Information Notice 2016-06, Uranium Hexafluoride Cylinders With Potentially Defective 1-Inch Valves

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Uranium Hexafluoride Cylinders With Potentially Defective 1-Inch Valves
ML15303A504
Person / Time
Issue date: 05/12/2016
Revision: 0
From: Collins D S
Spent Fuel Licensing Branch
To:
Vera J
References
IN-16-006
Download: ML15303A504 (6)
v • d • e


ML15303A504 May 12, 2016 NRC INFORMATION NOTICE 2016-06: URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE CYLINDERS WITH POTENTIALLY DEFECTIVE 1-INCH VALVES

ADDRESSEES

All licensees authorized to possess and use source material or special nuclear material for the heating, emptying, filling, or shipping of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) in 30- and 48-inch cylinder All holders of, and applicants for, a specific source material license under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 40, "Domestic Licensing of Source Material." All holders of, and applicants for, a fuel cycle facility license under 10 CFR Part 70, "Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material."

Registered users of certificates of compliance for enriched (fissile) UF6 packages under 10 CFR Part 71, "Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material."

Holders of Certificates of Compliance for enriched (fissile) UF6 packages under 10 CFR Part 71, "Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material."

All State Radiation Control Program Director U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

U.S. Department of Energ

PURPOSE

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this information notice (IN) to remind addressees, including more recent NRC licensees, of performance and safety concerns regarding UF6 cylinders with 1-inch valves manufactured by the Hunt Valve Company of Salem, O The NRC expects the recipients to review the information within this IN and consider actions, as appropriate, for cylinders in their possession or that they expect to receiv However, suggestions contained in this IN are not NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action or written response is require DESCRIPTION OF CIRCUMSTANCES This section describes events involving transportation of cylinders fitted with Hunt valves that have occurred within the past 5 years:

  • During 2014, as part of the shutdown of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant operated by the former United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC)1, four 48G cylinders containing natural UF6 were shipped to Honeywel These cylinders were fitted with Hunt valve Two of the cylinders were received and inspected by Honeywell and discovered to have Hunt valves installe The other two cylinders were returned to USEC Paducah before they were receive
  • During late 2012 through early 2013, to support the Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility (MOX) project, MOX shipped eight 48G cylinders containing depleted UF6 to AREV Six of these cylinders were fitted with Hunt valve Although shipment of depleted UF6 is not within the NRC's purview, the NRC is concerned about the transportation of cylinders containing Hunt valves because these cylinders may be used in NRC-regulated activitie
  • During 2011, to support the Chinese AP1000 project, the China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation sent five 30B cylinders containing enriched UF6 cylinders to Westinghouse Electric Company, Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (Westinghouse). These cylinders were fitted with Hunt valve Westinghouse changed out the Hunt valves with acceptable cylinder valve

BACKGROUND

Several provisions of the NRC's regulations, license conditions, and certificates of compliance address the adequacy of equipment, facilities, and procedures to protect health and minimize danger to life or propert These include regulations in 10 CFR 70.23(a)(3) and (a)(4);

10 CFR 71.43, "General Standards for All Packages"; and 10 CFR 71.85, "Preliminary Determinations." These provisions also address the packaging and transportation of radioactive materia The manufacture, testing, and use of UF6 cylinder valves consistent with the provisions of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) N14.1 standard, "Uranium Hexafluoride-Packaging for Transport," provides an adequate level of assurance that the health and safety of the public and workers are protected, both for onsite operations and during transportatio The NRC has specified the use of the ANSI N14.1 standard through the NRC certificates of compliance for fissile UF6 transportation package The 10 CFR Part 71, "Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material," regulation applies to any licensee authorized by a specific or general license to receive, possess, use, or transfer licensed materia The regulations in 10 CFR 71.5, "Transportation of Licensed Material," invoke DOT requirements under 10 CFR Parts 107, 171 through 180, and 390 through 39 The DOT requirements at 49 CFR 173.420, "Uranium Hexafluoride (Fissile, Fissile Excepted, and Non-Fissile) require, in part, that packages containing UF6 be designed, fabricated, and inspected in accordance with the ANSI N14.1 standard in effect at the time the packaging was manufacture Material used to manufacture cylinder valves must meet the material stress-relief specifications stated in ANSI N1 The NRC terminated USEC's certificate of compliance for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant on October 12, 2011, and the certificate of compliance for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant on February 2, 2015, per USEC's requests, after USEC decided to end NRC-regulated activities at those site In addition, Section 5.4.6, One-inch Valves-Defect of USEC-651, "The UF6 Manual, Good Handling Practices for Uranium Hexafluoride," provides a listing of various manufacturers whose valves are considered unacceptable for us The section further states that Hunt valves are not acceptable for shipment of cylinders that contain greater than a heel quantity of UF The intent is that the valve will be replaced before re-fillin NRC has previously identified performance and safety concerns with 1-inch valves for UF6 cylinders manufactured by Hun These safety concerns have been previously documented in the following:

