Federal regulators have withdrawn a $36,400 fine for safety culture problems identified at the Shaw Group before its acquisition by Chicago Bridge and Iron.
Earlier this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed the fine after investigating the firing of a supervisor who reported a potentially problematic rebar delivery to Louisiana Enrichment Services, as well as language in the former Shaw code of conduct that the NRC said discouraged providing information to regulators. The NRC also noted a rash of safety reports sent to the agency from employees at the Shaw Modular Solutions plant in Louisiana, which supplies parts to new reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina.
On Tuesday, the agency announced a settlement with CB&I resolving the violations. Under its terms, CB&I updated its safety culture policies, added independent oversight of worker discipline, surveyed the safety cultures at all of its affiliated businesses and established a nuclear safety culture oversight program, according to an NRC release.
“We believe the broad, comprehensive corrective actions Chicago Bridge and Iron has agreed to
in the mediation process will result in greater improvements in public safety than we could have
achieved through our traditional enforcement process,” NRC enforcement office director Roy Zimmerman said in the release.