IR 05000338/1989009

Insp Repts 50-338/89-09 & 50-339/89-09 on 890522-24.No Violations or Deviations Noted.Major Areas Inspected:Primary & Secondary Chemistry,Radwaste Processing,Radioactive Effluents & Environ Monitoring

ML20245F383
Person / Time
Site:	North Anna
Issue date:	06/09/1989
From:	Dan Collins, Stoddart P NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:
Shared Package
ML20245F375	List: IR 05000338/1989009 ML20245F371
References
RTR-REGGD-01.021, RTR-REGGD-04.008, RTR-REGGD-1.021, RTR-REGGD-4.008 50-338-89-09, 50-338-89-9, 50-339-89-09, 50-339-89-9, NUDOCS 8906280124
Download: ML20245F383 (8)

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', g CE49 UNITED STATES jo NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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. Lf ,j 101 MARIETTA STREET, N.W.

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~t ATLANTA, GEORGI A 30323

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.... JUN 12 G89

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Report Nos.: 50-338/89-09 and 50-339/89-09 Licensee: Virginia Electric and Power Company Glen Allen, VA 23060 Docket Hos.: 50-338 and 50-339 License Nos.: NPF-4 and NPF-7 Facility Name: North Anna 1 and 2 Inspection Conc'ucted: May 22-24, 1989 Inspector: M8'kN- 6 - 4 -f*J gtys P. G. Stoddart Date Signed Approved by: /f/ Weds h/' ( b to - 4-81 Douglas M. Collins, Acting Chief Date Signed Radiological Effluents and Chemistry Section Emergency Preparedness and Radia ogical Protection Branch Division of Radiation Safety and Safeguards SUMMARY Scope: i l

This routine, unannounced inspection was conducted in the areas of primary and secondary chemistry, radwaste processing, radioactive effluents, environmental monitoring, and chemistry technician trainin Results:

Licensee releases of tritium in liglid effluents were the highest in Region II during 1988; the licensee had been making efforts to identify the source Traininc chemistry technicians was reviewed and found to be adequate. Plant chemistry appeared to be functioning well and primary and secondary water chemistry was being maintained within owners group guidelines. Sludge lancing of the steam generators of both units continued to produce large masses of material, even under optimum chemistry conditions; the amount Unit I sludge was substantially greater than the amount of sludge from Unit Semi-Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Reports and Radiological Environmental Reports for 1988 appeared to be adequat No violations or deviations were identifie ,

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l REPORT' DETAILS Persons Contacted

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Licensee Employee J. Almond, Chemistry Trainer M. Bowling, Assistant Station Manager E. Curtis, Chemistry Trainer

• E. Dreyer, Supervisor, Health Physics

• R. Enfinger, Assistant Station Manager ,

• J. Leverstien, Licensing Engineer

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• C, Snow, Supervisor, Chemistry Other licensee employees contacted. during this inspection included engineers, operators, technicians, and administrative personne NRC Resident Inspectors J. Caldwell L. King

• Attended exit interview Plant Chemistry (84750)

This inspection continued a program established previously to evaluate the licensee's capabilities, within the general area of plant chemistry, to prevent or minimize degradation of the primary coolant and secondary coolant systems and other plant systems from chemically-related corrosion or erosion mechanisms. During this inspection, the inspector concentrated on followup of prior inspection observations, evaluation of existing licensee programs, status of proposed licensee programs, and on plant status items relating to chemistr Plant Status Since the last inspection in this area (Inspection Report (IR)

50-338, 339/88-25,. dated September 7, 1988), Unit 1 had undergone an outage for refueling and a second, unscheduled, shutdown as the result of damage to a steam generator resulting from a loose plu Unit 2 completed an outage for routine refueling. At the time of the inspection, Unit 2 was at full power and Unit 1 was shutdown as a result of the loose plug even On the Unit 2 startup, a short

" chemistry hold" was required at 30 percent (%) to correct " hideout return" of silica and sulfate which appeared on system heat-up, as expecte !

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2 Corrosion Control The licensee continued to use an all-volatile-treatment (AVT)

chemistry control program which had been modified. to utilize hydrazine to control pH and to remove dissolved oxygen. A concentration of 5-6 parts per million (ppm) of boric acid was used

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in the steam generator secondary water to minimize or prevent steam generator tube denting; within the resultant pH being maintained between pH 6 and pH 8, which was within Westinghouse Owners Group (WOG) guidelines for presurrized water reactor (PWR) with cooper-containing alloys in system feedwater heater tubes. The licensee replaced four out of eight copper alloy feedwater heater cube bundles during the 1989 outages of Units 1 and 2, but four remained in the system. With copper alloy feedwater heaters in the system, the licensee was unable to raise the pH level to the higher levels recommended by WOG for plants having non-copper-bearing alloys in the syste Control of pH in the secondary coolant water and steam in the high pressure steam and drainline systems was a function of the concentration of ammonia (from hydrazine decomposition), which tends to follow the steam phase and of boric acid, only about 10% of which volatilizes into steam in the steam generator and subsequently tends to follow the condensat The licensee's earlier proposals to further modify the secondary water chemistry by adding morpholine to the feedwater were still in the study phase at the time of this inspectio The implementation of chemistry control for the secondary system had been successful in reaching the goal of water purity but apparently had minimal success in slowing the rate of corrosion in the systems.

