IR 05000155/1975014
| ML20002D738 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png |
| Issue date: | 11/21/1975 |
| From: | Finn J, Fisher W, Heuter L NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20002D736 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-155-75-14, NUDOCS 8101220276 | |
| Download: ML20002D738 (9) | |
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U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT'
REGION III
Report of Operational Radvaste Manager:ent Inspection IE Inspection Report No. 050-155/75-14 Licetasee :
Consumers Power Coupany 212 West Michigan Avenue Jackson, Michigan 49201~.
Lig Rock Point Nuclear Plant License No. DPR-6 Charlevoix, Michigan-Category: C Type of Licensee:
BWR-240 MWt Type of Inspection:
Routine, Unannounced Dates of Inspection:
October 21 - 24, 1975 O
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N Principal Inspector:
. Hueter
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jf.);..Lle, Accompanying Inspector:
J. A. Finn
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3 (Date)
Other Accompanying Personnel: None
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Reviewed By:
W. L. Fisher
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Section Leader (Date)
Fuel Facility Projects and Radiation Support Section
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SUitMARY'0F FINDINGS ~
'l jnspection_ Summary
.a Inspection on October 21-24, (75-14): ' Reviewed radioactive' waste management practices, including procedures, controls, records,
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instrumentation,'and equipment.
Enforcement Items.
None.
Licensee Action on Previously Identified Enforcement' Items
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During this inspection a review was conducted of the licensee's/ corrective
for actions regarding a citation made during'a previous. inspection inaccurate calibration of the off-gas flow recorder, apparent erroneous measurement of the off-gas holdup time, and use of an erroneous stack flow rate af f ecting reported radionuclide releases. With one exception,:
theljpenseehas'completedcorrectiveactionindicatedinthe'letterof
reply-to the citation. A formal' procedure for measuring off-gas density has not been completed. The licensee stated that the formal-procedure would be completed and implemented by the end.ofil975. This'
matter will be reviewed during a subsequent inspection.
(Paragraph 11, Report Details)
Other Significant Items
A.
Systems and Components 1.
Apparent' condenser inleakage over the past'several months has l
resulted in somewhat' increased releases of liquid radwaste volume.
Repair of therleaks~1s planned for the next outage, scheduled for January. - (Paragraph 4. -Report Details)
2.
The Plant Resfew Committee has approved follow-through on the recommendations made by the instrument'and' control supervisor, following a study of the spurious alarms of the canal monitor.
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(Paragraph 8, Report Details)
B.
Facility Items (Plans and Procedures)
None.
I C.
Managerial Items -
None.
D.
Noncompliance _ Identified and Corrected by Licensec
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None.
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Deviations
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None.
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F.
Status of Previously Reported Unresolved Items No previously' reported unresolved items within the scope of this inspection.
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Management _ Interview The inspectors conducted an interview.with Mr. Hartman, Plant. Superintendent,.
and other members of the. pla'nt staff near the conclusion of the inspection -
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on October 24, and by telephone'on November 13, 1975. The following items were specifically discussed with licensee personnel:
A.
'The inspectors described the scope of the inspection and stated that no items of noncompliance had been identified.
B.
The inspectors discussed an apparent error in the reported percent of limit of. liquid radwaste released for 1974. Licensee personnel-stated that a correction would be made in the reported.ata to d
reflect the proper percentage.
(Paragraph 4, - Report Details)
C.
The inspectors discussed possible discrepancies (conservative) in releases for xenon 138 and barium-lanthanum 140 between.that indicated by licensee records reviewed and that reported for December 1974. Licensee personnel agreed to review the program
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regarding these radionuclides and, if errors were identified, to correct previously reported data.
(. Paragraph 6,. Report Details)
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D.
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The status of.the canal monitor. spurious alarms study was discussed.
The licensee stated that modifications to the system have been
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approved. The licensee was-informed that the status will be reviewed
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during a subsequent ~ inspection of this problem. '(Paragraph 8.-
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Report Details)
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The licensee's corrective action related to a previous iten of
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noncompliance 2/ was reviewed.
It was noted.that a formal procedure
had not been completed for measuring off-gas density.
Licensee'~
personnel stated that this procedure would bc completed and imple-mented by the end of 1975.
(Paragraph 11, Report Details)
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- REPORT DETAILS'
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Persons Contacted
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C. Hartman, Plant Superintendent-D. DeMoor, Technical Engineer
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T. Brun, Assistant Chemical and Radiation Protection Supervisor O. Fox, Chemical and Radiation' Protection ~ Senior Technician
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G. Szczotka, Quality, Assurance Engineer 2.
, Effluent Release Procedures
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a A review of changes.in effluent control procedures showed that revisions were omde and approved in accordance with the.licensce's procedural control system. The following procedures were reviewed:
0-RWS-1 Approved 8/28/75. Liquid Radwaste' Release to Discharge Canal - Clean Waste Receiver Tank.
0-RWS-2 Approved 8/28/75. Liquid Radwaste Release to Discharge Canal - Dirty Waste Receiver Tank.
0-RUS-3 Approved 8/28/75. Liquid 1Radwaste Release to Discharge Canal - Chemical Waste Receiver Tank.
