NRC Action Number(s) and
Facility Name | Action Type
(Severity) &
Civil Penalty
(if any) | Date
Issued | Description |
EA-08-330
United States Enrichment Corporation | NOV
(SL III) | 3/4/2009 | On March 4, 2009, a Notice of Violation (NOV) was issued to United States Enrichment Corporation for a Severity Level III violation. Specifically, on September 8, 2008, the licensee moved a cylinder containing liquid uranium hexafluoride to a storage pad with mobile equipment (straddle carrier) instead of an approved crane in violation of Technical Safety Requirement 2.1.3.14 of their license. In this case, no adverse affects to the public or environment resulted from this unauthorized moved. |
EA-06-140
USEC, Inc. and its Subsidary, United States Enrichment Corporation | ORDER | 8/13/2009 | On August 13, 2009, a Confirmatory Order (effective immediately) was issued to USEC Inc. and its subsidiary the United States Enrichment Corporation to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) settlement agreement, regarding an apparent violation of 10 CFR 76.7, "Employee protection." The action is based on the United States Department of Labor Administrative Review Board's (ARB's) August 19, 2008, Final Decision and Order (ARB Case Nos. 06-055, 06-058, and 06-119) affirming a DOL Administrative Law Judge's finding. As part of the settlement agreement, USEC agreed to take a number of actions that, among others, included: a third party independent assessment of the safety conscious work environment (SCWE) at the Paducah site; and providing SCWE training (including case studies) to Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants, American Centrifuge Plant, American Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility, and designated USEC Headquarters managers and employees |
EA-11-056
United States Enrichment Corporation - Paducah Facility | ORDER | 08/17/2011 | On August 17, 2011, the NRC issued a Confirmatory Order (effective immediately) to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) settlement agreement. During an investigation NRC identified a violation involving an incident in which an operator deliberately violated applicable radiation protection procedures. Specifically, the violation involved the failure to adhere to the requirements of a USEC Paducah procedure that requires personnel to perform a whole body frisk when exiting from areas controlled for removable contamination. In response, the USEC requested ADR in an attempt to resolve the enforcement matter. USEC agreed to take a number of actions as part of this Confirmatory Order. These actions included a prompt investigation into the incident, the conduct of multiple staff briefings by USEC-Paducah management, procedural reviews and revisions as warranted, appropriate retraining and communication of lessons learned to staff, a review of the circumstances that took place during the routine operational activities that resulted in the existence of contaminated material, and disciplinary action for the employee involved in the incident. In addition, USEC committed to enhancing new employee orientation and General Employee Training at Paducah to ensure that personnel clearly understand the consequences of deliberate acts of non-compliance with regulations or procedures, and expanding its independent, Safety Conscious Work Environment assessment to include an assessment of the safety culture components of decision making and work practices. In recognition of USEC’s proposed extensive corrective actions, in addition to corrective actions already taken, the NRC agreed to not issue a Notice of Violation, and refrain from proposing a civil penalty for this matter. |
EA-08-344
United States Enrichment Corporation - Paducah Facility | ORDER | 8/18/2009 | On August 18, 2009, an effective immediately Confirmatory Order was issued to United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediation session held on July 2, 2009. The parties agreed to engage in ADR following NRC's February 25, 2009, letter to USEC wherein four apparent violations were identified based on information developed during an investigation at the USEC-Paducah facility, involving violations of station procedures which occurred during and subsequent to an incident in January 2008. Specifically, the violations involved: (1) failing to disconnect equipment during movement of a Uranium Hexaflouride (UF6) cylinder causing damage to the manifold; (2) deliberately attempting to conceal the damage; (3) deliberately falsifying documents indicating the equipment was properly disconnected; and (4) deliberately denying knowledge of the procedure violations. As part of the agreement, USEC agreed to take a number of actions including actions to address the willful actions of USEC employees, procedural use, recurring training for Operations and Maintenance supervisors to reinforce conduct of principles and procedural compliance, and subsequent effectiveness reviews of corrective actions. In addition, USEC committed to conducting a review of this incident and a limited number of other significant events, to determine if weaknesses in any of the 13 safety culture components, as identified in NRC Regulatory Information Summary 2006-13, caused or significantly contributed to the event. In recognition of these actions, the NRC agreed to refrain from proposing a civil penalty and issuing a Notice of Violation or other enforcement action for the matters discussed in the NRC letter to USEC dated February 6, 2009. |
