NRC ORDER – ORDER

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.