U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Exceptions for EcoTek, Inc., as a Decommissioning Contractor

HPPOS-281 PDR-9306160199

Title: 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