ML20140H784
Text
[p.a ucoq(0, r
UNITED STATES
+o S
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION y
3 l
A WASHINGTON D. C. 20555 o
~-#
's, '......o May 3, 1985 3 J p, s
X-/Y Q ISd'f The Honorable Edward Markey, Chairman
/764 Subcomittee on Energy Conservation and Power Comittee on Energy and Comerce United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Enclosed for your information is an announcement that the Nuclear Regulatory Comission's staff has proposed to fine Nuclear Fuel,
Services, Inc., $18,750 for alleged noncompliance with NRC require-ments at the company's nuclear fuel fabrications facility at Erwin.
It is planned to mail this information to the news media today, May 3, 1985.
5, 42$
i
! !l l
.. f l
_ foMamerer, Director rl
/
1 ffice of Congressional Affairs
Enclosure:
As stated cc: Rep. Carlos Moorhead IDENTICAL LETTER SENT T0:
Sen. Simpson/cc: Sen. Hart Rep. Udall/cc: Rep. Lujan Sen. Gore Sen. Sasser Rep. Quillen 8510230114 851004 PDR FOIA JACOBS85-478 PDR
O e
./ "*%.
UNITED STATES
[ N /j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
's %p /
~ !
Office of Public Affairs o
%.$'l..
Washington, D.C. 20666 i
No.
85-63 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tel. 301/492-7715 (Wednesday, May 2, 1985)
NRC STAFF PROPOSES TO FINE NFS $18,750; WILL MITIGATE EARLIER PROPOSED FINE The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed to fine Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., $18,750 for alleged noncom'pliance with NRC requirements at the company's nuclear fuel fabrication facility at Erwin, Tennessee.
The NRC informed the company that its inspectors conducted specia1 safety inspections of activities authorized at the Erwin facility on October 15-20, 7
November 5-9, December 5-19, 1984, and January 7 through 17, 1985. As a result of these inspections, the NRC staff cited NFS for alleged noncompliance associated with releases of radioactive material to the employee working environment; the preparation of, and adherence to, radiation work permits related to nonroutine work activities; and failures to perfonn adequate evaluations of employee exposures and to conduct surveys for airborne radioactivity.
In a letter to NFS, Dr. J. Nelson Grace, administrator of the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta, said the NRC staff is concerned that the violations may have resulted in the exposure of an employee to concentrations of airborne radioactive material in excess of federal limits and that the number of examples of these violations and the time period over which they were observed indicate programmatic weaknesses in the plant's health and safety program.
The company has 30 days in which to either pay the penalty or to protest its imposition, in whole or in part.
In a separate action, James M. Taylor, director of the NRC's Office of Inspection & Enforcement in Washington, D.C., informed the company that an earlier proposed fine of $100,000 announced in July of 1984 for alleged noncompliance with safeguards requirements related to control of access to certain areas, had been reduced to $50,000 after NRC officials visited the plant and viewed firsthand the extensive corrective action taken to correct the problem and preclude its recurrence.
Taylor said the NRC had agreed to a $20,000 reduction in the proposed fine earlier this year and further reduced the fine by a total of $50,000 following the company's demonstration of its corrective actions.