Press Release-00-098, NRC to Review Incident at University of Missouri Research Reactor
| ML003731469 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/16/2000 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
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| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-00-098 | |
| Download: ML003731469 (1) | |
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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA No.00-098 June 16, 2000 NRC TO REVIEW INCIDENT AT UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH REACTOR The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reviewing the circumstances surrounding a second incident in recent months at the University of Missouri nuclear non-power research reactor in Columbia.
A supervisor and two inspectors from the agencys headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, on site for a previously scheduled inspection, will review an incident this week that involved the removal of a control rod from the shutdown reactor apparently without following the required procedures. The rod is used to control the reactors power.
The NRC was notified of the incident by officials of the University of Missouri, the licensee of the facility. The reactor remained shut down for a period to enable the university to evaluate the incident.
Conference calls between NRC officials and licensee management were held June 13 and 14 to discuss the apparent root cause of the incident, the corrective actions taken and the licensees decision process for restarting the reactor, which took place on June 15.
A similar maintenance procedural incident occurred at the reactor two months earlier. The licensee has indicated that there were no adverse effects from that event. The licensee is still evaluating this weeks incident. The NRC staffs evaluation of long-term corrective actions for both events continues.
Non-power reactors, whose function is research and development, are used in almost every field of science, including physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, archeology and environmental sciences.