NRC ORDER – ORDER

On March 28, 2017, the NRC issued a Confirmatory Order to Homestake Mining Company of California (HMC) confirming commitments reached as part of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session. The session was associated with five apparent violations identified during an NRC records review: (1) implementation of the Reinjection Program in a manner inconsistent with HMC's groundwater Corrective Action Program (CAP); (2) discharge of liquid effluents from the Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant in excess of the site ground water protection standards established in the license; (3) failure to report to the NRC the results of all effluent monitoring required by the license; (4) failure to obtain monthly composite samples as required by the license; and (5) the discharge of liquid effluents containing byproduct material to land application areas without first obtaining NRC approval. The licensee agreed to take a number of actions, in addition to steps already taken, including but not limited to: (1) a third-party review of the HMC root cause protocol that is used to complete several conditions of the order; (2) a root cause analysis; (3) an assessment of all HMC activities to determine if they are being conducted in compliance with NRC requirements and an independent third party review of the assessment; (4) submitting a revised ground-water corrective action plan; (5) training on requirements; (6) complete an analysis of the reinjection system impact to the time estimated for completion of the corrective action program; (7) adjust operations toward compliance with Ground Water Protection Standards; (8) implement a corrective action program; (9) develop a land application assessment of impacts; In consideration of the HMC commitments identified in the Confirmatory Order, the NRC agreed not to pursue any further enforcement action based on the apparent violations.