"Incident" at B&W (Areva) Facility - July 2009-U in reservoir Campbell Co VA

By BryAN GENTRY

Published: September 28, 2009

A Babcock & Wilcox Company official explained how uranium got into an unchecked container at a local nuclear fuel facility in Julyduring a public review of the company’s safety record Monday night.

Federal regulators’ annual review of B&W focused somewhat on that incident, which prompted a low-level emergency declaration, though it occurred after the official review period ended in June.Roger Cochrane, general manager of the B&W Nuclear Operations Group, called the July incident “a disappointing event that’s not indicative of our typical performance.”

The annual public review officially covered Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspections at B&W from June 2008 through June 2009.

In those inspections, “we found that there were no areas needing improvement,” said Charles Payne, branch chief of the NRC Division of Fuel Facility Inspection.Because of the clean inspections, the NRC plans to conduct its basic 1,700 hours of inspections at B&W this year. In the last inspection year inspectors spent an additional 88 hours inspecting B&W’s Campbell County facility because of previous problems, Payne said.

Once the NRC finishes its report on the July 15 alert, it could increase the inspection hours at B&W this year. “If we do so, we will obviously be in touch with you,” Payne said. “We will document it in a letter and it will be publicly available.”

Cochrane said that the July 15 incident that led to an alert was caused by an oversight.

In that incident, uranium was discovered in the cooling reservoir of a saw that cuts nuclear fuel components.

Cochrane said that B&W used to check that reservoir regularly to make sure it did not contain uranium or too much fluid. In 2004 the company installed a new cooling system that does not use the reservoir. B&W stopped monitoring the reservoir, not realizing fluid could still get into it, he said.

The reservoir should have been “disabled” by filling it with concrete or putting holes in it so it would not collect liquid, but it was not disabled, he said.

He said that the discovery of uranium in the reservoir shows that B&W does train its employees to keep an eye out for problems. “It didn’t appear right, so the operator did the right thing and brought it to his management’s attention,” Cochrane said.

Once the uranium was discovered, B&W declared an alert, the NRC’s lowest emergency level. The alert was active for about five hours until B&W concluded there was not enough uranium there to cause an explosion.

Since then, B&W has reinstated its program of checking that reservoir regularly, Cochrane said. After verifying how the uranium got into it, the reservoir will be disabled, he said.

B&W has also checked its documentation on other equipment changes to make sure there have been no similar oversights in other areas, Cochrane said.

Gene Cobey, the deputy director of the NRC’s Division of Fuel Facility Inspection, said the agency’s report on the July incident should be released in mid-October.

The meeting was held at Lynchburg City Hall. About 20 people attended, mostly B&W and NRC officials.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/bw_explains_incident_during_public_safety_review/19888/

Nuclear Regulatory Commission to inspect uranium finding at B&W

By Bryan Gentry
Danville Register & Bee

Published: July 20, 2009

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a special inspection team to investigate how radioactive material ended up in an oil receptacle at Babcock & Wilcox last week.

The inspection will help NRC officials decide whether B&W should be fined for the July 15 incident, when some weapons-grade uranium was found outside its normal controls that ensure it will not accumulate and cause a criticality, or a strong burst of radiation.

There was not enough uranium to cause an explosion, but the NRC is concerned that the material got out of its proper safety controls.

“The event that happened on July 15 was serious enough to prompt us to want to get in there and look at the processes” the company uses, said NRC spokesman Joey Ledford.

The incident began when a B&W employee noticed what appeared to be a kind of metal in a container of oil. The oil had been used in a saw that cuts nuclear fuel components.

When the metal turned out to be uranium, the company notified the NRC, which then declared an alert, which is its lowest emergency declaration. The alert was cleared five hours later when B&W confirmed that there was not enough uranium to cause danger.

The NRC began considering whether to call for a special inspection. Ledford said that four inspectors were scheduled to arrive in Lynchburg on Monday.

Special inspections are not uncommon, Ledford said. The commission probably has dozens of them each year, he said, although he did not have an exact number. They are prompted by events that make officials concerned about the plants handle nuclear materials.

The four-person inspection team plans to be on site at B&W’s Mt. Athos Road facility for about one week. “They’re likely to leave the inspection open until after B&W concludes its own investigation (into) the root cause,” Ledford said. “Going through that with a fine tooth comb is part of the special inspection.”

B&W spokeswoman Carla Parks said in an e-mail last week that B&W is performing a thorough investigation to identify the cause of the incident and to decide how to prevent it from happening again.

