Re: Security and Control Workshop

["Joseph P. Ring" <joseph_ring@harvard.edu>]

Jeanne C. McGuire asked about this workshop.  As a co-host I would like to
summarize the meeting.

The workshop was held in King of Prussia August 21(yesterday) for biomedical
research institutions.  At that meeting the group thought that current
enforcement of security was more strict than in the past and that  there
should be some sort of graded security depending on the activity and form.
This could possibly mean that materials in experiments below some level
could be covered by the security provided by a laboratory environment.
Above that requires strong security.  All attendees are aware that the
current policy is any amount of material must be either locked up or
supervised.  

This yielded similar results to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute two
months ago.  The HHMI report is in a final draft and well documents the
detailed discussion and opinion for the attendees.  The HHMI group thought
the lab environment provided security for less than 100 times Appendix C.
Materials larger that 100 Appendix C or sources should be locked.

I understand that NRC will take this information and use it to decide what
if any actions it should take.  Most participants  thought that it was
appropriate to better define security criteria in policy or guidance.  Some
thought rule making was appropriate. 

If I can answer questions about either the NRC or the HHMI work shops please
let me know.
Joseph P. Ring
Harvard University
46 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1995
Tel 617 495-8795
FAX 617 495-0593
Email Joseph_ring@harvard.edu