NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. 00-024 February 15, 2000

NRC SCHEDULES WORKSHOP ON FUEL FACILITY OVERSIGHT PROGRAM

The NRC will meet February 22-23 in Rockville, Maryland, to obtain suggestions from the

public on revising the agency’s oversight program for nuclear fuel cycle facilities.

This meeting is the fourth in a series to be held over a period of two years to factor public and

other stakeholder comments into the revised fuel facility safety inspection program. At last

December’s meeting, the NRC staff received comments on the use of performance indicators to assess

a facility’s safety performance.

This meeting will focus on:

ˇ Industry initiatives for identification, resolution, and correction of problems

ˇ Objective and scope of safety and safeguards oversight program cornerstones

ˇ Key safety and safeguards risk attributes for each cornerstone

ˇ Safety and safeguards performance attributes the NRC needs to monitor and assess to ensure

cornerstone objectives are met, and

ˇ Performance monitoring attributes and means.

The initiative to revise the safety and safeguards oversight program for fuel facilities reflects

the agency’s desire to apply more objective and risk-significant criteria in assessing the performance of

all its licensees, as well as the need to regulate effectively and with improved efficiency. This initiative

will employ lessons learned from the revised commercial nuclear reactor oversight program, which has

just completed a pilot test program.

The nuclear fuel cycle begins with the milling of uranium ore to produce uranium concentrate

called “yellowcake.” The yellowcake is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas at a special facility

and loaded into cylinders. The cylinders are sent to a gaseous diffusion plant, where uranium is

enriched for use as reactor fuel. The enriched uranium is then converted into oxide powder, fabricated

into fuel pellets, loaded into fuel rods, and bundled into reactor fuel assemblies at a fuel fabrication

facility. Assemblies are then transported to nuclear power plants, non-power reactor facilities, and

naval propulsion reactors for use as fuel.
The NRC currently inspects these fuel facilities several times a year in a variety of technical

areas, such as chemical process, fire, nuclear criticality, radiation safety, and safeguards. The goals of

the new initiative are to focus oversight on activities where the potential risks are greatest, obtain more

objective indicators of risk-related performance, increase public confidence in the NRC’s inspection

program, and increase regulatory effectiveness and efficiency.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in the auditorium of the agency’s Two

White Flint North building at 11545 Rockville Pike, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Parking is limited;

however, the auditorium is located across from the White Flint Metro Station. Those who seek

background information on this initiative may obtain transcripts of past meetings on the website at

www.nrc.gov/NMSS/FCSS/FCOB/INSP/REVISED/fcindex.htm

Interested persons can also access a related staff paper, SECY 99-188, “Evaluation and

Proposed Revision of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Safety Inspection Program,” from the agency’s website,

at www.nrc.gov/NRC/COMMISSION/SECYS/index.html

or from the Public Document Room, telephone 202-634-3273.

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