IR 05000416/1993022

Insp Rept 50-416/93-22 on 931122-23.Violations Noted.Major Areas Inspected:Nonroutine Event Involving Radioactive Waste Processing & Disposal

ML20059B933
Person / Time
Site:	Grand Gulf
Issue date:	12/11/1993
From:	Decker T, David Jones NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:
Shared Package
ML20059B917	List: IR 05000416/1993022 ML20059B912 ML20059B924
References
50-416-93-22, NUDOCS 9401040295
Download: ML20059B933 (5)

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1. a aucut UNfTED STATES

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION il 4- E 101 MARIETTA STREET, N.W., SUITE 2900 -

p ATLANTA, GEORGIA 3032H199 l

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%.f,..' Ogg 151983 i Report No.: 50-416/93-22 Licensee: Entergy Operations, In [

Jackson, MS 39205  ;

Docket No.: 50-416 License No.: NPF-29 Facility Name: Grand Gulf f

Inspection Conducted: November 22-23, 1993 Inspector: O Mb D. W." Jon6s' .

/k/d/93 Date Signed I

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Approved by: V "A C / k // J T. R. Decker, Chief Date Signed Radiological Effluents and Chemistry Section Radiological Protection and Emergency Preparedness Branch Division of Radiation Safety and Safeguards SUMMARY Scope:

This special, unannounced inspection was conducted in response to a nonroutine  :

event involving radioactive waste processing and disposa Results: {

i One violation was identifie j

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The licensee had failed to comply with the state and disposal site requirements for free standing liquid in dewatered ion exchange resins shipped to the disposal site (Paragraph 2).

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9401040295 931215 PDR ADDCK 05000416 G PDR i

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REPORT DETAILS j

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l Persons Contacted l Licensee Employees j

• Carver, Specialist, Radiological Control

• D. Coulter, Supervisor, Radiological Control  :

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• L. Daughtery, Superintendent, Plant Licensing ^

• C Derriso, Supervisor, Radwaste Operations

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• C. Dugger, Manager, Operations

• C. Hutchinson, Vice President, Nuclear Operations l

• J. Landers, Supervisor, Radiological Control i

• Larson, Lead Auditor, Quality Programs ,

• H. Michalski, Coordinator, Radwaste Operations  !

• J. Reaves, Technical Coordinator, Quality Programs l

• R. Ruffu.. Specialist, Licensing l

• T. Tankersloy, Superintendent, Radiological Control  !

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Other licensee employees contacted included engineers, technicians, and j administrative personne i Nuclear Regulatory Commission l

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• R. Bernhard, Senior Resident Inspector C. Hughey, Resident Inspector l

• Sykes, Intern  ;

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• Attended exit interview l Onsite Follow-up for Nonroutine Events (92700)  !

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On November 18, 1993, the NRC Region II Office received notification .

from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control !

(SCDHEC) that a contiiner of radioactive waste which arrived at the land disposal facility operated by Chem-Nuclear Systems in Barnwell, SC, had :

been randomly selected for testing and found to contain free standing j liquid in excess of the allowable limit. The container was a 210 gallon

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capacity carbon steel type liner containing dewatered ion exchange ;

resins and had been shipped by the licensee on November 8, 1993, to the disposal facility. In response to that notification this onsite ,

inspection was conducted to review the licensee's program for preparing i ion exchange rcsins for shipment and to review the circumstances which '

precipitated this Oven I Technical Specification (TS) 6.8.19 required the licensee to establish, implement, and maintain written procedures covering implementation of I the Process Control Program (PCP). TS 1.32 specified that the PCP shall contain the current formulas, sampling, analyses, test, and i determinations to be made to ensure that processing and packaging of I solid radioactive wastes, based on demonstrated processing of actual or

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simulated wet solid wastes, will be accomplished in such a way as to assure compliance with 10 CFR Parts 20, 61, and 71, State regulations, burial ground requirements, and other requirements governing the disposal of solid radioactive waste. Condition 36 of License No. 097, >

issued to Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc, Barnwell, South Carolina, by the State of South Carolina, specified that the licensee (Chem-Nuclear) may receive resins and filter media in dewatered form provided that the free standing liquid requirements of Condition 32 were met. Condition 3 specified that solidified radioactive waste shall have no detectable free standing liquids in excess of one-half percent (0.5%) by waste volume of non-corrosive liquids per containe The inspector toured the processing area used for dewatering resins and '

