DEEP seeks staff for NRC 'agreement state' role; lawmakers press on fish‐hatchery cuts and release‑based cleanup rollout

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) told a legislative subcommittee it needs three staff positions and $278,315 to assume certain radiation‑materials licensing responsibilities now handled by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under an ‘‘agreement state’’ delegation.

Why it matters: When the state assumes those NRC responsibilities the department estimates it will collect about $1.7 million annually in license fees that now go to the federal government; DEEP told lawmakers it expects a net revenue gain after hiring staff to run the program.

Jeff Symantec, DEEP’s radiation-division director, said the state currently tracks roughly 20 users of radioactive materials that will be licensed under the state program, about 500 industrial X‑ray users, and nearly 2,500 medical X‑ray or therapeutic X‑ray users. The department said its staffing analysis—submitted to the NRC—benchmarked other agreement states and concluded roughly 2.8 full-time equivalents are required for the licensing functions being delegated.

Lawmakers also pressed DEEP on a proposed $500,000 reduction in fish-hatchery operating funds. Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumbull said the department has invested in capital upgrades that reduced some operating costs, but acknowledged the cut will likely affect production and said the agency would try to mitigate impacts by shifting items to capital funding where possible. Committee members asked for a line-by-line projection of likely impacts and for the department to bring specifics to the working group.

Separately, DEEP officials laid out the department’s proposed switch from the long-standing Property Transfer Act system to a new ‘‘release‑based’’ and risk‑based cleanup model. Graham Stevens, chief of water protection and land reuse at DEEP, described the state’s plan to modernize permitting, cleanup and reporting through an online reporting and tracking system built by a contractor (Deloitte) and overseen by DEEP’s IT team. The system is intended to allow one-touch closure for emergent releases and to improve transparency and coordination for historical contamination cases; DEEP expects the software to be live this calendar year and regulations to be effective in early 2026.

Lawmakers repeatedly asked whether the agency would need additional staff once the new regulatory framework and IT system take effect; DEEP said it will monitor demand and would return with a targeted staffing request if needed but does not see staff gaps that would prevent implementation on day one.

Ending: DEEP agreed to provide the committee with more detailed fiscal and operational analyses on the NRC agreement-state revenue assumptions, fish-hatchery impacts and the timeline and staffing implications for the release‑based regulations and new IT system.