Vermont Agreement

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) provides assistance to States expressing interest in establishing programs to assume NRC regulatory authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Section 274 of the Act provides a statutory basis under which NRC relinquishes to the States portions of its regulatory authority to license and regulate byproduct, source, and certain quantities of special nuclear materials. The Agreement State Programs Branch in the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) has the programmatic lead at the NRC for processing an Agreement application.

The Commission and a State may enter an Agreement whereby the Commission discontinues regulatory authority over a specific category of materials or class of facilities.  The State of Vermont has requested a standard agreement for the authority to regulate byproduct, source, and special nuclear material of a certain quantity.  Once the Agreement process is completed, the NRC will transfer the licenses for approximately 38 academic, commercial and medical facilities to the State of Vermont.

The NRC staff evaluates the State's Agreement materials program using NMSS Procedure SA-700, "Processing an Agreement" and its associated handbook.  The staff's assessment will need to show that the Agreement materials program satisfies the Commission policy statement Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof by States Through Agreement (46 FR 7540; January 23, 1981 and 48 FR 33376; July 21, 1983).  There are several steps in the Agreement process.  The table below includes the steps in the process and provides the status for the State of Vermont's Agreement application.

AGREEMENT APPLICATION PROCESS AND THE STATE OF VERMONT
Agreement Process	Vermont's Status
Governor submits Letter of Intent to NRC Chairman	July 6, 2015; ML15197A124
NMSS assigns a Project Manager	Duncan White: Duncan.White@nrc.gov; 301-415-2598
State develops draft Agreement application	July 2015 – September 2017
State submits draft Agreement application	September 15, 2017; ML17265A779 Regulations: NMSS – Vermont State Regulations and Legislation
NRC staff reviews draft Agreement application for completeness	September 2017 – January 2018
NRC provides letter to State detailing review team's comments	December 18, 2017; ML17319A171 (Sections 4.1 – 4.2) December 18, 2017; ML17346A705 (Sections 4.3 – 4.4) March 25, 2018; ML18017A124 (Sections 4.5 – 4.7)
State submits revised draft Agreement application	June 18, 2018; ML18171A235 (Sections 4.1 – 4.2) November 7, 2018; ML18319A348 and ML18320A091 (Sections 4.3 – 4.7)
NRC provides responses to State detailing review team's comments on revised draft application	August 7, 2018; ML18220B075 (Sections 4.1 – 4.2) January 14, 2019; ML19031C942 (Sections 4.3 – 4.4) January 14, 2019; ML19037A060 (Sections 4.5 – 4.7) February 27, 2019; ML19052A254 (Completion of application review)
State develops Formal Request for an Agreement	November 2018 – February 2019
Governor submits Formal Request and certifies State has adequate program	April 12, 2019; ML19109A085; ML19107A432; and ML19140A393
NRC staff prepares Commission Paper that includes draft analysis, draft Agreement and Federal Register notice requesting comments	April – May 2019
Commission approves publication in the Federal Register for public review and comment	June 17, 2019; ML19115A212 and ML19169A104
Draft Agreement and staff analysis published in Federal Register for four consecutive weeks	June 25, 2019 July 2, 2019 July 9, 2019 July 16, 2019
NRC staff analyzes public comments	Completed; July 26, 2019
NRC staff prepares Commission Paper that includes final draft analysis, Agreement and resolution to  public comments	SECY-19-0085  August 29, 2019; ML19192A115
Commission approves Agreement	SRM-SECY-19-0085 September 6, 2019; ML19249D437
Chairman and Governor sign Agreement	September 9 and 13, 2019
State assumes regulation authority	September 30, 2019
Final Agreement published in Federal Register	September 30, 2019; 84 FR 51365
Orderly transfer and assumption of authority	October 2019
NRC staff and the new Agreement State continue post-Agreement exchange-of-information and assessment of program performance.

Additional information on the Agreement State Program and the Vermont agreement application can be found in the frequently asked questions.