National Source Tracking System: 2009 Blog Archives
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The National Source Tracking System Blog launched in August of 2009.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Annual Inventory Reconciliation Training Update
We wrapped up the last of the Annual Inventory Reconciliation webinar training sessions yesterday. There has been very high participation in the webinars, and the licensees who attended have asked some great questions. We are in the process of going through all of the questions submitted, and will post the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Blog next week!
The goal of the training was to ensure everyone knew what to do for Annual Inventory Reconciliation in January, and the webinars accomplished just that. Thank you to all who took the time out of their schedules to participate.
The power point slides from the presentation are available. Please feel free to share these slides with any of your co-workers who were unable to attend one of the sessions.
If you have any additional questions regarding Annual Inventory Reconciliation, please contact the NSTS Help Desk: (1-877-671-6787; NSTS.Help@nrc.gov).
Friday, December 11, 2009
Annual Inventory Reconciliation for Non-Credentialed Users
The users with online access to NSTS are able to complete their Annual Inventory Reconciliation quick and simple through the user interface. For those users who do not have online access, the reconciliation will not be quite as simple, but our goal is to make it as painless as possible!
The NRC has evaluated the licenses in NSTS, and have noted each license with at least one Category 1 or Category 2 source, where there is not an NSTS user associated with the license. For these licenses, the NSTS Help Desk will be sending the inventory reports via email, to the Primary Contact on the license record in NSTS. The inventory reports will be distributed the week of January 4th. If you do not receive an inventory report by January 8th, and you DO NOT have online access to NSTS, contact the NSTS Help Desk to request your inventory report.
Licensees will use the inventory report from NSTS to verify it reflects what is in their physical source inventory. If there is a discrepancy in the report, licensees must make the correction and submit it to the Help Desk. All corrections should be submitted via NRC Form 748; check the "Correction" check box at the top of the form. Once the help desk has made the correction, they will create a new inventory report and send via email.
Once the licensee has confirmed the sources in the NSTS inventory are the sources in the physical inventory, they must sign the Annual Inventory Reconciliation report in the designated area, and fax, email, or mail it back to the Help Desk.
Once the Help Desk receives the confirmation of Annual Inventory Reconciliation, they will enter the reconciliation information on behalf of the licensees.
As a reminder, the NRC is offering online webinar training for the Annual Inventory Reconciliation. There are two sessions left, on December 17th.
Register via the meeting links for the time you wish to attend. You will receive a confirmation email after registration.
If you have questions, please contact the NSTS Help Desk: (1-877-671-6787).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Annual Inventory Reconciliation Webinar Training
The next maintenance release of NSTS will contain the annual inventory reconciliation functionality. In order to prepare, the NRC is offering six webinar training sessions for licensees in December. The training session will demonstrate the steps in completing the annual inventory reconciliation process online. There will be time at the end of the demo to address any questions about the process.
Register via the meeting links for the date and time you wish to attend. You will receive a confirmation email after registration. Please take the time to register for a session today!
If you have questions, please contact the Help Desk or call 1-877-671-6787.
Monday, November 23, 2009
NSTS Annual Inventory Reconciliation
The NRC and Agreement State regulations require once a year, in January, for licensees to reconcile their physical source inventories with the source inventory in the NSTS. Licensees can complete this process through the online application, or manually. The NRC is encouraging all licensees to complete their annual inventory reconciliation through the online application.
If you have not been credentialed to access NSTS yet, it is not too late! Please sign up today!
If you have received your smart card, but have not downloaded your certificates yet, please take the time to download the certs now. The download does require administrative rights to your workstation. Instructions are on the credentialing page of the website. If you need assistance, contact the Help Desk.
For credentialed users, please ensure your account is active and that you have your PIN to access the online application. If you have forgotten your PIN, or receive an error when signing in, contact the Help Desk or call 1-877-671-6787.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
NSTS Website Redesign
The NSTS Website has been re-designed! The new site is now easy to navigate, and includes some great resources for online reporting.
