ML19242D897
| ML19242D897 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 05/17/1979 |
| From: | Burkholder K METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7908280786 | |
| Download: ML19242D897 (52) | |
Text
l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION i
M the Matter of:
2!
IE TMI INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW 3l of l
4 Kenneth E. Burkholder l
Radiation Chemistry Technician 5;
6; 7l 8l Trailer #203 9l NRC Investigation Site TMI Nuclear Power Plant 10!
Middletown, Pennsylvania 11!
12l
_fgtv 17,1979 i
(Date of Interview) 13j July 9,1979 (Date Transcript Typec) 141 i
205 and 206 15I (Tape Numoer(s))
16f 17l 18!
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20t 21 1
NRC PERSONNEL:
22!
i Douglas M. Collins 23j Cwen C. Shackleton t
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71.0 W 6 M
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SHACXLETON:
This is an interview of Mr. Kenneth E. Burkholder. Mr.
2!
j Burkholder is a Radiation Chemistry Technician with the Metropolitan 3f Edison Company assigned to Three Mile Island.
This interview is beginning I
at 7:32 a.m., May 17, 1979.
The interview is taking place in trailer c!
203 which is located just outside the south gate of the Three Mile 6!
Island Nuclear Power Station operated by the Metropolitan Edison Company.
7 Preseot to conduct this interview from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 8
Commission is Mr. Douglas M. Collins.
Mr. Collins is a Radiation 91 Specialist assigned to Region II.
My first name is Owen C. Shackleton, 10f I'm an Investigator assigned to Region V.
Just prior to going on tape, 11; I presented to Mr. Burkholder a two page document from the U.S. Nuclear 12!
Regulatory Commission which sets forth the purpose and scope of this l
131 investigation.
It also identifies the authority of the U.S. Nuclear 14!
Regulatory Commission to conduct an investigation of this nature and 15:
advises persons being interviewed of their rights to refuse to be 15!
interviewed, of their rights to have someone present of their choice, 17!
and their rights to refuse to give any form of a signed statement.
On 18!
the second page of this two page document there are tnree questions.
19!
Mr. Burkholder answered all three questions in the affirmative.
At 20-this time we make it a matter of record on this tape, I'm going to ask 21 Mr. Burkholder these three questions and asking him to respond orally.
22!
Mr. Burkholder did you understand the two page document that I just i
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described?
24i 251 i
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BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
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SHACKLETON:
And do we at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have 4
your permission to tape the interview?
5 6l BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
7 8!
SHACKLETON:
And, would you like a copy of this tape?
91 10 BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
11l 12 SHACKLETON:
Alright sir, we'll provide you a copy at the close of this 13l interview.
And now Mr. Burkholder, to help identify yourself to those t
14 persons who would be listening with interest to the comments you provide 15j to our Commission, would you please give us briefly a resume' of your 16!
work experience, bringing us up to date to your present job with Metro-l 17 politan Edison?
181 19j BURKHOLDER:
Work experience, after graduating from high school, I 20j worked in Harrisburg Bank and I worked there about a year and a half 21l and went to the Hershey National Bank, worked there for about a year 22) and a half.
I left there in 1965, I started working for Metropolitan 23 Edison Company.
I started as a Turbine Rocm Attendant, I progressed to
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24l Fireman Second Class.
I went to the line department and from there I i
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was accepted to go for training down here at Three Mile Island, and 2!
October 20, 1969 we started schooling down here for chemistry.
Since that time, I've worked in chemistry and that's been changed to Radiation 4
Chemistry Technician.
I've been working in that job to the present.
Si 6i SHACKLETON:
Alright sir, thank you very much.
Now I'll turn the 7
interview over to Mr. Collins.
8 9f COLLINS:
Thank you very much for taking some time out to come talk to 10 us today, Mr. Burkholder.
Before I speak I'm going to be saying my 11l name so that the people who type the transcripts of what goes on here 1
12!
knows who's taiking.
Could you please provide a description of your i
131 actions and actions of others that you observed starting with the time 14]
you first heard of er were notified of the incident on the 28th of 15!
March, in your own words.
What we'll do is let you go through and let 16l you start when the incident took place and go through midnight of the 17!
30th of March, the first three days, and then we'll go back af terwards 18i and try to pick out specifics and let you elaborate on them.
But 19!
please in your words start with whenever you he' Jout it and try to 20; bring us thiough the'30th.
21f 22 BURKHOLDER:
When I came in to work on March 28th I was scheduled to i
23j work 7:00 to 3:30.
When I first got here, the first thing we noticed 24 was that the cooling towers were down, there wasn't very much steam 25i i
h (re ?
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1l coming out, so we assumed that there was a problem.
