[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 87 (Thursday, May 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24991-24993]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10678]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No.: 70-1257; License No.: SNM-1227; EA-09-272]
In the Matter of AREVA NP, Inc.; Confirmatory Order (Effective
Immediately) [NRC-2010-0172]
I
AREVA NP, Inc. (AREVA or Licensee) is the holder of Materials
License No. SNM-1227 issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC
or Commission) pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70. The license in effect at the
time of the incident described below was most recently amended via
Amendment 49, issued on July 9, 2007. The NRC renewed Materials License
No. SNM-1227, effective April 24, 2009. The license authorizes the
operation of the AREVA NP facility in accordance with the conditions
specified therein. The facility is located at the AREVA site in
Richland, Washington.
This Confirmatory Order is the result of an agreement reached
during an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session
conducted on March 9, 2010.
II
On September 23, 2009, the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI)
completed an investigation (OI Case No. 2-2009-025) regarding
activities at the AREVA facility located in Richland, Washington. Based
on the evidence developed during the investigation, the NRC staff
concluded that on April 21, 2009, Item Relied On For Safety (IROFS)
1111, an electronic eye sensor known as the vacuum wand interlock, was
deliberately bypassed by an employee and made to work by using tape.
These actions violated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 40486,
``Richland Operations General Rules,'' Version 16.0, Section 7.0 which
states that ``interlocks, limit switches and any other safety-related
equipment are never to be bypassed, made to work by using tape or other
material, or adjusted by anyone except for a defined purpose and in
accordance with an approved procedure.'' As a result, IROFS 1111 was
not available and reliable as required by 10 CFR 70.61(e).
III
On March 9, 2010, the NRC and AREVA met in an ADR session mediated
by a professional mediator, which was arranged through Cornell
University's Institute on Conflict Resolution. ADR is a process in
which a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority assists the
parties in reaching an agreement or resolving any differences regarding
their dispute. This confirmatory order is issued pursuant to the
agreement reached during the ADR process. The elements of the agreement
consist of the following:
1. The NRC and AREVA agreed that the incident that occurred on
April 21, 2009, as described in NRC's January 6, 2010, letter,
constituted a violation of SOP 40486, and that the operator's actions
were deliberate. The NRC and AREVA also agreed that, although the
vacuum wand interlock IROFS was disabled, sufficient system IROFS
remained in service to perform the intended safety function for
identified accident scenarios.
2. Based on AREVA's review of the incident and NRC concerns
associated with precluding recurrence of the violation, AREVA completed
the following corrective actions and enhancements:
a. The equipment was returned to normal operation and safety
function was verified;
b. The employee was immediately relieved of duties pending an
investigation;
c. A charter was established and a root cause investigation was
performed;
d. Although not reportable, AREVA notified the NRC of the incident
in a timely manner;
e. Disciplinary action was administered in accordance with company
policies;
f. AREVA Richland management held stand down meetings with all
Richland employees to reinforce obligations with respect to willful
misconduct, procedural compliance, potential event repercussions,
personal accountability, problem reporting, open communications,
opportunities for employees to raise issues and other discussion
topics;
g. Lessons learned from this incident were communicated internally
and to all other AREVA U.S. Special Nuclear Material (SNM) licensed
facilities within the AREVA U.S. fuel organization;
h. AREVA conducted an extent of condition review with operators in
all product centers and determined that the incident was isolated; and
i. Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) training was conducted
for employees at all AREVA SNM licensed facilities within the AREVA
U.S. fuel organization.
3. In addition to the actions completed by AREVA as discussed
above, AREVA agreed to additional corrective actions and enhancements,
as fully delineated below in Section V of this Confirmatory Order.
4. AREVA agreed to complete the items listed in Section V within 12
months of issuance of this Confirmatory Order.
5. Within three months of completion of the terms of this
Confirmatory Order, AREVA will provide the NRC with a letter discussing
its basis for concluding
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that this Confirmatory Order has been satisfied.
6. The NRC and AREVA agreed that: (1) The actions referenced in
Section III.2 and Section V will be incorporated into a Confirmatory
Order; and (2) the resulting Confirmatory Order will be considered by
the NRC for any assessment of AREVA, as appropriate.
7. In consideration of the completed corrective actions delineated
in Section III.2 and the Commitments delineated in Section V of this
Confirmatory Order, the NRC agrees to refrain from proposing a civil
penalty or issuing a Notice of Violation for the matter discussed in
the NRC's letter to AREVA of January 6, 2010 (EA-09-272).
8. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of AREVA
NP Inc.
On April 14, 2010, AREVA consented to issuance of this Confirmatory
Order with the commitments, as described in Section V below. AREVA
further agreed that this Confirmatory Order is to be effective upon
issuance and that it has waived its right to a hearing.
IV
Since AREVA has completed the actions as delineated in Section
III.2, and agreed to take the actions as set forth in Section V, the
NRC has concluded that its concerns can be resolved through issuance of
this Confirmatory Order.
