NRC ORDER – ORDER

On February 21, 2007, a Confirmatory Order (effective immediately) was issued to Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) to confirm commitments made as a result of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediation sessions held on September 28 and November 30, 2006. Originally, this Confirmatory Order was designated as "Official Use Only" and not available for public review. Upon further evaluation by the NRC, this Confirmatory Order was released publically, in its entirety, on July 18, 2009. At issue were a number of violations of NRC requirements, some of which were characterized as willful. Specifically, these violations included: 1) a licensee supervisor's willful failure to wear a full face respirator as required by license safety conditions, 2) a failure of the licensee to meet the performance requirements of a July, 2000, Confirmatory Order Modifying License involving its safeguards contingency plan, 3) a licensee building manager's willful transfer of solvent extraction raffinate without approval as required by license safety conditions, 4) a licensee failure to attend special nuclear material as required by the licensee's Physical Protection Plan, 5) an inadvertent transfer of high enriched uranyl nitrate into an enclosure that was not approved for operation, and 6) a willful failure of two security officers to conduct vehicle searches. NFS agreed to: 1) provide the NRC written documentation of the reasons for the violations, the corrective actions taken and planned and the completion dates for each corrective action within 60 days of the date of the Order, 2) within 60 days of the date of the order, submit a request to amend the license to revise the configuration management program, and 3) conduct an independent safety culture assessment via a third-party, implement a plan to address the findings and recommendations that result from the third-party assessment, and within 24 months following the completion of the initial assessment, provide for an additional third-