DRC Home > Board > Position Statement: Uranium Recovery Regulation
Radiation Control Board: Position Statement:
Uranium Recovery Regulation
Adopted September 7, 2001
Support of the State of Utah
in
Amending the Current Agreement
with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to Include Uranium Recovery Regulation
The Division of Radiation Control (DRC), Utah Department of Environmental Quality has been exploring the possibility of pursuing Agreement State status (primacy) for uranium recovery regulation since an initial meeting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during August of 1999. During the following months, DRC initiated several information gathering efforts and developed a public scoping briefing document for stakeholder meetings. Stakeholder meetings were held with potential licensees and five public scoping meetings were held in Salt Lake City, Tooele, Ticaboo, Blanding, and Moab. Approximately 150 persons attended the five scoping meetings held during November 1999. In December 1999, a public participation document was prepared that identified the major issues during the scoping process. During the 2000 legislative session, a bill was introduced that would provide the necessary statutory amendments to the Utah Radiation Control Act to proceed with Agreement State status.
Due to some unresolved issues, the bill was withdrawn and stakeholders were asked to join the Department in formation of a task force to address the Agreement State status issue. Invitations to join the task force were sent in March 2000 to potential licensees, the Utah Mining Association, and local government stakeholders close to the mills. Meetings of the Agreement State/Groundwater task force were held April 13, May 2, May 24, June 12, and July 26, 2000. Members of the task force worked jointly on a document entitled: "Elements of a Utah Agreement State Program for Uranium Mills Regulation, Divisions of Radiation Control and Water Quality," which serves as the basis for description of a Utah Agreement State program for uranium recovery regulation. The members of the task force voted unanimously to support the State of Utah in pursuing Agreement State status for uranium recovery regulation on the terms established in the revised "Elements of a Utah Agreement State Program for Uranium Mills Regulation, Divisions of Radiation Control and Water Quality," agreed to at the July 26, 2000 meeting of the task force. On June 26, 2001, Governor Leavitt sent Chairman Richard Meserve of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a notice of intent letter that Utah intended to pursue an amendment to the current Agreement to regulate uranium mills and tailings. On August 10, 2001, the Director of the Division of Radiation Control was appointed as an Executive Secretary of the Water Quality Board as recommended in the "Elements" paper. As a result of the above actions, the Utah Radiation Control Board also supports the actions of the Division of Radiation Control in the amendment of the current Agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include uranium recovery regulation.
Support of this position statement was passed unanimously by the Radiation Control Board at the September 7, 2001 meeting.
