Honeywell readies for Metropolis restart

Honeywell is preparing to restart its Metropolis uranium conversion plant, having reviewed a 26 October incident involving the on-site release of materials at the Illinois site.

Improvements made to emergency response procedures include ensuring that any incident can be viewed from an expanded number of on-site observation points. This, the company says, will improve its ability to classify emergencies quickly and accurately. Employees have already been trained in the new procedures, and emergency response drills are to be conducted this week, culminating in a drill that will be monitored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and local emergency response teams.

In an open letter to Metropolis employees, plant manager Jim Pritchett said the company anticipated that the enhancements it had actioned would soon be recognized by the NRC in a Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL), a formal acknowledgement of the actions taken by the licensee to resolve specific issues.

The incident involved the leak of a small amount of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) caused by a mechanical failure in a single piece of equipment in the plant's main production building. That piece of equipment has now been isolated from the production process.

"The NRC has concluded, after its own independent inspection, that no detectable radioactive material was released from the site," Pritchett said.

Honeywell originally declared the incident to be a "plant emergency", which does not require that the regulator be notified. After re-evaluating the event, the company determined that an alert declaration should have been made, and notified the NRC accordingly with an "after-the-fact" notification. The regulator acknowledged the change in a CAL dated 7 November.

The Metropolis plant is owned and operated by Honeywell. It converts uranium oxide powder into gaseous UF6 suitable for enrichment, which is then marketed by Converdyn, a joint venture of Honeywell and General Atomics.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News