Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences – Fiscal Year 2017 (NUREG-0090, Volume 40)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: June 2018
Date Published: June 2018

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended (Public Law 93-438), defines an abnormal occurrence (AO) as an unscheduled incident or event that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-66) changed the AO reporting requirement from a quarterly basis to an annual one.

This report describes five events involving NRC licensees that the agency identified as AOs during fiscal year (FY) 2017 based on the criteria defined in the report's Appendix A, "Abnormal Occurrence Criteria and Guidelines for Other Events of Interest." All five AOs were medical events as defined in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 35, "Medical Use of Byproduct Material." During this reporting period, no events at commercial nuclear power plants in the United States were identified as AOs.

In addition, this report describes six other medical events, as defined in 10 CFR Part 35 that occurred in Agreement States and were identified as AOs during FY 2017 based on the criteria defined in Appendix A. Agreement States are those States that have entered into formal agreements with the NRC, pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) (Public Law 83-703), to regulate certain quantities of AEA material at facilities within their borders. Currently, there are 37 Agreement States.

Appendix A to this report presents the NRC's criteria for identifying AOs, as well as the guidelines for selecting "other events of interest." Appendix B, "Updates of Previously Reported Abnormal Occurrences," provides updated information for one event that was identified in the FY 2016 "Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences." The NRC identified one event during FY 2017 that met the guidelines for inclusion in Appendix C, "Other Events of Interest." Appendix D, "Glossary," defines terms used throughout this report. Appendix E, "Conversion Table," presents conversions commonly used when calculating doses.