United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 97-037

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Monday, March 3, 1997)

NRC ASSUMES REGULATORY JURISDICTION

OVER URANIUM ENRICHMENT PLANTS IN KENTUCKY, OHIO

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today assumed regulatory

jurisdiction over uranium enrichment plants operated by the

United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC). The plants are

located near Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio.

USEC operates the two plants under a lease from the

Department of Energy (DOE), which owns and formerly operated

them. They use a gaseous diffusion process to enrich uranium

hexafluoride gas in the uranium-235 isotope, so that the material

can be used to produce nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power

plants.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 directed that USEC operate the

facilities and required the NRC to certify them periodically to

ensure compliance with its safety, safeguards and security

requirements. DOE agreed to retain oversight of the plants until

the NRC finished its certification process and was ready to

assume jurisdiction.

Last November, NRC issued its initial certification of

compliance for the plants. The certificates provided for a

transition period before NRC assumed regulatory authority--to

allow USEC to complete procedural revisions and training. DOE

continued regulatory oversight during this transition period,

which ended at midnight last night. NRC assumed regulatory

oversight at 12:01 this morning.

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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

101 Marietta Street, N.W.

Suite 2900

Atlanta, GA 30323

No: II-97-19 FOR

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ken Clark (404) 331-5503 (Monday,

March 3, 1997)

Roger Hannah (404) 331-7878

NRC STAFF PROPOSES $50,000 FINE AGAINST FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION

FOR VIOLATIONS OF SECURITY REQUIREMENTS AT CRYSTAL

RIVER

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a

$50,000 civil penalty against Florida Power Corporation for

alleged violations of NRC security requirements at the Crystal

River nuclear power plant, located near Crystal River, Florida.

The violations involve multiple failures to implement

requirements of the plant's physical security plan, identified as

the result of an NRC inspection at the plant from December 2

through December 19 of last year. NRC officials said the

violations included failure to have adequate implementing

procedures for operation of a newly installed security computer

in two alarm stations or for taking compensatory measures for the

degradation of vital area doors; failure to properly respond to a

protected area alarm; failure to employ the capability to assess

more than one protected area alarm at a time; failure to maintain

a physical barrier in one protected area location for a period in

excess of 12 hours; failure to appropriately control and

safeguard weapons stored in the plant armory; and failure to

submit physical security plan changes to the NRC in a timely

manner.

The administrator of the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta,

Luis A. Reyes, said in a letter to the company that, "although

the overall security program has been functioning adequately and

the working level performance of the security force has been

generally good...the violations are of significant regulatory

concern because they are indicative of a lack of management

attention to the program and a fundamental lack of understanding

of regulatory requirements related to the security program."

The company has 30 days to either pay the civil penalty or

to protest its imposition.

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