Press Release-II-10-025, NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Nfs Issues

Press Release-II-10-025: NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Nfs Issues

ML101020677
Person / Time
Issue date:	04/12/2010
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
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Category:Press Release
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Press Release-II-10-025
Download: ML101020677 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II Marquis One Tower 245 Peachtree Center Ave., NE Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-10-025 April 12, 2010 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 977-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 977-4416 NRC SCHEDULES MEETING TO DISCUSS NFS ISSUES U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials have scheduled a public meeting Thursday, April 22 to discuss the preliminary results of an NRC teams review of requirements outlined in a confirmatory action letter issued by the agency to the Nuclear Fuel Services Erwin, Tenn. facility in early January.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Unicoi County High School Auditorium at 700 S. Mohawk Drive in Erwin. Members of the public can observe the business portion of the meeting and the NRC staff will host a formal question and answer session when that portion of the meeting has ended. The staff will be available to answer questions about the NFS commitments in the confirmatory action letter, agency actions leading to the restart of the Navy Fuel process line, uranium hexafluoride cylinder technical issues and ongoing NRC inspections.

Before the NRC authorized the restart of the Navy Fuel process line in late March, all NFS process lines had been shut down since late December 2009. The January NRC confirmatory action letter was designed to address issues contributing to recent events at the facility, and NFS agreed that the lines would remain out of service until the NRC was satisfied that the safety issues had been addressed.

NRC inspectors completed their review of the items in the confirmatory action letter designated as Actions Prior to Restart for the Navy Fuel process line and determined that NFS could safely resume operation of that line. That inspection and the restart decision will be discussed at the April 22 meeting. However, the NRC will only authorize resumption of other process lines after the staff determines that NFS can operate the lines safely.

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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.