U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Record Retention at Ex-Licensee After a License has been Terminated

HPPOS-205 PDR-9111210351

Title: Record Retention at Ex-Licensee After a License has

been Terminated

See the memorandum from P. Jehle to C. L. Miller dated

February 27, 1989. The memo states that once a license is

terminated by the NRC, the former licensee is no longer

required to retain records. If the NRC believes record

retention should continue for a term of years, its

termination order could be conditioned on expiration of the

term.

On May 27, 1988, the Commission issued a final rule on the

Retention Periods for Records that affects 10 CFR Parts 4,

11, 25, 30-35, 40, 50, 60, 61, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 95, and

110. These parts contain all the regulatory provisions

referring to NRC requirements for retaining records (with

the exception of 10 CFR Part 20). The Commission's

regulations refer only to a "Licensee" or an "Applicant."

There are no references to the applicability of the

regulations to an ex-licensee or former licensee. Because

of the absence of references to ex-licensees, by inference,

record retention regulations do not apply to ex-licensees.

Therefore, once a license is terminated by the NRC, the

former licensee is no longer required to retain records.

This does not suggest that the Commission is without

authority to require the retention of necessary records.

The Commission may place conditions on an order of

termination to be fulfilled before decommissioning is

complete. If the Commission believes record retention

should continue for a term of years, its termination order

could be conditioned on the expiration of the term.

The recordkeeping requirements of 10 CFR Part 20 are the

subject of proposed rulemaking. The proposed rules, in all

but two sections, state that the licensee shall retain

records until the Commission terminates the license

requiring the record. The notice of the proposed rule did

not state that the regulations have been changed to require

that records be maintained until the license is terminated.

Therefore an ex-licensee is not required to retain records

under 10 CFR Part 20 of current or proposed NRC regulations.

Regulatory references: 10 CFR 20.401, 10 CFR 20.2102, 10

CFR 20.2103

Subject codes: 2.1, 11.4

Applicability: All