As soon as we 2f l
walked into the search facility it seemed like there was an air of I
31 j
excitement or gloom and you could tell that there was a problem, and 4!
then we heard announcing that there was in fact an emergency and that c!]
certain people who were not essential were to go to the north auditorium b
and thase who were essential were to go to their regular place.
So we 1
I proceeded to go back since we were HP, proceeded to go back to the 8
Unit 1 Health Physics lab which is the ES emergency center and await 9
instructions.
When I got there, it wasn't too long that we were assigned 10f the job of the offsite team.
We were Alpha.
When we got, left there 11 and we went to get our equipment and check it out before we left.
When 12l we were ready to go we had a radio and heard where they needed some i
13l onsite readings right away.
Well there was confusion as to who was to 14!
be the onsite team and supposedly the onsite team had been sent down to 15j take readings at the discharge RML 7.
So in the haste, I radioed back 16 and said that we would take over for the onsite team, since we were 17l ready to go and get those readings.
So as a result we were assigned to 18l the onsite team and someone else had been assigned to the offsite team.
19I We went around that day taking readings at whatever point they thought 20!
the wind direction was in.
At first there was a lot of confusion, I
21; especially on my part.
Since I had no training in the use of the I
22 Sam 2, I did not realize what, exactly how the thing worked.
So I was 23 a little bit confused up to that point.
The guy who was with me luckily 24i had had some previous trainir.g on the Sam 2 and he knew how it worked.
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Together we worked it out and we were pretty well set towards the end 2'
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of the day as to what we were doing.
But in that time that we were 31 taking readings there were particular times that we noticed the wind 4!
direction going in certain directions and they would radio us to go to ci]
another location to take readings.
We radioed back and told them we 6i saw the wind direction going in a different direction would they like 7
us to get readings in that specific area, and they radioed back emphat-8 ically that they wanted us to go to the locations that they were telling us to gc to.
So, as an onsite team, I don' t know that we did our job
~
10f as far as getting some of the correct readings.
The da' was kind of 11 eventful.
In the confusion more or less, while they were trying to get 12 readings and all, I had to, I cut my hand open and with having that 1
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bandaged and I had a bum knee anyway, and trying to run around getting 14 readings, it was a little awkward that day anyway.
I worked until 15; about 3 or 4:00 o' clock that afternoon.
No, it was 5:00 o' clock and I 16]
left that day.
I was told to come back in regular time the next day 17f and report to the cbservation center.
On the 29th I was asked to use 18!
my vehicle tr go up to Crawford Station to pick up some sample bottles 19!
that they needed for the onsite team to get some samples.
Things were 20' kind of easy from then on, just days kind of ran together because we 21f were working 12 hour1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> days and things were kind of mixed up.
22!
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j II; COLLINS:
Go ahead, just tell us what, if you can't put it in a specific 2l' day, within the first, 2fth and 30th what ware you doing?
You got 3i sample bottles you mentioned, did yot then j(in any survey teams or 4f work on the TLD's or what do you recall?
Si l
OI BURKHOLDER:
From when I got the sample bottles, I reported back and I 7
was...they wanted to get some equipment over to the observation center 8
for reading TLD's and that, but I think that was the 30th they tried to 1
9I do that.
10[
i 11I COLLINS:
Did you assist in frisking any people or equipment coming off 12!
the Island?
Did you return to the Island and do anything on the Island?
i 13!
14!
BURXHOLDER:
That second day we went back on the Island and after I had 15 gotten those we were assigned to go onto the Island and they weren't, 16' the areas that were contaminated or high airborne or had high dose 17l rates, we were assigned to go to and escort people who needed assistance l
18!
in doing jobs.
19!
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l 20 COLLINS:
What was scme of these jobs that were being performed on that 21; day and where were they being performed?
22!
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r ll' BURKHOLDER:
Some of them was in the aux building, it had to do with 2'
l trying to get samples, trying to get dose rates.
They wanted to know 31 if they could go into certain areas to do some valving, to do some repacking, to do any little jobs that they had to do, we were to survey
~d those areas and report '.>ack to them and tell them what we found.
Si Everything was done Scott airpack.
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COLLINS:
What areas did you survey and what results do you recall?
9f 10{
BURKHOLDER:
In the aux building, they wanted to go into the makeup 11[
valve alley on the 305 elevation and they wanted to...the job they had 12!
to do was te repack a valve that had been leaking.
When I walked into i
131 the hallway to get to the makeup valve alley; it was reading 1 to 2 R 14!
in the hallway and till I got back to makeup valve alley, I was just at 15t the door, and I had a teletector with me, and I extended the probe and 16i it was 750 R contact on the door.
17; 18!
SHACKLETON:
Mr. Burkholder when you say 750 R, you mean R per hour?
19t 20:
BURKHOLDER:
That's correct.
21; 22f SHACKLETON:
Alright, thank you.
