IR 05000057/1988002

Safety Insp Rept 50-057/88-02 on 880725.No Violations Noted. Major Areas Inspected:Emergency Preparedness

ML20154R860
Person / Time
Site:	University of Buffalo
Issue date:	09/26/1988
From:	Amato C, Lazarus W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20154R831	List: IR 05000057/1988002 ML20154R827
References
50-057-88-02, 50-57-88-2, NUDOCS 8810040375
Download: ML20154R860 (5)

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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION I

Report N /88-02 Docket N License N R-77 Licensee: State University of New York at Buffalo South Campus, Rotary Road Buffalo, New York 14214 Facility Name: Buffalo Materials Research Center Inspection Conducted: July 25,_1938 Inspector: 4"<;, # 9 +~ b C. C6 Amat gency Pre 4 redness ' ate d

Sp alist, EPS, FRSSB, DRSS Approved By: / #N **

W. J4 Eazards), Chief Emergency

date

Preparedness Section, FRSSB, DRSS Inspection Summary : Inspection on July 25, 1988 (Report No. 50-57/88-02)

Areas Inspected: Routine, announced safety inspection in the area of emergency preparednes Results: No violations were identifie ssioo40375 eso926 DR ADOCK0500pg7

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P DETAILS 1.0 Persons Contacted The following personnel attended the entrance and exit meetin L. Henry, Director J. Griffin, Senior Health Physicist The inspector also observed the actions of, and interviewed, other Licensee personne .0 Organization 2.1 The Buffalo Materials Research Reactor (BMRR) is a component of the Buf falo Materials Research Center (BMRC) and is operated for the Licensee by Buffalo National Research Inc. of Latham, Maryland a subsidiary of Material Engineering Associates. The staff numbers 23. Some of these are staff members of the State University, while others are employees of Buffalo National Research Inc. The Director reports to the President of Buffalo National Research and the Vice-Provost for Research and Graduate Education. Each of the three Departments into which the BMRR is organized assign staff to the Emergency Response Organization (ERO). Four staff members are always on call and carry radio pager .2 The Nuclear Safety Conmittee appoints for a two year renewable term a qualified staff member as Emergency Preparedness Officer. This individual is responsible for maintaining Emergency Preparedness (EP)

including training of staff, and off-site personnel, Emergency Plan and Procedure review and up-date. The incumbent is the Senior Health Physicis .3 The Director spends two to three hours a week on EP activities in addition to maintaining his training requirements, participating in drills and scenario preparatio Routine EP management is based on exception data, and a search for improvement area The Director also maintains an interface with off-site authorities and other Campus organizations. Five on-site and five off-site organizations would support the BMRR in the event of an inciden This area is acceptabl .0 Egergency Plan and Procedures The Emergency Plan and Procedures are reviewed annually by the Nuclear Safety Committee. Changes are sent to tav New York State Health Department for com. ment and information (New York State, as an Agreement State, has issued a by-product material license).

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Major changes are sent to the NRC for approval. The Plan has been recently rewritten and is undergoing review. It will be sent to the NRC prior to implementation. The inspector reviewed a draft and discussed areas for possible improvement with the license .0 Classification 4.1 Emergency Action Level classification is based on both events and symptoms. A check of the reactor annunciator radiation monitoring panel indicated that the Plan correctly correlates these signals and levels with the classification scheme. Five response procedures have been developed and are listed in the Plan Appendi Based on the above, this area is acceptabl .0 Emergency Facilities

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5.1 Emergency equipment including air samplers, survey meters, respirators, and anti-contamination clothing was checked. Equipment was functional and currently calibrated. Telephones were operative.

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In addition to telephones, there are three Civilian Band radios and three Command Cell short wave radios. Campus Public Safety can provide additional radio communications with their walkie-talkies which can reach the Campus main switchboar Female and male decontamination showers are availabl .2 Room 116 in the Clark Gymnasium was inspected and determined to be acceptable as the Site Emergency Center as a replacement for the facility in Howe.

i Based on the above, this area is acceptabl .0 Off-Site Activities 6.1 Buffalo City Police and Firemen respond to requests for assistanc The Police support Campus Public Safety in vehicular, crowd and area control external to the BMRR. Over 400 Buffalo firefighters have

been trained. Ambulance crews would be dispatched from one of five

services to take injured persons to one of two cooperating Veterans Administration Hospital The inspector indicated that letters of Agreement would be appropriate to describe the agreements with the i hospital Based upon the above, this area is acceptable.

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7.0 Training 7.1 A training matrix has not been developed. The Licensee contends the staff is small and the Director and EPC know whom to train and when to train. At the time of this inspection, staff training was in progres Examinations are given, and requalification is require Debriefings follow examinations. Reactor Operators and Health Physicists receive the same training. Operators, therefore, receive EP training in addition to training in recognition of events and symptoms and classificatio Based on the above, this area is acceptabl .0 Marshall Furnace Incident 8.1 During the night of June 17,1933, a procedure requiring electric resistive heating in an inert atmosphere was nearing completio The procedure was being conducted in a "warm" cell located on the neutron deck. The area in use within the warm cell was enclosed in plastic tenting. Upon completion, the engineer followed procedures which required maintaining flow af ter terminating heating. This was done in a manner which caused a flow imbalance. This imbalance, plus the fact not all of the tenting was in place, resulted in a puff release and subsequent localized surface contaminatio Area radiation monitors sounded and response procedures were followe The reactor was shut down due to high radiation levels in the containment which isolated. No radioactive material left the containment. The Director and Senior Health Physicist responde Conditions were evaluated, clean-up was completed, normal operations were resumed and the contaminated area was returned to servic The licensee's action in response to this incident was consistent with their Emergency Plan and Procedure The licensee response also indicated that their procedures and training are effectiv .0 Licensee Action on Previously Identified Items 9.1 The following items are close A succession list has been developed and is in place, Support of the New York State Health Department Western Office has been clarified, f2-08 Lesson Plans for training in classification have been developed.

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10.0 Exit Meeting 10.1 The inspector met with Licensee personnel listed in Section 1 at the conclusion of the inspectio The Licensee was informed no violations were identified. The inspector also discussed some areas for improvemen The Licensee acknowledged these findings, agreed to evaluate them, and institute corrective actions as recessar .2 At no time during the course of the inspection did the inspector give the Licensee written material.