The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a supplemental inspection of the Columbia Generating Station in Washington state from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 to ensure the nuclear power plant has adequately addressed errors that led to mislabeling of a radioactive waste shipment last year.
The regulator in July issued a “white” finding, indicating low to moderate safety significance, against the Energy Northwest nuclear power plant that sits 10 miles north of the city of Richland.
The facility in November shipped a container of radiological material to the nearby US Ecology disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste, located on leased land at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site. The material in the container exceeded maximum acceptable radiation levels and was rejected.
Afterward, the Washington state Health Department suspended the Columbia Generating Station’s radiological waste shipment authorization from November 2016 to April 2017, with full privileges returned in June. However, waste shipments were suspended again in July after an incorrect manifest was sent with one shipment, Energy Northwest spokesman John Dobken said. Shipping privileges were reinstated Tuesday by the state in a verbal confirmation to Energy Northwest.
The violation left the facility under increased NRC oversight for at least six months. Late last month, Northwest Energy delivered a letter to the agency declaring its readiness for the supplemental inspection required after a violation notice. The inspection is intended to ensure the site operator grasps the root and contributing factors in the event, and that effective steps have been taken to prevent another such incident, according to the NRC.
“The finding would be held open if the … inspection determines that the licensee failed to (a) identify, understand, or adequately evaluate the root causes, contributing causes, extent-of-condition, or extent-of-cause of the safety-significant finding, or (b) take or plan adequate corrective actions to address the root causes, contributing causes, extent-of-condition, or extent-of-cause and to prevent recurrence of the safety-significant finding,” NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said by email.
Shipping procedures at the plant have been updated in the months following the violation, Dobken said: “We revised shipping procedures to add additional peer checks of key steps and made additional human performance enhancements. We developed a job aid to use when reviewing shipping paperwork to assist in consistent peer and supervisor reviews.”
Dobken said the utility also adapted the workspace to remove distractions to ensure controlled review of shipping paperwork and other processes.
Burnell said the finding could be closed when the inspection team leaves the site, referred to as the “exit date.” The facility would have to meet all of the objectives during the inspection for the NRC to close the finding. Burnell said.
There is no definite timeline for the inspection reports to be filed and published, but the NRC goal is to have the inspection ready for public viewing within 45 days of the inspection.
