IR 05000201/1978010
| ML19263C628 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | West Valley Demonstration Project |
| Issue date: | 12/28/1978 |
| From: | Martin W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Deuster R EMVNFWV |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19263C629 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7902280048 | |
| Download: ML19263C628 (2) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISslON f 'l ) * /.$
REGION I
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631 PARK AVENUE KING OF PRUSSI A. PENNSYLV ANI A 19406 2U N Docket No. 50-201 C
Nuclear Fuel Services, Incorporated ATTN:
R. W. Deuster President Suite 600 6000 Executive Boulevard Rockville, Maryland 20352 Gentlemen:
Subject:
Inspection 78-10 This refers to the inspection conducted by Mr. D. Holod3 of this office on November 20-21, 1978 at your West Valley, New York.'acility of activities authorized by NRC License No. CSF-1 and to the discussions of our findings held by Mr. Holody with Mr. W. Oldham of your staff at the conclusion of the inspection.
Areas examined during this inspection are described in the Office of Inspection and Enforcement Inspection Report which is enclosed with this letter.
Within these areas, the inspection consisted of selective examinations of procedures and representative records, interviews with personnel, and observations by the inspector.
Our inspector also verified the steps you have taken to correct the item of noncompliance brought to your attention in a letter dated November 15, 1977. We have no further questions regarding your action at this time.
Within the scope of this inspection, no items of noncompliance were observed.
In accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," Part 2, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, a copy of this letter and the enclosed inspection report will be placed in the NRC's Public Document Room.
If this report contains any information that you (or your contractor)
believe to be proprietary, it is necessary that you make a written application within 20 days to this office to withhold such information from public disclosure.
Any such application must be accompanied by an affidavit executed by the owner of the information, which identifies the document or part sought to be withheld, and which contains a statement of reasons which addresses with specificity the items which will be 7902280048 Q
.
.
Nuclear Fuel Services, Incorporated
DFC 23 M considered by the Commission as listed in subparagraph (b) (4) of Section 2.790.
The information sought to be withheld shall be incorporated as far as possible into a separate part of the affidavit.
If we do not hear from you in this regard within the specified period, the report will be placed in the Public Document Room.
No reply to this letter is required; however, should you have any ques-tions concerning this inspection, we will be pleased to discuss them with you.
Sincerely, Y,W Dt
'dalter G. Martin, Chief
/
Safeguards Branch Enclosure:
Office of Inspection and Enforcement Inspection Report Number 50-201/78-10 cc w/ encl:
W. A. Oldham, General Manager
.
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT Region I Report No.
50-201/78-10 Docket No.
50-201 Safeguards Group
License No.
CSF-1 Priority
Category RP Licensee:
Nuclear Fuel Services 6000 Executive Boulevard Rockville, Maryland 20352 Facility Name:
West Valley Reprocessing Plant Inspection at:
West Valley, New York Inspection conducted:
November 20-21, 1978
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D /f!75 Insrectors:
h. /N.I D. Holody( Mathematical Statistician date signed date signed date signed
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Appraved by:
i JC W. Joyner ' ChiJf, Nuclear Material date s'ianed Ctnitrol Supht Section, Safeguards Branch
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Inspection Summary:
Inspection on November 20-21, 1978 (Recort No. 50-201/78-10)
Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection by a regional based inspector of nuclear material control and accounting including:
licensee action on previous inspection findings; organization; operation; measurement and controls; shipping and receiving; storage and internal control; inventory; ID and its associated LEID; records and reports, and, management of material control system.
The inzpection involved 15 inspector-hours on site by one NRC inspector.
Results:
No items of noncompliance were identified.
Region I Form 12 79022800 53 (Rev. April 77)
DETAILS 1.
Persons Centacted
- W. Oldham, Plant Manager
- J. Duckworth, Manager, Technical Services
- S. Greco, Accountability Supervisor
- T. DeBoer, Director, Technical Development Programs, New York State - ERDA
denotes those present at the exit interview 2.
Licensee Action on Previous Inscection Findinos (Closed) Noncompliance Item (50-201/77-09-01):
Failure to report the plutonium-241 decay in spent fuel assemblies on the semiannual material status report (Form NRC-742).
Review of the reports sub-mitted for the six-month periods ending March 31, 1978 and September 30, 1978, indicated that Pu-241 decay is now being calculated and reported.
3.
Facility Orcanization The licensee established an organizational structure that is responsive to nuclear material control and accounting.
There have been no organization changes since the last inspection which would affect the nuclear material control and accounting program.
