ML20141F381

Forwards Insp Rept 70-7001/97-201 on 970317-21 & 0331-0404 & Notice of Violation

ML20141F381
Person / Time
Site:	07007001
Issue date:	05/16/1997
From:	Ting P NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	John Miller UNITED STATES ENRICHMENT CORP. (USEC)
Shared Package
ML20141F387	List: ML20141F381 ML20141F397 ML20141F416
References
70-7001-97-201, EA-97-190, NUDOCS 9705210293
Download: ML20141F381 (3)

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WAsHINGioN. D.C. 200 4 0001 4, , g

/ May 16, 1997 EA97-190 I i

Mr. J. H. Miller Vice President - Production i

' United States Enrichment Corporation ')

Two Democracy Center

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6903 Rockledge Drive j Bethesds, MD 20817 l

SUBJECT:

PADUCAH INSPECTION REPORT 70-7001/97-201 1 i

Dear Mr. Miller:

l This refers to the Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) inspection by members of the Headquarters staff conducted on March 17-21, and March 31-April 4,1997, at your Paducah, Kentucky facility. The purpose of the inspec.;on was to determine whether activities authorized by l your certificate were conducted safely and in accordance with NRC requirements. At the I conclusion of the inspection, the findings were discussed with those members of your staff identified in the report (Enclosure 1).

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Areas examined in the inspection are identified in the enclosed report. Within these areas, the inspection consisted of selective examinations of procedures and representative records, interviews with plant person,el, and observation of activities in progress. Within the scope of the inspection, two violations were identified, as described in Enclosure 2, Notice of {

Violation (Notice). The violations involved the failure to provide a specific Nuclear Criticality Safety Evaluation for an ongoing plant operation and the failure to incorporate Nuclear Criticality Safety Approval (NCSA) requirements into the Pre-Fire Plan. The NRC is concerned about these violations because all storage operations involving fissile material were not identified and evaluated, and necessary NCSA requirements were not incorporated into applicable procedures used by a non-operations group. Also, one Unresolved item (URI) was l identified along with five Inspector Follow Up Items (IFis). The NRC expects to resolve these )

concerns at a future inspection.

2 Several program weaknesses were also noted in the inspection report. These weaknesses, for the most part, were already self-identified through your assessment and surveillance programs in the i February March 1997 time period. Several of our inspection observations can be considered I additional examples of those self identified problems. Since you were still in the process of evaluating the root causes and determining the long term corrective actions for your self-identified problems, no other regulatory action'is planned at this time. However, you are requested to provide us with your evaluation of the General Manager's independent Assessment findings, their root causes, the planned corrective actions, and implementation schedule.

p' 9705210293 970516 N C HLE CEHER COPY t t PDR ADOCK 07007001 y i

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Mr. J. H. Miller i You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response. In your response, you should document the speJfic actions taken and any additional actions you plan to prevent recurrence. Your response may reference or include previous docketed correspondence, if the correspondence adequately addressed the required response. After reviewing your response to the Notice, including your proposed corrective actions and the results of future inspections, the NRC will determine whether further NRC enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with NRC regulatory requirements.

In accordance with the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room. Should you have any questions concerning this inspection, we would be pleased to discuss them with you.

Sincerely, (Original signed by)

Philip Ting, Chief Operations Branch Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, NMSS Docket No. 7001 Certificate No. GDP-1

Enclosures:

As stated cc w/ enclosures:

Mr. Steve Polston, General Manager Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant DISTRIBUTION:

Docket File 70-7001 TReidinger, Rlli MMessier (w/o encis), T-9E10

., _PDR, LPDR ~ MHorn, SPB MRodgers

' FCOB r/f RPierson, SPB ETenEyck, FCSS FCSS r/f KO'Brien, Rlli WBrach, FCSS NMSS r/f Case File DOCUME,NT NAME: A:TROSKOSKl\97-201.LTR. 97 201.PGD OFC FCO,0 [ FCOB b FCOB b FCOB E FCOB 8 NAME J M$ th CTripp d JDavi DMoreyh WTMs 6s i DATE 7 5 ff97 5N/97 OFC FCOB 8 FCOB lf' NAME !Wh6h k ef '

V PM DATF 5/697 f/([97 / /97 / /97 / /97

• C = COVER E = COVER & ENCLOSURE N = NO COPY OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

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Mr. J. H. Miller You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response in your response, you should document the specific actions taken and any additional actions you plan to prevent recurrence. Your response may reference or include previous docketed correspondence, if the correspondence adequately addressed the required response. After reviewing your response to the Notice, including your proposed corrective actions and the results of future inspections, the NRC will determine whether further NRC enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with NRC regulatory requirements, in accordance with the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room. Should you have any questions concerning this inspection, we would be pleased to discuss them with you.

Sincerely, f

[

Philip Ting, Chief Operations Branch Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, NMSS Docket No. 7001 Certificato No. GDP-1

Enclosures:

As stated cc w/ enclosures:

Mr. Steve Polston, General Manager Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant a