ML19225A082
| ML19225A082 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000754 |
| Issue date: | 05/31/1979 |
| From: | Book H, Cooley W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19225A072 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0754-79-06, 70-754-79-6, NUDOCS 7907180261 | |
| Download: ML19225A082 (8) | |
Text
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U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT REGION V Report No.
70-754/79-06 Docket No.70-754 License No.
Sfd-960 Safeguards Group 1
Licensee:
General Electric Comoany - Vallecitos fiuclear Center P. O. Box 460 Pleasanton, California 94566 Facility Narre :
Vallecitos f;uclear Center Inspection at:
Vallecitos fluClear Center, Pleasanton, California Inspecticn conducted:
Anril 24-30,1979 Inspectors:
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W. J. Cooley, FueVFaci (ties Inspector
'Da t e S igned
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Date Signed s--,-,
Approved By:
H. E. 3cok, Chief, Fuel Facility and Materials Safety Date Signed Branch Sun ma ry :
Inspection on April 24-30,1979 (Report fio. 70-754/79-06)
Areas Inspected:
Organization; nodifications and changes to facilities and systems; records control and storage; internal review and audit; safety committee activities; procedure control; maintenance; criticality safety; environmental programs; radia-tion protection; and transportaion. The inspection involved 29 inspector-hours onsite by one inspector.
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Results:
fio items of noncompliance or deviations were identified in subject areas inspected.
RV Form 719 (?)
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DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted
- G. E. Cunningham, Senior Licensing Engineer P. S. Webb, Manager, Radiological and Environt. ntal Prctection
- C. A. Hooker, Specialist, Radiological and Envi.onnental Protection W. C. Lloyd, Senior Engineer, Nuclear Safety D. C. Bowden, Nuclear Safety Compliance Engineer, Nuclear Safety
- J. H. Cherb, Manager, Quality Assurance
- Denotes those attending exit interview.
2.
Organization Since the last inspection, A. R. Carson, Supervisor, Instrument Maintenance, and four instrument maintenance technicians have terminated employment at the Vallecitos Muclear Center. The remaining five instrument maintenance technicians have been grouped with the electrical maintenance technician 2 under 0. L. Ballard, Supervisor, Electrical Maintenance in the Facility Jubsection.
The Radiologic and Environmental Protection Unit has been reduced by one health physic-
.chnician position.
3.
Modifications and Changes to Facilities and Systems The licensee 4-presently decommissioning the Advanced Fuels Laboratory located in Bui ! ~q 102.
4.
Records Control and Storace Health physics type records including all rcw data for surveys, in-plant air samples and charts, exhaust air s6mples and charts, dosimetry, and bioassay data are retained for an indefinite period of time.
A data accum-ulation covering approximately one year is maintained at the Vallecitos Nuclear Center. That data supply is transferred annually to a vault located at the San Jose, California faci}ity of the licensee.
Instrument calibratica and maintenance records including criticality alarm systems are naintained indefinitely in the Facility Subsection. Additional records maintained by the Radiation and Environmental Protection Unit include the air flow rate at hoods, pressure differentials across filters and gloveboxes, and the results of DOP testing.
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. Compilations of in-plant air sample data are available from computer printouts.
Compilations cf exhaust air sample data along with other environmental surveillance program data are published in annual reports by the licensee.
Environmental surveillance raw data is also maintained indefinitely.
5.
Internal Review and Audit This inspection included a review of reports of licensee investigations of incidents which had occurred since the last NRC inspection.
This inspection included a review of five licensee investigation reports.
Two of those were addressed to Tb clear Test Reactor operations, one was addressed to an exposure of a film badge which was 1. 'estigated by State of California authorities, and one was of an industrial safety nature and which no injuries to personnel occurred.
An incident occurred on March 22, 1979, within the Advanced Fuels Laboratory.
During decontamination of glovebox number 44 a loss of cleaning fluid from the inside of the box occurred. As a result the floor in the imediate vicinity of the glove box was contaminated. That contamination spread resulted in low level contamination of the laboratory.
