ML090790543

Meeting Summary for Regulatory Conference with Northern States Power - Minnesota

ML090790543
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	03/20/2009
From:	Steven Orth Division of Reactor Safety III
To:	Wadley M Northern States Power Co
References
EA-08-349, IR-08-009
Download: ML090790543 (5)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION III 2443 WARRENVILLE ROAD, SUITE 210 LISLE, IL 60532-4352 March 20, 2009 EA-08-349 Mr. Michael D. Wadley Site Vice President Northern States Power - Minnesota Prairie Island Nuclear Power station 1717 Wakonade Drive East Welch, MN 55089

SUBJECT:

MEETING

SUMMARY

FOR REGULATORY CONFERENCE WITH NORTHERN STATES POWER - MINESOTTA (EA-08-349)

Dear Mr. Wadley:

This refers to the Regulatory Conference public meeting conducted at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region III office on March 17, 2009. This conference related to the discussion of the significance of an inspection finding and an apparent violation associated with the shipment of radioactive materials above the applicable Department of Transportation (DOT) regulatory limits, as documented in NRC Inspection Report Number 05000282/2008009; 0500306/2008009. The regulatory conference was held at your request.

Specifically, you and your staff presented a summary of the causes for the apparent violation, the associated corrective actions, and your rationale for proposing that the significance determination process (SDP) be reclassified as a white outcome. You and your staff provided some additional clarifying information. Specifically:

• Upon further review, you determined that the actual number of individuals that were not trained and qualified in accordance with 49CFR172.704 Training Requirements were 5 out of a required population of 10, instead of 9 out of 13 as described in the inspection report.

• You and your staff determined through event reconstruction that there were elevated radiation levels on the underside of the package, as opposed to on the underside of the transport trailer as described in the inspection report. Additionally, it was confirmed that the radiation levels on the underside of the transport trailer were similar to the radiation levels when the shipment left Prairie Island Station.

M. Wadley Additionally, you and your staff agreed to provide four additional pieces of information to the NRC by Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Specifically:

• Were correction factors used for the 800 mRem/Hr RO2 (ion chamber) measurement?

If not, what correction factors would be appropriate for measurements in a non-uniform radiation field based on the ANSI standard and the RO2 (ion chamber) technical manual?

(The results should be provided in terms of radiation levels instead of effective dose equivalent.)

• What corrective actions or controls are in place to ensure that radioactive contamination is essentially uniformly distributed on the material and equipment that is being shipped as surface contaminated object (SCO) II?

• What is the basis for considering the energy compensated Telepole (Gieger-Mueller) measurement inaccurate, given that vendor information and test data demonstrate that the instrument is linear in its response to Co-60 energies in the activity range of interest?

• Supply any Instructor or College Professor data that relates to an adverse impact on Telepole (Gieger-Mueller) from an energy scatter effect when measuring radiation levels on the surface of the package.

The attendance list and your presentation are enclosed with this summary. Also, a copy of your slides presented during the meeting can be found in Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) ML090700306.

There were members of the public present at this meeting. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this summary and its enclosures will be made available to the Public.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Steven K. Orth, Chief Plant Support Team Division of Reactor Safety Docket Nos. 50-282; 50-306 License Nos. DPR-42; DPR-60

Enclosures:

1. Attendance List Redacted

2. Licensee Presentation DISTRIBUTION:

See next page

Letter to Mr. Michael D. Wadley from Mr. Steven K. Orth dated March 20, 2009.

SUBJECT:

MEETING

SUMMARY

FOR REGULATORY CONFERENCE WITH NORTHERN STATES POWER - MINESOTTA (EA-08-349) cc w/encl: D. Koehl, Chief Nuclear Officer J. Anderson, Regulatory Affairs Manager P. Glass, Assistant General Counsel Nuclear Asset Manager J. Stine, State Liaison Officer, Minnesota Department of Health Tribal Council, Prairie Island Indian Community Administrator, Goodhue County Courthouse Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Commerce Manager, Environmental Protection Division Office of the Attorney General of Minnesota Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Dakota County Law Enforcement Center

M. Wadley Additionally, you and your staff agreed to provide four additional pieces of information to the NRC by Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Specifically:

• Were correction factors used for the 800 mRem/Hr RO2 (ion chamber) measurement?

If not, what correction factors would be appropriate for measurements in a non-uniform radiation field based on the ANSI standard and the RO2 (ion chamber) technical manual? (The results should be provided in terms of radiation levels instead of effective dose equivalent.)

• What corrective actions or controls are in place to ensure that radioactive contamination is essentially uniformly distributed on the material and equipment that is being shipped as surface contaminated object (SCO) II?

• What is the basis for considering the energy compensated Telepole (Gieger-Mueller) measurement inaccurate, given that vendor information and test data demonstrate that the instrument is linear in its response to Co-60 energies in the activity range of interest?

• Supply any Instructor or College Professor data that relates to an adverse impact on Telepole (Gieger-Mueller) from an energy scatter effect when measuring radiation levels on the surface of the package.

The attendance list and your presentation are enclosed with this summary. Also, a copy of your slides presented during the meeting can be found in Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) ML090700306.

There were members of the public present at this meeting. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this summary and its enclosures will be made available to the Public.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Steven K. Orth, Chief Plant Support Team Division of Reactor Safety Docket Nos. 50-282; 50-306 License Nos. DPR-42; DPR-60

Enclosures:

1. Attendance List Redacted

2. Licensee Presentation DISTRIBUTION:

See next page See Previous Concurrences DOCUMENT NAME: G:\DRS\Work in Progress\PRA ISL Regulatory Conference Summary MJP-2.doc G Publicly Available G Non-Publicly Available G Sensitive G Non-Sensitive To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the concurrence box "C" = Copy without attach/encl "E" = Copy with attach/encl "N" = No copy OFFICE RIII RIII RIII NAME MPhalen:ls SOrth PLougheed for KOBrien DATE 03/20/09 03/20/09 03/20/09 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

Letter to Mr. Michael D. Wadley from Mr. Steven K. Orth dated March 20, 2009.

SUBJECT:

MEETING

SUMMARY

FOR REGULATORY CONFERENCE WITH NORTHERN STATES POWER - MINESOTTA (EA-08-349)

DISTRIBUTION:

RidsNrrDorlLpl3-2 Tamara Bloomer RidsNrrPMPrairieIslandResource RidsNrrDirsIrib Resource Mark Satorius Jared Heck Allan Barker Carole Ariano DRPIII DRSIII Patricia Buckley Tammy Tomczak ROPreports@nrc.gov OEMAIL Kenneth OBrien Patricia Lougheed Cynthia Carpenter Catherine Marco Mary Ann Ashley