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COLLINS:
This is the door in the 305 level of the Unit 2 aux building 2'
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near the valve alley and over by the decay heat removal coolers, which 3i valve alley are you speaking of? This is, there's two valve alleys, there's one on the 281 level and there's one on the 305 level, this is 5l j
the one that if you go through the doorway at the elevator in the aux building, and you walk back the hallway, it walks along, its the hallway 7
that goes right by the spent fuel pool and down the whole way at the end of that hallway there's a door right to your left.
9l 10 COLLINS:
To your left?
11!
.l 12l BURKHOLDER:
Uh, hum.
i 13l 14!
COLLINS:
What was some of the other dose rates that you found on the 15 way dcwn the hall? Were there any high dose rates or any notable dose 16i rates?
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18l BURKHOLDER:
Well, we were told not to linger, we were told to get down 19l the hallway ar,d take general readings and that's when I was getting 1, 20l 2 R at the time, as best we could, get down there and check that area 21 out because they wanted to see what they could do about that job.
22l l
23l COLLINS:
Who did you report these results to?
241 25;
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BURKHOLDER:
Dick Dubiel.
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COLLINS:
Was any record of these results maintained?
4!
BURKHOLDER:
I don't believe, no.
6l 7!
COLLINS:
Who else went with you? You mentioned we.
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9 BURKHOLDER:
Well, we I said we, I meant that we were given specific 10 jobs meaning the radiation protection people.
But I went by myself on 11l that occasion.
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13l COLLINS:
Did you make any other entries that day into the aux building, i
14!
Unit 1 or Unit 2?
15:
16; BURKHOLDER:
No.
17!
18r COLLINS:
Do you recall any other assignments you had the second day, 19i that would be the 29th, Thursday?
20l 21f BURKHOLDER:
The day that I'm talking about was either Thursday or 22 Friday.
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i 10 l{t COLLINS:
What time of day was this on the day that you went in? Was 2'
j this morning, afternoon, right after you came on shift, close to the 31 i
end of the shift?
4!
l 5
BURKHOLDER:
This would have been about 11:00 o' clock in the morning.
61 7
COLLINS:
You mentioned that you, on one of the days, probably Friday, 8
you went to the Island and got some equipment for reading TLDs.
Can 9!
you elaborate on that? Where did you get the equipment? What was it?
t 10 Who did you bring it to? Where?
11l 12f BURKHOLDER:
That day, as I said, the things, hours were so, days were 13f so mumble jumbleo that it hard to recall exactly which day now.
That 14!
might even had been Saturday, but we came in with a truck.
There was a 15:
guy who had worked here who left and went to Berwick, and he came down 16:
with a PP&L van and we came in with that and loaded up the TLD equipment t
17l from the TLD trailar that we have and loaded it on to that truck and 18l took it over to the observation center.
19' 20; COLLINS:
Where did you leave it then? With whcm at the observation i
21i center?
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BURKH0LDER:
Well we carried it upstairs to the second floor up to the 2'
i top and we left it with him, ha and this man that I was saying about.
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There was a supervisor here our foreman who went to Berwick.
He helped 4l to set this equipment up.
Sj l
OI COLLINS:
Who from the Rad Chem department was, TMI Rad Chem Department t
7!
was there working with TLD equipment and helpint to set it up?
I 9
BURKHOLDER:
Fred Huey.
I 10l 11 COLLINS:
Can you remember anything else before I go back and try to 12!
find some more specifics?
Can you remember anything else about your l
13l actions or: the first three days?
14!
15' BURKHOLDER:
No.
16:
~ 17 COLLINS:
If you recall anything as we go through please try to add it i
18{
in as you recall it so that you don' put it out of your mind.
You 19f mentioned that when you arrived on Wednesday, approximately at 7:00 20l o' clock, you went to the processing center and heard the announcement l
21i of a radiation emergency.
About what time was the announcement and r
22f what did the announcement consist of?
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BURKHOLDER:
The announcement was said to be, I would say it was about 2*
l a quarter after seven and they said that they had a radiation emergency 31 in, I don't think they said what Unit, but they wanted the nonessential people to assemble in the north auditorium and operators and health 5(
j physics people to report to their normal places.
61 COLLINS:
You then proceeded to the Unit 1 HP lab which is the ECS.
Was the ECS established and who was there?
9 10 BURKHOLDER:
When I walked in there were people on the phone, I don't 11 recall who was working, who was doing what at the time, but when I went E
in, I just waited for assignment and without noticing who was doing 13{
l what job.
We were talking among ourselves exactly what had happened, 14 we weren't really sure, Pete Velez had come in and said that we had, 15:
this time it was not a practice drill, it was the real thing, and that 16; they were reading 800 R in the dcme of the Unit 2 reactor building but 17 still we didn't know what had really happened.
Nobody seemed to know.
18!
And we were then assigned to the job of going out and being the offsite 19I team.
20i s
21 COLLINS:
Who assigned you to go check the equipment out for surveys?
