[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 172 (Friday, September 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53082-53083]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-21192]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NCR-2013-0181]
Georgia Agreement State Program
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Discontinuance of the probation period for the Georgia
Agreement State Program.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the
discontinuation of the probation period for the Georgia Agreement State
Program (Georgia Program).
DATES: The discontinuation of the probation period is effective on
August 25, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0181 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this action by the
following methods:
[[Page 53083]]
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0181. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Beardsley, Office of Federal
and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Region I, King of Prussia, PA, telephone: 610-
337-6942, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 274b. of the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended (AEA), provides the statutory basis by which the NRC
relinquishes, by agreement with a State, portions of its regulatory
authority to license and regulate byproduct materials, source
materials, and quantities of special nuclear materials under critical
mass, when the NRC determines that the State has an adequate radiation
control program to protect public health and safety, which is
compatible with the NRC's program. Through the Agreement State program,
37 States have signed formal agreements with the NRC.
Section 274j of the AEA requires that the NRC periodically review
each Agreement State to ensure each State's regulatory program is
adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with the
NRC's regulatory program. The NRC reviews Agreement State radiation
control programs, using performance indicators, to ensure that public
health and safety is being adequately protected. The periodic review
process for Agreement State programs is called the Integrated Materials
Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP).
A Management Review Board (MRB) composed of senior NRC managers
(with an Agreement State liaison attending) makes the final
determination of adequacy for each Agreement State. The MRB holds a
public meeting and makes the overall assessment of the Agreement State
program. The MRB considers information such as the proposed final IMPEP
report, which presents suggested performance indicator ratings and
recommendations prepared by the IMPEP review team, the State response
to the IMPEP report and information provided by the State during the
MRB meeting. For most IMPEP reviews, no action other than issuance of
the final IMPEP report is required. For those infrequent reviews where
additional action is warranted, the MRB may consider Monitoring,
Heightened Oversight, and recommendations for Probation, Suspension, or
Termination. The most significant actions, Probation, Suspension, or
Termination, require Commission approval.
In 2008, the MRB placed the Georgia Program under a condition of
monitoring due to the results of the 2008 IMPEP review of the Georgia
Program. The Commission placed the Georgia Program on probation based
on the 2012 IMPEP review, which showed an overall programmatic decline
in performance. The NRC issued a notice regarding the probation status
of the Georgia Program in the Federal Register on August 9, 2013 (78 FR
48726).
After the most recent IMPEP review in 2014 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML14121A618), the MRB found the overall Georgia Program adequate to
protect public health and safety, and compatible with the NRC program
requirements, but that it needs improvement. The MRB found that the
Georgia Program performance improved overall since the 2012 review and
closed several recommendations from the 2012 report. As a result of the
State's improvement, the MRB recommended to the Commission that the
Georgia Program be placed on Heightened Oversight and removed from
Probation. The Commission agreed that the Georgia Program should be
removed from Probation. The NRC has issued a notification of
discontinuance of the Probation period to the Governor of Georgia, the
Georgia Congressional delegation, and all other Agreement and Non-
Agreement States.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of August 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Raymond K. Lorson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and
Environmental Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2014-21192 Filed 9-4-14; 8:45 am]
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