ML17056B665
| ML17056B665 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Nine Mile Point  |
| Issue date: | 02/10/1992 |
| From: | Joseph Furia, Pasciak W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17056B663 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-220-92-05, 50-220-92-5, 50-410-92-05, 50-410-92-5, NUDOCS 9202210079 | |
| Download: ML17056B665 (16) | |
See also: IR 05000220/1992005
Text
U. S.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGION I
50-220/92-05
50-220
Docket Nos.
50-410
License Nos.
Licensee:
Nia ara
Mohawk Power Cor oration
300 Erie Boulevard West
S racuse
13202
Facility Name:
Nine Mile Point Units
1 and
2
Inspection At:
L comin
Inspection
Conducted:-
Februar
3-7
1992
Inspector:
I
~
~ /
"
J
J. Zuria, Senior Radiation Specialist,
Facilities Radiation Protection Section
(FRPS), Facilities Radiological Safety
and
Safeguards
Branch
(FRSSB), Division of
Radiatio
fety and Safeguards
(DRSS)
date
Approved by:
W. Pasciak,
Chief,
FRPS,
FRSSB,
DRSS
'Z~/c
date
Areas
Ins ected:
Inspection
of
the
radwaste
processing,
radioactive materials transportation
and radiological protection
programs including:
management organization,
Process Control Plan,
documentation,
procedures,
training,
quality
assurance,
and
implementation of the above programs.
Results:
Within
the
areas
inspected,
two
violations
were
identified in the area of access
(Section
3).
Continued good performances in the radwaste
and transportation
programs
were noted.
9202210075'20211
- DOCK 05000220
G
,
Personnel
Contacted
DETAILS
1.1
Licensee
Personnel
- W. Allen,
MATS Radiological Assessment
Manager
J. Burton, Manager,
QA Operations,
Unit 1
- R. Cole,
General Supervisor
Radwaste,
Unit 2
- A. Curren,
Compliance Engineer
- C. Gerber,'rogram
Manager,
Radwaste
Storage
- C. Merritt, Supervisor
Radwaste,
Unit 2
W. Scholtens,
Shipping Coordinator, Unit 2
P. Smalley, Radiation Protection Supervisor,
Unit 1
- P. Swafford, Radiation Protection Manager, Unit 2
- W. Thomson,
Radiation Protection Manager, Unit 1
- J. Torbitt, General Supervisor
Radwaste,
Unit 1
C. Ware, Training Supervisor
1.2
NRC Personnel
- L. Myers, Acting Resident Inspector
W. Schmidt,
Senior Resident Inspector
- Denotes
those present at the exit interview on February
7.,
1992.
~Pur ose
3.
The
purpose
of this
safety
inspection
was to review the
licensee's
programs
for the
processing
and
packaging
of
radwaste,
transport of radioactive materials,
and a review of
radiation protection practices
during normal operations.
Radiation Protection
On October
23,
1991, five operations
personnel
entered
the
Unit
2 Northeast
and Northwest
Condenser
Areas
on the
277'levation
of the Turbine Building in order to take corrective
actions to mitigate and terminate
a loss of condenser
vacuum.
This area
was a posted High Radiation Area,
and in accordance
with
plant
required
that
personnel
making entry were required to be on a Radiation Work
Permit
(RWP), and that each individual or group of individuals,
entering
have
a
survey
meter,
alarming
dosimeter
or
be
accompanied
by
a Radiation
Protection
Technician
having
a
survey meter.
This entry was
made without being
on an
RWP,
and the five operations personnel did not have the appropriate
radiation
detection
equipment
or
coverage
by
a
Radiation
Protection Technician.
While one operator did have
a survey
instrument, the licensee's
own investigation of the event does
not take credit for its presence,,
as
no evidence
could
be
found to indicate that
a
survey
of the
area
entered
was
performed, or that the results of any survey were communicated
0
to the other members of the group entering the High Radiation
Area.
This is an apparent violation (50-410/92-05-01).
On December
16,
1992, three operations
personnel
entered the
Unit
1 South'Condenser
Moisture Separator
Room
on the
277'levation
of the Turbine Building in order to take corrective
actions to mitigate and terminate
a loss of condenser
vacuum.
This area
was
a posted High Radiat'ion Area,
and in accordance
with
plant
required
that
per'sonnel
making entry were required to be on a Radiation Work
Permit
(RWP), and that each individual or group of individuals
entering
have
a
survey
meter,
alarming
dosimeter
or
be
accompanied
by
a Radiation
Protection
Technician
having
a
survey meter;
-This entry was
made without being
on an
RWP,
and the five operations personnel did not have the appropriate
radiation
detection
equipment
or
coverage
by
a
Radiation
Protection
Technician.
This is
an apparent violation (50-
220/92-05-01).
In both
instances,
the
operations
personnel
made
the
High
Radiation
Area
entries
in order
to
keep
the
plant
from
tripping off line due to
a loss of condenser
vacuum.
The
problems in both instances
were a lack of notification to the
Radiation
Protection
Department,,and
a
lack of available
alarming dosimeters to the operators.
