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. 99-218 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Friday, October 15, 1999)

NRC SCHEDULES SECOND MEETING TO OBTAIN PUBLIC VIEWS ON

REVISION OF FUEL FACILITY INSPECTION PROGRAM

The NRC has scheduled a meeting on October 20 in Rockville, Maryland, to

obtain suggestions on revising the agency’s safety inspection program for fuel

cycle and uranium enrichment facilities.

This meeting is the second one held on the inspection initiative. At

last month’s meeting, NRC received valuable suggestions from stakeholders

affected by the agency’s fuel facility inspection program on the concept and

approach of the revision. This meeting is intended to explain a draft

detailed safety inspection framework for stakeholder consideration, and to

obtain views on such a framework.

The agency currently licenses, certifies and inspects commercial nuclear

fuel facilities involved in the processing and fabrication of uranium ore into

reactor fuel. These facilities possess large quantities of materials that are

potentially hazardous (radioactive, toxic or combustible) to workers, the

public and the environment. The NRC regulates these facilities to ensure the

adequacy of measures taken to protect against radiological consequences and

chemical exposures associated with NRC licensed material.

The initiative to revise the safety inspection and oversight program for

these facilities reflects the agency’s desire to apply more objective and

safety-significant criteria in assessing the performance of all its

licensees, as well as the need to effectively regulate with a smaller staff

and budget. This initiative will employ lessons learned from the revised

commercial nuclear reactor inspection and oversight program which is

undergoing a pilot test program.

The nuclear fuel cycle begins with the mining and milling of uranium to

produce uranium concentrate (called “yellowcake”). The yellowcake is

converted into uranium hexafluoride gas at a conversion 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 assemblies at a fuel fabrication facility. Bundled

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 facilities several times a year in a

variety of technical areas, such as chemical process, fire, nuclear

criticality, and radiation safety. The goal of the new initiative is to focus

inspections on activities where the potential safety risks may be greater,

obtain more objective indicators of safety performance, increase public

confidence, and optimize regulatory effectiveness and efficiency.
This meeting is the second of several to be held over the next two years

to factor public comments into the revised fuel facility safety inspection

program.

The meeting will be held in the auditorium of the agency’s Two White

Flint North Building, at 11545 Rockville Pike, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Those who seek background information on this initiative may obtain

transcripts of last month’s meeting on the website at

http://www.nrc.gov/NMSS/FCSS/revised/fcindex.html

Interested persons can also access SECY 99-188, “Evaluation and Proposed

Revision of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facility Safety Inspection Program” from

the agency’s website, at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/COMMISSION/SECYS/index.html,

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

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