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3.
Radioactive Waste Storaye,_and Transfer
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The Jicensee's solid radwaste generation, handling and storage equi r.cnt, processing, disposal, and procedur asdescribedinapreviousinspectionreport.gyareessentially t
Disposal of waste items from the fuel pool in preparation for the new fuel pool liner was completed in 1974. No discrepancies-were noted in a comparison.
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of the licensco's recorded data pertaining to offsite' shipments of
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radioactive waste for the first six months of 1975 and corresponding information contained in the semiannual report.
Further, no problems-
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were noted during a review of the licensee's records of surveys of -
containers and vehicles and records of contained activity.
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of the shipments involved spent resin. Determination of resin
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activity by count'ing of grab sampics showed an average activity,
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concentration of 0.8 curies per cubic foot.
4.
Liquid Radwaste Liquid radwaste is collected and released on a batch basis.
Iefore release, each batch is sampled and. analyzed. The analysis includes.
a gross beta concentration and specific radionuclide concentrations
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j of gamma emitters. A weighted FTC is determined for each batch.
The component radionuclides not identified by gamma spectrometry but measured by gross beta analysis are conservatively presumed to be all. strontium 90 and are released on that basis.
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RO Inspection Rpt No. 050-155/74-08.-
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Records and reports of liquid radwaste' releases were reviewed for the last six months of 1974 and the first six months of 1975. One f
discrepancy was noted. Due to an apparently misplaced decimal-point,.the 12-month total of' liquid release for 1974 was reported as bcIng 21% of.the applicable Ifnits. The input data show that it should have been reported as 2.1%.
Licensee personnel stated that the report would be corrected to reficct the proper percentage.
Release data, records, and reports'for February 1975 were reviewed.
in detail. Analytical and release calculations appear to have.bcen performed accurately and results reported correctly.- As noted above, liquid releases for 1974 were 2.1% of the technical specification limits.
For the'first six months of 1975, the releases were 3.7%
of the applicable limits.
Released liquid volume has been somewhat above normal the past few months, due to an apparent snall and essentially stable condenser inleakage of lake cooling water. The Icaks have been detected by i
conductivity cells. The water inventory apparently increases about 500 gallons per day.
Repair of the leaks'is planned for the next outage, scheduled for January.
5.
Reactor Coolant Quality
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Reactor coolant quality records were reviewed in detail for-January and February 1975.
The data show that the primary coolant was
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sampled and analyzed' daily as required during periods of power operation.
Reactor coolant quality was generally evaluated every other day during outages.
The quality items being checked, the
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technical specification limits of the quality and the ranges (or maximum in some cases) of the measured quality were as follows for the two months:
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quality Item Technical Specification Limit Measured Range or Maximun
l Conductivity 5 micronho per cubic centincter 0.39 to 0.85 umho/cm
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(umho/cm ) maximum
10 umho/cm maximun transient.
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pli 4.0 and 10.0 (lower and upper 5.0 and 7.8
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limits)
Chloride Ion 1.0 parts per million.(ppm)
0.02 ppm Equilibrium 35 microcuries per milliliter 0.03 uC1/ml j
llalogen (uCi/ml)
Radioactivity Boron 100 ppm 1.23 ppm-5-A:
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The data indicate that the coolant quality has remained well within the~specified limits. 'The stack off-gas ~ release rate has remained very low with a maximum release rate of_about-3,000 microcuries per second for the past several: months.;
6.
Cascous Radwaste Records and Reports A sample of off-gas obtained weekly during power operation is analyzed.by gamma spectrometry for six nobic gas radionuclides.
Based upon the mixture of the six nuclides, a stack release rate, which includes a total of.22 noble gas radionuclides, is determined.
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The stack release rate is based on a 30-minute holdup time for off-gas
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plus a 1% contribution f rom the turbine scaling steam system utilizing a 2-minute holdup.
The 1% turbine seal contribution has the same distribution of nuclides as the off-gas corrected for a 2-minute decay period.
By observing.the off-gas monitor response at the time the off-gas saeple_is taken, a multiplying factor can be obtained which, when applied to the off-gas monitor response in counts per second, gives the resulting release rate at the stack.in microcuries per second. Hourly readings of the off-gas conitor response are recorded and supplied to the computer maintained at the, corporate office.
Reported releases are based on the computer output.
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Particulate. and halogen releases to the atmosphere are reasured by.
counting particulate and charcoal filters weekly. The filters sample stack effluent continuously at a rate of three cubic feet per
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minute. Determination of release rates in this manner assumes that radioactivity is continually being deposited uniformly throughout the week on the filters. A decay correction to the time of analysis is applied, depending on the half-life of radionuclide observed. The net unidentified particulate beta activity is conservatively presumed to be all strontium 90.in determining the perce.4t of release limit.
The weekly charcoal and particulate filters are analyzed and counted at the plant and relcae rates determined. ' These data arc. fed into a corporate office computer.
Reported particulate and halogen radio-nuclide releases are based on the computer output.