I find that AREVA's commitments as set forth in Section V are
acceptable and necessary and conclude that with these commitments, the
public health and safety are reasonably assured. In view of the
foregoing, I have determined that public health and safety require that
AREVA's commitments be confirmed by this Confirmatory Order. Based on
the above and AREVA's consent, this Confirmatory Order is immediately
effective upon issuance.
V
Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 51, 53, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182 and
186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's
regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR Part 70, it is hereby ordered,
effective immediately, that license No. SNM-1227 be modified as
follows:
a. AREVA will incorporate lessons learned from this incident,
including enhanced SCWE training, into General Employee Training for
new employees and annual refresher training for all AREVA Richland
employees;
b. AREVA will implement a management observation program at
Richland for the purpose of reinforcing task performance standards and
work practices;
c. AREVA Richland Site Operations will perform a survey to
determine the results of efforts to increase supervisor availability in
the work area;
d. AREVA will develop a presentation and offer to present the
detail of this incident and lessons learned with regard to work
practices to a future industry forum such as the annual Fuel Cycle
Information Exchange.
e. AREVA agrees to complete the above items within 12 months of
issuance of this Confirmatory Order.
f. Within three months of completion of the terms of this
Confirmatory Order, AREVA will provide the NRC with a letter discussing
its basis for concluding that this Confirmatory Order has been
satisfied.
The Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, may relax or rescind, in
writing, any of the above conditions upon a showing by AREVA of good
cause.
VI
Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other
than the Licensee, may request a hearing within 20 days of its
publication in the Federal Register. Where good cause is shown,
consideration will be given to extending the time to request a hearing.
A request for extension of time must be directed to the Director,
Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001, and include a statement of good cause for the extension.
All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a
request for hearing, a petition for leave to intervene, any motion or
other document filed in the proceeding prior to the submission of a
request for hearing or petition to intervene, and documents filed by
interested governmental entities participating under 10 CFR 2.315(c),
must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule (72 FR 49139,
August 28, 2007). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit
and serve all adjudicatory documents over the Internet, or in some
cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. Participants may not
submit paper copies of their filings unless they seek an exemption in
accordance with the procedures described below.
To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least
ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should
contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at
[email protected], or by telephone at (301) 415-1677, to request
(1) a digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its
counsel or representative) to digitally sign documents and access the
E-Submittal server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and
(2) advise the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a
request or petition for hearing (even in instances in which the
participant, or its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-
issued digital ID certificate). Based upon this information, the
Secretary will establish an electronic docket for the hearing in this
proceeding if the Secretary has not already established an electronic
docket.
Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is
available on NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. System requirements for accessing
the E-Submittal server are detailed in NRC's ``Guidance for Electronic
Submission,'' which is available on the agency's public Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. Participants may
attempt to use other software not listed on the Web site, but should
note that the NRC's E-Filing system does not support unlisted software,
and the NRC Meta System Help Desk will not be able to offer assistance
in using unlisted software.
If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC
in accordance with the E-Filing rule, the participant must file the
document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to
serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE),
users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC
Web site. Further information on the Web-based submission form,
including the installation of the Web browser plug-in, is available on
the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.
Once a participant has obtained a digital ID certificate and a
docket has been created, the participant can then submit a request for
hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions should be in
Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance
available on the NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the
documents are submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system
no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of
a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends
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the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The
E-Filing system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access
to the document to the NRC Office of the General Counsel and any others
who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document
via the E-Filing system.
A person filing electronically using the agency's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC Meta System
Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site
at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by e-mail at
[email protected], or by a toll-free call at (866) 672-7640. The
NRC Meta System Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.
Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper
format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or
expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth
Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants
filing a document in this manner are responsible for serving the
document on all other participants. Filing is considered complete by
first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier,
express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing the
document with the provider of the service. A presiding officer, having
granted an exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a
participant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer
subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at
http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant
to an order of the Commission, or the presiding officer. Participants
are requested not to include personal privacy information, such as
social security numbers, home addresses, or home phone numbers in their
filings, unless an NRC regulation or other law requires submission of
such information. With respect to copyrighted works, except for limited
excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and would
constitute a Fair Use application, participants are requested not to
include copyrighted materials in their submission.
If a person other than the Licensee requests a hearing, that person
shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is
adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order and shall address the
criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.309(d) and (f).
If the hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely
affected, the Commission will issue an order designating the time and
place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered
at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order should be
sustained.
VII
In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions
specified in Section V above shall be final 20 days from the date this
Confirmatory Order is published in the Federal Register without further
order or proceedings. If an extension of time for requesting a hearing
has been approved, the provisions specified in Section V shall be final
when the extension expires if a hearing request has not been received.
A request for hearing shall not stay the immediate effectiveness of
this confirmatory order.
Dated this 26th day of April 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Victor M. McCree,
Deputy Regional Administrator for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2010-10678 Filed 5-5-10; 8:45 am]
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