OREANDA-NEWS. Westinghouse Electric Company recently provided the community of Columbia, South Carolina (USA) information related the completion of activities outlined in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) confirmatory action letter (CAL) issued on August 11, 2016. The information was provided during a public meeting hosted by the NRC on Sept. 27.

At the public meeting, the following information was provided to the community by Westinghouse executive leadership:

  • The company’s leadership and oversight changes at Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility
  • The comprehensive corrective actions Westinghouse is taking to address causes of the event
  • The change management being undertaken at the facility to address nuclear safety and nuclear safety culture.
These steps are some of the measures outlined in the CAL, as part of the company’s commitment to addressing the S-1030 incident which was initially reported to the NRC on July 14, 2016. The required reporting came after Westinghouse determined that material removed from the conversion area’s S-1030 scrubber during a routine inspection and clean-out contained uranium mass limits greater than allowed by the facility’s license. There were no potential health or safety consequences for the public or potential impact to the environment, but the mass limits and the incident is being taken very seriously by the company.

Currently, the conversion area of the facility is off-line, however, in late September, customer shipments of fuel began again as those activities are not within scope of the CAL. The company expects to file a final letter of completion of actions with the NRC in early October and expects to restart the conversion area following confirmation by the NRC.