On March 1, 2018, Richard Martin (AAPM) and Matt Reiter (Capitol Associates) represented AAPM at the quarterly meeting of the Source Security Working Group (SSWG). The SSWG is a coalition of stakeholder organizations to advocate for access to radiological sources in civilian applications. The SSWG includes organizations from the medical field (AAPM, ASTRO, Elekta) and other industries including source suppliers and producers.

The group hosted several important government officials. We met with staff from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to discuss the CS-137 legislative proposal introduced by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NB-01) that would direct the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop a voluntary program for owners of CS-137 blood irradiators to replace these devices with blood irradiators that do not use CS-137. Under this program, NNSA would reimburse these owners for 50 percent of the replacement cost and 100 percent of the disposal cost. The ultimate goal of this program will be to replace all CS-137 irradiators with those using alternative technologies by 2025. We will be closely monitoring this legislation.

In addition, we met with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to discuss their upcoming report on 10 CFR Part 37 implementation. We also met with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to discuss their Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project (CIRP). Finally, the group met with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to discuss the forthcoming Alternative Technologies White Paper. During this meeting, AAPM offered the expertise of our members to serve as subject matter experts for this paper. We expect the full paper to be published in final form next year.

If you have any questions or would like additional information on this issue, please contact Richard Martin, JD, AAPM Government Relations Program Manager.