packaging them for disposal. During the tour the licensee's cognizant radiological control supervisor described the process and equipment used by their vendor for those operations. The inspector noted that the area was clean and the equipment maintained in an operable condition. The licensee provided the following description of the resin dewatering process. The resins were routinely sluiced from the spent resin storage tank into specially designed shipping containers equipped with internal tubing and filters for dewatering the resins. Both bead and powdered type resins were used at the facility and due to the differences in their dewatering characteristics the licensee used shipping containers with internal components specifically designed for dewatering each of those types of resin. After excess water was pumped out of the containers, air was recirculated through the resins to further reduce the water content. The air recirculation system heated the air blown into the container and through the resins. The warm air absorbed moisture as it passed through the resins and the moist air exhausted from the container was then chilled to condense the water vapor. The air was recirculated through the resins for a specified period of time, after which the percent relative humidity of the recirculated air was monitored. The relative humidity was used as an indirect indicator of the remaining water content. Air recirculation continued until a specified relative humidity was achieved, which indirectly indicated that the amount of free standing liquid in the container was within the allowable limi The licensee also described the sequence of events which resulted in the shipment of a container of dewatered resins with free standing liquid in excess of the allowable limit. On October 8,1993, approximately 100 cubic feet (cu. ft.) of resins were transferred directly from the Floor Drain Demineralizer into a shipping container designed for dewatering bead type resins. The bead resin type container was selected because the Floor Drain Demineralizer normally contained only bead resins. The licensee attempted to pump the excess water from the container but found that the internal filter was clogged with powdered resins. Further '

investigation revealed that a torn Floor Drain Filter had allowed powdered resins to enter the Floor Drain Demineralizer. After consulting with the vendor's technical support personnel, a decision was made to dewater the mixture of bead and powdered resins with a powdered resin *

type shipping container. Approximately 95 cu. ft. of the mixed resins

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were transferred from the Floor Drain Demineralizer into the powdered J resin type container. On October 11, 1993, the mixed resins in the bead i'

resin type container were transferred to the powdered resin type container. On October 12, 1993, approximately 15 cu. ft. of bead type resins were transferred from the Spent Resin Storage Tank into the ,

powdered resin type container and dewatering of that container was '

commenced. Drying of the resins continued until October 14, 1993, when '

l the relative humidity criterion was achieved and on October 18, 1993, the container was placed in a shipping cask. During preparation for shipment the container was tested and found to be generating methan '

The container was removed from the cask and the resins were treated with biocide. The resins were redried to meet the relative humidity criterion and then shipped to the disposal facility on November 8,1993. The licensee was informed by the disposal facility operator on November 12, .

1993, that the container had been randomly selected for testing to verify compliance with the limit for free standing liquid. The container +

was punctured and 6.15 gallons of liquid drained from the container. On l November 15, 1993, the opposite side of the container was punctured and :

an additional 3.27 gallons of liquid drained from the container. The total volume of resins in the container was 180 cu. ft., therefore the 9.42 gallons (1.26 cu. ft.) of liquid collected from the container represented 0.7 percent of the waste volume. As indicated above the 1 allowable limit for free standing liquid was 0.5 percent by waste volume per container. Upon notification of the results from the first ;

penetration test, the licensee suspended shipment of containers bearing '

the same mixture of resins and initiated an investigation into the cause of this event. A Quality Deficiency Report was also issued to document the preliminary results of the investigation and the initial corrective ,

actions taken to preclude recurrence. The vendor's initial corrective action was to issue a memorandum to their site representatives to assure <

that no bead resins are introduced into the bottom of any. container equipped with tubing and filers designed specifically for dewatering -

powdered resins. That memorandum also indicated that bead resins or mixtures of bead and powdered resins may be allowed into the top portions for the above type of containers only if the bottom portion of l the container is filled with pure powdered resins and only if prior approval has been obtained from the vendors Engineering and Operations Department. The licensee's initial corrective actions were to initiate i monitoring of the Floor Drain effluent for suspended solids as an J indicator of the integrity of the Floor Drain Filter and to provide an '

alert that powdered resin may have been introduced into the Floor Drain Demineralizer. The licensee also requested their vendor to validate the accuracy af the calibration for the instrumentation used fer the dewatering proces I The inspector reviewed the licensee's PCP, the vendors's PCP, and the vendor's procedure for dewatering resins. The licensee's PCP indicated that compliance with federal, state, and disposal site requirements was assured by adherence to their vendor's PCP and procedures. The vendor's PCP included documentation that bead and powdered resins could be successfully dewatered by using equipment designed specifically for each type of resin. The vendor's PCP also indicated that testing and l

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evaluation should be conducted before attempting to dewater wastes of ,

different consistency. The vendor's procedure also included cautions to ;

assure that the proper dewatering equipment was being used for the type ,

of resin being prepared for disposal. As indicated above, after the ,

. licensee and the vendor site representative discovered that a mixture of :

bead and powdered resins had been initially transferred into the bead resin type dewatering container, they consulted with the vendor's ;

technical support personnel before attempting to dewater the mixture in ,

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the powdered resin type dewatering containe :

The inspector also reviewed the licensee's records pertaining to this event and determined that the above information was thoroughly documente ;

Based on the above reviews, it was concluded that the licensee had

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failed to comply the state and disposal site requirements for free standing liquid in dewatered resins shipped to the disposal site (VIO 50-416/93-22-01).

One violation was identifie ;

i Exit Interview  ;

The inspection scope and results were summarized on November 23, 1993, i with those persons indicated in Paragraph 1. The inspector _ described the areas inspected and discussed in detail the inspection results listed above. No dissenting comments were received from the licensee, t Proprietary information was reviewed during this inspection but is not t contained in this repor !

Item Number Description and Reference 50-416/93-22-01 VIO - Failure to comply with state and disposal site requirements for free standing liquid in resins shipped to the :

disposal site (Paragraph 2).

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