§ 71-3507. Licenses or registration; rules and regulations; exemptions; reciprocity; department; right of entry; surveys and inspections.

(1) The department shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations for the issuance, amendment, suspension, and revocation of general and specific licenses. Such licenses shall be for byproduct material, source material, special nuclear material, and radioactive material not under the authority of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and for devices or equipment utilizing such materials. The rules and regulations shall provide: (a) For written applications for a specific license which include the technical, financial, and other qualifications determined by the department to be reasonable and necessary to protect occupational and public health and safety and the environment; (b) For additional written statements and inspections, as required by the department, at any time after filing an application for a specific license and before the expiration of the license to determine whether the license should be issued, amended, suspended, or revoked; (c) That all applications and statements be signed by the applicant or licensee; (d) The form, terms, and conditions of general and specific licenses; (e) That no license or right to possess or utilize sources of radiation granted by a license shall be assigned or in any manner disposed of without the written consent of the department; and (f) That the terms and conditions of all licenses are subject to amendment by rules, regulations, or orders issued by the department. (2) The department may require registration or licensing of radioactive material not enumerated in subsection (1) of this section in order to maintain compatibility and equivalency with the standards and regulatory programs of the federal government or to protect the occupational and public health and safety and the environment. (3)(a) The department shall require licensure of persons providing measurement and mitigation services of radon or its decay products in order to protect the occupational and public health and safety and the environment. (b) The department shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations establishing education, experience, training, examination, and continuing competency requirements for radon measurement specialists and radon mitigation specialists. Application for such licenses shall be made as provided in the Uniform Credentialing Act. Such persons shall be credentialed in the same manner as an individual under subsection (1) of section 38-121 and shall be subject to disciplinary action pursuant to section 71-3517. Continuing competency requirements may include, but not be limited to, one or more of the continuing competency activities listed in section 38-145. Any radon measurement technician license issued prior to December 1, 2008, shall remain valid as a radon measurement specialist license on and after such date until the date such radon measurement technician license would have expired. Such radon measurement specialist license shall be subject to rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the department. (c) The department shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations establishing staffing, proficiency, quality control, reporting, worker health and safety, equipment, and record-keeping requirements for radon measurement businesses and radon mitigation businesses and mitigation system installation requirements for radon mitigation businesses. (4) The department may exempt certain sources of radiation or kinds of uses or users from licensing or registration requirements established under the Radiation Control Act when the department finds that the exemption will not constitute a significant risk to occupational and public health and safety and the environment. (5) The department may provide by rule and regulation for the recognition of other state or federal licenses compatible and equivalent with the standards established by the department for Nebraska licensees. (6) The department may accept accreditation for an industrial radiographer by a recognized independent accreditation body, a public agency, or the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has standards that are at least as stringent as those of the State of Nebraska, as evidence that the industrial radiographer complies with the rules and regulations adopted and promulgated pursuant to the act. The department may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations which list accreditation bodies, public agencies, and federal programs that meet this standard. (7) The department may enter at all reasonable times upon any private or public property for the purpose of determining whether or not there is compliance with the act and rules and regulations adopted and promulgated pursuant to the act, except that entry into areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government shall be effected only with the concurrence of the federal government or its duly designated representative. (8) The department shall cause to be registered with the department such sources of radiation as the department determines to be reasonably necessary to protect occupational and public health and safety and the environment as follows: (a) The department shall, by public notice, establish a date on or before which date such sources of radiation shall be registered with the department. An application for registration shall be either in writing or by electronic means and shall state such information as the department by rules or regulations may determine to be necessary and reasonable to protect occupational and public health and safety and the environment; (b) Registration of sources of radiation shall be an initial registration with appropriate notification to the department in the case of alteration of equipment, acquisition of new sources of radiation, or the transfer, loss, or destruction of sources of radiation and shall include the registration of persons installing or servicing sources of radiation; (c) Failure to register or reregister sources of radiation in accordance with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the department shall be subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars; and (d) The department may provide by rule and regulation for reregistration of sources of radiation. (9) The results of any surveys or inspections of sources of radiation conducted by the department shall be public records subject to sections 84-712 to 84-712.09. In addition, the following information shall be deemed confidential: (a) The names of individuals in dosimetry reports; (b) Emergency response procedures which would present a clear threat to security or disclose names of individuals; and (c) Any other information that is likely to present a clear threat to the security of radioactive material. The department shall make such reports of results of surveys or inspections available to the owner or operator of the source of radiation together with any recommendations of the department regarding deficiencies noted. (10) The department shall have the right to survey or inspect again any source of radiation previously surveyed without limitation of the number of surveys or inspections conducted on a given source of radiation. (11) The department may enter into contracts with persons or corporations to perform the inspection of X-ray radiation-generating equipment or devices which emit radiation from radioactive materials and to aid the department in the administration of the act. History: Laws 1963, c. 406, § 7, p. 1301; Laws 1975, LB 157, § 7; Laws 1978, LB 814, § 5; Laws 1987, LB 390, § 7; Laws 1990, LB 1064, § 19; Laws 1993, LB 536, § 84; Laws 1995, LB 406, § 44; Laws 1999, LB 800, § 11; Laws 2000, LB 1115, § 73; Laws 2002, LB 1021, § 72; Laws 2007, LB463, § 1211; Laws 2008, LB928, § 26.