NRC Rule on the National Source Tracking System

In November 2006, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued the Final Rule incorporating the National Source Tracking System (NSTS) into the agency's regulations, and implementing provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 . As specified in that rule, the NRC's NSTS regulations are set forth in Title 10, Section 20.2207, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 20.2207), "Reports of Transactions Involving Nationally Tracked Sources." (Each Agreement State will implement equivalent requirements for its licensees.) Under those regulations, all licensees must take the following actions:

• Report the licensee's initial inventories of Category 1 and Category 2 sources, as defined in Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 20, "Standards for Protection Against Radiation," by January 31, 2009.
• Begin reporting all related transactions (manufacture, transfer, receipt, disassembly, or disposal of sources of interest) to the NSTS by January 31, 2009.
• Verify (on an annual basis) the records in the NSTS, and reconcile that information with the licensee's actual inventory.

Licensees have several options for reporting transaction information to the NSTS:

• Secure Web-based access to the database
• Submittal of files in computer-readable format
• Submittal of the National Source Tracking Transaction Report NRC (Form 748) by email, fax, or mail
• Telephone reporting to the NSTS Help Desk