If you need a refresher on NSTS training, check out the Computer Based Training (CBT) modules, now available on the website! These interactive illustrations demonstrate the system functions in NSTS. Also making it's website debut is the NSTS User Guide and the NSTS Training Guide; two great resources for NSTS users.
As always, if you have questions or comments, please contact the NSTS Help Desk. (1-877-671-6787; NSTS.Help@nrc.gov).
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
NSTS Data Clean-Up Effort
The NRC is working on an effort to resolve discrepancies in the data in NSTS. Some of the common problems with the data include the following:
- Devices reported instead of sources
- Duplicate sources in inventories
- Multiple sources reported as one source
In the next 30 days, someone from the NRC may be contacting you by phone if the sources in your inventory have been identified as having a problem. Resolving these issues now will make the annual inventory reconciliation, coming in January of 2010, a quick and simple process.
We appreciate your prompt response and cooperation in getting these issues with the data in NSTS resolved.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the NSTS help desk by phone or email; 1-877-671-6787 or NSTS.Help@nrc.gov.
For the latest updates, see current NSTS Blog.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Blog Subscription Service — Don't Miss Important NSTS Updates!
To ensure that you don't miss important NSTS updates, you can now take advantage of the NRC's subscription service to receive NSTS Blog update notices by email, as follows:
- Select Subscribe to Updates (or the envelope-shaped icon), in the upper-right corner of the main NSTS Blog page, to begin the Email Updates process.
- Enter your primary email address, and select Go to access the New Subscriber window.
- Enter and confirm your primary email address, set a password (if desired) to protect your subscriber preferences, and Save your information.
- When the system displays the Success window, select Next and check your email for a Welcome message from the NRC.
- When you receive the Welcome email, confirm your account using the Web page indicated in that message.
Please take a couple of minutes to subscribe today!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Notice: NSTS Temporary Outages
NSTS may experience some occasional outages due to testing after 10:00pm (EST) Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The NSTS will be back online each morning by 6:00am (EST).
If you have any questions, please contact the help desk at 1-877-671-6787 or via email at NSTS.Help@nrc.gov.
NSTS Industrial Radiography Workshop - A Smashing Success!
We had a terrific turnout for the NSTS Industrial Radiography Workshop in Cypress TX last week. Both and Licensees and Agreement State Regulators participated in the workshop.
The place to be was the credentialing booth. All steps of the credentialing process were in this single location. Licensees were able to enroll online, get identify proofed, and download certificates all in one place!
In addition to providing training on NSTS, we also offered some hands-on exercises, where licensees could practice sending and receiving sources. NRC staff assisted many licensees with logging into NSTS to view their source inventories.
Aside from a huge storm rolling in, and drowning out the voices of the speakers, the workshop could not have been better. The NRC is very encouraged by the licensee's willingness to report to the NSTS online. By the end of the workshop, everyone was in agreement, reporting sources online is easier than reporting by FAX!
If you were unable to attend the workshop, the following materials were provided in the workshop binder:
If you would like to request a CD of these materials, please contact us.
Select the thumbnail, below, to view larger image.
Friday, September 4, 2009
A Message from the Chairman
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One of my top priorities as Chairman is to make sure the new National Source Tracking System (NSTS) is running smoothly and effectively. Members of Congress, government officials and members of the public often ask me about the safety and security of nuclear materials. I am pleased to be able to tell them about the NSTS, a major security initiative of our agency. This highly secure, accessible and easy-to-use computer system tracks high-risk nuclear materials from the time they are manufactured or imported through the time of their disposal or export, or until they decay enough to no longer be of concern. This system is a very important tool for the NRC and the states to use in verifying the legitimate ownership and use of nuclear materials, in inspections, and in communicating with other government agencies. It will be of enormous help to us in improving the security of radioactive materials used in industry, research and medicine. It basically gives us "cradle to grave" accountability for high-risk materials.
The system was implemented in January of this year, and since that time, all transactions involving Category 1 and 2 sources have been reported to the NSTS. A new NSTS webpage and blog have been launched on NRC's external website to support the users of the system.
