ML18081A489
| ML18081A489 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Salem  |
| Issue date: | 10/19/1979 |
| From: | Grier B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Schneider F Public Service Enterprise Group |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7911080325 | |
| Download: ML18081A489 (8) | |
Text
e UNITED STATES e
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 631 PARK AVENUE KING OF PRUSSIA, PENrJSYLVANIA 19406 Docket No. 50-272 OCi 1 9 1971 Public Service Electric and Gas Company ATTN:
Mr. F. W. Schneider Vice President - Production 80 Park Place Newark, New Jersey 07101 Gentlemen:
Enclosed is IE Circular No. 79-21, "Prevention of Unplanned Releases of Radioactivity," which provides information on inadvertent releases/on-site spills of radioactivity.
Should you have any questions related to the enclosed suggested preventive measures, please contact this office.
Enclosures:
- l. IE Circular No. 79-21
- 2.
List of IE Circulars Issued in the Last Six Months cc w/encls:
Sincerely, Grier F. P. Librizzi, General Manager - Electric Production E. N. Schwalje, Manager - Quality Assurance R. L. Mittl, General Manager - Licensing and Environment H. J. Midura, Manager - Salem Generating Station
,:/Oz..--
7911 osos~*.
ENCLOSURE 1 UNITED STATES Accession No.:
7908220128 SSINS:
6830 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C.
20555 October 19, 1979 IE Circular No. 79-21 PREVENTION OF UNPLANNED RELEASES OF RADIOACTIVITY Numerous incidents of unplanned releases of radioactivity have been reported to the NRC within the past few months.
These incidents of leaks, overflows and spills have resulted in contamination of areas outside of plant buildings.
The attached table provides you with summary information on these events, their apparent causes, the radiological consequences and the corrective actions.
We believe that a number of these incidents could have been avoided and preven-tive actions for these types of unplanned releases should be instituted by all reactor licensees.
Based on the reported incidents, the following preventive measures can minimize the occurrence of such events.
- 1.
Review of procedures for transfer of radioactive liquids.. Errors in written procedures ha.ve led to mi stakes in valve 1 i ne-ups and tank overflows.
Written procedures, including check lists for valve line-ups, should be developed and followed for operations which could cause spills of radioactivity.
Management controls, including audits, should be employed to assure verbatim compliance with such procedures.
- 2.
Review of 11as built" systems having the potential of inadvertent releases because of design or construction errors.
Consider items such as:
- a.
Tank overflows should be routed to liquid radwaste tanks.
- b.
Storm drains should be located away from. areas with a high potential for spills.
- c.
Consideration should be given to drip pans under equipment, such as pumps and valves, from which leakage is expected.
- d.
Cofferdams should be installed under doors to areas with a potential for radioactive spills.
- e.
Preoperational testing should verify that crossconnects do not exist that would permit radioactivity to flow from operating unit(s) to unit(s) under construction.
/
- 3.
Periodically functionally test and perform inspections to verify integrity of systems that could cause an inadvertent release.
Excessive wear and corrosion degradation have occurred in valves, seals and piping systems to cause leaks.
New permanent and temporary piping systems should be
IE Circular No. 79-21 October 19, 1979 Page 2 of 2 hydrostatically tested prior to first use.
Underground piping should be periodically hydrostatically tested.
Preventive maintenance programs should.
be implemented and identified problems, such as leaking equipment and plugged floor drains, should be promptly repaired.
No written response to this Circular is required.
If you require additional information regarding this subject, contact the Director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office
Attachment:
Recent Events of Radioactive Contamination
Plant Date Turkey Point 3/4 6/11/79 Palisades 6/09/79 Surry-2 5/21/79 RECENT EVENTS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION OUTSIDE BUILDINGS Apparent cause Operator Error 900 gallons of water processed by radwaste system overflowed from waste processing tank because of error in valve line-up. The Aux.
Bldg. floor drain backed up to the on-site storm drain.
The drain system discharged to an on-site underground tile bed.
Inadequate Procedures Contaminated secondary system spent powdered resins were trans-ferred to an outside storage bin without monitoring.
Rain storm caused resins to overflow the storage bin and be washed to Lake Michigan via storm drain.
Equipment Failure.
Core spray pump isolation valve leaked during RWST transfer to Spent Fuel Pit.
Water leaked to Safeguards Bldg. floor.
Floor drain plugged; resulted in water flow out of building.
Radiological Consequence Total of 0.01 mCi of Co-58 Co-60 released to storm drain.
Resins activity at 10-5
µ Ci/cc; total release about 10 µCi of Co-60 Licensee Followup Action Procedure reviewed with operator.
The monitoring procedure to determine the routing of the secondary spent resins has been replaced by a procedure requiring all spent secondary system resins to be handled and shipped as solid waste.
5 gallons spilled; outside of bldg.
0.02 µ Ci/cc, Co-58 0.035 µ Ci/cc, H-3.
2 gallons Leak repaired.
3-55~
gallon drums of con-taminated dirt removed.
Attachment IE Circular No. 79-21 Page 1 of 3
Plant Oconee 3 Farley 1, 2 Oyster Creek Brunswick 1 Date 5/16/79 5/17/79 5/14/79 4/17/79 5/8, 9/79 Apparent Cause Operational Error.