One individual incurred contamination of coveralls, lab coat, and hands.
Air samples obtained at thetimy4cf the incident indicated airborne concengations less than uCi/cc as compared to the MPC of ". x 10-uCi/cc.
Nasal smears 2 x 10
- btained from 13 individuals who were occo,,ying the laboratory at the time of the incident indicated less than 2 dpm. Urine and bioassay samples were obtained on each inrtividual. A preliminary rush result for the individual most likely to be internally exposed indicated less than 0.02 dpm/l.
At the time of this inspection bioassay results for the other laboratory emplo:<ees had not been received.
6.
Safety Committee Activities A review of the minutes of meetings of the Vallectios Technologica' Safety Council was made during this inspection.
It was observed that the Council had completed its first quarterly meeting for the year 1979 on January 18.
7.
Criticality Safety k-The licensee had completed a criticality study for the plutonium nitrate and waste recovery lines operating together.
The analysis will be published in a report, although it will probably not be used because the Advanced Fuels Laboratory is presently being decomissioned.
The licensee has also completed a review of all criticality bases for criticality limits used at the Vallecitos Muclear Center site.
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Criticality analytical efforts are presently being lied to certain pieces of equiprrent at a fuel fabrication plant lo:
in Italy, a General Electric Company licensee.
Additional efiurt is being applied to the storage of FL-10 inner stainless steel containers for a proposed shipment of fuel.
8.
Environmental Surveillance Program This inspection included a comparison of some environmental program data appearing in the licensee's annual report for 1977 and for 1978.
Discharges from the Building 102A effluent stack of alpha and beta ganna activity. ore comparable for the two years.
There appeared to be a reduc-tion by a factor of approximately 10 in the discharge of noble gas.
A reduction by a factor of 1,000 in a discharge of iodine-131 from Build-ing 102 appeared to occur over that period of time.
The observed reductions appeared to be the result of discontinued production of certain medical radioisotopes. The composited discharge from all other stacks serving operations conducted under the subject license and under the State of California radioactive materials license remained approximately the same for the years 1977 and 1978.
Tritium digcharges to Vallecitos Creek during 1977 range from about 1 - 9 x 10 pCi/1.
Duging 1978 those tritium discharges rant d from less than 0.2 - 4 x 10 pCi/1. Representatives of the licenoee indicated that the California Regional Water Congrol Board had requested that tritium discharges be held to less than 2 x 10 pCi/1. Trjtiundischargeconcen-trations have been equal to or less than 1.06 x 10 pCi/l since June,1978.
During the spring of 1978 a foreign nuclear weapons test contributed to the gross beta activity of environmental samples obtained in the general vicinity of the Vallecitos Nuclear Cente.. The increase in beta-gama activity ranged from a factor of 3 to 5 and appeared in air sanples, sur-face water samples, and stream sediment samples obtained both onsite and offsite.
Air samples and vegetation samples obtained onsite show esset.ially the same concentretions of iodine-131 for the year 1977 and 1978.
L 9.
Radiation Protection This inspection included a review of records of surveys made at the Advanced Fuels Labort. tory, Plutonium Analytic 1 Laboratory, and Building 105 Plutonium Clad Laboratory.
The review covered the period January through April 20, 1979.
Surveys were mede using both direct reading instrumentation and the measurement of,sovable activity on wipes.
The review indicated that daily rcutine surveys were made in the Advanced Fuel Laboratory and the Plutonium Analytical Laboratory while weekly 3 /j 9 3 /l Q routine surveys were made at the Building 105 Plutonium Clad Laborai.ory.
The review indicated that about 45 surveys of that type are made each month.
The review of surveys indichted that about 93% of them indicated no detectable contamination.
Eleven contanination events were recorded over the period of the review, one of which was the contamination event on March 22, 1979, which has been described above in Section 5 of this report.
Six of the events were indications of alpha activity at glove box gloves and on enployee shoe covers.
