HPPOS-281 PDR-9306160199

Exceptions for EcoTek, Inc., as a Decommissioning Contractor

See the memorandum from R. E. Cunningham to J. P. Stohr dated February 4, 1993. The memo states: (1) decommissioning contractors may operate under their own license when they are providing the radiation safety programs under which the work is being done at a temporary job site; and (2) decommissioning contractors may be exempted from financial assurance requirements to the extent that the licensed materials remain at the temporary job site or are transferred to another licensee for disposal. This is a change in NRC policy. The previous NRC policy was that contractors who perform decommissioning activities at NRC licensed facilities do not require separate licenses, but rather perform these operations under the current NRC license for the facility.

After receiving the position paper from EcoTek dated September 23, 1992, concerning application of the financial assurance requirements to their service license, the NMSS staff met with the LLWM and OGC staffs to discuss the policy of issuing service licenses for work at temporary job sites. As a result of this meeting, we concluded that there are cases where the radiation safety programs in place at an NRC licensed facility may not be broad enough to ensure the safety of decommissioning activities performed by a service contractor. In such instances, it is appropriate for service contractors to operate under their own license when they are providing the radiation safety programs under which the work is being performed. This differs from the policy established in 1989 concerning licenses for decommissioning contractors (see Enclosure 2). Before starting work, contractors should establish a written agreement with their customers specifying which activities will be performed under the contractor’s license and supervision, and which activities will be performed under the customer’s license and supervision. This will assure that responsibility for job site radiation safety is clearly defined, provide for further assurance that operations will be conducted safely by the customer and the contractor, and identify the responsible licensee for purposes of inspection and enforcement. We also concluded that decommissioning contractors may be exempted from the requirement to establish decommissioning financial assurance to the extent that licensed materials remain at the temporary job site or are transferred to another licensee for disposal. We have suggested changes to the EcoTek license to address these and other issues (see Enclosure 1) if EcoTek wishes to proceed with a formal request for an exemption. A policy and guidance directive will be developed for reviewing applications for service licenses, and a draft of this directive will be provided to the Regions for comment.

Regulatory references: 10 CFR 30, 10 CFR 40, 10 CFR 70, License Conditions

Subject codes: 5.8, 11.2, 12.19

Applicability: Byproduct, Source, and Special Nuclear Materials