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GAO-20-286PR 1 (2020-04-10)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeaxx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States April 10, 2020 The Honorable Kristine Svinicki Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 Priority Open Recommendations: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Dear Chairman Svinicki: The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) implementation of GAO's recommendations and to call your personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.1 In November 2019, we reported that on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our recommendations made 5 years ago were implemented.2 NRC's recommendation implementation rate was 67 percent. As of March 2020, NRC had 26 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve agency operations. Since our last letter in April 2019, NRC has not implemented any priority recommendations. We ask your continued attention to the four open priority recommendations we identified in the 2019 letter. This year, we are adding three new recommendations included in reports recently issued on combating nuclear terrorism and cybersecurity risk management programs, bringing the total number of priority recommendations to seven. For example, we are adding a recommendation that NRC consider socioeconomic consequences and fatalities from evacuations as criteria for determining security measures for radioactive materials dispersed through a radiological dispersal device. (See enclosure for the list of these recommendations.) The seven priority recommendations fall into the following four major areas. Addressing the Security of Radiological Sources. Four recommendations would improve NRC's ability to ensure the secure use of radiological sources. Our July 2016 report on controls of dangerous materials contains two priority recommendations regarding licensing and accountability strategies for dangerous (category 3) quantities of radioactive material, and our April 2019 report on combating nuclear terrorism contains one related priority recommendation. Specifically, in 2016 we recommended that (1) NRC take steps to include category 3 radioactive material and possession licenses in two databases as quickly as possible and (2) require that transferors of category 3 quantities of radioactive material confirm the validity of a would-be purchaser's license with the appropriate regulatory authority 1Priority recommendations are those that GAO believes warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies. They are highlighted because, upon implementation, they may significantly improve government operation, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue. 2GAO, Performance and Accountability Report.- Fiscal Year 2019, GAO=20-1 SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 19, 2019). GAO-20-286PR NRC Priority Recommendations Page 1

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