Veterinary Uses Toolkit

This toolkit has been designed to help licensees find key information easily.

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Regulations

The NRC's regulations are found in Chapter I of Title 10, "Energy," of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Chapter I is divided into Parts 1 through 199. The following part sets forth provisions specific to veterinary use of nuclear materials:

  • Part 20 – "Standards for Protection Against Radiation"
  • Part 30 – "Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material"
  • Part 31 – Paragraph 31.11, "General License for Use of Byproduct Material for Certain In Vitro Clinical or Laboratory Testing"

For additional references, see the page on Medical, Industrial, Academic Uses of Nuclear Materials Regulations, Guidance, and Communication.

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Guidance

Consolidated guidance published in NUREG-1556, "Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses." The volumes most relevant related to academic use of nuclear materials are:

  • Volume 7, Program-Specific Guidance About Licenses about Academic, Research and Development, and Other Licenses of Limited Scope, Revision 1
    • Appendix D: "Guidance for Laboratory Animal and Veterinary Medicine Uses"
  • Volume 11, Program-Specific Guidance About Licenses of Broad Scope, Revision 1

Regulatory guides are issued in 10 divisions and are intended to aid licensees in implementing regulations. The guides most applicable to veterinary use are in Division 6, Products and Division 8, Occupational Health.

See the detailed list of Division 8 regulatory guides in Medical, Industrial, and Academic Uses of Nuclear Materials Regulations, Guidance, and Communications for the guides most applicable to veterinary uses.

Technical evaluation reports document assessments of specific technical issues. On October 30, 2020, the NRC issued a technical evaluation report documenting the NRC’s review of Exubrion Therapeutics (Exubrion) proposed license application template to support the submission of license amendments by veterinary licensees for the use Synovetin OA®, a radioactive tin colloid, to treat osteoarthritis (OA) in a dog’s elbow joints. By letter dated December 4, 2019, Exubrion submitted the application template which included the procedure for using Synovetin OA®. Exubrion’s procedure included a prescreening questionnaire and release instruction template; its technical basis for release of animals following treatment; and a generic release procedure for dogs and owners following treatment. This procedure allows veterinary licensees to release dogs following treatment with Synovetin OA®. The NRC found the proposal to be adequate to protect the public’s health and safety. The documents from NRC’s evaluation are:

Web (HTML) versions of some regulatory guides are available for viewing or downloading at this site. In the index for each division of guides, the number of each guide available at this site is underscored. All active final and draft guides are also available in NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).

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Inspection Procedures

NRC's regional offices (Region I, Region III, and Region IV) conduct typically unannounced, periodic inspection of licensed activities using guidance from Inspection Manual, Chapter 2800. The frequency of inspection is based in the hazard of materials used.

License Types

NRC assigns a five-digit program code to each license to designate the major activity or principal use authorized in the license. These codes may be used to identify the appropriate NUREG-1556 guidance documents and secondary activities or uses authorized in the license. NRC uses approximately 100 program codes to classify the primary and secondary activities of thousands of active licenses. Additional information provided in the description of each license type may be used to identify the fee categories information in the schedules in 10 CFR Part 170 and 10 CFR Part 171. To learn more about the license category and the associated fee and inspection categories, see "Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses: Guidance About Administrative Licensing Procedures" (NUREG-1556, Vol. 20), Appendix G: LTS Program Code Descriptions.

License Types (Program Codes) for Veterinary Use

License Title License Code
(Program Code)
Veterinary – Non-Human 02400
In Vitro Testing Laboratories 02410

Additional License Types (Program Codes) Associated with Veterinary Use

The code used depends upon the therapeutic treatment device used.

License Title License Code NUREG-1556 Vol.
High Dose Rate Remote Afterloader 02230 NA
Teletherapy 02300 NA
Source Material Shielding 11210 NA

Additional License Types (Program Codes) Associated with Veterinary Use

The code used depends upon radiation program authorizations.

License Title License Code NUREG-1556 Vol.
Measuring Systems Analytic Gauges 03122 7
Measuring Systems Gas Chromatographs 03123 7
Measuring Systems Other 03124 7
Irradiators Self-Shielded Less Than 10,000 Curies 03510 5
Irradiators Self-Shielded Greater Than 10,000 Curies 03520 5
Incineration – Noncommercial (Secondary Code) 03235  
Byproduct Material Possession Only – Permanent Shutdown 03800  
Byproduct Material Standby – No Operations 03810  
Decommissioning of Byproduct Material Facilities 03900  
Low Level Waste Storage – Other (Secondary Code) 06101  

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Fees

Veterinary use license applicants are required to pay a fee to the NRC upon application for a new license and are required to pay an annual license fee to the NRC thereafter. These fees are explained in our Materials Fee Billing Handbook. Refer to the schedule of materials fees for the fees required for each category of license and each type of fee.

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Forms

The Application for Materials License Form 313 may be used by all veterinary use license applicants as a guide to information needed by the NRC. Application checklists are also provided in the appendices of the NUREG-1556 guidance document for veterinary broad scope licensees so that applicants will better understand the type of information needed for the broad scope portion of the application.

Other forms used by veterinary use licensees:

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Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, May 24, 2023