Indiana Agreement Application Process

The 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 State Agreement and Liaison 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 Indiana has requested an agreement for the authority to regulate byproduct, source, and special nuclear material of a certain quantity, but not the authority to regulate 11e.(2) byproduct material (mill tailings), low-level waste disposal or evaluation of sealed sources and devices. Once the Agreement process is completed, the NRC will transfer the licenses for approximately 200 academic, commercial and medical facilities to the State of Indiana.

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 Indiana's Agreement application.

Indiana's Agreement will assume authority over byproduct material as defined in Sections 11e(1), of the AEA, Byproduct material as defined in Sections 11e(3), of the AEA, Byproduct material as defined in Sections 11e(4), of the AEA, Source material, and Special nuclear material in quantities not sufficient to form a critical mass. Once the Agreement process is completed, the NRC will transfer the licenses for approximately 200 academic, commercial and medical facilities to the State of Indiana. The process steps can be seen in the table below.

AGREEMENT APPLICATION PROCESS AND THE STATE OF INDIANA

Agreement Process	Indiana's Status
Governor submits Letter of Intent to NRC Chairman	June 11, 2021; ML21166A134
NMSS assigns a Project Manager	Sherrie Flaherty: sherrie.flaherty@nrc.gov
State develops draft Agreement application	July 2021 – February 2024
State submits draft Agreement application to NRC for review	February 16, 2024 ML24108A164, ML24055A006
NRC provides letter to State detailing review team's comments on draft application
State develops Formal Request (final application) for an Agreement
Governor submits Formal Request and certifies State has adequate program
NRC staff prepares Commission Paper that includes draft analysis, draft Agreement and Federal Register notice requesting comments
Commission approves publication in the Federal Register for public review and comment
Draft Agreement and staff analysis published in the Federal Register for four consecutive weeks
NRC staff analyzes public comments
NRC staff prepares Commission Paper that includes final draft analysis, Agreement and resolution to public comments
Commission approves Agreement
Chairman and Governor sign Agreement
State assumes regulation authority
Final Agreement published in the Federal Register