URENCO USA’s uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico passed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s latest performance review in all operational areas.
The review covered safety, safeguards, radiological controls, facility support, and additional matters from Jan. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2017, the agency said Wednesday in a press release. “The NRC staff review determined that URENCO continued to conduct its activities safely and securely, protecting public health and the environment,” according to the statement.
URENCO is not required to make improvements in any of the areas, and the NRC will sustain its standard inspection program for the Eunice plant.
The NRC outlined its finding in a March 2 letter to URENCO.
A 90-minute webinar on the NRC’s findings is scheduled for 3 p.m. April 26. Officials from the NRC and URENCO are scheduled to participate.
The URENCO USA plant housed 63 centrifuge cascades as of March 2017, providing one-third of the domestic need for uranium enrichment services to power atomic energy operations.
The chair of the United Kingdom’s Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Council will on May 1 take over the board chairmanship at Sellafield Ltd., the government-owned entity charged with cleanup of the Sellafield nuclear site, the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Friday.
Lorraine Baldry has more than three decades of experience in financial services and other businesses, including serving as current chair of the London and Continental Railways.
The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Council was established earlier this year to help guide development of a geologic disposal site for the nation’s nuclear waste.
The Sellafield board, which had 11 members at last count, provides “the strategic framework and direction” for operations at Sellafield Ltd. Baldry will report directly to David Peattie, NDA chief executive.
“Her unique blend of experience, from a diverse range of organisations in the private and public sector, will help Sellafield provide a continued focus on safety while making decommissioning progress and delivering value for the UK taxpayer,” Peattie said in a prepared statement.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority assumed ownership of Sellafield Ltd. in 2016. It previously had been held by Nuclear Management Partners, a venture of AECOM, Amec Foster Wheeler, and AREVA.
From The Wires
From the San Luis Obispo Tribune: Two California Senate committees support legislation to provide financial assistance to communities that will lose tax revenue upon closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
