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NRC submits Abnormal Occurrences Report for FY2002 to Congress
Congressional Record: April 12, 2003, p. H3407
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS, ETC.
Under clause 8 of rule XII, executive communications were taken from
the Speaker's table and referred as follows: ...
1847. A letter from the Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, transmitting the Commission's report entitled,
"Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences, Fiscal Year
2002," pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5848; to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce.
note: on April 21, 2003, NRC released the draft which Commission approved. It's available at nrc.gov as a pdf file
Here's the abstract from that document:
NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, "Report To Congress On Abnormal Occurrences Fiscal Year 2002", March 2003 (Draft)
ABSTRACT
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-438) defines an abnormal occurrence (AO) as an unscheduled incident or event which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-66) requires that AOs be reported to Congress annually. This report describes those events which have been determined to constitute AOs by the NRC during Fiscal Year 2002.
The report describes five AOs at facilities licensed by the NRC. One event involved the degradation of the reactor head at a nuclear power plant, the second event involved unaccounted for irradiated fuel rods at a nuclear power plant, the third event involved the failure to accurately record the location of two containers of strategic special nuclear material at a fuel cycle facility, the fourth event involved a gamma stereotactic radiosurgery misadministration and the fifth event involved an overexposure of a radiopharmacist at a materials facility. The report also discusses seven events at facilities licensed by Agreement States. Agreement States are states which have entered into a formal agreement with the NRC pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) to regulate certain quantities of AEA material at facilities located within their borders. Currently, there are 32 Agreement States. One of the Agreement State AOs involved elevated radiation levels from a package during its transport, three events involved radiography overexposures and three events involved medical misadministrations, two therapeutic and one diagnostic. In addition, Appendix C of the AO report, "Other Events of Interest," describes two nuclear power reactor events, including a generic event of interest regarding an emerging issue involving reactor vessel head degradation, and four materials events.