TU-B-202-01: Revision of NRC's Safety Culture Policy Statement and Proposed 10 CFR Part 37, “Physical Security of Byproduct Material.”

Abstract

NRC is in the process of updating and expanding its 1989 policy statement on safety culture to include the full range of NRC regulated activities and to better address security issues. NRC published its draft safety culture policy statement in the Federal Register (74 FR 57525) November 6, 2009, and held a public work shop February 2010. One NRC objective is to develop a common definition of safety culture, and safety-culture-related language that can be used by the NRC, the Agreement States, licensees, and others involved with nuclear materials in the United States. NRC believes safety culture is important in ensuring safety, security, and the protection of the environment in the use of regulated materials and is a leading indicator of a licensee's performance. NRC has a responsibility to consider safety culture as part of its oversight responsibilities. Under the Medical Policy Statement, it is clear that for medical use licensees NRC has regulatory responsibility over not only the radiation safety of the public and radiation workers but also patients, when appropriate. NRC expects its licensees to have and maintain a safety-conscious work environment in which employees and contractors are encouraged to raise safety concerns (including patient radiation safety concerns) and feel free to raise these concerns both to their own management and to the NRC without fear of retaliation. These concerns should be promptly reviewed, properly prioritized, appropriately resolved, and timely feedback provided to those raising the concerns. In NRC's inspection report for the Department of Veteran's Affairs multiple medical events involving prostate brachytherapy, one of the underling root causes and concerns was the lack of a positive safety culture environment to encourage medical physicists and others to raise concerns to the licensee. NRC is developing a proposed rule, to among other things, add a new Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 37, “Physical Security of Byproduct Material.” The proposed rule would include in the regulations the security requirements NRC implemented by Orders to certain licensees for the use of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. These include provisions for the background investigation and access authorization program, provisions for physical protection during use of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material, and security provisions for the transport of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. Medical physicists are affected by the Orders and proposed rule only if they use category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand NRC's proposed expansion of its Safety Culture Policy. 2. Understand basic physical security provisions of NRC's proposed 10 CFR Part 37.