NRRPT Petition, NAS Report

[David Scherer <scherer@uiuc.edu>]

There has been recent discussion about the NRRPT's petition to amend 10 CFR
35.  This whole discussion may be moot anyway.  The National Academy of
Sciences Institute of Medicine issued a report in December 1995 calling for
abolishing NRC's authority over medical uses of byproduct materials.
Authority would be transferred to the states to be administered along with
their x-ray and NARM programs.

The NAS committee was formed at the request of Congress following the
debacle at Indiana, Pennsylvania, in which a multi-curie sealed source was
left in a patient when she was transported to a nursing home.  The NAS has a
good reputation for this kind a policy and the mood seems to support this
kind of "devolution."

A  press release describing the report and listing the committee members is
available on the Web at -
http://www.nas.edu/onpi/pr/dec95/authority.html

Any opinions?

Dave Scherer
scherer@uiuc.edu