ML19225A276
| ML19225A276 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Wood River Junction |
| Issue date: | 05/09/1979 |
| From: | Bissett P, Joyner J, Shaub E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19225A244 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0820-79-07, 70-820-79-7, NUDOCS 7907180734 | |
| Download: ML19225A276 (6) | |
Text
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT Region I Report No. 70-820/79-07 Docket No.70-820 Safeguards Group 1 License No. S?!M-777 Priority 1
Category Up Licensee:
United Nuclear Corocration Wood River Junction Rhode_ Island 02894 Facility Name:
United Nuclear Corocration - Fuel Recovery Operation Ins-
- ion at
Wood Psiver Junction, Rhode Island Inspection conducted: March 5-23, 1979 Inspectors:
1 g/ 7/7 y E. T. Shaub, Safeguards Technician date' signed ll w ff /cNK 5la/79 Hg Biss tt, Safeguards Auditor cate signed
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G. Smith, Safeguards Auditor gate signed
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5/9/74' A. Gody, Sdfeguards Chemist date signed Approved by:
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gfq/7c J. H. Joyner, Chief, Nuclear Material Control date signed (Supoort Section, Safeguards Branch Insoection Summary:
Areas Inspected:
Routine announced inspection by regional based inspectors of nuclear material control and accounting including:
direct observations of plant operations; export shipment packaging and verification. The inspection involved 174 inspector-hours on site by four regional based NRC inspectors.
Results:
Of the two areas inspected, no items of noncompliance were found in one area; one apparent item of noncompliance was found in the other area (infraction -
failure '
define a contamination control area and a clean area - Paragraph 3).
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1907180 7 3 i
<p Region I Form 12 (Rev. April 77)
DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted
- A. Clark, Acting Plant flanager
- R. Gregg,flanager Quality Assurance
- D. Daigler, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer T. Ashley, Quality Assurance Engineer J. Deluty, Plant Chemist J. Murphy, Production Supervisor J. Aiello, Production Supervisor L. LaFond, Accountability Assistant J. O'Donnell, Nuclear Materials Assistant The inspectors also interviewed other licensee employees during the course of the inspection, including plant operators and employees engaged in Nuclear Material Control.
- deneces those present at the exit interviews held at the conclusion of each week during the inspection.
2.
Direct Observations o# Plant Goerations The inspectors observed all p. ~ 2es in the recovery of high enriched uranium (HEU) scrap from United Nuclear Corparation Naval Products Division (UNC-NPD).
Areas observed were:
receipt; receipt verification; scrap batch weighing; scrap batch stripping, decladding and dissolution; assay tank weighing, sparging and sampling; and valve line-ups to transfer uranium bearing solutions to extraction system hold tanks.
Receipt of SNf1 requires,by facility procedures, the licensee to gross weigh shipping containers, cross-check and verify tamper indicating seals to shipping documents; and initiate an FBA transfer sheet for storage in the warehouse (ICA-1).
The inspectors observed the receipt of two fuel shipments consisting of scrap fillers and scrap sections from UNC-NPD (Forms NRC-741, KDS-FBY 50 and 51) to assure the licensee was complying i.ith facility procedures.
During the shipment off-loading, the inspector observed licensee employees in protective clothing and the truck drivers in street clothes in the same area of the loading dock.
Failure to have the loading dock zoned to define it as a contamination control area or clean area and failure to provide a survey meter or sink in the area is an iten of noncompliance at the infraction level (79-07-01).
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3 Scrap material remains in the warehouse until the material is assi;;ned a job number and is ready to be recovered.
The shipping containers are then transferred from the warehouse (ICA-1) to the process area (MBA-2) where the shipping containers are opened, and the contents, by discrete container, are checked against the packing list.
Each container or item is also gross weighed.
Processing begins by weighing out charges (batches) for the dissolver trays.
As the scrap is removed from each inner container, the net weight is recorded on the MBA transfer form.
When an inner container is empty, it is tare weighed and the total net weight on the MBA transfer form is compared to the net weight from the packing list and/or inner container label.
The recovery operation involves several distinct steps, including stripping, decladding and dissolution. After a charge or batch is weighed out, the scrap batch is piaced into a dissolver tray for the first step in the recovery operation.
Acid is added to strip the cladding from the HEU fuel.
Af ter the reaction is completed, or all the cladding is dissolved, tne stripping solution is drained from the dissolver tray througn a cotton cloth filter into a holding tank.
The strip solution is then blown into an assay tank where the solutien is air sparged for at least 30 minutes, gross weighed and sampled for uranium content at two different solution heights in the assay tank.
Uranium concentration in the solution is typically under S grams / liter. Next the strip solution is transferred to an extraction system feed storage tank.
The stripped HEU fuel is removed from the dissolver tray (or more acid is charged if a
" heel" remains) and stored in a plastic 2-liter bottle.
The filters are removed and stored for recovery at a later date.
A clean-up batch is run through the dissolver tray and tanks if a different dissolver tray or trays is to be used for decladding, the second step in the recovery operation.
