Federal regulators have proposed a $140,000 fine against Nuclear Fuel Services, a branch of the Babcock & Wilcox Co. in Tennessee.
The fine stems from regulatory violations in October 2009, when a chemical reaction unexpectedly accelerated and emitted a hot, dangerous gas and forced an evacuation at one part of NFS’s facility.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff told the company of the fine this week and announced it publicly Friday. The company has 30 days to pay or protest the fine, according to a news release.
NFS Communications Manager Lauri Turpin said the company has not yet decided how to respond to the fine.
The violations occurred in an Erwin, Tenn., downblending facility, where NFS processes weapons-grade uranium until it can be made into nuclear fuel or disposed of, Turpin said.
NFS employees were processing some uranium that was very fine and almost powdery. That made a chemical reaction happen much faster than expected, and the room began to fill with the toxic gas nitrogen dioxide, Turpin said.
The gas was so hot it deformed the shape of plastic parts of the ventilation system, she said.
The operators successfully shut down the system to stop the reaction. There were no injuries or releases of the chemical into the environment, Turpin said.
NRC staff visited the site soon afterward and determined that several regulatory violations had occurred. The event happened because of the failure of several NFS safeguards, wrote NRC Regional Administrator Luis Reyes in a news release.
“These failures were primarily attributable to a lack of management oversight … a lack of a questioning attitude, perceived production pressure and poor communication,” Reyes wrote.
According to the news release from the NRC, NFS officials acknowledged that violations did occur, but did not feel that a fine or other actions were necessary because NFS had corrected the problems that led to the incident.
Turpin said the company established another level of management oversight on all shifts to prevent similar incidents again.
Turpin said NFS staff began reviewing the NRC’s letter announcing the fine on Thursday. “We’re still reviewing it carefully and will respond to the NRC during the allotted timeframe,” she said.
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