Subpart F--Reports and Inspections

§ 76.120 Reporting requirements.

(a) Immediate report. The Corporation shall notify the NRC Headquarters Operations Center by telephone at the numbers specified in appendix A to part 73 of this chapter within 1 hour after discovery of:

(1) A criticality event;

(2) Any loss, other than normal operating loss, of special nuclear material;

(3) Any theft or unlawful diversion of special nuclear material which the Corporation is authorized to possess or any incident in which an attempt has been made or is believed to have been made to commit a theft or unlawful diversion of special nuclear material; or

(4) An emergency condition that has been declared an alert or site area emergency.

(b) Four-hour report. The Corporation shall notify the NRC Operations Center as soon as possible but not later than 4 hours after discovery of an event¹ that prevents immediate protective actions necessary to avoid releases or exposures to radiation or radioactive materials that could exceed regulatory limits.

(c) Twenty-four hour report. The Corporation shall notify the NRC Operations Center within 24 hours after the discovery of any of the following events involving radioactive material:

(1) An unplanned contamination event that:

(i) Requires access to the contaminated area, by workers or the public, to be restricted for more than 24 hours by imposing additional radiological controls or by prohibiting entry into the area;

(ii) Involves a quantity of material greater than five times the lowest annual limit on intake specified in appendix B to §§ 20.1001 through 20.2402 of 10 CFR part 20 for the material; and

(iii) Causes access to the contaminated area to be restricted for any reason other than to allow isotopes with a half-life of less than 24 hours to decay prior to decontamination.

(2) An event in which equipment is disabled or fails to function as designed when:

(i) The equipment is required by a Technical Safety Requirement to prevent releases, prevent exposures to radiation and radioactive materials exceeding specified limits, mitigate the consequences of an accident, or restore this facility to a preestablished safe condition after an accident;

(ii) The equipment is required by a Technical Safety Requirement to be available and operable and either should have been operating or should have operated on demand; and

(iii) No redundant equipment is available and operable to perform the required safety function.

(3) An event that requires unplanned medical treatment at a medical facility of an individual with radioactive contamination on the individual's clothing or body.

(4) A fire or explosion damaging any radioactive material or any device, container, or equipment containing radioactive material when:

(i) The quantity of material involved is greater than five times the lowest annual limit on intake specified in appendix B to §§ 20.1001 through 20.2402 of 10 CFR part 20 for the material; and

(ii) The damage affects the integrity of the radioactive material or its container.

(d) Preparation and submission of reports. Reports made by the Corporation in response to the requirements of this section must be made as follows:

(1) Operations Center reports. The Corporation shall make reports required by paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section by telephone to the NRC Operations Center. To the extent that the information is available at the time of notification, the information provided in these reports must include:

(i) The caller's name and call back telephone number;

(ii) A description of the event, including date and time;

(iii) The exact location of the event;

(iv) The isotopes, quantities, and chemical and physical form of the material involved;

(v) Any personnel radiation exposure data available; and

(vi) A description of any actions taken in response to the event.

(2) Written report. A report required by paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this section must be followed by a written report within 30 days of the initial report. Written reports prepared pursuant to other regulations may be submitted to fulfill this requirement if the reports contain all of the necessary information and the appropriate distribution is made. These written reports must be sent to the NRC by an appropriate method listed in § 76.5. The reports must include the following information:

(i) A description of the event, including the probable cause and the manufacturer and model number (if applicable) of any equipment that failed or malfunctioned;

(ii) The exact location of the event;

(iii) A description of isotopes, quantities and chemical and physical form of the material involved;

(iv) The date and time of the event;

(v) The causes, including the direct cause, the contributing cause, and the root cause;

(vi) Corrective actions taken or planned and the results of any evaluations or assessments;

(vii) The extent of exposure of individuals to radiation or to radioactive materials without identification of individuals by name; and

(viii) Lessons learned from the event.

¹Events may include fires, explosions, radiological releases, etc.

[68 FR 58822, Oct. 10, 2003; 85 FR 65665, Oct. 16, 2020]