NRC Inspecting Criticality Safety Incident at BWXT Facility

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is inspecting BWX Technologies’ (BWXT) Lynchburg, Va. fuel facility following the discovery of a criticality safety incident, the NRC announced last Friday. The NRC is investigating “the circumstances surrounding the discovery that workers may have exceeded controls for criticality safety in a production line glovebox,” the announcement says. The safety controls are meant to limit the amount of radioactive material in gloveboxes “to prevent a criticality, which can occur when uranium accumulates in sufficient quantity and shape to initiate a chain reaction,” the NRC says, noting that “there were no safety related consequences” following the incident but that the process in question “remains shut down.”

 

BWXT spokeswoman Aimee Mills said in a statement that the incident did not threaten the safety of facility workers or the public and that “BWXT self-reported this matter to the NRC in a timely manner following a review of activity logs on a project for a commercial customer.” She added that the company is “developing a number of corrective actions” and “will review the results of the NRC’s inspection for any additional improvements that need to be taken.” The NRC says the special inspection of the circumstances surrounding the event and subsequent corrective actions will likely “take at least a week.” Findings will be released in a report within 30 days of completion.