NRC Identifies Nine Abnormal Occurrence Events in FY 2019 Annual Report to Congress

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 20-036 June 23, 2020
CONTACT: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200
 
NRC Identifies Nine Abnormal Occurrence Events in FY 2019 Annual Report to Congress
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has published its annual report to Congress for fiscal year 2019 regarding Abnormal Occurrences involving the medical and industrial uses of radioactive material.
 
Nine Abnormal Occurrences were identified, seven of which were medical events, such as misadministration of radioactive material in diagnosis or treatment of an illness. One event involved a worker exposure, and the final event was the theft and subsequent recovery of a device containing a risk-significant radioactive source. No events at commercial nuclear power plants in FY 2019 met the criteria requiring an Abnormal Occurrence declaration.
 
U.S. law defines an Abnormal Occurrence as an unscheduled incident or event that the NRC determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety. The NRC sets specific criteria, most recently updated in October 2017, for determining which events qualify.
 
The Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences, Fiscal Year 2019, is available on the NRC website as NUREG 0090, Volume 42.