Press Release-II-10-080, NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Restart of Nfs Line

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Press Release-II-10-080: NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Restart of Nfs Line
ML103260137
Person / Time
Site: Erwin
Issue date: 11/22/2010
From:
Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-10-080
Download: ML103260137 (1)


Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Ave. NE, Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-10-080 November 22, 2010 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416 NRC SCHEDULES MEETING TO DISCUSS RESTART OF NFS LINE U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials have scheduled a public meeting for Tuesday, Nov. 30 to discuss the findings of the NRC Restart Readiness Assessment Team that led to the decision last month to authorize restart of the ammonium diuranate process at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, Tenn.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Unicoi County Courthouse, 100 N. Main Ave., in Erwin, Tenn. The public can observe the business part of the meeting and the NRC staff will host a formal question and answer session.

We felt it was important to present the results of our restart assessment in a public meeting and answer questions people may have about that decision, said NRC Region II Division of Fuel Facility Inspection Director Tony Gody.

The NRC authorized the restart of the ammonium diuranate process and other Building 301 equipment on Oct. 22. All process lines at NFS were shut down in late December 2009 and the NRC issued a confirmatory action letter in January designed to address issues that contributed to earlier events at the nuclear fuel processing facility.

After separate readiness reviews, the Navy Fuel process line was authorized to restart in late March. The uranium metal/uranium oxide line was restarted in May and the uranium/aluminum line was authorized to resume operations in July. The reviews were designed to provide reasonable assurance that performance deficiencies identified last year were sufficiently addressed by NFS.

NFS has not resumed the processing of uranium hexafluoride. The NRC will conduct a separate readiness inspection once NFS advises the agency it is ready to restart that line.

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 website.