Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
4/17/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week kicked off a special investigation of an unplanned chemical reaction earlier this month at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, Tenn. According to the NRC, a two-liter bottle containing cleaning materials, nitric acid and a small amount of uranium underwent an unplanned chemical reaction April 4. The bottle was in a limited-access, locked storage area, NFS spokeswoman Susan Metcalfe said.
No employees were exposed or injured as a result of the incident, but the NRC said it plans to review NFS’ response and investigation, develop a timeline and determine the actual and potential safety significance of the incident. “Although no one was injured and there were no employee exposures, it could have been worse had employees been in that area at the time,” said NRC Region II Administrator Victor McCree. “Based on that potential, we needed to inspect exactly what happened and what steps are necessary to prevent it from happening again.”
The special investigation began April 14 and is expected to continue for about a week. The NRC said it expects to issue a report 30 days after the inspection wraps up. Metcalfe said NFS reported the incident to the NRC in the required 24 hours after the incident. The last special investigation at NFS took place in 2009 when there was an unexpected exothermic reaction in the company’s BLEU Preparation Facility. The NRC levied a $140,000 fine after the 2009 incident. “Safety remains NFS’ primary objective, and NFS personnel handled the situation in a safe and timely manner,” Metcalfe said.