l The amounts of solid corrosion products (iron and copper oxides from l

the steam generators) were higher for the 1989 outages than in the 1987 outages, as shown below:

L 1987 Outages 1989 Outages

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1A 667 pounds 1A 1,583 pounds

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1B 1,610 pounds 1B 1,417 pounds IC 1,250 pounds 1C unavailable at time of inspection 2A 270 pounds 2A 288 pounds 2B 203 pounds 28 312 pounds 2C 265 pounds 2C 226 pounds For Unit 2, the increase in total weight was 12%, part or all of ;

which could be attributable to improved recovery technique However, the increase in total weight for Unit 1 was not fully determined as of the end of the inspection because steam generator 1C i

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had not yet been cleaned. The Unit I weights in both years were more than three times larger than for Unit 2, indicate that corrosion in Unit 1 was at a significantly higher rate than in Unit 2, although chemistry conditions were essentially similar in both units. As of the time of the inspection, no resolution of the differences between corrosion in Units 1 and 2 had been mad The licensee had initiated study programs on the effects of morpholine on plant metals and systems, and implementing added inservice inspection, and was considering a corporate study of corrosion product transpor c. Primary and Secondary Coolant Chemistry Programs The inspector discussed the licensee's primary and secondary coolant chemistry program with licensee representatives, reviewed chemistry logs, and reviewed quality control correlations between on-line chemistry monitoring readouts and analyses of periodic grab sample The primary coolant chemistry parameters being tracked included boron, lithium, primary coolant temperature, percent of full power, dose-equivalent iodine (DEI), decontamination factor for primary coolant cleanup; and reactor coolant gas activity. Secondary coolant parameters monitored included pH, conductivity, cation conductivity, sodium (in ppm). Feedwater was sampled and analysed for silica, sodium, chloride, fluoride, and sulfate, all in pp A review of i logs and of online monitoring instrumentation indicated all parameters to be within anticipated bound for Unit 2. Unit 1 was in shutdown at the time of the inspectio Licensee representatives informed the inspector that plans to equip the cleanup demineralized powdered resin units with 70-mesh inserts, to minimize the amount of resin escaping to the secondary system, had not been carried past the placement of the 70-mesh inserts in the Units 2 "D" vessel only, for test purpose It was considered that J placing new 70-mesh inserts might not be cost-beneficial. With the J rate of steam generator blowdown accomplishing a degree of condensate cleanup, the licensee was reviewing the possibility of deleting the powder resin demineralizers completel In IR No. 50-338, 339/88-25, the inspector noted that the hydrogen overpressure on the primary coolant had been reduced so as to lower l the solubility limit for hydrogen from 50 cc/kg to 35 cc/kg. This l action was in response to information that high concentrations of I dissolved hydrogen appeared to be conducive to stress corrosion l cracking of steam generator tubes. The inspector was informed the  ;

experience to date with operation at the lower overpressure had been 1

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inconclusiv I

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i Quality control checks of online instrumentation correlation with laboratory analyses of grab samples indicated reasonably consistent agreement between instrument readouts and grab sample analysis results, with the expected variances occurring at very low concentration values for certain parameter One out-of-specification measurement of dissolved oxygen was found on May 12, 1989, with an online reading (relative to grab sc, ple analysis) for a sample from the Unit 2 "B" steam generator blowdow The online chemistry monitoring program was well suited to computer-generated data trending chart The licensee was observed to make wide distribution of trend charts. The hourly and daily computer printouts for the period of May 8-21,1989, were reviewed together with the trending charts for the same period and were observed to correlate well. All data appeared to be reasonably consistent, with expected statistical fluctuation Occasionally

" bad" notations appeared about 1% to 2% of the time, particularly on the sodium and chloride monitors, with most of' the " bad" notations being attributed to Unit 2 startup condition No violations or deviations were identifie . Training (84750)

The inspector visited the licensee's onsite training facility and discussed chemistry technician training with licensee representative The inspector also reviewed training lesson plans and student self-study materials and discussed training experience and problem areas with members of the training staf The inspector noted that training facilities for hands-on training of chemistry technicians, while adequate, were not as comprehensive as to the licensee's Surry facilit The Surry facility had an operating chemistry laboratory for training, complete with all special analytical equipment, including a full scale simulator of High Ramp Sampling System (HRSS - or post-accident sampling system (PASS)), none of which was provided at North Ann At times, North Anna chemistry technicians were sent to the Surry facility for the purpose of using the Surry training facility chemistry laboratory for training; however, the HRSS used at Surry, while similar to that used at North Anna, is sufficiently different as to prevent the use of the Surry HRSS simulator to train North Anna technician The North Anna training lesson plans and student self-study material were adequate, but not of the same quality as that at Surr The inspector reviewed the student self-study ma'urial for the training modules on the atomic absorption (AA) apparatus and on the ion chromatograph (10). The material included reproductions of positions of the manufacturer's handbooks on the instrument The material was considered to be adequate for training purposes.