Like all new systems, there have been some bugs to work out along the way. Users must pass certain security hurdles to get into the system, contractors must be certified before use, and – as in any database – information must be entered properly and consistently, or the database will not be accurate or useful. Getting this system up and running is a great accomplishment, and I am fully confident that we'll be able to work out any existing sticking points. The NRC staff has done an excellent job on this important project, and I'm very proud of the results of our effort.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Reminder for the NSTS Radiography One Stop Workshop for the Southwest Region
The NSTS Radiography Workshop will be in Cypress, TX on September 9th. The workshop will be held from 9:00am - 3:30pm at the Northwest Forest Conference Center, Alamo Room.
What to Bring:
- If you have your subscriber agreement or smart card and reader, bring them with you!
- If you don't have your smart card yet, bring the following:
Two Forms of ID (i.e. Driver's License and one of the following: U.S. Passport (current or expired), original or certified copy of birth certificate, U.S. Military card or draft record, ID card issued by federal, state, or local government, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address.
Friday, August 28, 2009
NSTS Version 1.1
The maintenance release for NSTS Version 1.1 has been deployed to production. Some enhancements included in this release are:
- Removed deactivation of user account for 30 days of inactivity
- Automatic decay calculation
- Official Use Only security markings on each page
- Version indicator in application header
- Rules of Behavior tracking – annual renewal will begin in January 2010
- Database indexes to improve performance
Your input is valuable to us, and has a direct impact to improving the NSTS. If you have comments or suggestions, please see our NSTS Suggestion Box. Or you can contact the help desk (Toll Free 1-877-671-6787 or via email at NSTS.Help@nrc.gov.)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
NSTS Radiography One Stop Workshop for the Southwest Region
The NRC and the State of TX are hosting an NSTS Radiography One Stop Workshop for the Southwest Region (TX, OK, LA). The one day workshop is scheduled for September 9th! If you plan on attending, and have not done so already, please RSVP to Chris Myers by August 14th. See our flyer and the workshop agenda for details.
Also, we will have many resources available to help you in any phase of the credentialing process for obtaining online access to NSTS. Reporting to NSTS online is fast and easy, and it all starts with your enrollment online at https://pki.nrc.gov/. Select the link for the Digital Certificate Center. Select the links for New Request and select Continue to access the online enrollment form. When completing the online enrollment form, make sure you enter your name EXACTLY as it appears on your driver's license. Also, when entering company name, make sure you enter the full legal name of your company.
If you have questions about the online enrollment, please contact the NSTS Help Desk! They are here to help: Toll Free 1-877-671-6787 or via email at NSTS.Help@nrc.gov
Monday, August 10, 2009
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Angela Randall and Andrew Mauer of the NRC at the AAPM Vendor Fair.
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The American Association of Physicists in Medicine had their annual meeting at the end of July in sunny Anaheim California. The NRC attended the meeting and presented information on the National Source Tracking System. We had a great turn out for our presentation, and appreciate all of the interest in the NSTS.
If you were not able to attend the meeting, see the NRC's presentation .
There were a number of questions regarding the potential expansion to Category 3 sealed sources. These sources include fixed industrial gauges (level gauges, conveyor gauges, thickness gauges, blast furnace gauges, dredger gauges, and pipe gauges), well-logging devices, medium- and low-dose-range brachytherapy, and certain radiography devices. However, the commissioners split their votes 2 to 2 and so the proposed action is not approved at this time. Our current efforts are focused on ensuring that the current system operates as intended.
Wednesday, August 6, 2009
Welcome to the NSTS Blog!
Welcome to the National Source Tracking System Blog! This Blog will be a way for the NRC to communicate upcoming events and important information regarding the NSTS with our user community. In the coming months, we will be providing information on topics such as:
- Annual Inventory Reconciliation
- Certificate Renewals
- Tips on NSTS Usage
If you have questions, concerns, comments, please let us know! Our help desk is available to assist with any problems you may have. You can contact them by phone, toll free, at 1-877-671-6787 or via email at NSTS.Help@nrc.gov.
This blog will be updated regularly, so please check back often!
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Monday, January 24, 2022