EA-08-280
United States Enrichment Corporation - Paducah Facility | ORDER | 8/18/2009 | On August 18, 2009, an immediately effective Confirmatory Order was issued to United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediation session held on July 1, 2009. The parties agreed to engage in ADR following NRC's February 6, 2009, letter to USEC wherein an apparent violation of 10 CFR 95.39(b)(3) was identified based on information developed during an investigation at the licensee's Paducah facility. As part of the agreement, USEC agreed to take a number of actions including revising procedures and related training, continuation of recurring training for Operations and Maintenance supervisors to reinforce conduct of principles and procedure compliance, conducting interactive informational training sessions with employees to identify critical job tasks and tools to prevent and protect against causing adverse events when performing critical tasks, and communicating the facts of the violation and lessons learned to employees at all USEC facilities. In recognition of these actions, the NRC agreed to refrain from proposing a civil penalty and issuing a Notice of Violation or other enforcement action for the matters discussed in the February 6, 2009, letter. |
EA-04-123
U.S. Enrichment Corp., KY | ORDER
| 01/27/2005 | On January 27, 2005, an immediately effective Confirmatory Order was issued to confirm certain commitments involving training related to employee protection. The Order was discussed during an Alternative Dispute Resolution session and, subject to satisfactory completion of the commitments, the NRC will not pursue further enforcement action on this issue. |
EA-99-016
U.S. Enrichment Corp., KY | NOV
(SL III) | 03/05/1999 | Violation involved failure to maintain control of classified matter at the Paducah facility. |
EA-98-156
U.S. Enrichment Corp., KY | ORDER | 04/22/1998 | USQ concerning releases of UF6 during an accident. |
EA-97-431
U.S. Enrichment Corp., KY | NOVCP
(SL III)
$55,000 | 12/08/1997 | Security violation. |
EA-97-267
U.S. Enrichment Corp., KY | NOV
(SL III) | 09/22/1997 | Failure to comply with the requirements in the security plan. |
EA-02-085
U.S. Enrichment Corp., MD | NOVCP
(SL III)
$60,000 | 11/05/2002 | On November 5, 2002, a Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the amount of $60,000 was issued for a Severity Level III problem involving the failure to ensure that classified information was properly stored when not in use or that the material was under the direct control of an authorized individual, and that classified information was generated and telecommunicated on approved systems. |
EA-01-285
U.S. Enrichment Corp., MD | NOV
(SL III) | 01/17/2002 | On January 17, 2002, a Notice of Violation was issued for a Severity Level III problem involving the failure to meet the Technical Safety Requirement (TSR) for maintaining criticality control and the failure to prescribe activities affecting quality in a documented procedure appropriate to the circumstances. |
EA-99-256; EA-00-047
U.S. Enrichment Corp., MD | NOV
(SL III) | 01/03/2001 | On January 3, 2001, a Notice of Violation was issued for a Severity Level III problem involving: (1) creation of classified information on an unclassified computer system and (2) deliberate failure to report the infraction to the NRC Regional Administrator per regulation; and a Severity Level III violation involving the deliberate failure to initiate a corrective action report for the security infraction. |
EA-99-110
U.S. Enrichment Corp., MD | NOVCP
(SL II)
$88,000 | 12/20/1999 | Violation based on discrimination against the former Manager of Quality Systems for raising safety concerns. |
EA-99-080
U.S. Enrichment Corp., MD | NOVCP
(SL III)
$55,000 | 06/29/1999 | Failure to classify an emergency situation (a significant building fire) as an alert. |
EA-98-249; EA-98-250; EA-98-251
U.S. Enrichment Corp., OH | NOVCP
(SL III)
$55,000 | 07/14/1998 | Violation involving of TSRs for autoclaves. |
EA-98-012
U.S. Enrichment Corp., OH | NOVCP
(SL III)
$55,000 | 03/19/1998 | Criticality safety program breakdown. Failure of two barrier requirements for criticality. |