Vermont Agreement

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) provides assistance to States expressing interest in establishing programs to assume NRC regulatory authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Section 274 of the Act provides a statutory basis under which NRC relinquishes to the States portions of its regulatory authority to license and regulate byproduct, source, and certain quantities of special nuclear materials. The Agreement State Programs Branch in the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) has the programmatic lead at the NRC for processing an Agreement application.

The Commission and a State may enter an Agreement whereby the Commission discontinues regulatory authority over a specific category of materials or class of facilities.  The State of Vermont has requested a standard agreement for the authority to regulate byproduct, source, and special nuclear material of a certain quantity.  Once the Agreement process is completed, the NRC will transfer the licenses for approximately 38 academic, commercial and medical facilities to the State of Vermont.

The NRC staff evaluates the State's Agreement materials program using NMSS Procedure SA-700 Processing an Agreement and its associated handbook.  The staff's assessment will need to show that the Agreement materials program satisfies the Commission policy statement Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof by States Through Agreement (46 FR 7540; January 23, 1981 and 48 FR 33376; July 21, 1983).  There are several steps in the Agreement process.  The table below includes the steps in the process and provides the status for the State of Vermont's Agreement application.

Additional information on the Agreement State Program and the Vermont agreement application can be found in the frequently asked questions.