The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) to Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC (NWP), for violations of worker safety and health codes “and nuclear safety requirements” that pertain to 2014 incidents at the department's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
The DOE said that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had also issued a preliminary violation notice to the operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory “for violations of DOE's nuclear safety requirements.”
The DOE said the violation notices were issued after investigation of two incidents at the WIPP, a facility that is managed and operated by the NWP. “Issuance of these PNOVs marks the completion of DOE's investigations and enforcements process,” the department said in a statement.
In turn, Los Alamos National Security (LANS) manages the Los Alamos National Laboratory on behalf of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The PNOV issued to NWP involves four Severity Level I violations and seven Severity Level II violations, the DOE said. The PNOV issued to LANS cites two violations each at Severity I and Severity II.
The violations by NWP at WIPP are associated with two events that occurred in February 2014. The first event involved a fire in a salt haul truck in the WIPP underground, and the second event involved a radiological release. The violations by LANS at LANL are associated with processes used by LANS to package and remediate transuranic waste drums, one of which has been linked to the WIPP radiological release.
The violations have been very costly for both LANS and NWP. The World Nuclear Association noted that the WIPP has been shut down since the radioactivity release, while improvements on the facility's ventilation and emergency response systems are being made. NWP has, in the interim, not been earning its standard fees while the facility is shut down. NWP's fees have been reduced by 93 percent, a lose of about $7.6 million for NWP. Standard fees awarded to LANS has been reduced by more than 90 percent, resulting in a loss of about $57 million.
In addition, the NNSA has eliminated a potential two-year extension on the LANS management contract.
The DOE said “significant adverse contract and fee actions” had been taken, which resulted in a decision not to impose civil fines on the companies.