The violation involved a failure of Babcock & Wilcox facility staff to declare an alert emergency classification in a timely manner as required by its emergency plan. On July 15, 2009, the company employees failed to declare the emergency for more than two hours after they discovered a band saw cooling reservoir did not have the proper criticality controls.
A ‘criticality’ can occur when nuclear materials come together in sufficient quantity or in a container of correct shape to initiate a chain reaction resulting in either a ‘burst’ or a sustained release of radiation. A small criticality event would not be expected to affect people or the environment outside the facility but could be serious for workers in the immediate area, the NRC said.
The NRC identified three other violations associated with the company’s procedures but because of actions taken by Babcock & Wilcox to correct those issues, the NRC is not proposing civil penalties for those violations. The company has 30 days to either pay the civil penalty or protest its imposition.
