Potentially deadly nuclear leak hid from public

Congressmen blast policy
Agency spokesman David McIntyre said it may be difficult to separate Nuclear Fuel Service’s secret work for the Navy from its public work converting bomb-grade uranium to commercial reactor fuel. The leak happened on the commercial reactor side.

In a stinging letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman in July, two Democratic congressman from Michigan also blasted the policy.

“We agree that NRC should withhold from public view any sensitive security information of this nature. However, NRC went far beyond this narrow objective,” read the letter from John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Bart Stupak, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

McIntyre defended the commission’s decision not to fine Nuclear Fuel Services, even though the agency rated the uranium leak last year as its second most-serious violation.

Instead, the agency ordered Nuclear Fuel Services to conduct a full review of its “safety culture” and make changes using outside experts.

“If we can get long-term permanent changes and improvements in their process it is better than slapping them with a fine every time something goes wrong,” McIntyre said.

Lessons learned?
Nuclear Fuel Services Executive Vice President Timothy Lindstrom, a Navy veteran who joined the company in September, said the company had already made “significant progress.”

“I think it is important that the public recognize that we do have a very robust safety program at NFS. We live in this community and take our stewardship very seriously,” he said.

“I think if we were to have an event like this again, we would push to make it public,” he added. “Clearly it would have been better to have this discussion 18 months ago than it is to have it now.”

Meanwhile, NFS told its 700 employees this past week it will be “exploring the possibility of a sale” over the next 12 months — not because of the commission’s disclosure, but because of the company’s increasing value to a booming nuclear power industry.

“We are in a position of strength,” company spokesman Tony Treadway said.

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