The ultimate responsibility for activities at the facility rests with the West Valley site General Manager.
The responsibility for planning, coordinating and administering the SNM control and accounting function is assigned to the Technical Services Manager.
Management of the SNM Material Control and Accounting system is the responsibility of the Accountability Supervisor.
This responsibility includes maintaining the general ledger, subsidiary accounts, records and reports.
4.
Facility Operation Fuel reprocessing activities were suspended at the facility in April, 1972.
Sirce that time the two basic operations conducted at the facility have been (a) the receipt and storag< of spent fuel assemblies, and (b) the transfer of decontamination solutions to the waste tan '
.
The irradiated fuel assemblies are located in canisters in the spent fuel pool.
The fuel storage canisters each contain one assembly, except for the canisters containing fuel received from Dresden, which may contain up to three assemblies.
All other special nuclear material is located in the alpha laboratory, process control labora-tory, emission spectrometry laboratory, sample storage cell, or hot cell.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
5.
Measurement and Controls Transfer of decontamination solution to the waste tank is performed periodically.
These solutions, created through cleanout of the process system, contain small amounts of plutoni_um and u> anium.
The uranium is depleted, because the last reprocessing campaign con-tained depleted uranium.
The acid solutions are transferred to Tank 70-10 for neutralization and measurement prior to discharge to the waste tank (8D-2).
These solutions are the only material on which special nuclear material measurements are performed.
The measurements consist of (a) volumetric determination of the amount of solution being transferred, (b) fluoro-metric analysis of solution samples for determination of percent uranium, and (c) alpha counting of solution samples for determination of percent plutonium.
Two samples are drawn from each batch of decontamination solution by using a recirculating vacuum airjet sampler system.
The solution is air sparged prior to sampling.
The average of the analysis of the two samples is used as the accountability value.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
6.
Shipoing and Receiving There have not been any receipts of fuel assemblies at the facility since the last material control and accounting inspection on November 1-2, 1977.
However, six fuel assemblies have been shipped to Battelle Northwest Laboratories since that time.
The Material Transaction Reports (Form NRC-741) for these six shipments were re-viewed and found to be accurate and to have been submitted on a timely basis.
No items of noncompliance were idertifie.
7.
Storage and Internal Control The system of internal control is limited since the only move-ments of material are (a) transfers of assemblies within the pool, which may occur when assemblies are snioped or received, and (b) the periodic transfer of the decontamination solutions to the waste tank.
Whenever an assembly is transferred to a new location in the pool, a new NFS Form 10 (Fuel Receiving and Storage Record) is completed.
The fonn specifies the canister identification, assembly identi-fication and the old and new grid location in the pool.
These forms were reviewed and found to be acceptable for transfers made at the time the six fuel assemblies were shipped to Battelle.
An NFS Form 83 is completed whenever a batch of decontamination solution is transferred to the waste tank.
This form records the volume transferred, as well as the amount of uranium and plutonium.
Forms 83 which have been completed in the past year were audited and found to be acceptable.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
8.
Inventory The licensee is required, by Section 5 of the Fundamental Nuclear Material Control Plan, to perform an inventory of the special nuclear material on a semiannual basis.
The last inventory was performed on July 31, 1978.
With the exception of Pu-241 decay, the inventory has not changed since that time.
During the inspection, the licensee's inventory was verified by the inspector by (1) performing a piece count of the 750 spent fuel assemblies located in the spent fuel pool (including 300 grams of U-233 contained in U-233/Th-233 oxide rods in one grid location)
and (2) observing the special nuclear material included in the cells and laboratories.
The latter inventory consisted of:
(a) 291 grams Pu in plutonium nitrate solutions located in the hot cells or sample storage cell (b) 5 grams Pu in plutonium oxide in the emission spectrometry laboratory (c) 2 grams Pu in plutonium nitrate solution, and 13 g Pu in a PuBe neutron source located in the alpha laboratory
(d)
15 grams Pu in samples located in the product laboratory (e) 2 grams Pu in metal and sulfate standards located in the process control laboratory In perfonming the verification of the spent fuel pool, the inspector identified the serial number on some of the casks and crosschecked the grid location to the location indicated by the status boards at the pool and in the Accountability Supervisor's office. All crosschecks were in agreement.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
9.
Inventory Difference (ID)
A negative ID (material gain) is obtained during any period in which decontamination solutions are generated.
However, there is no change to the inventory since this entry into the general ledger is offset by entry of a positive measured discard when this solution is tranferred to the waste tank.