Three surveys in the area of glove box 44 (see Section 5 above) subsequent to March 22, 1979, indicated a maximum of 4,800 alpha dpm and may be regarded as part of the decon-tamination effort associated with the March 22,1979 event.
The contam-ination levels associated with the glove box gloves and shoe covers indicated a maximum of 2,000 dpm.
One additional event indicated a spot of 8,000 dpm on a floor tile.
In all cases the surveys recorded successful decontamination efforts.
This inspection included a review of plutonium bioassay data dating from approximately September,1978 to that data most rccently available.
(Approximately six weeks are required for the processing of plutonium urinalysis sarrples to obtain 0.01 dpm/l sensitivity of measurement.)
The limit of detection of the measurement at the 99% confidenceyevel is 0.01 dpm/ sample which corresponds to approximately 7.2 x 10-grams plutonium.
Plutoniun urinalysis frequency ranges from quarterly to annually dependent upon exposure potential. Employees at the Advanced Fuel Laboratory are sampled quarterly. The licen:ce maintains a naster file for the frequency of bioassay for all employees at the Vallecitos Nuclear Center site.
The review of plutonium bioassay results indicate a range in most cases from 0.02 to 0.04 dpm/l. The maximum result encountered in the review was 0.08 dpm/l. The licensee requires three consecutive repeat samples following any result greater than 0.03 dpm/l.
This inspection included a review of uranium bicassay results for the first quarter of 1979 The licensee's uranium bioassay program includes flurometric and radiometric urinalysis. All radiometric first quarter 1979 results were less than 2 dpm/l. All ficrometric results for the first quarter were less than 0.5 ug/l for natura: uranium with one excep-tion.
That result was 0.9 ug/l for natural uranium.
The licensee's bioassay program includ2s whole body counting and urinalysis for plutonium, enriched uranium, natural uraaium, and gross beta activity.
The frequency of
' sis ranges from anthly to annually depending on 3 /[9 3ll I potential for exposure.
Radiation Protection and Environmental Services (RPES) is notified of changes in work assignment by area managers.
Frequency of bioassay h assigned by area managers using a Vallecitos Safety Stand-ard guide and those frequencies are anoroved by RPES With the exception of plutonium and tritium analyses, all analytical work in the bioassay and environmental surveillance programs has been done by the analytical chemistry group at the 'Jallecitos tiuclear Center.
That group has maintained the capability of performing all required analytical work in those programs for many years.
A licensee representative indicated that about June,1979 the environmental program and 'oioassay progran analyses will be done entirely by outside laboratories.
This inspection included a review of the licensee's personnel dosimetry results for the year 1978 and through the first quarter of 1979.
That review was of records maintained for the Radioactive fiaterials Laboratory (hotcell facility) and the Advanced Fuels Laboratory.
The maximum whole body dose to an individual for the year 1978 was 2,770 mrem. The maximum finger ring set exposure for 1978 was 12,570 mrem and 17,080 mrem. The maximum whole body exposure for the Radioactive liatorials Laboratory during the first quarter 1979 was 710 mrem. The maximum finger ring exposure during that period of time was 2,710 mrem.
The maximum whole body exposure for 1978 to personnel working in the Ad"anccd Fuels Laboratory was 2,125 mrem. The maximum whole body exposure for the first quarter of 1979 in the Advanced Fuels Laboratory was 430 mrem.
The maximum finger ring exposure for the first quarter of 1979 was 220 mrem.
All the above exposures were to penetrating radiation with essentially no nonpenetrating component.
The licensee's goal for 1978 was a raximum individual whole body expoeure of 3,200 mrem which goal was met in that the maximum whole body for that year was less than 2,800 mrem. The licensee's goal for the year 1979 is 2,800 mrem maximum whole body exposure to an individual.
10.
Respiratory Protection Progr g The licensee has prepared a Vallecitos Sike Standard describing his respiratory protection program. That stendard details the essentials of the program and specifies the responsibilities of the various partici-pating groups.
