No. II-11-015 April 1, 2011

CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov

 Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416

NRC TO DISCUSS URENCO USA PERFORMANCE AT MEETING IN EUNICE 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials will meet with the management of URENCO 

USA in Eunice, N.M., on Tuesday, April 12 to discuss the results of a licensee performance 

review for the company’s National Enrichment Facility in Eunice.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. MDT in the Eunice Community Center, 906 12th

Street in Eunice. The meeting will be open to members of the public and the news media. NRC 

officials will open the meeting with a brief presentation on the company’s performance, and then 

be available to answer questions about NRC oversight and inspection of the facility.

The NRC staff assessed operational performance and construction activities at the 

National Enrichment Facility during a period beginning Dec. 1, 2009, and ending Dec. 31, 2010.

Assessments were made in the areas of safety operations, radiological controls, facility 

support and special topics, and those evaluations will form the basis of the meeting discussion. 

The area of safeguards was also assessed, but that area will not be discussed publicly due to the 

sensitive nature of the information. Construction activities were evaluated in the areas of 

management measures, facility construction and facility support.

“We found that the facility is being operated safely and construction work is being done 

in an acceptable manner,” said NRC Region II Administrator Victor McCree. “While we did not 

identify any areas needing improvement, we do plan to continue increased inspection in some 

areas.” 

The NRC inspectors found indications of potential weaknesses in the company’s 

criticality safety program, and the NRC will perform additional inspections in 2011 to ensure 

adequate corrective actions. A criticality can occur when enriched uranium comes together in 

sufficient quantity or in a container of a shape that initiates a chain reaction resulting in either a 

“burst” or a sustained release of radiation.

During the review period, the NRC also identified some non-compliance issues related to 

the quality assurance oversight of some construction activities. While the company has taken 

corrective actions to address these issues, the NRC will continue increased inspection oversight 

in this area.

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region II

245 Peachtree Center Ave., NE, Suite 1200

Atlanta, GA 30303-1257

Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov
A copy of the NRC letter detailing the URENCO USA review is available online in the 

NRC’s Agency-wide Document Access and Management System at www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams/web-based.html. That document references Louisiana Energy Services, L.L.C., which 

is the company name on the original NRC license for the URENCO USA facility in Eunice. The 

ML number for that letter is ML110680220.

 

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