ML15146A054

NPDES Permit No. PA 0047325, Outfall 079 Fecal Coliform Excursion

ML15146A054
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	05/11/2015
From:	D'Angelo D Susquehanna
To:	Hartman J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, State of PA, Dept of Environmental Protection, Northeast Regional Office
References
PA 0047325, PLE-0025655
Download: ML15146A054 (2)

Text

ppl *Lr May 11, 2015 Jeff Hartman PADEP - Northeast Regional Office 2 Public Square Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1915 PPL SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION (SSES)

NPDES PERMIT NO. PA 0047325 OUTFALL 079 FECAL COLIFORM EXCURSION PLE-0025655

Dear Mr. Hartman,

This letter serves as the 5-day written report supporting the verbal notification made to you on May 7, 2015. The notification was to inform you of the minor NPDES permit deviation of the Fecal Coliform instantaneous maximum limit that was identified on May 6, 2015.

The causal event of the excess fecal coliform concentration was determined to be a failure of the in-service sodium hypochlorite pump.

Normal Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) operator rounds require the chemistry technician to collect and analyze a grab sample for free available chlorine during morning rounds. On the morning of May 5, the chemistry technician did just that. Ecology III (PPL's contracted laboratory) was scheduled to pick up the monthly STP fecal coliform grab sample at noon.

Due to the relatively short hold time for fecal coliform, the chemistry technician waited to collect the fecal coliform sample until shortly before the arranged pick up.

Evidently, the sodium hypochlorite pump failed on May 5 sometime after the morning free available chlorine sample was collected at 8:55am and before the fecal coliform sample collection on at 12:00pm.

Fecal coliform is a monthly grab sample. Sample analysis involves a 24-hour incubation period. The excess fecal coliform grab sample was collected on May 5, 2015 and following the analysis, PPL became aware of the excess concentration on May 6, 2015 at approximately 2:11pm.

AJHL

The monthly fecal coliform grab sample from PPL's STP, Outfall 079, was in excess of the instantaneous maximum limit permitted in NPDES permit number 0047325. The permitted instantaneous maximum limit is 1,000 cfu/ml, the monthly grab samplb result was >1,200 cfu/ml.

At the same time that PPL was learning of the permit exceedence, the chemistry technician also noticed that they were unable to measure free available chlorine effluent concentration despite several pump stroke increases. This prompted the chemistry technician to change sodium hypochlorite pumps and place the spare pump in service. Sodium hypochlorite injection was re-established on May 6, 2015 at approximately 1:40pm.

Additional fecal coliform samples are in progress to demonstrate NPDES permit compliance during normal operating conditions. This event will be documented on Pa DEP's "Non-Compliance Reporting Form" and uploaded in the May 2015 Discharge Monitoring Report.

Please don't hesitate to contact Kathy Ervin at (570) 542-3999 if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely, Dominic D'Angelo Manager - Plant Chemistry PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Boulevard (NUCSA3)

Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Copy: U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Attn: Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555-0001