Welcome to the CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Update. Below are links and summaries of several important happenings from the last few weeks. Please don't hesitate to contact Lisa (920/458-5910) or Sarah (630/925-1922) with any questions or concerns about any of these issues.

Jefferson City Recap

Thanks to everyone that made the trip to Jefferson City last month for the spring committee meeting. In particular, thanks to committee co-chair Jane Beetem and the rest of the Missouri contingent for hosting and helping to plan this great meeting. The discussions were productive and the presentations covered many topics of interest to the Midwestern states. Below are several follow-up items from the meeting.

• To access the final agenda, participant list, action item list, speaker presentations, and eventually the meeting summary, please visit the meeting page on the committee website.
• Mark your calendars for the fall meeting! The fall meeting will be held the week of November 26^th, with the week of October 29^th as a back-up. In keeping with committee tradition, we will head to Columbus, Ohio, for Bob Owen's last meeting as co-chair.
• To complete one of the meeting action items, staff are drafting letters to Ward Sproat and James Rispoli, directors of the OCRWM and EM programs, respectively, to inform them of the major issues discussed and decisions made during the meeting. This is a new initiative the committee decided to pursue in order to keep DOE officials who were unable to attend the meeting up to date on committee happenings.

Thanks again to everyone for making the meeting a great success. We look forward to seeing everyone again this fall in Columbus.

Upcoming Projects

Discussion and presentations throughout the meeting identified several new projects for the committee to tackle. In the coming year, staff and members will engage in the following activities:

• Jay Jones of OCRWM announced that DOE will soon publish the draft 180(c) policy and procedures in the Federal Register. This publication comes a year and a half after DOE's 180(c) Topic Group presented its recommendations to DOE. The committee's 180(c) work group (see a member list in the next article) will compare the original recommendations to the published notice and submit comments. The committee is still looking for one more person to join the 180(c) work group. If you are interested, please let Lisa or Sarah know. To learn more about the DOE 180(c) Topic Group, click here.
• Bill Mackie of the DOE Carlsbad Office discussed the need for more states to pursue Super User training on TRANSCOM, which is DOE's satellite tracking system. Super Users, as opposed to General Users, have the ability to train other state personnel on the system. In response to this discussion, the committee decided that a Super User training session somewhere in the Midwest would be beneficial. The committee will work with the TRANSCOM Communications Center to set up that training sometime in the coming year. To learn more about TRANSCOM, click here.
• Ken Keaton of the TEPP program mentioned the development of a Radiation Specialist Training Program module. This training is for radiation authority and hazardous material team specialist responders and goes beyond the regular TEPP training. Pilot training sessions are being organized for this fall in Pennsylvania and Idaho. Committee members expressed considerable interest in organizing a pilot training session in the Midwest. Staff will work with DOE to arrange this, if possible. If a Midwestern pilot session is not an option, committee representatives will be invited to attend the other pilot sessions. Click here for more information on the training program.
• During the state fees roundtable and discussion, it became clear that states would benefit from sharing contact information on radioactive waste shippers. As a result, states with fee programs have been asked to provide this information and staff will develop a database for distribution to all states. This will be especially useful for states that assess permits and fees.
• Other project ideas discussed during the meeting include more detailed, state-specific versions of the Prospective Shipment Report, a joint project with the other regions testing the IRRIS satellite tracking system, and following up on the tasks identified in the state security survey summary. Staff will work with DOE and the other regions on assessing the potential of the first two items. States will be asked in an upcoming survey to identify priority tasks from the state security survey summary. Watch for this survey in the next couple of weeks.

If you would like to be involved in any of the above activities, or if you have questions or comments, please contact Lisa or Sarah.

Lead State Assignments

During the meeting, committee members reviewed and revised lead state assignments for the various tasks in the OCRWM cooperative agreement. Those state assignments are:

• Route Selection: Jane Beetem (MO), Lieut. Ken Dahlke (NE), Dan Fisher (OH), Tim Runyon (IL), Sen. Carolyn McGinn (KS) as an alternate
• State Capabilities and Needs: Joseph Bell (IN), Frank Moussa (KS), Rep. David Niezgodski (IN), Jon Schwarz (NE)
• Section 180(c): Sen. Carolyn McGinn (KS), Frank Moussa (KS), Thor Strong (MI)
• Transportation Planning: Jane Beetem (MO), Melanie Rasmusson (IA), Tim Runyon (IL), Jon Schwarz (NE), Thor Strong (MI)
• Transportation Practices Manual: Jane Beetem (MO), Bob Owen (OH), Thor Strong (MI)
• Information and Communication: Melanie Rasmusson (IA), Paul Schmidt (WI), Johnnie Smith (WI)
• Security Planning: Lieut. Ken Dahlke (NE), John Erickson (NE), Capt. Dean House (IA), Frank Moussa (KS), Tim Runyon (IL)
• Special Project - 2007 State Government Officials' Tour: Jane Beetem (MO), Bob Owen (OH)
• TRANSCOM User Group: Carol O'Claire (OH)

Thanks to everyone that volunteered. We are still looking for one more person for the 180(c) work group. If you are interested, please let Lisa or Sarah know.

Thanks for reading! Look for the next issue in two weeks!

Sincerely,
Lisa Janairo and Sarah Wochos
Committee Staff