No. II-09-064 November 24, 2009 

CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov

 Joey Ledford (404) 562-4416 

NRC ISSUES CONFIRMATORY ORDERS 

TO NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES AND ITS CONTRACT PHYSICIAN 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued four Confirmatory Orders requiring 

Nuclear Fuel Services and the company’s contract physician to correct deficiencies stemming 

from a former senior company executive’s violation of the NRC’s fitness for duty requirements 

and the failure to administer required hearing tests to security officers. 

The orders related to the fitness for duty issue require the Erwin, Tenn., based nuclear 

fuel fabrication facility to modify its fitness for duty procedures and training and establish 

avenues for the reporting of substance abuse-related concerns, including the creation of a 

corporate ethics hotline and policies allowing for anonymous reporting. 

An extensive NRC investigation and review found that a senior executive at NFS 

consumed alcohol less than five hours before a scheduled working tour of the facility in 2006, an 

apparent violation of federal regulations. The NRC determined that the company failed to 

immediately relieve the executive of his duties and also failed to administer testing to determine 

his fitness for duty. Additional apparent violations were identified related to the company’s 

review of the matter and the executive’s return to work. That executive is no longer employed by 

NFS and the company was acquired by the Babcock & Wilcox Co. in early 2009. 

The company’s contract physician provided incomplete information to a contract 

professional retained by NFS to determine whether the senior executive was fit for duty. The 

NRC found that this lack of information caused NFS to make a less than fully-informed decision 

about the executive’s status before he was returned to duty. 

The contract physician also provided inaccurate information to NFS about the executive 

having entered a substance abuse rehabilitation program when he had not done so. 

The order noted that NFS has completed “disciplinary action and organizational change 

with respect to the senior executive.” 

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Two separate and unrelated orders require NFS and its contract physician to review 

processes, establish appropriate standards and take other corrective actions after a process error 

led to two security officers not being given required hearing tests. The contract physician 

certified that guards were medically qualified for duty despite not having taken the hearing test, 

but the officers were tested later and passed. 

The Confirmatory Orders document the commitments NFS and the physician have made 

to the NRC, and those detailed were agreed upon as a result of the NRC’s Alternative Dispute 

Resolution process. The ADR process uses a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority 

to assist the NRC and its license holders in resolving differences regarding enforcement actions. 

Often, the ADR process is more effective than traditional enforcement in developing broad, 

long-term corrective actions, thus producing a greater benefit for employee and public safety 

than a one-time fine or other enforcement action. 

The NRC will not issue any violation or take any other enforcement action related to 

these issues. However, the NRC staff will evaluate the commitments during future inspections. 

Copies of the Confirmation Orders will be available on the NRC Web site at: 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 

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