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COMMISSIOr RELEASED TO THE POR o,; o usemios oc ims oi ns : U l2 M') 9h~..,,

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, , , , , . November 13 1997 ......................e.

OfflCE Of THEstCMifARY i

COMMISSION _ VOTING RECORD

DECISION ITEM: SECY-97-237

TITLE: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THEDEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

The Commission (with the Chairman and Commissioners Dieus andDiaz agreeing) approved the subject paper as recorded in theStaff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) of November 13, 1997.Commissioner McGaffigan would have preferred to have revisionsincorporated in the current version of the MOU rather thanwaiting for the next revision.This Record .:ontains a summary of voting on this matter toger.herwith the individual vote sheets, views and comments of theCommissioners, and the SRM of November 13, 1997.

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Wd/h LJf hn C. 'HoyYe5

Secr,e,r.ary of the Commission

Attachments:1. Voting Summary2, Commissioner Vote Sheets

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3. Final SRM-

cc: Chairman JacksonCommissioner DicusCommissioner Dia: l

Commissioner McGaffigan,

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Chairman Jacksone Comments on SECY 97 237

I approve the proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department ofEnergy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding the Pilot Program on ExtemalRegulation of DOE Facilities by NRC in SECY 97 237. The staff should plan to revise the MOUfollowing completion of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Pilot, to incorporate lessonsleamed The cover letter to DOE transmitting the signed MOU should mention this need for arevision. Iri the revised MOU, the following editorial changes should be made:

1) The word * Nuclear" should be inserted between the words ' DOE' and ' Facilities * on thesignature page and page 1 of the MOU.

2) The signature block shou!d be changed from * Shirley A. Jackson' to * Shirley AnnJackson * on the signature page.

3) Commas should be inserted following " Jackson" and * Commission" on page 3, third

paragraph.

4) On the top of page 5 following the words * nuclear facilities." Insert the followingsentence: "If deemed appropriate, a decision to seek legislation to give NRC authonty toregulate a specific facility could be made in advance of the full two-year time frame."

5) The word " report"in paragraph four of Section Vll.C. should be changed to TinalReport."

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MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDINGBETWEEN THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYAND THE

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

PILOT PROGRAMON EXTERNAL REGULATION

OF DOE FACILITIES BY THE NRC-

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Fodenco F. Pena Date Shirley [. Jackson Date

Secretary of Energy Chairman

U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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Doth the Advisory Committee and the Working Group concluded that the transition to NRC.

regulation would involve significant legal, financial, technical and procedural adjustments

for both agencies.

In September 1996, the NRC published for comment a series of Direction Setting Issue

(DSI) Papers under its Strategic Assessment and Rebaselininginitisive. One of the issue

papers, DSI 2, addressed options for NRC's position on the regulation of DOE facilities. In

March 1997, after corisidering public comments, along with the December 1996 DOE

decision to seek transfer of oversight to NRC, the Commission endorsed seeking the

transfer to NRC of responsibilityfor the regulatory oversightof certain DOE nuclear facilities

contingent on adequate funding, staffing resources, and a clear delineation of the authonty

NRC will exercise over the facilities. In addition,the Commissiondirected the NRC staff to

convene a high-leel NRC Task Force to identify, in conjunction with DOE, the policy and

regulatory issues needing analysis and resolution.

Therefore, both Secretary Pena of the Department of Energy and Chairman Jackson,

represerting the Nuclear Regulatory Commissionpave agreed to pursue NRC regulationu

of DOE nuclear facilities on a pilot program basis,

111. ' DEFINITION OF SIMULATED REGULATION"

Regulation,In contrastto simulated regulationused in this pilot program, generally means

that the regulator has the statutory authonty to: (1) establish standards ar.d requirements;

(2) apply the standards and requirements to particular operations, sometimes through

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nuclear facihties. JC J.u , i <. fq ; A ggA .g

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This MOU provides for cooperation in seeking to obtain the necessai/ budgetary and

staffing lesources for NRC particip&i a in the pilot program.

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In addition, this MOU provides for cooperationin involving the public and other stakeholders

in the pilot program and in the DOE and NRC decision on whether to seek extemal

regulation at the end of the pilot program.

This MOU covers a pilot program for simulated regulation of nuclear safety and radiation

protection of workers at the pilot facilitics. It does not cover the industrial (non-nuclear)

safety of workers at the pilot facilities. A parallel effort related to industrial safety of,

workers at some, if not all, of the pilot facihties is expected between DOE and the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

V. OBJECTIVES

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The overallobjective of the activities undertaken pursuant to this MOU is to provide DOE

and NRC with sufficient information to determine the desirability of NRC regulatory

oversight of DOE nuclear facilities and to support'a' decision whether to seek legislation to

authorize NRC regulationof DOE nuck ar facilities. Specifically, DOE and NRC seek to

obtain sufficient Information about a set of DOE nuclear facilities to:

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I A. Determine the value added by NRC regulatory oversight of activities at a pilot set

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