The NRC’s confirmatory action letter is designed to address issues that contributed to recent events at the facility. The letter is being issued to detail and confirm NFS’s agreement to take certain actions in response to shortcomings identified by the inspection team.
Although NFS can continue work in other areas such as construction and transportation, the company has agreed that the process lines at the facility will remain out of service until the NRC is satisfied that the issues have been addressed. The NRC will verify through further inspections that the items in the letter have been completed before production is resumed.
The NFS commitments include: obtaining independent reviews of restart actions as well as company event investigation processes; changing the way the company handles materials based on lessons learned from the October 13 event; making permanent improvements in the methods for identifying, documenting, evaluating and communicating all changes at the facility; re-evaluating certain accident scenarios to ensure the appropriate level of safety; and changing the NFS management structure to ensure separation between production goals and safety priorities.
Issuance of a confirmatory action letter does not preclude the NRC from taking other actions for any violations of NRC requirements that may be identified.
