The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending regulations to codify and expand upon recent security measures the agency imposed for certain sensitive radioactive materials, according to an article from PennEnergy.

The NRC is adding a new Part 37 to its regulations in Title 10 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), and makes conforming changes to other parts of NRC regulations about radioactive materials, the article says. 

The new regulation will take effect one year after publication, establishing security requirements for the most risk-significant radioactive materials (Category 1 and Category 2 of the International Atomic Energy Agency's rankings of radiation sources), as well as shipments of small amounts of irradiated reactor fuel, PennEnergy reports. 

These steps are part of a post-9/11 effort to strengthen the security of these materials. Past orders include imposing enhanced controls, implementing requirements for fingerprinting and criminal background checks for people with access to the materials, and the development and implementation of the National Source Tracking System, the article says. 

Codifying the new requirements will enhance the consistency of implementation as well as transparency and predictability of NRC's oversign of radioactive material security, according to PennEnergy.