Letters Requesting Comment on 1) Procedure SA-113, Placing an Agreement State Program on Probation and 2) Draft Risk-Significant Material Checklist and Guidance

STC-15UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

ALL AGREEMENT STATES, VERMONT, WYOMING
STATE LIAISON OFFICERS
OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT ON DRAFT REVISION TO THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR
MATERIAL SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDS PROCEDURE SA-113, PLACING AN AGREEMENT
STATE PROGRAM ON PROBATION (STC-16-XXX)
Purpose: To provide the Agreement States, Vermont, Wyoming, and State Liaison Officers an
opportunity to comment on the proposed revisions to the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards (NMSS) Procedure SA-113, Placing an Agreement State Program on Probation.
Background: This procedure is being revised to update current practices and guidance, to
address organizational changes, and to address recommendations from the July 2014 tabletop
exercise.
Discussion: Enclosed for your review and comment is the draft revision to NMSS Procedure
SA-113, Placing an Agreement State on Probation. This document describes the procedure for
placing an Agreement State program on probation when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
finds that program weaknesses exist, which affects the adequacy and compatibility of the
program.
Probation is a formal process that allows the NRC to maintain an increased level of
communication with an Agreement State program experiencing program weaknesses. An
Agreement State program may be placed on probation as a result of program weaknesses
which require increased NRC oversight. The NRC Regional and Headquarters staff participated
in a tabletop exercise in July 2014 involving the simulated return of an Agreement State
program and the reestablishment of NRC authority. One of the recommendations resulting from
the exercise was that the probation process needed to be more nimble and streamlined, and a
consistent level of Commission involvement needed to be applied when determining probation,
emergency suspension, suspension, and termination of an Agreement State program. The
proposed changes to SA-113 address those aspects of the probationary process. In the
proposed revision to SA-113, the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) would decide to
place or lift probation for an Agreement State program following a consultation with the
Commission, and the Agreement State would be informed by a letter.

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Please provide any comments on SA-113. We would appreciate receiving your comments1
within 30 days from the date of this letter.
If you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please contact me at (301) 415-3340
or the individual named below:
POINT OF CONTACT:
TELEPHONE:

Joe O’Hara
(301) 415-6854

E-MAIL:

Joe.OHara@nrc.gov

Daniel S. Collins, Director
Division of Material Safety, State, Tribal
and Rulemaking Programs
Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards
Enclosure:
NMSS SA-113, Placing an Agreement
State Program on Probation

______________________________
1This information request has been approved by OMB 3150-0029 expiration 1/31/2019. The estimated burden per
response to comply with this voluntary collection is approximately 20 minutes. Send comments regarding the
burden estimate to the FOIA, Privacy, and Information Collections Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to infocollects.resource@nrc.gov, and to the Desk Officer, Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, NEOB-10202 (3150-0029), Office of Management and Budget, Washington,
DC 20503. If a means used to impose an information collection does not display a currently valid OMB control
number, the NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, the information
collection.

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