An inspection at a New Jersey nuclear plant being decommissioned by Holtec International revealed several security violations that might earn the company a civil penalty, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the plant’s owner last week.
According to NRC’s letter, dated July 28, Holtec has a month to either contest the commission’s decision or provide a response detailing corrective actions for security violations documented at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, which the company is currently decommissioning.
NRC didn’t provide public information about the nature of Holtec’s violations or how many there were, but said that the “number and characterization” of the offenses might change as the commission reviews them.
A spokesperson for Holtec told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing in an emailed statement Monday that details about the Oyster Creek violations were withheld for security reasons.
“Once the issues were identified, we notified the NRC and took corrective actions,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with the NRC to provide additional information for further discussions.”
The commission’s notice came alongside a second July 28 letter to Holtec detailing three separate violations stemming from a 2020 investigation into a former Oyster Creek superintendent and armorer.
NRC determined that the armorer “deliberately failed” to perform required firearms maintenance and falsified records related to firearms maintenance that were subsequently submitted to the commission, the second letter said. Two of those three offenses also carry the possibility of further action which could include civil penalties.
Meanwhile, Holtec is embroiled in an ongoing labor dispute with a New Jersey union hall, which said in July that the Camden, N.J. nuclear services company violated a collective bargaining agreement when it laid off 38 union radiation technicians at Oyster Creek. Holtec filed a notice with the state labor department in June announcing its plans to lay off a total of 92 workers at the plant this month.
Despite all that, and a hiccup in June, decommissioning continues at Oyster Creek, which Holtec bought from Exelon in 2019. The company has said it expects the process to be done by 2025 or so.
