The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has upheld a key violation finding against the operator of a Washington state nuclear power plant in connection with shipment of radioactive waste to a disposal site last fall.
Energy Northwest, owner of the Columbia Generating Station, said Wednesday it is still considering whether to appeal the NRC decision.
In November 2016, a shipment of spent-fuel pool filters and other radioactive waste from the power plant near the city of Richland arrived at the US Ecology low-level radioactive waste disposal facility about 10 miles away “with dose rates that significantly exceeded those documented on the shipment manifest,” the NRC said in a July 31 letter to Energy Northwest CEO Mark Reddemann.
US Ecology rejected the waste shipment and informed the Washington state Department of Health, which suspended the plant’s disposal use permit privileges. The state restored those privileges in June, then suspended them again last month in relation to a separate matter, according to Energy Northwest spokesman John Dobken.
The NRC had documented a preliminary white finding and apparent violation, a green finding, and seven non-cited violations that all stemmed from the waste shipment. The regulator evaluates licensees’ regulatory performance on a color-coded system of growing safety significance for green, white, yellow, and red findings.
The agency said in the July letter that two of the non-cited violations and the green finding would be upheld. It did not issue a fine in connection with the green finding.
The NRC said that, prior to the shipment to US Ecology, Energy Northwest knew dose rates from the waste could pose a problem for the transportation cask. With that level of planning and oversight, dose rates on the final shipment had presumably been resolved, according to the July 31 letter.
“Since this shipment took place last November, EN has implemented improvements in both processes and procedures in the low-level radioactive waste shipping program, with guidance from industry peers. We are continuing to look for ways to improve the program,” Dobken told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by email.