After the NRC closes its special inspection, it will release a public report on the incident within 45 days.

http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/nuclear_regulatory_commission_to_inspect_uranium_finding_at_bw/17848/

Feds send team to assess Va. uranium incident

LYNCHBURG, Va.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a special inspection team to assess an incident involving uranium at Babcock & Wilcox's operation in Lynchburg.

The commission said Monday that the four-member team will spend about a week reviewing factors that led to the buildup of enriched uranium last week.

The commission says a saw used to cut fuel components discharged oil containing a small amount of highly enriched uranium into a container.

The commission says the incident prompted the company to go into alert status for five hours. An alert is the lowest emergency classification for operations such as the one in Lynchburg.

The commission says its inspection team will review the company's investigation of the cause.

The operation handles highly enriched uranium used in nuclear fuel.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D99IE9A80.htm

NRC responds to scare at B&W nuclear plant in Va.

NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week responded to a scare at Babcock & Wilcox's nuclear facility in Lynchburg, Virginia, that turned out to be non-threatening, a spokesman for the NRC said Friday.

B&W staff declared an alert - the lowest level of NRC emergency classifications for fuel facilities - after identifying a potential radiation issue in the uranium recovery area.

A saw used to cut fuel components was found to have discharged oil into a container with an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium.

The potential threat was due to the possibility of "bad geometry," said Joey Ledford, a spokesman for the NRC.

A chain reaction resulting in either a "burst" or sustained release of radiation can occur when highly enriched uranium comes together in sufficient quantity or in a container of "correct" shape, the NRC said in a release.

The oil and metal shavings were not supposed to be together in the container.

After B&W analyzed the material, it determined only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. The incident did not pose any harm to the workers or public.

"Since the amount of uranium in the oil was unknown, it was important to take a conservative approach," said NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes in a release.

The NRC spokesman could not say what kind of metal B&W was cutting. Officials at B&W were not immediately available to comment on what they were cutting.

The Lynchburg Nuclear Operations Group facility is one of only two private U.S. facilities licensed to possess and process highly enriched uranium, according to the B&W web site.

Highly enriched uranium is used to power naval submarines and aircraft carriers, among other things.

B&W is a subsidiary of engineering and construction company McDermott International Inc (MDR.N) of Houston. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1748405920090717

Uranium Incident at B&W Leads to Alert

posted 07/16/09 6:29 pm

Lynchburg, VA - An incident at Babcock and Wilcox Wednesday night caused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to have safety experts in Atlanta and Maryland to monitor the situation at the Lynchburg plant.

The NRC says the alert- classified as the lowest level of emergency- started around 7:45 p.m.

A news release states B & W staff noticed that a saw used to cut fuel components leaked oil that contained an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium into a receptacle.

Investigators figured out only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. They cleaned it up, then declared the alert over at 12:35 this morning.

The NRC is reviewing the incident.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission manned Incident Response Centers in Atlanta and Rockville, Md., Wednesday night, dispatched its resident inspector and called in criticality safety experts to monitor an alert declared at B&W Nuclear Operations Group in Lynchburg, Va. An alert is the lowest level of NRC emergency classifications for fuel facilities such as B&W.

The NRC staff continued to monitor the incident, which began at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday until its successful resolution at 12:35 a.m. Thursday.

B&W staff activated the facility’s Emergency Operations Center after identifying a potential criticality issue in the Uranium Recovery area. A criticality can occur when highly enriched uranium comes together in sufficient quantity or in a container of correct shape to initiate a chain reaction resulting in either a “burst” or a sustained release of radiation.

A saw used to cut fuel components was found to have discharged oil which contained an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium into a receptacle. The facility identified that the situation represented a loss of safety controls for the uranium and declared an alert. The NRC’s resident inspector for B&W responded to the site and state officials were also advised of the incident.

“Since the amount of uranium in the oil was unknown, it was important to take a conservative approach,” said NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes.

After the facility staff analyzed the material, it was determined that only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. Based on measurements and analysis, B&W determined that control over the material was re-established and exited the alert at 12:35 a.m. Thursday.

The NRC has begun to review the incident and will soon determine what special inspections or other regulatory actions are needed.

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0709/641055.html

U.S. to jump-start domestic isotope production

Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee on Friday approved $20 million U.S. in spending to allow the United States to begin domestic production of medical isotopes, a response to global supply shortages being caused by the shutdown of Canada's nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ont.

