NFS faces $60,000 fine for nuclear
material violations
By Kathy Helms-Hughes
STAR STAFF
khelms@starhq.com
Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. in Erwin could be fined $60,000
for violations related to special nuclear material that went
unaccounted for at the Erwin facility for about six weeks
in June 2001.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Enforcement
said last week that it intended to issue a Notice of Violation
and proposed imposing a civil penalty in the amount of $60,000
on Friday, Oct. 17. The notice said the action was based on
seven violations which have been categorized as one Severity
Level III problem.
"This problem represents a significant breakdown in the implementation
of the licensee's material control and accounting system in
that a substantial amount of Category 1A Strategic Special
Nuclear Material (SSNM) went unaccounted for at the Erwin
facility for a period of approximately six weeks beginning
in June of 2001," the notice states.
While only mildly radioactive, "special nuclear material,"
or SNM, includes some fissile material that in concentrated
form, can be the primary ingredients of nuclear explosives.
When the material is in greater than
- formula quantities
, it is defined as "strategic special nuclear material" (SSNM).
The uranium-235 content of low-enriched uranium can be enriched
to make highly enriched uranium, the primary ingredient of an
atomic bomb, according to the NRC.
NFS now is in the process of amending its Special Nuclear Material
license so that it can convert 33 metric tons of highly enriched
uranium into fuel for Tennessee Valley Authority commercial
nuclear reactors.
The Office of Enforcement said that based on multiple failures
in the NFS case, the incidents could have led to the undetected
diversion of strategic special nuclear material "and there would
have been no record providing evidence that it was missing."
NFS also was issued three Severity Level IV violations.
