NRC CAL – NOVCP $3,500

On October 22, 2015, the NRC issued a Severity Level III Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of a Civil Penalty in the amount of $3,500 to Texas A&M University, Engineering Experiment Station, Nuclear Science Center (NSC), for two violations of NRC requirements, collectively characterized as a Severity Level III problem. The first violation involved the Texas A&M NSC staff's failure to maintain complete and accurate records in all material respects. Specifically, on or after May 15, 2013, the reactor operations manager deliberately falsified the May 14, 2013, reactor operations log shutdown checklist required by Technical Specification 6.3 when he certified that the shutdown procedures were performed when in fact they had not been performed. The shutdown checklist is a safety record that the licensee is required to maintain for inspection by the NRC staff and the completeness and accuracy of this safety information is material to the NRC inspection process. The second violation involved the failure of Texas A&M NSC to maintain the minimum facility staffing required by Technical Specification 6.1.3 when the reactor was not secured as defined by Technical Specifications 1.23 and 1.26. Technical Specification 6.1.3, "Staffing," requires at least two individuals, a senior reactor operator and either a licensed reactor operator or operator trainee, be on duty when the reactor is not secured. Specifically, on the evening of May 14, 2013, the senior reactor operator and reactor operator left the facility complex unattended. The reactor was not secured on the night of May 14-15, 2013, in that the reactor contained sufficient fissile material to attain criticality under optimum conditions and the reactor console was not secured because not all scrammable rods were fully inserted and verified down.