B&W explains incident during public safety review (Nuke)

By Bryan Gentry
Published: September 28, 2009

A Babcock & Wilcox Company official explained how uranium got into an unchecked container at a local nuclear fuel facility in July during a public review of the company’s safety record Monday night.

Federal regulators’ annual review of B&W focused somewhat on that incident, which prompted a low-level emergency declaration, though it occurred after the official review period ended in June.Roger Cochrane, general manager of the B&W Nuclear Operations Group, called the July incident “a disappointing event that’s not indicative of our typical performance.”

The annual public review officially covered Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspections at B&W from June 2008 through June 2009.

In those inspections, “we found that there were no areas needing improvement,” said Charles Payne, branch chief of the NRC Division of Fuel Facility Inspection.Because of the clean inspections, the NRC plans to conduct its basic 1,700 hours of inspections at B&W this year. In the last inspection year inspectors spent an additional 88 hours inspecting B&W’s Campbell County facility because of previous problems, Payne said.

Once the NRC finishes its report on the July 15 alert, it could increase the inspection hours at B&W this year. “If we do so, we will obviously be in touch with you,” Payne said. “We will document it in a letter and it will be publicly available.”

Cochrane said that the July 15 incident that led to an alert was caused by an oversight.

In that incident, uranium was discovered in the cooling reservoir of a saw that cuts nuclear fuel components.

Cochrane said that B&W used to check that reservoir regularly to make sure it did not contain uranium or too much fluid. In 2004 the company installed a new cooling system that does not use the reservoir. B&W stopped monitoring the reservoir, not realizing fluid could still get into it, he said.

The reservoir should have been “disabled” by filling it with concrete or putting holes in it so it would not collect liquid, but it was not disabled, he said.

He said that the discovery of uranium in the reservoir shows that B&W does train its employees to keep an eye out for problems. “It didn’t appear right, so the operator did the right thing and brought it to his management’s attention,” Cochrane said.

Once the uranium was discovered, B&W declared an alert, the NRC’s lowest emergency level. The alert was active for about five hours until B&W concluded there was not enough uranium there to cause an explosion.

Since then, B&W has reinstated its program of checking that reservoir regularly, Cochrane said. After verifying how the uranium got into it, the reservoir will be disabled, he said.

B&W has also checked its documentation on other equipment changes to make sure there have been no similar oversights in other areas, Cochrane said.

Gene Cobey, the deputy director of the NRC’s Division of Fuel Facility Inspection, said the agency’s report on the July incident should be released in mid-October.

The meeting was held at Lynchburg City Hall. About 20 people attended, mostly B&W and NRC officials.

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Uranium Incident at B&W Leads to Alert

Comment: BREAKING NEWS: leaked oil that contained an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium into a receptacle AT Babcock and Wilcox IN LYNCHBURG, VA!

posted 07/16/09 6:29 pm

Lynchburg, VA - An incident at Babcock and Wilcox Wednesday night caused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to have safety experts in Atlanta and Maryland to monitor the situation at the Lynchburg plant.

The NRC says the alert- classified as the lowest level of emergency- started around 7:45 p.m.

A news release states B & W staff noticed that a saw used to cut fuel components leaked oil that contained an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium into a receptacle.

Investigators figured out only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. They cleaned it up, then declared the alert over at 12:35 this morning.

The NRC is reviewing the incident.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission manned Incident Response Centers in Atlanta and Rockville, Md., Wednesday night, dispatched its resident inspector and called in criticality safety experts to monitor an alert declared at B&W Nuclear Operations Group in Lynchburg, Va. An alert is the lowest level of NRC emergency classifications for fuel facilities such as B&W.

The NRC staff continued to monitor the incident, which began at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday until its successful resolution at 12:35 a.m. Thursday.

B&W staff activated the facility’s Emergency Operations Center after identifying a potential criticality issue in the Uranium Recovery area. A criticality can occur when highly enriched uranium comes together in sufficient quantity or in a container of correct shape to initiate a chain reaction resulting in either a “burst” or a sustained release of radiation.

A saw used to cut fuel components was found to have discharged oil which contained an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium into a receptacle. The facility identified that the situation represented a loss of safety controls for the uranium and declared an alert. The NRC’s resident inspector for B&W responded to the site and state officials were also advised of the incident.

“Since the amount of uranium in the oil was unknown, it was important to take a conservative approach,” said NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes.

After the facility staff analyzed the material, it was determined that only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. Based on measurements and analysis, B&W determined that control over the material was re-established and exited the alert at 12:35 a.m. Thursday.

The NRC has begun to review the incident and will soon determine what special inspections or other regulatory actions are needed.

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0709/641055.html?ref=rs