Criticality safety concerns prompt special inspection at BWXT facility

摘要

On September 25, a fuel facility inspector from the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Region Ⅱ office in Atlanta, Ga., arrived at BWX Technologies' fuel fabrication facility in Lynchburg, Va., to conduct a special inspection. The inspection, which was expected to take at least a week, was triggered by the discovery that workers may have exceeded controls for criticality safety in a production line glovebox. The controls are meant to prevent a criticality that could occur if uranium accumulated in sufficient quantity to initiate a chain reaction. While there were no safety-related consequences or criticality events associated with the potential lapse in controls at the BWXT facility, the specific process involved was shut down prior to the inspection. "BWXT identified this issue and took immediate corrective actions," said Len Wert, the NRC's Region Ⅱ deputy administrator for operations. "However, a special inspection is appropriate to ensure we fully understand what happened and the possible implications."