The inspectors conducted a cursory review of gaseous, halogen, and particulate records and reports for the last half of 1974 and the first 'ialf of 1975. No problems were noted. A more detailed review
was made of the December data and report to evaluate data reduction techniques, radionuclide identification, and release rates. No descrepancies were noted, with the possible exception of the release rates for xenon 138 and barium-lanthanum 140. The reported releases l_
of these radionuclides appear to be high by a factor of two to five from the limited data reviewed at the plant.. The computer program on which the report is based was not reviewed.
These apparent discrepancies may be accountable to dec,ay corrections for the parent / daughter-(
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relationships. Also,. in the case of gases, the hourly. release; rate data may vary considerably throughoutLthe week. However, even with th. apparently conservative values reported, noble gas:and particular release rates,were well below.one percent _of:the permissible release rates for the month of Decesber. Halogen releases were about 1.7 percent.of the. allowable release rate.-
Licensee personnel. agreed'to review the program regarding.these.
radionuclides and, if errors were identified, to; correct previously reported data.
7.
Effluent Monitor Calib' ration
~ The inspector: reviewed licensee records and observed the effluent-monitors for required functional tests, calibrations, trip.and/or
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alarm settings. No problems were noted. - The review included the of f-gas monitors, stack monitor, radwaste monitor, :and canal monitor.
8.
Status of Canal Monitor Spurious Alarms
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The problem of canal monitor spurious alarms has been mentioned in
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a previous inspection reports /.and in licensee semiannual operating reports.
The Plant Revieu Committee (PRC) in discussion (PRC Meeting-31-74 dated September 3-4, 1974) requested that testing, evaluation,,
and recommendations be made by the instrurent and control supervisor regarding-the canal monitor. The test was conducted October through November 1974. The report of_the test data, evaluation, and recom-mendations to the PRC Secretary was dated August 30, 1975. The test utilized additional components to permit high level pulse transmission from the sensor to the linear count rate meter over a distance of about 300 feet.
The systen in part was to enable elimination of the preamplifer within the linear count rate meter and thereby hopefully reduce amplicifcation of low level noise.
Signal spikes were still observed, but a smalle.r percentage were of. a magnitude to cause alarms.
The report concluded that the present system is reliable, as_ evidenced by the stable average counting rate.
It was recommended that the signal cable between the auxiliary building and 'the screen house be totally enclosed in flexible conduit to reduce or prevent voltage changes from being induced by power cables located near the signal.
cabic.
It was also recommended that the linear count rate meter for the channel be supplied from a voltage regulating transformer to provide greater stability of input voltage.
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IE Inspection Rpt No. 050-155/75-09.
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The PRC in discussion (PRC meeting 27-75 dated September. 8-12, 1975)
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concurred with the two recommendations'and authorized the instrument
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and control supervisor to proceed with mater 1.1 procurement and
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. initiation of required facility change procedure to. implement the i
recommendations. lThe PRC-authorized project had not begun 'as of the inspection date.
9.
Snyder Hood Usage At the time of a previous investigation,6/ the_inpsectors requested
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a reply as to whether the licensee considered the Snyder Hoad an approved device for which a respiratory protection factor could be applied and to provide evidence of' appropriate NIOSH or BOM-
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approval numbers if their response was in the affirmative.
In:
letter of reply 2/ the_ licensee stated that NIOSH was testing the Snyder Hood and that the hood would'not be used with a respiratory protection factor vntil an approval number was received. During this inspection the inspectors were informed that the approval number has not' yet been received and that the Snyder HoodsDare
- not being used. The licensee anticipates approval of the hood soon.
10.
Access Control
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The potential for truck drivers, contract personnel, and plant personnel leaving the site without. monitoring was questioned by the inspectors.
Plant personnel state that personnel in. general (including those operating vehicles) were required to pass through the portal monitor at the security gate before leaving.
11.
Follow-up on Evaluation of Noble Gas, Halogen, and Particulate Release Rates-During a previous inspection / the licensee was cited for inaccurate
calibration of the off-gas flow recorder, apparent erroneous measure-ment of the off-gas holdup time, and use of an erroneous stack flow rate, affecting past reported radionuclide releases.
In replying,E/ the licensee stated in part that appropriate correction
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factors would be applied to past reported radionuclide releases in the Semiannual Report due March 1, 1975.
Corrective factors were reported for past releases in the referenced report.
During this inspection it was observed that the off-gas flow recorder has been
rescaled to properly indicate off-gas flos rate as stated in the referenced letter. A requirement has been included in the " Draft Technica1' Specifications" to measure off-gas holdup time and off-gas 6/
IE Inspection Rpt No. 050-155/75-04.
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density at approximately 6-month intervals, as stated in the referenced letter.
A procedure for off-gas holdup h,as been prepared and used and will be included in Volume 14, the new chemical procedures manual under development, lloldup time was measured on December 23, 1974 at 25.6 minuten and on August 20, 1975 at 28.9 ninuten. The off-gas density was racasured on August.11, 1975. Ilowever, a fornal procedure for this measurceent is not complete. Licensee personnel stated the procedure, which would be completed by the.cnd of 1975, would also be Jacorporated in Volune 14 The procedure is already included in the index of Volume 14 referenced above.
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