IR 05000271/1990008

Insp Rept 50-271/90-08 on 900716-20.No Violations Noted. Major Areas Inspected:Transportation & Solid Radwaste Programs Including:Mgt Controls,Audits & QA

ML20056A933
Person / Time
Site:	Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png
Issue date:	08/02/1990
From:	Bores R, Joseph Furia, Person L NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20056A932	List: IR 05000271/1990008 ML20056A931
References
50-271-90-08, 50-271-90-8, NUDOCS 9008100171
Download: ML20056A933 (6)

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. U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATOL AISSION '

REGION I

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%> ' Report No.= 50-27.1/90 08

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Docket N License No. DPR-28

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' Licensee: ! Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corooration

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Brattleboro. Vermont 05301 i

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- Facility Name: Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station-Inspection At: Vernon. Vermont at Inspection Conducted: July 16-20. 1990 ,

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. Inspectors: i

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diation-Prdtection Section: GRPS), Facilities- .

Radiological Safety and. Safeguards Branch (FRSSB),

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Division of-Radiation S fety and= Safeguards'(DRSS)

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y L.. Person, Project Manager, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards date <

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L Approved by: U l 0e R. Bores, C11ef, ERPS,4MS&l DRSS; BJ t, IM O dhte

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1 .e Inspection' Summary: Insoection on July 16-20. 1990 (Insoection Reoort'No,' 50-0* , 271/90 08)

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1. Areas inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection of the transportation and

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solid radioactive waste programs including: management controls; audits,

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quality assurance; and implementation of the above program >

Results: Within the areas inspected, no violations or deviations were noted.

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DETAILS

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1.= Personnel Contacted 1.1 Licensee Persogn.11

• M. Fuller, Radwaste Assistant _

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• R, Grippardi, Supervisor, Quality Surveillance Group' (QSG)

• E. Lindamood, Radiation Protection Supervisor-

• S. Naeck, Quality Assurance Engineer, QSG i, l * D. Reid, Plant Manager S. $kibniowski, Chemistry Supervisor D. Stafford, Training Supervisor 1.2 NRC Personnel

.H. Eichenholz, Senior Resident Inspector  :

T. Hiltz, Resident Inspector

• Denotes those present at the exit-interview on July 20, 199 , Purcose'

The purpose _of this routine _ inspection was to review the licensee' ' program for the preparation, packaging and-transportation of radioactive ,

material I 1 Transportation and Radwaste l l

The' licensee's program for the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials, including solid. radwaste, was conducted by the Radiation Protection Department's Radwaste Group. Plant liquids were

. processed by the Operations Department, with the subsequently generated bea'd resins and powdered resins sent to phase separators. From the .

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phase separators, spent resins were then dried = utilizing a  !

centrifugation system, and placed in High' Integrity containers (HICs).

The.Radwaste Group within the Radiation Protection Department was .

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responsible lfor the collection of the spent resins in the HICs, and: the i subsequent: characterization of the waste streams and the on-site storage- ,

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i of the HICs.- Dry! Active Wastes (DAW) were collected by the. Radwaste '

4 Group, with compactable_ materials being compacted on sit .1 Radwast ,

'The licensee produced waste streams of solid radwaste, spent

.j ; primary resins, spent powder resins and Dry Active Waste (DAW). ;

Resins were typically dewatered by processing through phase separators, then dried in a centrifuge, after which the dried

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resins were placed in a HIC. The licensee has had two problems associated with this system. The first problem was the creation of an extensive hazard during the loading of the HICs, caused by

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the airborne ' spread of the powder resin. _This 'has led to the

continued need .for workers in the loading area to be in full face respirators during the loading of the HICs.. The second problem

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personnel.- These )lant personnel were required to tamp down the resin in the HIC w1ile; standing over the open-secondary lid of the

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processing shield. The licensee was looking at ' alternate processing systems at the time of this-inspection; and planned to replace the' plant dewatering system in the futur As part of this inspection, the following procedures were r reviewe AP-0504, Rev 17, " Shipment and Receipt of Radioactive Materials" OP-2505, Rev 2, "Radwaste Transfer Cask, LSA Box,~ Handling for On Site Storage" OP-2506,.Rev 0, " Radioactive Waste Storage Module Sampling"

-OP-2511, Rev 16,'"Radwaste Cask, Drum and Box Handling" All procedures were found to be complete and to accurately reflect existing plant processe The licensee annually-submitted plant samples for analysis of isotopic content. - Samples were sent to the Yankee Atomic Electric Company's Environmental' Laboratory for total isotopic analysis,

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with the results utilized by the licensee'to derive plant waste stream specific scaling -factors. This-program meets the criteria i set forth in 10 CFR 61.56 for representative sampling of plant waste stream .2 Transoortation Shipment of radioactive materials was the responsibility of the Radwaste Group of the' Radiation Protection Department. The

