The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should implement stronger controls for all categories of radioactive material for which it grants licenses, including the least dangerous category that currently falls outside of the same level of scrutiny, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday.
The GAO conducted undercover tests through which it established three fake companies that submitted applications to obtain a category 3 radioactive source. The applications were rejected in two cases, but in the third “the official from the regulatory body accepted GAO’s assurances without scrutinizing key aspects of the fictitious business, which led to a license being obtained,” the report said.
This meant GAO could obtain a license that would allow it to purchase multiple category 3 quantities of radioactive material, which would become a category 2 quantity of material that could be used to build a dirty bomb.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, category 3 quantities involve “less than 10 times the amount sufficient to cause permanent injury,” while category 1 sources are “1,000 times or more than the amount necessary to cause permanent human injury” and category 2 are “at least 10 times, but less than 1,000 times” the amount necessary.
The GAO said the NRC does not require tracking of category 3 materials in its National Source Tracking System, and that the NRC does not require that the validity of category 3 licenses be verified by the seller, “creating risks that licenses could be counterfeited or that licensees could obtain radioactive materials in quantities greater than what is allowed by their licenses.”
The report recommended including category 3 sources in the tracking system, requiring transferors of that material to verify the validity of purchasers’ licenses, and “consider requiring” on-site security reviews for unknown category 3 license applicants.
NRC officials have since begun taking corrective actions, the report said, including updating training courses for NRC and agreement state inspectors. NRC spokeswoman Maureen Conley said Friday, “We beefed up our training and retrained all the licensing staff to make sure they understand the importance of following procedures.”
Two NRC working groups have examined ways to enhance pre-licensing guidance and improving license verification and transfer of Category 3 materials, she said. The recommendations of the working groups are being evaluated, she said, and “we will consider those in putting together a paper for our commission to consider either later this year or early next year.”
A July 15 letter from NRC Commissioner Jeff Baran to Chairman Stephen Burns and Commissioner Kristine Svinicki proposed that category 3 materials be considered under stricter requirements.
“I propose that the NRC staff take a fresh look at the question of whether and how to track Category 3 sources,” Baran wrote, proposing that within six months, staff submit a paper evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of including Cateogry 3 sources in the tracking system.
Conley noted that the other two commissioners will be asked to vote on Baran’s proposal, the results of which would then become a memorandum providing direction to NRC staff.
