NRC RELEASES DOCUMENTS CONCERNING NFS URANIUM SPILL,
REVIEWS PUBLIC DISCLOSURE POLICY ON CERTAIN FUEL FACILITIES
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made public a number of documents, including a confirmatory order issued earlier this year, regarding a March 2006 spill of high-enriched uranium at Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS), in Erwin, Tenn. The order, which does not identify current security issues, spells out actions NFS agreed to implement to improve its corporate safety culture and practices.

Release of the order follows a June 22 directive from the Commission instructing the agency staff to re-evaluate criteria used to withhold from the public certain information about fuel facilities where the NRC and the Department of Energy’s Office of Naval Reactors have a role. Those facilities are NFS and BWXT in Lynchburg, Va.

The confirmatory order will be published shortly in the Federal Register. Anyone adversely affected by the order, other than NFS, may request a hearing within 20 days of publication. Publication in the Federal Register, however, does not change any of the requirements on NFS in the original agreement.

In addition to the confirmatory order, the NRC is releasing a redacted transcript of a closed meeting held May 30 between the Commission and NFS officials regarding the facility’s safety record. The transcript, and the June 22 staff requirements memorandum stemming from the meeting, are available on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/tr/2007/. A licensee performance review of NFS completed by the NRC staff and dated Dec. 1, 2006, is also publicly available through the agency’s ADAMS document system at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html by entering the access number ML071930522 in the search window. The confirmatory order will be available soon in ADAMS using access number ML071990558.The NRC’s annual Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences: Fiscal Year 2006, which described details of the NFS uranium spill, is available at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/congress-docs/correspondence/2007/cheney-congress-04-27-2007.pdf.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010