The inspector reviewed the ID for each of the two six-month reporting periods ending March 31, 1978 and September 30, 1978.
The plutonium ID for the period ending March 31, 1978 was not offset by a measured discard (MD) of the same amount.
ID (4) grams Pu MD 26 grams Pu Difference 2T grams Pu This difference resulted when the "E" bottle, located in the sample storage cell, pressurized and leaked approximately 68 milliliters of plutonium nitrate solution.
This solution had a plutonium con-centration of 326 grams per liter, resulting in a spill of 22 grams Pu.
This spill was washed to Tank 70-10, which contained other de-contamination solution. Upon measurement, the total SNM content of Tank 70-10 was determined to be 25 grams Pu.
This amount was dis-charged to the waste tank. An ID entry of (4) grams and an MD entry of 26 grams was made in the general ledger.
No items of noncompliance were identifie.
Records and Reports The inspector reviewed the licensee's system of records and reports which consist of source documents, accountability records, and accountability reports.
The review covered the two six-month re-porting periods ending March 31, 1978 and September 30, 1978.
Material Balance Sumaries for the twelve month period are provided in Exhibits 1-3.
The source documents generated during the two material status re-port periods were reviewed and found to be accurate.
These in-cluded the Form NRC-741 transfer documents for the six shipments, the Fuel Receiving and Storage Records (NFS Form 10) for the assemblies, the Tank 7D-10 Waste Data volume of a batch of de-contamination solution transferred from 7D-10 to the waste tank, and the NFS Forms 10 which list the analytical results for the solutions. No discrepancies were detected.
The accountability records were reviewed and found to be up-to-date. These included both pool status boards, the general ledger and the waste subsidiary account.
The accountability reports that were reviewed consisted of the two semiannual Material Status Reports and the monthly ID and measured discard report.
These reports were completed in an acceptable manner.
During a previous inspection, the licensee was cited for not reporting the Pu-241 decay on the Form NRC-742.
Review of the two periods indicated that the licensee has corrected this item.
The inventory was also adjusted by the amount of previously un-
,
reported Pu-241 decay that occurred in prior periods.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
11.
Management of Materials Control System An audit of the material control and accounting program was perfomed on June 21, 1978 by a member of the NFS corporate office, Rockville, Maryland.
The results of the audit were documented in a letter to the licensee on July 6, 1978.
The audit indicated that the records and reports were accurate, and the material control and accounting program was functioning properly.
No items of noncompliance were identifie.
12.
Exit Interview The inspector met with licensee representatives (denoted in paragraph 1) at the conclusion of the inspection on November 21, 1978.
The scope and findings of the inspection were presented.
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Exhibit I NFS Material Balance Summary 10/1/77 - 9/30/78 Plutonium RIS:YDE Grams Pu Pu 239 & 241 Beginning Inventory (10/1/77)
1,087,770 829,190 Receipts
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Material to Account For 1,087,770 829,190 Removals Pu-241 Decay Previously Unreported 19,467 19,467 This Period 4,243 4,243 Shipments YDE-HYA #1 2,824 2,066 YDE-HYA #2 2,823 2,068 YDE-HYA #3 2,794 2,056 YDE-HYA #4 3,308 2,384 YDE-HYA #5 3,318 2,390 YDE-HYA #6 3,314 2,389 Measured Discards
22 ID (4)
(4)
Ending Inventory (9/30/78)
1,045,657 792,109 Material Accounted For 1,087,770 829,190
Exhibit II NFS Material Balance Sunmary 10/1/77 - 9/30/78 Enriched Uranium RIS:YDE Grams U
U-235 Beginning Inventory (10/1/77)
150,375,394 1,965,904 Receipts
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Material to Account For 150,375,394 1,965,904 Removals Shipments YDE-HYA #1 386,618 3,265 YDE-HYA #2 386,617 3,259 YDE-HYA #3 386,836 3,329 YDE-HYA #4 373,741 3,510 YDS-HYA #5 373,683 3,483 YDE-HYA #6 373,731 3,495 Measured Discards
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-
ID
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Ending Inventory (9/30/78)
148,094,168 1,945,563 Material Accounted For 150,375,394*
1,965,904
- includes 300 grams U-233 (See Exhibit III)
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..
Exhibit III NFS Material Balance Sunmary 10/1/77 - 9/30/78 U-233 RIS:YDE Grams U_
U-233 Beginning Inventory (10/1/77)
523 300 Receipts
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Material to Account For 523 300 Removals
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Ending Inventory (9/30/78)
523 300 Material Accounted For 523*
300
- contains 152 grams U-235