RA ATOMIC ENERGY COORDINATING COUNCIL OLIVER TOWNSEND, Chairman, Director, Office of Atomic Development DR. GEORGE JAMES, New York City Commissioner of Health DR. MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD, State Industrial Commissioner JAMES A. LUNDY, Chairman, State Public Service Commission KEITH S. McHUGH, State Commissioner of Commerce COMMITTEE ON LICENSING OF THE COORDINATING COUNCIL HANSON BLATZ, Chairman, Director, Office of Radiation Control, New York City Department of Health DR. MORRIS KLEINFELD, Director, Division of Industrial Hygiene, State Department of Labor DR. JAMES LADE, Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Radiological Health, State Department of Health ROBERT D. VESSELS, Secretary, Nuclear Health Physicist, State Office of Atomic Development Exchange Direct 9-26-63 P. O. Box 7036 STATE OF NEW YORK May 1, 1963 On October 15, 1962 the State of New York executed an Agreement with the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission providing for the assumption by the State and the discontinuance by the Commission of regulatory responsibility and authority over nearly all atomic energy materials within the State except over quantities of materials capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction. This Agreement is in accordance with the premise, reflected in the statutes of both the Federal Government and the State of New York, that the control and development of atomic energy are proper and appropriate concerns of the States. It is also in full accord with the Federal concept of Government embodied in the United States Constitution. As Chairman of the Atomic Energy Coordinating Council I have instructed the Committee on Licensing to issue and widely distribute this booklet as an effective and convenient means of informing the industries, the medical institutions and doctors, the scientific organizations, and the scientists and educators of the State of the rules and mechanisms utilized by the regulatory agencies within the State in the execution of their newly-assumed responsibilities. Sincerely yours, Oliver Townsend Oliver Townsend The State of New York has had a comprehensive program for the control of the possession and use of radiation sources since 1955. The program described herein constitutes a continuation of this program as modified to accommodate responsibilities which the State assumed and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission discontinued under the regulatory agreement which was signed on October 15, 1962. BACKGROUND There are three agencies within the State with primary regulatory responsibility regarding the health and safety of the possession and use of radiation sources. Each has its own jurisdiction and each has promulgated its own regulatory code. The State Department of Health is responsible for public and medical health throughout the State, except for New York City in which the New York City Department of Health is so responsible. The State Department of Labor is responsible for industrial health and safety throughout the entire State, including New York City. Collectively, the three agencies reach all radiation sources subject to the State's jurisdiction. In 1955, the State Department of Health was statutorily authorized to "supervise and regulate the public health aspects of the use of ionizing radiation and the handling and disposal of radioactive wastes" and, in 1960, to "license atomic energy activities within the State affecting or likely to affect public health and relating to byproduct materials, source materials, and special nuclear materials in quantities not sufficient to form a critical mass". Within the State Department of Health there is the State Public Health Council, which is statutorily authorized to establish, subject to the approval of the State Commissioner of Health, the State Sanitary Code. The Code "may deal with any matters affecting the security of life or health or the preservation and improvement of public health in the State of New York, and with any matters as to which jurisdiction is conferred upon the public health council”. A 1960 amendment to the State Public Health Law expressly provides that the State Sanitary Code may "require that application be made for a license to possess or use atomic energy byproduct materials, source materials and special nuclear materials in quantities not sufficient to form a critical mass and prescribe the use to which any such materials may be put." Pursuant to the original statutory authority Chapter XVI (entitled “Ionizing Radiation") of the State Sanitary Code was made effective in 1955. Within the State Department of Labor there is the State Board of Standards and Appeals with statutory power to make rules for proper sanitation and for guarding against and minimizing fire hazards, personal injuries and diseases in industrial facilities. The State Labor Law provides further that "Whenever the board finds that any industry, trade, occupation or process involves such elements of danger to the lives, health of safety of persons employed therein as to require special regulation for the protection of such persons, the board may make special rules to guard against such elements of danger by . . . requiring licenses to be applied for and issued by the Department as a condition of carrying on any such industry, trade, occupation or process Pursuant to this statutory authority, Rule No. 38 (entitled "Radiation Protection") of the State Industrial Code was made effective in 1955. The New York City Department of Health has authority to regu |