Radiological and Environmental Protection conducts the bioassay and air sample programs.
lluclear Safety Technology provides technical assistance to the progran.
Industrial Safety conducts the train-ing and mask fitting portions of the program.
The Facilities group is respons-ible for maintaining training facilities, conducting a maintenance progran, 3 4 '.)
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6-and providing a factory trained and certified maintenance person for specializei respiratory equipment. Medical Services is responsible for determining individual capability of using the equipment and for provid-ing annual physical examinations. Traffic and Shipping and Receiving are responsible for maintaining supplies for the program.
Nuclear Safety and Quality Assurance is responsible for providing an audit team and con-ducting an annual audit of the program.
The licensee has prepared a respiratory protection manual.
That manual includes the details of qualification and classification of respirator users.
Details of the qualification program are given including the requirements of medical clearance, training and fitting, and respirator testing. The manual describes the required documentation of qualifica-tion including record forms and includes an outline of tha respirator training course.
The manual includes a description and method of selec-tion of dif ferent types of respirators and a description of the use and care of the equipment.
The abme described respiratory protection progra;n is in response to the requirwents of 10 CFR 20.103 and tnose of the referenced Psegulatory Guide 8.15.
The licensee's respi atory protection program has been described in Section 9 of IE Inspection Report flo. 70-754/78-01, dated Jar.uary, 1978.
During this iaspection the respirator maintenance and fitting program was discussed with a Mr. Ray Hamlin. Mr. Hamlin is a factory certified respir-ator maintenance person.
His duties include not only the maintenance of equipment but also conduct of the fitting program.
He pointed out that airline respirators are fitted with polarized connectors so that they fit only air supply lines.
He noted that no other liquid or gas chemical lines are connected with availabie breathing supplies.
He stated that all air supplies are equipped with low pressure alarms.
The licensee has constructed a mask fitting and testing booth at an auxiliary building near the GETR.
In that same building a lecture room has been p epared and equipped with a projector screen for training purposes.
- 11. Transportation Program k
The licensee's transportation program has been discussed in some detail in IE Inspection Report flo. 70 754/79-04, dated March 22, 1979.
The licensee submitted his quality assurance program for packaging for radioactive material to the f!RC Office of fluclear Materials Safety and Safeguards by letter dated June 29, 1978. That quality assurance program is in response to the requirements of 10 CFR 71.51.
At the time of this ins:
ion the licensee had begun placing that program in effect.
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. Discussions w'th licensee representatives indicated that, due to an oversight, t'a transportation packaging activities of the Advanced Fuels Laboratory had not been addressed in the quality assurance program docu-ment referenced above.
' licensee plans to submit an amendaent to the NRC making that addition.
Prior to the incorporation of the quality assurance program, the various operating components onsite acted somewhat autonomously in matters of packaging and transfer of radioact've material.
Those operating conpon-ents include Reactor Irradiations, tia Advanced Fuels Laboratory, and Radioactive Products and Services Operations.
Each component had its own procedures for shipoing and receiving radioactive material and each had its own detailed maintenance and inspection and loading and unloading procedures.
Each interfaced as required with supporting groups such as Equipment Engineering, Desiga and Test Engineering, Nuclear Safety, and Traffic. The quality assurance program documents the responsibilities anc functions of those various groups. The quality assurance progran requires, in effect, that the Quality Assurance Subsection act as coordinator of the various packaging, shipping, and receiving activities.
Quality Assurance will also perform audits to verify compliance with the elements of the lan.
The various Vallecitos Nuclear Center components will continue to provida their own shipping and receiving procedures. Those procedures will be reviewed for adequacy by Quality Assurance.
- 12. Management Interview The scope and the results of the inspection were discussed with licensee representatives Messrs. Cunningham, Chreb, and Hooker at the conclusion of the inspection on April
'O, 1979.
Those persons were inforraed that no items of noncompliance or deviations from the Nuclear Regulatory reguirements were observed.
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