Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences – Fiscal Year 2014 (NUREG-0090, Volume 37)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: May 2015
Date Published: May 2015

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, as amended (Public Law 93-438), defines 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 the NRC report AOs to Congress annually.

This report describes one event involving an NRC licensee that the NRC identified as an AO during fiscal year (FY) 2014 based on the criteria defined in Appendix A, "Abnormal Occurrence Criteria and Guidelines for Other Events of Interest." This event occurred at an NRC-licensed medical institution and is a medical event, as defined in Part 35 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), "Medical Use of Byproduct Material."

In addition, this report describes twelve events that Agreement States identified as AOs during FY 2014 based on the criteria defined in this report’s Appendix A. Agreement States are those States that have entered into formal agreements with the NRC, pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA) (Public Law 83-703), to regulate certain quantities of AEA material at facilities located within their borders. Currently, there are 37 Agreement States. One event involved radiation exposure to an embryo/fetus and the other eleven events were medical events, as defined in 10 CFR Part 35. It should be noted that the number of identified AOs is small in comparison to the millions of medical procedures performed annually.

Appendix A to this report presents the NRC’s criteria for determining AOs, as well as the guidelines for selecting "other events of interest." Appendix B, "Updates of Previously Reported Abnormal Occurrences," provides updated information for two events previously updated in past years’ "Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences." The update includes a medical event at Lovelace Medical Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico and a commercial nuclear power plant event at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 1, in Athens, Alabama. During FY 2014, the NRC identified no events that met the guidelines for inclusion in Appendix C, "Other Events of Interest," either as an update to previously reported information or as a new event that received significant public interest. Appendix D, "Glossary," presents definitions of terms used throughout this report. Appendix E, "Conversion Table," presents conversions commonly used when calculating doses.