'Radwaste Group prepared all shipping manifests through the utilization of a licensee develop 9d computer cod As part of this inspection, the following 18 shipment records were -

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O Shioment ~ Activity (Ci', Volume (cu ft) Tvoe 90-01 4.80E-09 Samples

, 90-02 9.76E-03 41 Laundry 90-03 1.12E-02 47 Laundry 90-04 2.00E-04 ARM Sourcc

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'90-06~ 9.73E-03 53 Laundry 1 90-07 7.85E-03 531.0- Lamdry 90-08 1.42E-02 53 Laundry 90-09 1.00E-05 > Samp1es 90-10 1.76E-02 47 Laundry 90-11 4.50E-04 Samples

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90-12 -6.82E-03 47 Laundry-90-13 1.87E-03 Samples-90214 6.00E-06 > Samples y

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90-15 8.14E-03 53 ~ Lh'indry 90-16 2.40E-06 > Source

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90-17 5.85E-03 29 Laundry 90-18: 1.14E-08 > Samples- =i

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90-19 7.50E-03 41 Laundry

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All' shipments were determined to meet the requirements of 10 CFR and 49 CF As part of'this inspection, observations were made on the receipt of two radioactive material shipments. A laundry shipment was received on July 19, 1990, from Interstate Nuclear Services (INS).

Plant personnel were observed conducting surveys of the truck and:

some of the laundry boxes, together with conducting wi,)e tests of some of ~the laundry boxes. A new fuel- shipment was received on (July 16, 1990, frcm the General Electric Company. Receipt inspections were conducted by the New Fuel- Engineer,' Quility - a '

' Surveillance Group and Radiological Protection Division On Jul ,

19,11990, this new fuel was transferred to the refuel f' oor under

' the direction of the New-Fuel Engineer. This receipt was conducted in an excellent manner by. all plant staff involve .

3.3 :-Interim Radwaste Storace

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Since May, 1989, the licensee has been utilizing its interim

.. radwaste storage facility. In January,-1989, all radwaste

% generated'within the State of Vermont was barred from disposal at a W,y the three currently available low-level waste disposal -sites. The 4 licensee places HICs containing dried: spent resins-or filters, and w compacted DAW in concrete On-Site Storage' Containers (OSSC).

These 0SSCs were purchased on an as needed basis, and at the time of of the inspection, several OSSCs were empty. The on-site storage

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facility was designed to accept five-years' worth of plant'

generated wastes based upon 1985 waste generation dat Since 1989, the licensee had placed approximately 7500 cubic feet of *

radwaste in the Interim Radwaste Facility. At current generation rates, the licensee appears to have available sufficient capacity .

to store radwaste to 1993, and possibly beyond. In addition, !

recent actions taken by the State of Vermont with regard to developing a low-level waste disposal site within the State may

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permit the licensee to regain access to the existing low level waste disposal sites until 199 ,

3.4 Ouality Assurance The' licensee's program for the assurance of quality in the radwaste program included the use of periodic surveillances, and-audits: of the Process Control Program and principle vendors. The-licensee contracted for these-surveillances and audits .from the Yankee Atomic Electric Compan ,

Surveillances were conducted by the Quality Surveillance Group

' based upon a proposed schedule submitted to.the licensee. One surveillance of the radwaste program had been conducted in 1990, in the area of inspection of the interim radwaste storage facility. This surveillance had excellent scope.and technical

depth,.and identified four deficiencies which were resolved by the licensee in a timely manner. At the time of this-inspection, no surveillances were scheduled of material shipments, since the licensee is locked out of the low-level waste disposal sites. In addition, no surveillances were scheduled of the in-plant processing of' spent resins because of the associated contamination concerns and'ALARA considerations (See Paragraph 3.1).

t Annual-audits of the radwaste program were conducted by the-Yankee -

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Atomic Quality Assurance Division, Audit VY-90-09, dated March 30, 1990,- was the most recent audit conducted'in this area. While

.the technical depth of this audit was very good, it did not examine the; current- Process _ Control Program; nor the contamination and ALARA problems associated with it, in spite of antaudit~

finding related to continued problems with contamination being spre:d from the cask area where the dried resins were. placed in'

the HIC .5 Trainina Initial and continuing training of the radiation protection staff in the area of radwaste processing and packaging was contained in Training Program AHP-10-001, "Radwaste Program". All radiation protection technicians were given initial radwaste training,.

generally within the first six months at the plant. Continuing training was last given in October,1988. No additional training was scheduled for 1990 in this area. The licensee indicated that scheduling of radwaste training for 1991 would be considere !

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' K >: "4. : Exit I'nterview

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The inspectors met with the 1_icensee representatives denoted in Section l'at the. conclusion of the inspection on July 20, 1990. The inspectors' ,

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summarized the purpose; scope and findings of the inspectio :

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