Radwaste
and Trans ortation
4.1
Mana ement
and Or anization
Processing of plant water and- preparation of radioactive
wastes for disposal
was the responsibility of each unit's
Radwaste
Section of the Operations
Department.
At Unit
1, the General
Supervisor
Radwaste. position had been
filled by the former Radwaste Assistant Supervisor since
the time of the last inspection.
At Unit 2, the General
Supervisor
Radwaste position had
changed
twice since
the last inspection,
and was also now filled by a former
Radwaste Assistant Supervisor.
Staffing levels at each
unit
appeared
adequate
for the
level
of work.
In
addition,
each unit's radwaste staff included contractor
personnel
hired to process
the
waste
streams
into
an
acceptable
waste
form for disposal.
4.2
Unit 1 Radwaste
Since
the last
inspection,
Unit
1
had
undertaken
to
repair various plant radwaste
systems located in the Old
Radwaste Building, and to decontaminate
general
areas in
this structure
below the 269'levation.
Although not
yet completed,
this program
has significantly improved
the work environment for the radwaste
operators.
Unit
1
processed
floor .drain
water
through
a
waste
evaporator,
with the
bottoms
. solidified in
cement,
processed
'primary
and
condensate
waters
through
the
demineralizer beds,
and collected Dry Active Waste
(DAW)
for bulk shipment to Quadrex.
Spent resins,
both of the
powder
and
bead
types
were
dewatered
in polyethylene
liners,
with
the 'ewatering
process
'and
.the
solidification services for evaporator
bottoms provided
by Chem Nuclear Systems,
Inc.
At
the
time
of, this
inspection,
the
licensee
was
examining
several
options 'o
improving'lant
water
processing
and
waste
minimization,
most
notably
by
evaluating the potential to replace the waste evaporator
with a demineralizer
system,
and replacing the precoat
filters with mechanical
septums
that would require
no
precoat.
4.3
Unit 2 Radwaste
Since
the last
radwaste
inspection,
the
licensee
had
twice. replaced
the General
Supervisor
Radwaste,
with
the position filled at the time of this inspection by a
former
radwaste
operator,
who
had
also
worked
as
a
training instructor for radwaste
personnel.
As at Unit
1, the General Supervisor
.Radwaste reported through the
Operations
Manager'to the Plant Manager.
At the time of this inspection, all wastes
generated
by
the licensee
from its clean-up of plant water
systems
were
solidified in
Portland
Type II cement.
This
included
diatomaceous
earth
from its flatbed filter,
wast'e
evaporator
bottoms,
and all resins.
was
collected
from throughout the plant and brought to the
radwaste facility where it was compacted into B-25 boxes
for eventual
shipment to a disposal site.
1
At
the
time
of this
inspection,
the
licensee
was
investigating
several
options to improve its radwaste
program.
These
included conducting
a test,
of- the
Chem
Nuclear Systems,
Inc. Advanced Liquid Processing
System
(ALPS), first as
a temporary replacement for the flatbed
filter and waste evaporator utilized in the floor drain
system.
The waste evaporator will be unavailable during
the
upcoming refueling outage
due to maintenance.
If
this test
proves
successful,
then
the
licensee
would
consider making the ALPS a permanent
replacement for the
originally designed floor drain processing
system.
The
licensee
was
also
in the
process
of replacing
the
existing cement solidification system with a Chem Nuclear
Systems,
Inc.
RDS-1000
resin
dewatering
system.
The
system
was
on site
at
the
time of this
inspection,
4 '
awaiting final. engineering analysis and approval prior to
installation
and
system
testing.
Operation
of this
system
should result in a significant reduction in the
amount of radwaste
shipped for disposal by the licensee.
Finally, the licensee
had decided to lay up the existing
extruder/evaporator
system,
which had
been
tested
but
never placed into full time use.
Trans ortation
As described
above preparation of radwaste for shipment
to
waste
processors
or
a
disposal
site
was
the
,responsibility
of
each
unit's
Radwaste
Operations
Section.
Preparation of non-waste radioactive materials
for shipment,
including laundry,
was the responsibility
of
each
units
Radiation
Protection
Department.
Previously,
the responsibility for preparing all waste
manifests and transportation
documents rested with a site
Shipping Coordinator.
This position was abolished late
in 1991,
and the responsibilities
transferred
to each
unit s Radiation
Protection
Operations
Section.
The
former site Shipping Coordinator was assigned to Unit 2,
while staff
at
Unit
1
was
designated
to
receive
appropriate training to provide this support.
Until the
necessary
staffing was in place,
the Unit 2 coordinator
also supported Unit 1.
The licensee continued to prepare shipping documentation
utilizing a self-developed
spreadsheet,
although at the
time
of this
inspection, it
was
in the
process
of
changing over to utilizing the Radman
code
(WMG, Inc.)
