Energy company fined for improperly shipping radioactive materials out of N.J. - NJ.com

Energy company fined for improperly shipping radioactive materials out of N.J. - nj.com

Holtec, an energy industry supplier with a Camden manufacturing center, was fined $43,750 for improperly shipping radioactive materials out of a former nuclear power plant the company is currently working to decommission in Lacey Township.

It is at least the third time Holtec has been issued fines since taking over the plant in July 2019. The first two citations were related to security lapses.

No one was hurt as a result of the improper transport, which was only discovered on one truck and considered the lowest of four levels because “there were no or relatively inappreciable safety consequences,” Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said.

A spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — a federal agency which issued the civil penalties — said Tuesday it found that on May 3, 2023, Holtec staff at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant shipped “reactor segmentation tooling” to the company’s Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, New York, in an “open transport vehicle.”

The “tooling,” Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan explained, “is used to cut up reactor vessels.” The cutting up, or segmentation, of the reactor and its internal parts is vital to fully taking apart the former power plant which ceased operations in September 2018.

The tooling was packaged in a polyethylene bag and, while at the New York facility, found to emit “radiation levels … on the outside surface,” Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said.

The company, in a correspondence with the federal government, said the radiation dose rate on the topside of the outside of the package was measured at 450 millirem per hour, surpassing the Department of Transportation limit of 200 mr/hr.

On average, Americans are exposed to a radiation dose of about 620 millirem each year — half of which comes from “ natural background radiation.” A chest x-ray typically gives a dose of about 10 millirem, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The CDC outlines that the results of radiation exposure can span the gamut — from no impacts at all to nausea, fatigue, and vomiting, and at its most severe: death.

In a summary of the latest violation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, said the elevated radioactivity levels were “confined to the top of the package” and not in reach of the public while in transit.

“This enforcement action reinforces that the NRC will hold licensees accountable if they don’t meet the requirements,” NRC Region I Administrator Raymond Lorson said in a statement. “We expect nuclear plant personnel to be diligent and ensure that no shipments are leaving their facilities that could in any way adversely affect the public.”

In a statement on the fine, the commission said Holtec also failed to inform federal officials in a timely manner of the shipping package’s radiation level. While that should have been done immediately, it was not done until the following day, the agency said.

Echoing a September letter from the company responding to the violation, Patrick O’Brien, a spokesman for Holtec International, said Tuesday evening that Holtec Decommissioning International “takes this, and all violations seriously.”

“Our team has evaluated the issue and taken corrective actions to preclude recurrence,” O’Brien said in an email. “At no time was the health and safety of the public at risk.”

Holtec was also fined $150,000 in December 2021 and $50,000 in January 2022— both for security-related issues.

“When considering the latest enforcement action, we factored in that the company had received that earlier action,” Sheehan of the NRC said of the 2021 citation.

Still, the agency said the past issues and recent violation were not related.

“Under our enforcement process, we provide the company with an opportunity to respond before finalizing the action. As such, Holtec has not yet formally responded to the recently issued action and therefore has not at this point paid the ($43,750) fine,” Sheehan said Tuesday.
A 1974 photo of the Oyster Creek power plant (the plant opened in 1969 and ceased operations in 2018)Trenton Times

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Holtec has taken the following steps following its recent fine:

- Revised its shipping procedures to emphasize the potential for packages to shift during preparation for transportation
- Part of the agency’s violation summary highlighted that while radiological surveys performed at Oyster Creek indicated the recently-flagged package conformed to DOT limits, those tests were “inadequate” and the company failed “to properly prepare and ship (the) package”
- Added a requirement that a radiological check be performed after a package has been properly secured to the truck
- Trained radiation-protection technicians and supervisors on the potential for packages to shift
- Established a “pre-job briefing” process for all shipping activities
- Developed a risk-assessment procedure for shipments from decommissioning sites
- Crafted a loading plan process for shipments to coordinate the activities of all staff involved

Regarding prior security penalties, O’Brien said Holtec has made progress toward addressing “the concerns and overall security performance at Oyster Creek and shared those learnings with our fleet to prevent a reoccurrence.”

Earlier this year, Holtec — which purchased the former Ocean County nuclear power plant from Exelon Corporation four years ago — announced the facility off Route 9 would be decommissioned in 2029 instead of 2025.

Holtec pointed to “poor market performance and higher than usual inflation during 2022″ in a report outlining the reason for the delay. Other facilities owned by the company are experiencing decommissioning delays as well.

The Oyster Creek Generating Station was once the oldest operating commercial nuclear plant in the country and nearly reached half-a-century in operation when it was shut down in 2018. It has a storied history in the Garden State and began operating in the Forked River area in 1969. At one point, the facility generated enough electricity to power 600,000 homes but that came with environmental consequences over the years, according to climate groups.

Holtec also stated in March that the total estimate to complete decommissioning for the Oyster Creek site is now $362 million (adjusted for inflation to 2022).

A new substation on a portion of the Oyster Creek plant was also previously in the works as part of development plans for new offshore wind turbines. Those plans are currently influx after a pivotal project connected to that onshore work was recently canceled.

Stories by Steven Rodas

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Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @stevenrodasnj.