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The inspector also reviewed completed weekly surveillance on the HRS Technician notes indicated a need for improved maintenance on the HRSS, including cracking of hoses. Ther surveillance also noted such items as the floor at the HRSS sampling station not being level and causing problems in moving and placement of the shielded cask cart, technicians being required.to wear full face respirators without benefit of special respirator-fitted eyeglasses, and difficulty in communicating while

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wearing full-face respirator No violations or deviations were identifie . Semi-Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Reports and Radiological Environmental Report for 1988 The inspector reviewed the Semi-Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Reports and the 1988 Radiological Environmental Report and discussed the contents with licensee representative The Effluent Release Reports data for the licensee's facility were compared with those of other operating PWRs in Region II. With the exception of releases of tritium in liquid effluents, licensee's gaseous and liquid effluents were lower than unit averages for 24 operating PWRs in Region I Conversely, reported tritium releases of approximately 970 Ci/yr per unit were the highest in Region II and were approximately times the Region II unit average and 28% higher than the next highest plant in Region II. In discussions with licensee representatives, it was noted that the licensee had been aware of the magnitude of the tritium releases and in particular with the resultant elevated tritium concentration which had been measured in Lake Anna over the past several year Gaseous and liquid radioactive effluents for 1986 through 1988 were tabulated below. The 1988 Region II unit average releases are also shown for comparative purpose Unit Releases Ci/Yr 1988 Region II 1986 1987 1988 Average / Unit, Ci/Yr Noble Gases 2.85E+03 5.25E+02 2.41E+02 2.36E+03 ledines and 1.16E-02 8.65E-03 9.35E-04 1.20E-02 Particulate (Aerosols)

Tritium (Gaseous) 3.65E+01 8.65E+00 4.72E+01 4.96E+01 Mixed Fission 4.71E-01 6.50E-01 2.16E-01 8.1E-01 Products (Liquid)

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Tritium.'(Liquid) 9.81E+02 4.18E+02 9.70E+02 4.21E+02

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L * Releases shown are for each Uni For total site releases, multiply each value'by tw The' licensee Annual Environmental Report for 1988 showed the trends in tritium concentration in lake water from 1977 through 1988. Periodic variations in concentrations may be seen from the trends,- but the overall result was ' a increase from a preoperational background of approximate 1y '

300 pCi/1 to about 2,000 pC1/1 at the time of this inspection. The 1988 value for tritium in lake water was on the order of 3,000 pCi/1, with a .

range of 1,110 to'4,130 pCi/1. The tritium concentration being seen in the lake was at approximately the level anticipated in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. (UFSAR) and was a small fraction of the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of 10 CFR Part 20, Appendix B,. Table II, Column 2 (Offsite population MPC = 3x10 8uci/mi or 3E+06 pCi/1).

The licensee's Annual ' Environmental Report did not identify any other radionuclides as being present in the lake water in concentrations above the Lower Limit of Detection (LLD). The inspector noted that in April.1988, the licensee reported that demineralized beds utilized in the processing of lake water for plant feedwater purposes had been found to contain low levels of radioactive material, which were considered to be attributable to low-level contamination of Lake - Anna. The levels of-activity on the demineralized resi".s were determined to be below the exempt quantities and concentrations set forth under 10 CFR 30.14, Schedule The levels detected were only made pos5ible by the accumulation of radioactive material on ion exchange resins through the passage of many thousands of gallons of lake water; such methods are not required to be used in the collection and analysis environmental sample Both the Semi-Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Reports and the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Reports appeared to be complete and contained the required information as set fourth in Regulatory Guide 1.21 and Regulatory Guide 4.8. The inspector concluded that the reports were adequat No violations or deviations were identifie ~. Exit Interview The inspection scope and results were summarized on May 24, 1989, with those persons indicated in Paragraph 1. The inspector described the areas inspected and discussed in detail the inspection results listed abcv Proprietary information is not contained in this repor Dissenting comments were not received from the license Plant chemistry appeared to be functioning well, with primary and secondary water chemistry being maintained within owners groups guidelines. Sludge lancing of steam generators continued to produce large masses of material, even under prescribed optimum chemistry control. The

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f volume of sludge removed from Unit 1 was substantially larger than sludge

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from Unit 2. Semiannual Radioactive Effluent Reports for 1988 and the Radiological Environmental Report for 1988 were reviewed and found to be d adequat Licensee releases of tritium from the site were greater than ;

from other Region 11 plants; the licensee was investigating to determine )

the cause. Training of chemistry technicians was found to be adequat !

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