IR 07100117/2012017
| ML20198N440 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 03013027, 03021073, 07100117, 03022274 |
| Issue date: | 01/13/1998 |
| From: | Pederson C NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | Morgan J ARMY, DEPT. OF |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20198N445 | List: |
| References | |
| 30-13027-97-02, 30-13027-97-2, 30-21073-97-02, 30-21073-97-2, 30-22274-97-02, 30-22274-97-2, EA-97-059, EA-97-350, EA-97-59, NUDOCS 9801210074 | |
| Download: ML20198N440 (4) | |
Text
January 13, 1998
SUBJECT:
NRC INSPECTION REPORTS 030-13027/97002(DNMS);
030-21073/97002(DNMS); AND 030-22274/97002(DNMS); STATUS OF CONFIRMATORY ORDER MODIFYING LICENSE; AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION
Dear Mr. Morgan:
This refers to the inspections conducted on November 17 through December 17,1997, at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois: Ft. Benning, Georgia; and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The inspections included a review of activities authorized by NRC License Nos. 12-00722-06, 12 0072213, and 12 0072214. This also refers to the telephone conversation between members of our staffs on December 22,1997, and to our rr /lew of your letter dated December 23,1997, regarding proposed changes to previous commitments made pursuant to the Confirmatory Order Modifying License (Order), issued March 26,1997. The purposes of the inspections were to review: (1) the status of your previous commitments made pursuant to the referenced Order, (2) your response to the Notice of Violation and Proposed imposition of Civil Penalties, issued on November 12,1997, and (3) those incidents that the Armaments and Chemical Acquisition and Logistics Activity (ACALA) reported to the NRC between April 1,1997, and December 12,1997. The results of our review were discussed with you and Mr. Vemon Vondera, of your staff, at the end of the inspection.
The inspection determined that the Army, specifically ACALA, had made progress in meeting the milestones to which it committed, which were confirmed in the Order, and which were addressed b your letters dated April 24, June 15, July 16, and September 9,1997, submitted in response to individual milestones contained in the Order. However, three issues were identified during the inspection that involved missed milestones and one commitment for which no action had been taken to date. We are also concemed about a violation identified during the November 17 through 24,1997, inspection in which the Army failed to provide radiation safety training to personnel at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Lastly, a contamination incident that occurred at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, that you reported to the NRC on December 2,1997, is under continuing NRC review.
The two issues involving missed corrective action milertones appear to have been beyond your immediate control and aew milestones where addressed in your December 23,1997 letter. The first issue pertained to the removal of Marine Corps activities from your NRC licenses, specifically
the use of the M43A1 Chemical Agent Detector, authorized under License No. 12-00722-13.
Your commitment, submitted in a letter dated September 9,1997, included a milestone of I
December 31,1997, for the issuance of a permit to the Marine Corps by the Navy for the use of emiaioo74,g3o,,
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4 t that device, unuer the Navy's NRC Master Materials License. The milestone was part of a commitment that the Marine Corps had made to the Army. For reasons beyond ACALA's control, the Marine Corps had not requested a permit from the Navy for the use of the M43A1 as of this inspection. Based on your staff's discussions with the cognizant Marine Corps personnel, it is our understanding that you believe that the Navy will issue the necessary permit to the Marine Corps by March 31,1998. The second missed milestone pertained to your inability to confirm that the necessary radiation safety training had been included in the relevant lesson plans at schools that provided instruction in the use of commodities !icensed to ACALA for the
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Department of Defense. This commitment was also part of the September 9,1997, corrective ar tion plan. Again, for reasons beyond ACALA's control, the cognizant Army Major Command, the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), was reluctant to commit training resources to provide basic radiation safety instruction for those commodities. Subsequent to our inspection, you received confirmation from TRADOC management representatives that radiation safety training will be included in the routine program of instruction for that equipment. It is our understanding that you will receive TRADOC's plan for inclusion of radiation safety training into the relevant programs of instruction by February 28,1998. Please provide a copy of that schedule to us by March 31,1998.
