some licensees had not appropriately restricted access to radioactive material quantities of

concern and devices containing such radioactive material, allowing access to individuals without

a trustworthiness and reliability (T&R) determination. This included instances where licensees

did not escort unauthorized individuals who required access to the area where radioactive

material and devices were stored in order to perform job duties unrelated to the radioactive

material. In some cases, licensees may have performed the T&R determination review;

however, they could not present documentation of their determinations when requested by the

inspector, as stipulated by IC 1.d. Also, some licensees thought that maintaining a list of

approved individuals is the only documentation required for T&R records; however, this list is

only a single component of what is required. For instance, according to IC 1.d “The licensee

shall document the basis for concluding that there is a reasonable assurance that an individual

granted unescorted access is trustworthy and reliable, and does not constitute an unreasonable

risk for unauthorized use of radioactive material quantities of concern.”

IC 2

There have been cases where licensees failed to establish a documented program to monitor

and immediately detect, assess, and respond to unauthorized access to radioactive material

and devices, as required by IC 2. This included licensees operating at temporary job sites and
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transport vehicles containing radioactive material quantities of concern. Some licensees

misunderstood what information to include in the required documented program. Other times,

licensees may have made a good faith attempt to comply with the IC, but have failed to

adequately document their actions or program. 

All components of a security program (i.e., detection, assessment, and response) need to be

implemented for the program to work properly. Several of the deficiencies observed regarding 

IC 2 requirements were attributable to inadequate installation of equipment, faulty and

dysfunctional equipment, or lack of monitoring in storage areas. Other deficiencies resulted

from licensees failing to activate alarm and monitoring systems when the radioactive material

was not under direct control and constant surveillance of the licensee or designated T&R

personnel. 

In general, licensees appear to be communicating with their Local Law Enforcement Agency

(LLEA) about the IC and the type of material they possess. However, insufficient information is

being shared to develop an effective pre-arranged plan for LLEA response to an actual theft,

sabotage, or diversion of radioactive material or devices. The implementing guidance provides

details as to what should be provided in the licensee’s pre-arranged plan with their LLEA.

There have been cases where licensees did not have a dependable means of transmitting

information among the various system components used to detect, assess and respond in

accordance with IC 2.c. This has been observed when licensees install security systems which

rely solely on a functional land-based telephone line. Many licensees believed that, if the alarm

system failed, they would still retain the ability to communicate with the alarm company. 

Problems with power backups have also been observed. In most cases, alarm companies

provided training to licensees on the operation of intrusion alarm systems; however, the training

usually focused on the basic operations of the system (i.e., how to set and turn off the alarm

system). Therefore, these licensees were not well informed about how their alarm systems

functioned. Also, several licensees installed some type of monitoring equipment without fully

assessing their vulnerabilities. As a result, these licensees did not recognize that the system

was ineffective for their security needs.

IC 4

Another common program deficiency is the misuse, or non-use of physical barriers and

disabling methods to prevent unauthorized removal when a portable or mobile device is not

under direct control and constant surveillance by the licensee. In some cases, this has resulted

in loss of control of licensed materials, and a violation issued to the licensee. Therefore,

licensees should carefully evaluate their implementation of IC 4 requirements. 

IC 6

Violations have been identified regarding access, and handling of, physical protection

information according to IC 6. Documents which contain information about a licensee’s

physical protection program are considered sensitive and should be available only to 

individuals with a need to know and who have been determined trustworthy and reliable. This

includes information that describes a licensee’s criteria for determining individuals to be

trustworthy and reliable for unescorted access to radioactive material quantities of concern. 
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CONTACT

This information notice requires no specific action or written response. If you have any

questions about the information in this notice, please contact the technical contact listed below

or the appropriate regional office.

 /RA/

Janet R. Schlueter, Director

Division of Materials Safety 

 and State Agreements

Office of Federal and State Materials 

 and Environmental Management Programs

Technical Contact: Joshua Palotay, FSME

Phone: 301-415-6231

Fax: 301-415-3502

E-mail: jxp5@nrc.gov

Enclosure: Recently Issued FSME/NMSS

 Generic Communications
Enclosure 

IN 2007-16

Page 1 of 1

Recently Issued FSME/NMSS Generic Communications

Date GC No. Subject Addressees

02/02/07 IN-07-03 Reportable Medical Events Involving

Patients Receiving Dosages of

Sodium

Iodide Iodine-131 less than the

Prescribed Dosage Because of

Capsules Remaining in Vials after

Administration

All U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) medical use licensees and NRC

Master Materials Licensees. All Agreement

State Radiation Control Program Directors

and State Liaison Officers.

02/28/07 IN-07-03 Potential Vulnerabilities of Timereliant Computer-based Systems Due

to Change in Daylight Saving Time

Dates

All U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) licensees and all Agreement State

Radiation Control Program Directors and

State Liaison Officers.

03/01/07 RIS-07-03 Ionizing Radiation Warning Symbol All U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) licensees and certificate holders. All

Radiation Control Program Directors and

State Liaison Officers.

03/09/07 RIS-07-04 Personally Identifiable Information

Submitted to the U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission

All holders of operating licenses for nuclear

power reactors and holders of and applicants

for certificates for reactor designs. All

licensees, certificate holders, applicants, and

other entities subject to regulation by the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the

use of source, byproduct, and special nuclear

material.

Note: NRC generic communications may be found on the NRC public website at http://www.nrc.gov, under Electronic

Reading Room/Document Collections.