[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 238 (Monday, December 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77675-77677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31175]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No.: 70-1257; License No.: SNM-1227; EA-10-041; NRC-2010-0384]


AREVA NP, Inc.; Confirmatory Order (Effective Immediately)

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 October 5, 2010.

II

    On April 3, 2009, the NRC Office of Investigations (OI) began an 
investigation (OI Case No. 2-2009-024) at AREVA. Based on the evidence 
developed during its investigation, OI substantiated that an Advisory 
Engineer deliberately falsified United Kingdom Department for Transport 
(DfT) transit approval forms regarding overseas shipments of low 
enriched uranium. Additionally, OI determined that the Advisory 
Engineer deliberately failed to follow procedure for release of 
criticality calculations associated with the shipments. The results of 
the investigation, completed on December 1, 2009, were sent to AREVA in 
a letter dated August 10, 2010. The NRC's August 10, 2010 letter 
offered AREVA the opportunity to resolve the enforcement aspects of 
this matter through the NRC's normal enforcement process, or through 
ADR. In response to the NRC's offer, AREVA requested use of the NRC ADR 
process to resolve the matter.
    On October 5, 2010, the NRC and AREVA met in an ADR session 
mediated by a professional mediator, 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 to resolve any differences regarding 
the dispute. This confirmatory order is issued pursuant to the 
agreement reached during the ADR process.

III

    During that ADR session, a preliminary settlement agreement was 
reached. The elements of the agreement consisted of the following:
    1. The NRC and AREVA agreed that the two apparent violations 
documented in the NRC's letter of August 10, 2010, would be 
characterized as one violation involving the requirements of 10 CFR 
71.5(a), and 49 CFR 172.204(a), associated with the transportation of 
Class 7 (radioactive) material, on three separate occasions. 
Specifically, on December 9, 2008, and on March 11 and 18, 2009, a 
licensee employee deliberately altered (falsified) the date stamp on 
three documents entitled ``Approval to Transit a UK [United Kingdom] 
Port.'' Because the DfT transit approvals were falsified, the licensee 
failed to comply with 49 CFR 172.204(a) which requires the licensee to 
attest to the fact that the contents of the consignment (shipment) were 
in all respects in proper condition for transport according to 
applicable international and national governmental regulations.
    2. In response to the violation described above, AREVA implemented 
numerous corrective actions and enhancements, including but not limited 
to a prompt investigation into the incidents, performance of a 
sufficiently independent root cause analysis and corrective action 
review, an assessment of the actual and potential safety impact of the 
incidents, a thorough extent of condition review, appropriate 
notification of regulatory authorities, safety culture and safety 
conscious work environment initiatives, process changes, and numerous 
corrective actions and enhancements to preclude recurrence.
    3. In response to the violation as described in Section III.1 
above, AREVA agreed to the following actions:
    a. Within 30 days of the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, AREVA 
will submit a Reply to a Notice of Violation, which documents its 
corrective actions

[[Page 77676]]

and enhancements as discussed in Section III.2 above. AREVA's Reply to 
a Notice of Violation will be consistent with the requirements of 10 
CFR 2.201.
    b. Within 12 months after the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, 
AREVA will conduct a review to determine the effectiveness of 
corrective actions and enhancements as described in its Reply to a 
Notice of Violation. The effectiveness review will also incorporate any 
commonalities from previous willful issues occurring within AREVA's 
U.S. Fuel organization within the last three years of the date of 
issuance of the Confirmatory Order. Upon completion of its 
effectiveness review, AREVA will develop and implement any additional 
corrective actions and enhancements, as warranted, to address any 
additional weaknesses or deficiencies. The results of AREVA's 
effectiveness review and development of additional corrective actions 
and enhancements will be communicated to the NRC within 60 days of 
development of resulting corrective actions.
    c. No later than June 30, 2012, AREVA will conduct an independent 
(i.e., outside the global AREVA organization), safety culture 
assessment in accordance with an accepted nuclear industry standard. 
The assessment will include AREVA's Richland, Washington facility, its 
Erwin, Tennessee facility, and its Lynchburg, Virginia facility. 
Corrective actions and enhancements, and a schedule for implementation, 
will be developed in response to the results of the assessment, and 
provided to the NRC within three months of completion of this effort.
    4. The NRC and AREVA agree that the above elements will be 
incorporated into a Confirmatory Order, and that the violation will be 
cited as a Notice of Violation, and included as an attachment to the 
Confirmatory Order. In addition, AREVA agrees to waive its hearing 
rights for the issues documented in the Confirmatory Order. The 
resulting Confirmatory Order will be considered by the NRC for any 
assessment of AREVA, as appropriate.
    5. In consideration of the commitments delineated in Section III.3 
above, the NRC agrees to refrain from proposing a civil penalty for all 
matters discussed in the NRC's letter to AREVA of August 10, 2010 (EA-
10-041).
    6. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of AREVA.

IV

    Since the licensee has agreed to take additional actions to address 
NRC concerns, as set forth in Item III above, 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 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 is modified as 
follows:
    1. Within 30 days of the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, AREVA 
will submit a Reply to a Notice of Violation, which documents its 
corrective actions and enhancements as discussed in Section III.2 
above. AREVA's Reply to a Notice of Violation will be consistent with 
the requirements of 10 CFR 2.201.
    2. Within 12 months after the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, 
AREVA will conduct a review to determine the effectiveness of 
corrective actions and enhancements as described in its Reply to a 
Notice of Violation. The effectiveness review will also incorporate any 
commonalities from previous willful issues occurring within AREVA's 
U.S. Fuel organization within the last three years of the date of 
issuance of the Confirmatory Order. Upon completion of its 
effectiveness review, AREVA will develop and implement any additional 
corrective actions and enhancements, as warranted, to address any 
additional weaknesses or deficiencies. The results of AREVA's 
effectiveness review, and development of additional corrective actions 
and enhancements, will be communicated to the NRC within 60 days of 
development of resulting corrective actions.
    3. No later than June 30, 2012, AREVA will conduct an independent 
(i.e., outside the global AREVA organization), safety culture 
assessment in accordance with an accepted nuclear industry standard. 
The assessment will include AREVA's Richland, Washington facility, its 
Erwin, Tennessee facility, and its Lynchburg, Virginia facility. 
Corrective actions and enhancements, and a schedule for implementation, 
will be developed in response to the results of the assessment, and 
provided to the NRC within three months of completion of this effort.
    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 AREVA, 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 made in writing to the Director, Office of 
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, 
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

[[Page 77677]]

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 
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 AREVA) 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 a 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.
    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 order.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated this 2nd day of December 2010.
Luis A. Reyes,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2010-31175 Filed 12-10-10; 8:45 am]
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