Used nuclear fuel management specialist NAC International could face civil penalties for failing to adhere to federal regulations in updating the design for one of its storage casks, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The federal agency cited two apparent violations on Sept. 3 in submitting the findings of a February 2020 routine inspection of NAC’s corporate office in Norcross, Ga. The document was posted Wednesday to the NRC website.
Both seeming breaches involve NAC’s pre-December 2016 update to the design of its MAGNASTOR used-fuel cask, according to the NRC report.
First, the company failed to meet the requirement under agency regulations to ensure that design changes are subjected to the same control measures applied to the original design. Management did not employ a specific computer model “for the assessment of acceleration values for a design basis tip-over accident of the MAGNASTOR CC5 spent fuel cask,” the report says.
Second, NAC did not obtain a required Nuclear Regulatory Commission amendment for its MAGNSTOR certificate of compliance before proceeding with the design change. Such an amendment is mandatory under federal regulations in any change from a method of evaluation laid out in the final safety evaluation report for setting the design basis or in other safety evaluations. That also involved the failure to use the computer model in the cask design change, the report says.
Both apparent violations are being considered for escalated enforcement, according to the Sept. 3 letter to NAC President and CEO Kent Cole from Andrea Kock, director of the NRC’s Division of Fuel Management. That process can result in financial penalties against an NRC licensee.
NAC has 30 days from the date of the letter to file any written response to the agency, including potential disputes with the findings or detailing corrective actions taken to address the issues. Management also has the options to request alternative dispute resolution via a mediator or a pre-decisional enforcement conference to discuss its perspective on the matter.
Representatives for the company did not respond to a query by deadline Thursday regarding its response to the NRC report.