NRC waives penalties in wake of 2016 incident at Westinghouse Electric nuclear facility

An event that saw uranium accumulating in the scrubber system of a Westinghouse Electric Company fuel fabrication facility in Columbia, South Carolina last year had penalties waived last week by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

In a confirmatory order to Westinghouse, the NRC laid out the details of a settlement agreement between the two. While Westinghouse has agreed to survey its safety culture among site employees, improve and modify its scrubbers and other systems to minimize future incidents, and to develop additional methods of early detection for nuclear accumulations, the NRC in turn has pledged to avoid civil penalties or citations of the company. Westinghouse was required to admit the violations happened, however.

In May 2016, plant employees discovered uranium-bearing material was building up in a scrubber system–
the very thing designed to remove unwanted material from plant processes. That uranium build up had exceeded safety limits, prompting the NRC to launch an inspection and lay out a demand of corrective actions.

The NRC investigation revealed a number of violations of their established requirements. To avoid charges, Westinghouse participated in the NRC Alternative Dispute Resolution process, facilitated by a neutral third party. The debate over an agreement and how best to enforce the issue continued from May until early August.

Westinghouse is to provide a notification letter once they have completed the terms of the NRC’s order.