The money is included in a $34-billion Senate appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010. It marks the first proposed commitment of U.S. government funds to meet American demand for Molybdenum-99, the radioisotope used in medical imaging and cancer diagnosis.

Until its shutdown, Ontario's Chalk River reactor was the world's largest producer of medical isotopes.

The committee recognizes the shortfall in supplies of isotope Molybdenum-99 for the use in medical treatments, and provides $20,000,000 to advance the creation of a domestic supply of this isotope," the legislation says.

The effort by U.S. lawmakers to jump-start U.S. production follows signals from the Obama administration earlier this week that it will need up to $120 million over four years to fund the project.

"It's certainly gratifying, because it is exactly the kind of action we were asking for," said Alan Kuperman, director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas in Austin.

Kuperman was among a group of American medical and non-proliferation experts who last month wrote Congress. urging them to speed ahead with U.S. production of medical isotopes in response to the May 15 shutdown of the aging NRU reactor at Chalk River, which is the world's largest isotope producer.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in June it's likely Canada will "get out of the business" of supplying isotopes by 2016 - and U.S. production could make that plan a certainty.

Even before a leak of heavy water forced the Chalk River reactor shutdown, the U.S. government had been eyeing the possibility of developing its own isotope production, using low-enriched uranium. Isotopes are produced from bomb-grade uranium at Chalk River.

The likeliest candidates for U.S. production facilities include one at the University of Missouri, and another proposed in Virginia by the private firm, Babcock & Wilcox.

"The recent supply interruptions (in Canada) have really accelerated that process and given it the political momentum," Kuperman said.

In a presentation to the National Academies this week, an official from the National Nuclear Security Administration said the U.S. - which gets about 60 per cent of its isotopes from Canada - was facing a "supply crisis" because of the Chalk River closure.

It was initially estimated that the NRU reactor would be closed only for three months, but Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. this week said repairs could take until late 2009.

Separate from the funding proposed by the U.S. Senate, a House of Representatives committee is reportedly recommending $12 million in first-year funding for isotope production. The two pieces of legislation will need to be reconciled before final approval of the isotope production funding.

"Regardless of what the amount ends up being, the most important thing is that the House, Senate and the Obama administration have expressed support for this," Kuperman said.

While the U.S. is spending cash to figure out a solution to the isotope-supply crisis, the Canadian government is waiting to hear from a three-person expert panel. That panel, appointed last month, will report to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt this fall, and has been asked by the government to suggest what paths Ottawa could take to secure a reliable, long-term supply of medical isotopes.

The federal government did give Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. an additional $351 million in this year's budget, some of which was to be used to upgrade the facilities at its Chalk River Laboratories.

That money was allocated before the NRU broke down, and no new money has so far been designated for new isotope production.

McMaster University officials told a House of Commons committee last month that a research reactor at the Hamilton university could be producing all the medical isotopes Canada needs - and then some - in as little as 18 months.

But the reactor's manager, Christopher Heysel, said a speedy transformation of the McMaster reactor from a multi-purpose research machine to a high-volume isotope producer needs co-operation of other "stakeholders," including AECL, the federal government, and the nuclear-safety regulator. The transformation would be relatively cheap, as well, costing the federal government just $30 million over five years, Heysel said.

With files from David Akin

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=1779211

12 tons of bomb-grade uranium to be made into fuel

More evidence we might have enough U floating around and don't need any from VA.

The Associated Press

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The government on Tuesday ordered 12 tons of bomb-grade uranium converted into commercial reactor fuel as backup in case another source of fuel from weapon ingredients is delayed.

The highly enriched uranium, already declared surplus for the nation's nuclear arsenal, will come from the vast storage vaults at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge.

The material will be converted or "down-blended" at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin, Tenn., into about 220 tons of low-enriched uranium suitable for commercial reactors. The work will begin this year and be completed in 2012.

The uranium will be shipped to Westinghouse Electric Co.'s Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina and held in reserve for utilities contracting for reactor fuel from a plutonium mixed-oxide processing plant being built at the Savannah River Site.

The $4.8 billion mixed-oxide facility at Savannah River is scheduled to open in 2016. The program is on time to this point, officials said.

But "should there be a delay down the line in fabricating the stuff, the low-enriched uranium (from Nuclear Fuel Services) could be used to assure fuel supply" to participating utilities, said National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Damien Lavera.

