NNSA Cites BWXT Y-12 for Price-Anderson Violations

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has issued a Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) to BWXT Y-12, the contractor for the Y-12 site, for violations of nuclear safety rules and procedures involving welding inspection deficiencies on two pieces of safety significant uranium processing equipment.

 

The violations did not result in actual harm to workers or the public.  NNSA took this action because, if not corrected, the violations could have led to undetected weld deficiencies resulting in the potential for inadvertent worker exposure to radioactive material.

 

The NNSA also took this action because discovery of these weld inspection deficiencies represents a recurrence of weld inspection related problems as cited in a PNOV issued to the previous Y-12 site contractor.  Corrective actions resulting from this PNOV directed at preventing recurrence of weld inspection problems were either not broadly applied or were not sustained over time.

 

To emphasize the importance of maintaining a quality program for NNSA nuclear activities, NNSA is assessing BWXT Y-12 a civil penalty in the amount of $96,250.

 

The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 authorizes the Energy Department to undertake regulatory actions against contractors for violations of its nuclear safety requirements.  The enforcement program is designed to have contractors correct procedural violations to prevent more serious events from occurring.

 

Additional details on this and other enforcement actions are available on the internet at http://www.hss.energy.gov/enforce.

 

 

-DOE-