  • NRC Inspection Report 99902011-2001-201, issued October 25, 2001, identified a number of significant deficiencies with Hunt's compliance with quality assurance requirement
  • NRC IN 2002-31, "Potentially Defective UF6 Cylinder Valves (1-Inch)," issued on October 31, 2002, discussed safety concerns related to UF6 cylinder valves manufactured by Hun Those safety concerns involved: (1) cracked packing nuts, and (2) the loss of material traceability and failure to conduct hardness testing, for a series of heat codes, for valve stems purchased by USE
  • NRC IN 2002-31, Supplement 1, "Potentially Defective UF6 Cylinder Valves (1-Inch)," issued on March 24, 2003, discussed additional safety concerns related to UF6 cylinder valves manufactured by Hun USEC conducted a testing program, on a sample of valves, to demonstrate that the 1-inch UF6 Hunt valves would be able to perform their intended safety functio Because of those tests, several 1-inch valves manufactured by Hunt for UF6 cylinders failed the pressurized seat leakage acceptance criteria of the ANSI N14.1 standar All failed valves were from Hunt valve Vendor Lot 200027-8
  • NRC Inspection Report 70-1113/2005-001, issued March 11, 2005, identified a notice of deviation for the failure to replace all Hunt valves on the cylinders owned by the license DISCUSSION In 2003, the NRC issued Bulletin 2003-03 for the following reasons:
  • To advise addressees of the performance and safety concerns with 1-inch valves for UF6 cylinders manufactured by Hun
  • To request that action addressees take specific actions intended to identify potentially defective Hunt valves under their contro
  • To ensure cylinders with Hunt valves already installed were safely used and transported during a transition perio
  • To ensure that only valves verified to be compliant with NRC regulations, NRC licenses and certificates, and DOT regulations were in use by the end of a transition perio All action addressees were required to provide the NRC with a written response to the bulletin, detailing their plans to address their stock of Hunt valves and cylinders with Hunt valve In accordance with the bulletin's instructions, licensees submitted their plans, which were approved by the NRC as detailed in the following tabl Table 1: Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession Numbers for Licensee Responses to Bulletin 2003-03 and NRC Approvals Licensee Docket ADAMS Accession Nos. for Licensee Responses ADAMS Accession Nos. for NRC Approvals Framatome ANP, Inc. (Richland) 07001257 ML032810214 ML040850633 Global Nuclear Fuel -

Americas, LLC (Wilmington) 07000113 ML032720331 ML15272A386 ML032810007 ML041030378 Honeywell (Metropolis) 04003392 ML032751379 ML041890276 ML041030416 USEC (Paducah, Portsmouth) 07007001 07007002 ML032880118 ML041560120 ML051230301 ML040770043 ML041910540 ML051370588 Westinghouse Electric Company (Columbia) 07001151 ML032810122 ML041040537 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (Erwin) 07000143 ML032720710 No NRC response-possessed no Hunt valves In general, most licensees had a limited number of Hunt valves installed or in inventory, with the exception of USE Most of the approved plans in response to NRC Bulletin 2003-03 allowed use of the valves for purposes of storage, but required replacement of the valves before transportatio The events and circumstances previously highlighted in this IN demonstrate that some users of UF6 cylinders may lack awareness of the issu Users of UF6 cylinders should consider the information outlined in the Background section of this IN with respect to cylinders they possess or may receiv

CONTACT

This IN requires no specific action or written respons Please direct any questions about this matter to the technical contact listed belo /RA/ Daniel S. Collins, Director Division of Material, Safety, State, Tribal and Rulemaking Programs Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Technical Contact:

John Vera, NMSS/DSFM 301-415-5790 Email: john.vera@nrc.gov

Note: NRC generic communications may be found on the NRC public Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, under Electronic Reading Room/Document Collection In general, most licensees had a limited number of Hunt valves installed or in inventory, with the exception of USE Most of the approved plans in response to NRC Bulletin 2003-03 allowed use of the valves for purposes of storage, but required replacement of the valves before transportatio The events and circumstances previously highlighted in this IN demonstrate that some users of UF6 cylinders may lack awareness of the issu Users of UF6 cylinders should consider the information outlined in the Background section of this IN with respect to cylinders they possess or may receiv

CONTACT

This IN requires no specific action or written respons Please direct any questions about this matter to the technical contact listed belo /RA/

Daniel S. Collins, Director Division of Material, Safety, State, Tribal and Rulemaking Programs Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Technical Contact:

John Vera, NMSS/DSFM 301-415-5790 Email: john.vera@nrc.gov Note: NRC generic communications may be found on the NRC public Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, under Electronic Reading Room/Document Collection ADAMS Accession No.: ML15303A504 *concurred via email OFFICE NMSS/DSFM/SFLB NMSS/FCSE/ECB

  • NMSS/MSTR RII/DFFI/PB1 NMSS/FCSE/ECBNAME JVera OSiurano AMcIntosh OLopez-Santiago TGrice DATE 09/29/2015 11/09/2015 09/30/2015 11/03/2015 11/09/2015 OFFICE NMSS/DSFM/SFLB *TECH EDITORNMSS/DSFMNMSS/FCSE NMSS/MSTRNAME MSampson JDougherty MLombard CErlanger DCollins DATE 10/16/2015 3/14/2016 3/31/2016 3/28/2016 5/12/16 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY


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