About 500 grams of the stripped fuel are weighed into a stainless steel beaker. A caustic compound is added and steam is released into the beaker, dissolving the caustic compound which in turn declads the HEU fuel.
After the fuel is declad, the declad solution and subsequent wash solution are decanted through a cotton cloth filter into a hold tank. The remaining HEU fuel is removed from the dissolver tray and stored in a plastic 2-liter bottle awaiting dissolution.
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4 At t.', end of each shift, the declad solution from the 8-12 batches processed during the shift, is blown into the assay tank, air sparged for at least 30 minutes, sampled for uranium content and weighec before transfer to a waste liquid holding tank.
Uranium concentration in this solution is typically less than 15 parts per million.
The declad HEU fuel is normally dissolved only after the entire job has been declad. The HEU fuel is weighed into 500 gram charges / batches, placed into the dissolver trays, dissolved in acid, drained through a cotton cloth filter into a hold tank and then blovn into the assay tank.
The tank is air sparged for at least 30 minutes, sampled for uranium content and weighed. The solution is then transferred to the extraction system feed storage tanks.
When dissolution is completed for the entire job, the filters from each step are normally reworked (depending on job size, the filters may be reworked at a later date) and clean-up batches are run through the dissolver trays and tanks.
The cl.on-up solutions are weighed and sampled for uranium content, then alscharged to holding tanks.
The inspectors observed various phases of the recovery operation for all types of HEU scrap generated at the UNC-NPD facility, including jobs W-2950, W-2951, W-2952, W-4029, X-3812, V-8439 and V-3806.
Steps witnessed included scrap receipt verification; batch weighing; dissolver tray charging; chemical stripping, declading, and disolution; batch removal, weighing, and sampling; solution transfers to holding tanks for the extraction system or discharge holding tanks.
The recovery value (used for accountability purposes) for the HEU scrap is generated from the analytical chemistry values of the composite samples from each phase of the recovery process (stripping, decladding, dissolution and job rework / residues) for each job.
When residues remain after filter reworking is ccmplete, an NDA value may be involved in the accountability number for the job.
(These residues are often sampled and analyzed destructively.)
With the exception of the failure to define a contamination control area at the shipping / receiving dock, no items of noncompliance were identified.
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5 3.
Export Verification On March 7, 1979, the inspector observed the packaging of Job NK-06 in shipping containers for export to Germany on Export License No.
XSNM01104. The license has been issued to Transnuclear, Inc.,
which is handling the transportation arrangements for the shipment.
The inspector verifled gross weights, seal integrity and numbers on the inner containers and the shipping container seal numbers.
The shipment will consist of the following:
Inner Container Seal Net Weicht Shippina Container Seals NK06-1 25724 1623 6M Drum 426 10940 and 10941 NK06-2 25725 2101 6M Drum 426 10940 and 10941 NK06-3 25727 2250 6M Drum 412 10938 and 10939 The shipment is scheduled to leave the licensee's facility the week of March 19, 1979.
No discrepancies were noted.
On March 22, 1979, the inspectors also observed the blencing, sampling and packaging of Job NK-09 into product contair.ers for future shipments to Germany and the Netherlands.
The inspector observed the removal of material from ten product bottles of various enrichments in order to produce three containers of 93% enriched U 08, each containing 8517 + 13 grams net weight.
All of the 93G 3enriched containers were then individually riffled and sampled.
The material was then weighed out into pre-tared product cans and sealed with tamper indicating devices.
The operation resulted in the generation of the following product cans.
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6 Container No.
Net Weight Seal No.
NK09-el 2394 25915 NK09-#2 2425 25917 N K09-#3 2481 25918 NK09-#4 1196 25919 NK09-46 2407 25920 NK09-#6 2363 25921 NK09-#7 2416 25922 NK09-'$
1315 25923 N K09-#9 2413 25926 N K03-fl 0*
2512 25928 N K')9-411 2457 25929 N K00-#12*
103 25930 NK09-#13 1012 25931
- Property of flVKEM GmbH, Hanau, Federal Repv'.slic of Germany.
All other container; property of EURATOM Joint Research Center, Netherlands.
No d kcrepancies were noted.
The inspectccs also observed the splitting of product container NK-08-3, which contained 1417 grams net weight of U 0.
Of this 1417 grams, 38 119 grams were placeo into a product container and labeled NK08-4, (Property of NUKEM).
The remaining 1298 grams were placed into another product container and relabeled NK08-3, (Property of Kyoto University, e
Japan).
Material net weight and seal numbers for each container were
'I as follows:
Container No.
Net Weight Seal No.
N K08-# 3 1239 25925 NK08-#4 178 25924 i
No items of noncompliance were identified.
4.
Exit Interview The inspectors met with the licensee representatives tderated in Paragraph 1) at the conclusion of each weeks' segment of the inspection on March 9, 16, and 23, 1979.
The inspectors summarized the purpose and the scope of the inspection and the findings.
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