The final issue pertained to your intent to confirm that each local and installation radiological protection officer (RPO) for licensed activities maintained an awareness of and compliance with all NRC requirements that were applicable to that locale or organizat!on. In item 1.c. of your letter dated April 24,1997, provided in response to the Order, ACALA committed to direct the Major Command (MACOM) radiation safety officers (RSOs) to certify that their subordinate RPGs were in compliance with license requirements for all ACALA-managed licenses. ACALA had not established a milestone date for that action, and, as of this inspection, had not initiated that certification process, apparently due to a lack of effective coordination between the previous, interim Chief of ACALA Safety and the individual who currently holds that position. On December 22,1997 Mr. Vemon Vondera, of your staff, in a telephone conversation with Jamnes Cameron, of my staff, committed to complete the certification process, through the MACOM RSOs, by June 12,1998.
Notwithstanding the progress that ACALA has made in correcting the previously identified programmatic deficiencies, we are concemed about the results of our inspect!ons at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. During our in::pection at Ft. Benning, from November 17 through 24,1997, we determined that the necessary radiation safety training, required by Condition 12 of License No. 12-0072-06, had not been provided to a U.S. Army unit (3rd Battalion,75th Ranger Regiment) that possessed and used M224 mortars, containing material authorized under that license. The violation is descrit ed in the enclosed Notice of Violation. This problem is similar to a pvious violation that was issued in our November 12, 1997, Notice of Violation and Proposer' m.osition of Civil Penalties. Since corrective actions for the previous violation, which were pro %d in your September 9,1997, corrective action plan and December 12,1997, Reply to a N: : a of Violation, appear to address this current violation,
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no further response is required to this cerrent example of the violation. We will review your continuing efforts to provide the required training to all personnel who use ACALA-licensed commodities during future inspections.
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. On December 5,1997, we conducted a specialinspecton at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to followup on an incident that you reporied to the NRC on December 2,1997. The incident involved a contamination event in a classroom at that facility that resulted from a dropped source containing approximately 5 curies of tritium. The source was apparently removed from an M58 aiming post light by an instructor who was not authorized to perform that
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activity, and was performed at a location for which the Army was not authorized. This incident is similar to an event that occurred in April 1997 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, in which another instructor caused a contamination event while removing a tritium source from a fire control device, an activity for which he was not authorized. The current incident is under continuing NRC review. You will be notified by separate cover of the results of our deliberations.
In addition, we have reviewed your letter dated July 16,1997, submitted in response to Paragraph D of the March 26,1997, Order, which required you to contact the other Service
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Branenes to determine if other, previously unidentified incidents had occurred with ACALA-licensed commodities and to perform a root cause analysis on all events that had occurred since January 1995. The submittal met the milestone for that Paragraph of the Order and we reviewed the contents of that submittal with your staff during this inspection.
The contents of the submittal appeared to adequately address the requirements of the Order and we have no further questions regarding this item of the Order.
Furthermore, we reviewed the other aspects of your September 9,1997, corrective action plan, submitted in response to Paragraph E of the Order. Based on our review, it is our understanding that your last milestone for completion of corrective actions for the problems identified during our December 1996 through Mamh 1997 inspection will be met by June 30, 1998. This includes the revised milestones described above. We will continue to review the status and effectiveness of your corrective action plan during future inspections.
No specific response to this letter is required. However, if your understanding differs from ours on any of the issues described in this letter, or if you are subsequently unable to meet the milestone discussed during the December 22,1997, telephone conversation between our staffs or the revised milestones contained in your December 23,1997, letter, please contact Jamnes Cameron, of my staff, immediately upon making such a determination at (630) 829 9833.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practices," a copy of this letter will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR).
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o a If you have any questions regarding this inspection, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely, Original signed by Cynthia D. Pederson, Director Division of Nuclear Materials Safety License Nos.: 12-00722 06 12 00722 13 12-00722 14 Docket Nos.: 030-13027 030-21073 030-22274 Enclosure: Notice of Violation Distribution:
PUBLIC IE 07 w/encI R. J. Canlano, Rlli w/enci J. Lieberman, OE w/ encl A. B. Beach. Riti w/enci Rlli Enf. Coordinator w/ encl J. Goldberg, OE w/enci J. L Caldwell, Rif t w/ encl CAA1 w/enci D. Cool, NMSS w/enci DOCDESK w/enci DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\lNSPRPTS\\MTLS\\030\\03013027.981
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