As part
of this
inspection,
records
were reviewed.
the
following shipping
Shi ment
1291-113
91-114
1291-114
0192-084
0192-024
0192-105
0192-106
1091-126
1091-174
1191-154
1291-286
0192-141
0292-092
1.02E+01
5.41E+04
7.83E+00
3.02E+03
1.59E+Ol
1.31E+Ol
1.09E+00
2.11E+01
2.42E+01
7.99E+00
2.75E-01
1.16E+00
2.74E+01
194. 1
76. 0
194. 1
14.9
194.1
205.8
170.8
181.7
181.7
181.7
900.0
181.7
181.7
Evap Bottoms
Hardware
Evap Bottoms
Hardware
Evap Bottoms
Resin
Resin
Resin
Resin
Resin
Resin
Resin
All records
were determined to be complete
and to meet
6
all the appropriate
requirements
61
and 71,
and
49
CFR Parts
100-177.
4.5
Interim Radwaste
Stora
e
In 1991, the licensee assigned the former Unit 1 Radwaste
General Supervisor to head
a group to plan for the long-
term storage
of, radwaste at the plant, in anticipation of
the January
1, 1993 shutdown of the three existing burial
sites.
Since that time, the licensee
has
examined
two
principle options, the use of existing Unit 1 and Unit 2
facilities
for
the
-storage
of
wastes,
and
the
construction of an On Site Storage Container
(OSSC)
farm
or pad.
Currently
the
licensee
has
two large
existing
areas
available for radwaste
storage.
For spent
resins
and
other higher activity wastes,
the Stock Storage
Area in
the Unit 1 New Radwaste Building might be made available
with
certain
modifications.
This
facility
was
specifically
designed
to store
55
gallon barrels
of
cement
solidified
radwastes
generated
by
the
Stock
processing
system.
"
Its
use
to
store
both unit's
radwastes
would, however,
probably require
an amendment
to the Unit 1 license to allow Unit 2 wastes to be stored
at Unit 1.
For the storage of containerized
DAW, a large
area
on
the 245'levation
of the
Unit
2
Radwaste
Building, under the radwaste truck loading area,
would be
available.
Its
use
would
probable
also
require
an
amendment,
this to the Unit
2 license
to provide for
storage of Unit 1 waste.
4.6
Given the short time remaining before loss of access
to
the existing disposal'ites,
the licensee
needs
to be
more aggressive
in making its decisions
on which waste
storage
option to
use,
and to perform the
necessary
safety analysis, facilitymodifications, and initiate the
necessary
licensing actions.
~Trainin
Since
the last
radwaste
inspection,
the training of
radwaste operators
has been removed from the Non-Licensed
Operators
training,
and
placed
into
the
technical
training
area,
together
with
the
training
program
management
for
the
health
physics
and
chemistry
technicians.
The training program consists
of both
an
initial and
continuing training
program for both the
radwaste
and health physics personnel, with both types of
training involving in-house
classroom,
vendor supplied
training and on-the-job training.
This training program
meets the requirements for training as set forth in NRC
4.7
Assurance
of ualit
The licensee's
program for the assurance
of quality in
the radwaste
and transportation
programs involved vendor
audits,
in-plant
audits,
surveillances
and
quality
control, reviews of all radwaste
shipments.
Audits
of.
vendors.
supplying
NRC
approved
shipping
containers
and other radwaste 'services
were conducted by
the
licensee's
corpo'rate
vendor
audit.
group.
Chem
Nuclear
Systems,
Inc.
was
approved
to
remain
on the
approved supplier listing in June,
1989,
based
upon the
results of a Nuclear Utilities Procurement Issues Council
(NUPIC)
audit
conducted
by representatives
from Wolf
Creek
Nuclear
Generating
Station.
This approval
was
valid for three years,
and requires
annual review.
The
most recent
annual
review was
conducted
in September,
1991,
and
recommended
continued
use
based
upon
the
results of a second
NUPIC sponsored
audit,
conducted
by
the Nebraska
Public Power District, in November,
1990,
and
a subsequent
audit follow-up conducted
by Carolina
Electric
6
Gas
Company
in April,
1991.
Similar
documentation exists for General Atomics, which has the
lead contract for the spent fuel pool activities at Unit
1, with the triennial approval based upon a Yankee Atomic
Electric Company audit conducted in 1989.
The licensee
had conducted its annual audit of radwaste
activities
in
November,
1991,
with the
audit
report
(591017-RG/IN),
issued
December
12,
1991.
This audit
included
radwaste
activities,
chemistry,
radiation
protection,
Quality
Assurance
Operations
and
environmental monitoring programs for both units.
This
performance
based audit had no findings or deficiencies
identified,
however several
items for improvement
were
documented.
The licensee
conducted
periodic surveillances
at both
units,
and
documented
their findings in Surveillance
Reports.
The scope
and
number of reports
conducted at
Unit
1
was
exceptional,
and
although
the
number
of
surveillances
at unit
2 was
somewhat
less, it was also
noteworthy.
Quality Control inspection
reports
were
on record for
each radwaste
shipment reviewed.
These document Quality
Control type activities which typically included review
and
inspection
of
disposal
liners,
shipping
casks,
transport vehicles,
radiation protection activities in
support
of
radwaste
shipping,
and
verification
of
paperwork
and documentation.
5.
Exit Interview
The inspector met with the licensee representatives
denoted in
Section
1 at the conclusion of the inspection
on February
7,
1992.
The
inspector
summarized
the
purpose,
scope
and
findings of the inspection.