[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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