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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532
	CONTACT:	Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov
		Angela Dauginas (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-18

February 21, 1997

NRC PREDECISIONAL ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE WITH CERAC, INC.

ON APPARENT VIOLATIONS OF NRC SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet February 26 with representatives of CERAC, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a predecisional enforcement conference on apparent radiation safety program violations.

The meeting will be at 1:00 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the NRC Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois. The meeting is open to public observation.

The meeting will focus on the company's overall failure to properly implement its radiation safety program and conduct proper safety evaluations.

The company operates a thorium reprocessing and uranium repackaging facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The company discharges water containing low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material to the sanitary sewer system as permitted under strict NRC limits. An NRC inspection conducted last December through January found that the company for two years did not determine, as required, the concentration and solubility of radioactive material discharged into the sewer system. In response to NRC's inspection findings, the company has stopped discharging the water until the required analysis is completed.

The decision to hold an enforcement conference does not mean the NRC has determined that a violation has occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. Rather, the purpose is to discuss apparent violations, their causes and safety significance; to provide the licensee an opportunity to point out any errors that may have been made in the NRC inspection report; and to enable the company to outline its proposed corrective actions.

No decisions on the apparent violations or any contemplated enforcement action, such as a fine, will be made at this conference. Those decisions will be made by senior NRC officials at a later date.

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