The low-enriched uranium is "the fallback, the backup plan," he said.

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Tuesday awarded a $209 million contract to Nuclear Fuel Services, a subsidiary of Virginia-based Babcock&Wilcox Co., and to Westinghouse-owned WesDyne International for the uranium conversion and storage, respectively.

The down-blended uranium will have a market value of more than $400 million, the NNSA said. Nuclear Fuel Services and WesDyne International will receive "a fraction" of the material for resale as compensation.

The Knoxville-based Tennessee Valley Authority is considering participation in the mixed-oxide program and could end up some of the converted plutonium or uranium, TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said.

TVA, the nation's largest public utility, has made similar purchases in the past, buying 39 tons of Nuclear Fuel Services-converted former weapons uranium in 2005 for its Browns Ferry nuclear station in Alabama.

http://www.reflector.com/news/state/12-tons-of-bomb-grade-uranium-to-be-made-into-fuel-679766.html

Company Calls New Small Nuclear Reactor a 'Game Changer'

By KATHERINE LING and GREENWIRE

Published: June 10, 2009

A major manufacturer of power-generation equipment announced plans today to build a small nuclear reactor that company officials touted as a "potential game changer for the global nuclear market."

Babcock & Wilcox Co.'s 125-megawatt reactor would be significantly smaller than the average 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor and is aimed at plugging a major "market gap," CEO Brandon Bethards said at a Washington press conference. The new reactor might come online as early as 2018.

What the company calls its "mPower" reactor would be used for smaller grids or limited electricity-demand areas, such as those of municipal districts or for individual industrial use. Demand has been rising for such reactors in developing countries whose transmission systems cannot handle large reactors. Other nuclear companies have explored scalable or "grid appropriate" reactors before but could not overcome issues of cost.

"Several technical and manufacturing innovations make this reactor a potential game changer for the global clean energy market," said Christofer Mowry, president and CEO at Babcock & Wilcox Modular Nuclear Energy LLC, the new unit in charge of the small reactor.

The mPower reactor would include independent "modular" units that could be manufactured on an assembly line, thus cutting manufacturing and construction costs, said John Fees, CEO of McDermott International, the parent company of Babcock & Wilcox. Units could be built and come online even as others are being built, he said, allowing power companies to start earning revenue faster.

"This brings not only lower installation base cost but also brings greater cost certainty" compared to the $6 billion to $8 billion large-reactor option, Fees said. He declined to name a price for mPower, but said it would be "under the $5,000 per megawatt" price that the industry has estimated for large reactors.

Babcock & Wilcox plans to submit engineering designs to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for certification by 2011.

The new reactor has attracted "early and broad customer interest," Mowry said. A consortium of regional municipal and cooperative utilities -- which he declined to name -- has signed a "memorandum of understanding" to explore the construction of reactors, he said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is evaluating a potential site near the Clinch River in Roane County, Tenn., for the reactor and is a industrial consultant for Babcock & Wilcox, said Jack Bailey, TVA's vice president of nuclear generation development. TVA has not made any decisions about building a small reactor plant, however, Bailey added. Exelon Corp. is also advising the company on the design and licensing process but has not made any decisions about purchasing the mPower or examining any sites, said Craig Lambert, Exelon's director of engineering of New Business Generation.

NRC consideration

The mPower reactor is largely based on Generation III reactor technology that NRC is currently reviewing for certification, which should make the small reactor's licensing "conform to existing licensing protocol" and shorten the review time, Mowry said.

The company said it hopes to have a customer submit a combined construction and operating license for a small-scale plant by 2012, with construction beginning in 2015, Bethards said.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working on a small-scale reactor, and Westinghouse has been working on an advanced Generation IV small reactor, the International Reactor Innovative and Secure, which is under review at NRC. Westinghouse hopes to have the design certified by 2010, according to the company.

The mPower reactor would be contained below ground and will have passive safety systems, taking advantage of current Generation III technologies. It will have a five-year refueling cycle, and the spent fuel could be stored underground with the unit for up to 60 years, Babcock & Wilcox said.

The company plans to manufacture all mPower components in Virginia, Ohio and Indiana and other North American sites.

Joining Babcock & Wilcox executives at the press conference were Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander (R) and Bob Corker (R) and Reps. Lincoln Davis (D) and Zach Wamp (R), as well as Ohio Sen. George Voinovich (R).

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/06/10/10greenwire-company-calls-new-small-nuclear-reactor-a-game-45123.html