Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences - Fiscal Year 1999 (NUREG-0090, Volume 22)

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Publication Information

Date Published: February 2000

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-438) identifies an abnormal occurrence (AO) as an unscheduled incident or event that 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 includes those events that NRC determined were AOs during Fiscal Year 1999.

The report addresses four AOs at facilities licensed or otherwise regulated by NRC. One event involved a fire that breached containment and required shutdown of a portion of the cascade at a gaseous diffusion plant. Two medical events involved the administration of radioactive material to pregnant women and one event involved a sodium iodide misadministration. The report also addresses nine AOs at facilities licensed by Agreement States. Agreement States are those States that have entered into a formal agreement with 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 31 Agreement States. One of the Agreement State AOs involved the administration of radioactive material to a pregnant woman, two involved overexposures of an occupational worker and a member of the public at industrial radiography operations, two involved gamma stereotactic radiosurgery misadministrations, three involved therapeutic radiopharmaceutical misadministrations, and one involved sodium iodide misadministration. In addition, Appendix C of the report, "Other Events of Interest," includes two events and one issue with two examples.