Press Release-IV-03-003, NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for Cooperheat-MQS, Inc

Press Release-IV-03-003: NRC Proposes $6,000 Fine for Cooperheat-MQS, Inc

ML030510372
Person / Time
Issue date:	02/20/2003
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-03-003
Download: ML030510372 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400 Arlington TX 76011-8064 No. IV-03-003 February 20, 2003 CONTACT: Victor Dricks E-mail: Vld@nrc.gov Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 NRC PROPOSES $6,000 FINE FOR COOPERHEAT-MQS, INC.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a fine of $6,000 against Cooperheat-MQS, Inc. of Houston, Texas, for violation of NRC administrative and radioactive material handling regulations.

In a letter to the company, Ellis W. Merschoff, Administrator of the NRCs Region IV office in Arlington, Texas, said that during an NRC inspection conducted in September of last year, the agency determined that the company deliberately violated NRC requirements by failing to amend its license to reflect a change in its radiation safety officer (RSO) and used radioactive materials at locations not authorized by its license.

Merschoff said that in July 2001, the NRC rejected the qualifications of the individual who the company had named as RSO, but neither company management nor the RSO took concrete actions to correct the issues until February 2002. In addition, Merschoff said, the NRC noted that company personnel were aware that a license amendment was needed to add two field stations to the license prior to use, but allowed other priorities (albeit significant priorities) to substantially delay the amendment request.

The company has taken corrective actions by hiring a qualified RSO and designating a qualified individual to serve as standby RSO, establishing a radiation management committee to ensure regulatory requirements are being met, conducting additional training for vice presidents and regional managers on NRC license requirements, and committing to adhere to NRC regulations in the future.

Cooperheat-MQS officials met with the NRC in October 2002 to discuss the violations. The NRC has classified the two willful violations as a Severity Level III problem, which carries a $6,000 fine. The agency uses a four-level severity scale on which Severity Level I is the most serious.

The NRCs letter, its enclosures, and the companys response will be made available to interested members of the public through the agencys public electronic reading room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in accessing these documents is available from the NRC Public Document Room at (301) 415-4737 or at 1-800-397-4209.

The company has 30 days from receipt of the letter to either pay the civil penalty or to protest its imposition.