Normally closed valve left open during pumping of fuel transfer canal water to BWST.
Water overflowed the BWST to Aux. Bldg. penetration room, down a stairway to area outside Aux. Bldg.
Design Error.
Decontamination drains from Unit 1 routed to Unit 2 sump and released to flush pond via tendon access area.
Those drains should have been routed to Unit 1 floor drain system.
Equipment Failure.
Leakage from a Drywell Equipment Drain Tank (DEDT) line.
Operator Error and Equipment Failure.
Air mixing valve of RWCU backwash tank left open after liquid transfer.
Dried tank residue released to building ventilation system via loose access cover.
Radiological Consequence Licensee Follow-up Action~
2000 gallons overflowed; 200-300 gallons out of building.:.
3.1 x 10 4 µ Ci/cc, I-131.
1860 gallons of contam-inated water discharged to pond.
Estimated max-imum activity of 10 mCi -
Co-58.
Pond mud activity
< 500 p Ci/Kg.
No pond water activity detected.
Water in pipe tunnel
@ 0.3 µ Ci/cc and soil in vicinity of penetra-tion to the reactor building were found to be contaminated.
Total release of 12 mCi of corrosion product.
Procedure reviewed with operating personnel.
Areas outside of Aux. Bldg. decon-taminated.
Review all drains from ~
- Unit 1 and Unit 2. 6 su~
drains were located and plugged.
DEDT line repaired.
Structure to enclose pipe from Rx. Bldg. to main*
pipe tunnel to be con-structed.
Tank transfer procedure reviewed.
Caution tag on valve installed.
Loose access cover re-paired.
Attachment IE Circular No. 79-21 Page 2 of 3
Plant Date Hatch 1, 2 3/20/79 North Anna 9/25/79 Apparent Cause Construction Error.
Buried temporary line for N tank in yard for feed-w~ter heaters was not capped after tank removal.
Rx steam released into ground from buried line.
Construction Error Relief valve on the volume
- control tank lifted thus trans-ferring reactor coolant to the high level waste drain tank and releasing dissolved noble gases to the auxiliary building via the waste system vent.
An incorrectly connected vent line allowed venting directly to the auxiliary building.
Radiological Consequence Licensee Follow-up Action Highest on-site5ground Temporary line broken water of 3 x 10 p Ci/1 inside turbine building H3 Highest qtr. avg. off-and capped.
slte outfall of subsu3face drainage was 1.8 x 10 p Ci/l.
Airborne radioactivity levels in the Auxiliary Building reached 150 X MPCs.
Auxiliary Building was evacuated.
Still under investigation Attachment IE Circular No. 79-21 Page 3 of 3
Circular No.
79-06 79-07 79-08 79-09*
79-10 79-11 79-12 79-13 79-14 ENCLOSURE 2 IE Circular No. 79-21 Date:
October 19, 1979 Page l of 2 LISTING OF IE CIRCULARS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS Subject First Date of Issue Failure to Use Syringe 4/19/79 and Bottle Shields in Nuclear Medicine Unexpected Speed 5/2/79 Increase of Reactor Recirculation MG Set Resulted in Reactor Power Increase Attempted Extortion-5/18/79 Low Enriched Uranium Occurrences of Split 6/22/79 or Punctured Regulator Diaphragms in Certain Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Pipefittings Manu-6/26/79 f actured from Unacceptable Material Design/Construction 6/27/79 Interface Problem Potential Diesel 6/28/79 Generator Turbo-charger Problem Replacement of Diesel 7/16/79 Fire Pump Starting Contactors Unauthorized Procure-7/16/79 ment and Distribution of Xenon-133 Issued To All Holders of Medical Licenses Except Teletherapy Licenses All BWR Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP All Fuel Facilities and Licensed Reactors All Materials Priority I, Fuel Cycle and Operating Reactor Licensees All Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP All Applicants for, and Holders of CPs All Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP All Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP All Medical Licensees except Teletherapy Medi-cal Licensees, and all Licensed Radiopharma-ceutical Suppliers Circular No.
79-15 79-16 79-17 79-18 79-19 79-20 2
- e.
IE Circular No. 79-21 Date:
October 19, 1979 Page 2 of 2 LISTING OF IE CIRCULARS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS Subject First Date of Issue Bursting of High Pres-8/8/79 sure Hose and Malfunc-tion of Relief Valve 11011 Ring in Certain Self-Contai~ed Breathing Apparatus Excessive Radiation 8/16/79 Exposures to Members Of The General Public And A Radiographer Contact Problem in 8/14/79 SB-12 Switches on General Electric Metalclad Circuit Breakers Proper Installation of 9/10/79 Target Rock Safety-Re lief Valves Loose Locking Devices 9/13/79 on Ingersoll-Rand Pumps Failure of GTE Sylvania 9/24/79 Relay, Type PM Bulletin 7305, Catalog 5Ul2-11-AC with a 120V AC Coil Issued To All Materials Priority I, Fuel Cycle and Opera-ting Power Reactor Licensees All Radiography Licensees All Power Reactor Licensees with an OL or CP All Power Reactor Licensees with an OL or CP*
All Power Reactor Licensees with an OL or CP All Power Reactor Licensees with an OL or CP