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News Release USDL: 96-312
Friday, August 2, 1996
Contact: Stephen Gaskill, OSHA (202) 219-6091
Sue Gagner, NRC (301) 415-8200

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have agreed on a coordinated worker protection plan at two gaseous diffusion plants near Piketon, Ohio and Paducah, Ky.

"This agreement breaks new ground for OSHA. In our first cooperative agreement with the NRC, our agencies are able to ensure worker protection at these two plants, and provide complete coverage of both radiological and conventional hazards to workers," said Joseph A. Dear, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

The U.S. Enrichment Corporation (USEC) Privatization Act requires the two agencies to enter an agreement to govern their jurisdiction over job safety issues. USEC operates the plants under a lease from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the owner and former operator. The plants use a gaseous diffusion process to treat material that can be used as nuclear fuel in civilian nuclear power plants.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992, which established USEC, also required the NRC to set up a process for certifying that the enrichment plants are operated in a way that ensures protection of public health and safety. The act also made the operator of the plants subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which OSHA administers.

NRC is currently reviewing USEC's applications for certification. DOE will continue to regulate the plants until NRC assumes jurisdiction following a planned 120-day transition period after NRC's initial certification.

Under the NRC-OSHA agreement, the NRC will apply its standards to working conditions involving radiological hazards, while OSHA will apply its standards to conditions involving non-radiological hazards. Both agencies will apply their standards to conditions involving a combination of hazards (for example, if there are both radioactive materials and other hazardous chemicals in the same work area or if the same chemical poses both radiological and non-radiological hazards).

The agreement specifies how NRC and OSHA will coordinate their efforts -- in areas such as inspections, issuing citations, enforcement and response to worker safety or health complaints -- to avoid duplication of efforts and eliminate gaps in coverage.

If NRC or OSHA identifies a conflict between the two agencies' requirements, or if USEC perceives a conflict, both agencies will work together to resolve the issue promptly.

The agreement was signed by Dear for OSHA and by James M. Taylor, Executive Director for Operations of the NRC.