Radioactive Material: Am I Regulated?
Overview of regulated radioactive materials and the agencies that regulate them in Texas.
If you use, handle, process, transport, transfer, receive, store, or dispose of radioactive material in Texas, you could be regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Texas Department of State Health Services
(DSHS), or Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).
The TCEQ regulates the following:
- receiving, processing, storing, and disposing of by-product and low-level radioactive waste from radioactive waste brokers.
- licensing uranium and thorium recovery facilities including those that dispose of uranium and thorium by-product wastes.
- decommissioning inactive uranium-recovery facilities and radioactive material disposal sites.
If you use, transport, process, treat, or store radioactive material, you might be regulated by the Texas Department of State Health Services/Radiation Control, who:
- regulates and licenses possessing, receiving, using, handling, transferring, transporting, and storing radioactive material, including low-level radioactive materials and naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). This DOES NOT include radioactive material received by a licensed by-product or low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. (see examples of what the TCEQ regulates, above.)
- registers radiation-producing equipment.
- operates an emergency response program.
Various oil and gas–related activities are regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas , including:
- uranium exploration.
- surface mining.
- disposing of oil and gas NORM.
Contact the Radioactive Materials Division if you have questions.