Press Release-II-09-059, NRC Augments Inspection at Nuclear Fuel Services

Press Release-II-09-059: NRC Augments Inspection at Nuclear Fuel Services

ML092950401
Person / Time
Site:	Erwin
Issue date:	10/22/2009
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-09-059
Download: ML092950401 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta GA 30303 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-09-059draft October 22, 2009 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 562-4416 NRC AUGMENTS INSPECTION AT NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formed an Augmented Inspection Team to further review the circumstances associated with an Oct. 13 incident at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, Tenn.

That incident involved unexpected levels of heat and nitrogen compound gas fumes during the dissolution of scrap material from Department of Energy projects containing low levels of uranium.

An Augmented Inspection Team or AIT is formed by the NRC to review more significant events or issues at NRC-licensed facilities, and the AIT will expand the scope of the special inspection team sent to the site earlier this week. The AIT will include members of the special inspection team as well as at least one additional inspector. The AIT will be led by NRC Region II Branch Chief George Hopper.

This particular incident did not involve nuclear criticality issues, but it shows the need for NFS management to improve some aspects of their operational and decision-making processes, said NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes. Upgrading our inspection to an AIT underscores our commitment to evaluate these issues thoroughly and ensure they are being properly addressed.

The AIT will hold an exit meeting with the company upon completion of the inspection to discuss its preliminary findings. That meeting will be open to interested members of the public and the news media, and team members will be available to answer questions after the results are presented. The AIT will also issue a written report 30 days after the completion of the inspection.

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.