ML102090566

E-Mail from Bonser to Hamilton, Update on Browns Ferry CST Overlow

ML102090566
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	04/08/2010
From:	Brian Bonser NRC/RGN-II/DRS/PSB1
To:	Hamilton R NRC/RGN-II/DRS/PSB1
References
FOIA/PA-2010-0209
Download: ML102090566 (2)

Text

From: Bonser, Brian Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:47 AM To: Hamilton, Ruben

Subject:

FW: Update on Browns Ferry CST Overflow For inclusion in the groundwater data base.

From: Gepford, Heather )" ,

Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 10:55 AM To: Bonser, Brian; Wert, Leonard; Kontz, Craig; Ross, Thierry; Guthrie, Eugene; Lubinski, John

Subject:

Update on Browns Ferry CST Overflow I spoke with Paul Sawyer, the RPM at Browns Ferry, about the overflowof CST #5.

As stated in the Event Report, water was being transferred from CST #3 to CST #5, with the intent of filling the 40' tank to the 38' level. The transfer was stopped when the tank level indicated 38'. However, there was a pipe with an open valve located below the 38' level. When operators tried to close the valve, they were unsuccessful.

The tank level is currently being administratitively controlled with a control room hold card. A blind flange will be installed on the pipe later today to prevent future occurences.

Investigation has found that the pipe and valve are NOT on plant drawings and are NOT on the other four CSTs. Part of their followup is to determine when/why this pipe and valve were installed and why it is not indicated on plant drawings. They will also be reviewing the 50.75(g) files to determine if any previous CST overflows have occurred and whether that may have been the reason for installing the pipe.

A sample of the CST water was taken and analyzed, with the following results:

Tritium 2.03E-3 uCi/mI Co-60 8.90E-5 uCi/mI Co-58 3.22E-6 uCi/mi Mn-54 3.40E-6 uCi/mI Cs-137 3.50E-6 uCi/mI Browns Ferry has excavated all the dirt to about 6" depth, where they hit dry soil. Paul believes that the total release was significantly less than 1000 gallons. The total amount of dirt excavated was approximately 15' x 4' x 5" deep, and stored in a B-25 box. The box is currently in the breezeway, protected from the elements (a storm was coming in), and has been appropriately labelled with respect to RAM. It will ultimately be disposed of as low-level waste.

They sampled the dirt during excavation and stopped when they no longer detected any gamma emitters (using the environmental LLDs) in the sample. The final soil sample was sent to WARL for tritium analysis, as they do not have the necessary detection sensitivity and techniques for counting tritium in soil. They will also be closely monitoring their groundwater wells and keep me updated on the results.

We will be inspecting the effluent program the week of June 14; this will obviously be a high priority followup item.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks, Heather MM"M Inthis record was deleted in

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Heather J. Gepford, Ph.D., CHP Sr. Health Physicist US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region I1 61 Forsyth St. SW, Suite 23T85 Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: 404-562-4659 Fax: 404-562-4979 Cell: (b)(6)