CB&I AGREES TO SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS AFTER NRC VIOLATIONS AT SHAW PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday agreed to withdraw a proposed $36,400 civil penalty for employment discrimination due to safety issues at Shaw Nuclear Services after the NRC worked out a settlement with parent company Chicago Bridge & Iron. The two violations at the Shaw plant involved a quality assurance supervisor who was fired after raising concerns about rebar that was possibly faulty, and language in Shaw’s Corporate Code of Conduct that could restrict employees from providing information to the NRC. But through a mediation process with NRC, CB&I agreed to take several steps to improve its “safety-conscious work environment,” according to an NRC release.

That includes a message from CB&I’s CEO on a strategy to bring the company’s safety culture in line with the NRC’s Safety Culture Policy Statement, training for supervisors and staff, establishing a safety culture oversight program, and undertaking independent safety culture assessments at all CB&I nuclear businesses, among other measures. As a result, the NRC has withdrawn its Notice of Violation and the $36,400 penalty previously proposed. “We believe the broad, comprehensive corrective actions Chicago Bridge & Iron has agreed to in the mediation process will result in greater improvements in public safety than we could have achieved through our traditional enforcement process,” Roy Zimmerman, director of NRC’s Office of Enforcement, said in a statement.