FAS

A New Rule to Protect Radioactive Material (CRS)

12.31.12 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

A forthcoming Nuclear Regulatory Commission rule on the physical protection of radioactive “byproduct materials” — not including uranium or plutonium — is discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

“The rule will have broad impacts across the country and across most if not all aspects of industries that use radioactive material, including hospital and blood bank irradiators, industrial radiography equipment, massive facilities for irradiating certain foods and medical supplies, laboratory equipment for research into radiation and its effects, state regulators, and manufacturers, distributors, and transporters of radioactive sources. NRC anticipates that the rule will be published in the Federal Register in early 2013.”

See Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 C.F.R. 37, A New Rule to Protect Radioactive Material: Background, Summary, Views from the Field, December 14, 2012.

Congress has directed CRS not to make its reports directly available to the public.