22l l
23l BURKHOLDER:
No one did that, we took that uoon ourselves to do.
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COLLINS:
Who was in charge of the ECS?
Could you tell from the 2!
activities?
31 41 BURKHOLDER:
No.
i Si i
6' COLLINS:
You then proceeded to the processing center to check out the 7l operation of survey equipment.
Was the equipment operable? Was it 0
where it was suppose to be?
9l 10' BURKHOLDER:
The equipment we found was where it was supposed to be and 11 it was operable at the time.
I might add, not being familiar with the 12l equipment myself, I wasn't really sure how it worked so ; was glad that 13 there was somebody with me who had worbd it and knew about what to do.
141 15i COLLINS:
Who was the other member of your team who did know how to 16-operate the equipment?
17!
181 BURKHOLDER:
Dave Etheridge.
i 19:
20l COLLINS:
You mentioned that you were not familiar with the equipment, 21f can you describe for us the training you had in previous emergency 22 drills and in the use of equipment that would be used in an emergency?
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BURKHOLDER:
I have had no formal training at all.
The drills that we 2'
i were on, they were conducted, in the first place the drills was always 31 kind of a laugh because they were supposed to be, we were supposed to 4!
be trained for them and we never were and the only training we had were i
drills before the NRC would come to see what we were actually doing.
It was like we'd have a rehearsal maybe a week or so ahead of time and a
7'!
then a couple days before we would have a dress rehearsal where we I
would go through and most of the time, the people who actually aid the 9f emergency drill were not the same people who were t ained, or who went 10 through the dress rehearsal and things like tha+.
In my particular 11l case, we had a rehearsal the day before the NRC was to see our drill I
12!
and I was an offsite team, but I had no previously experience in running i
13l the Sam 2 and we were never asked to operate the equipment.
All we 14' were told to do was to know the locations and go to locations.
I don't 15{
know if they assumed that we would know how to operate the equipment 16:
and just so we kat how to operate the vehicles and get to the locations a
17!
that they told us to go to.
But the monitors that they sent along in l
18!
the particular case that I was on, the monitor that they sent didn't 19!
know how to operate the equipment and didn't know exactly what to do 20:
either.
I 21l 22l COLLINS:
This was in the one drill that you participated in, the other 23 Chem Rad Technician did not understand how to use the equipment either?
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BURKHOLDER:
Well the other persons that they sent along with me, that 2f particular time, was an operator and he did not know how to use the 3f equipment either.
No.
4l 5
COLLINS:
How many drills have you participated in?
Formal drills?
6i 7
BURKHOLDER:
One.
I S;
9 COLLINS:
What did the dress rehearsal drills consist of? Were you 10[
assigned to go get equipment?
Assigned a specific job and then told te 11l go to specific locations and similate readings?
12:
13 BURKHOLDER:
No.
We were told how to, we were supposed to look in the 14' equipment and see that everything was there, take our equipment out and 15 pick up what we had to do.
The operator was there with the key, with a 16i vehicle ready to go.
We loaded everything on.
Waited for our assignment 17.
and then when we were given the location to go to, we'd go to that 18j location and wait for further instructions.
19f 20-COLLINS:
What other training, what otner health physics training, 21j formal or on the job have you received since arriving at TMI?
You i
22l mentioned chemistry training, what about health physics training?
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BURKHOLDER:
When I first came to the department, we came down here in 2f October 20, 1969, to start training, we were told that it was going to 3'
l be a 42 week training program.
We were then set up with separate 4;!
departments, Chemistry and Health Physics, I was a chemistry technicien d
]
and we were trained in both fields.
Both HP and chemistry was trained OI in both fields so that we would be able to h?lp each other out when the 7
time came.
8 9f SHACKLETON:
Gentlemen, we're going to have to change the tape at this 10 time.
The time is 8:01 a.m. eastera daylight time, May 17, 1979.
11; 12l SHACKLETON:
This is a continuation of the interview of Mr. Burkholder.
13 The time is now 8:02 a.m. eastern daylight time, May 17, 1979.
Mr.
14 Burkholder will you please continue with your comments.
15:
16 BURKHOLDER:
1 came down here in October 20, of 1969 to start a training 17:
program, I was a Chemistry Technician at the time and our department 18f had been two separate departments.
The training that I received in 19!
health physics, we were trained in both aspects, both chemistry and 20:
health physics.
But since that time we nave had sporatic but very 21l little training in health physics.
r 22l r
COLLINS:
When was the last time you had any training in the use of 23[
24l radiation detector equipment or any other formal health physics training?
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11 BURKHOLDER:
Well I'll have to give you some background before I can 2t i
answer that question.
When I was in the chemistry and health physics 31 l
department we were told that our jobs were going to be daylight and we 4j were told we we going to have separate departments, chemistry aM 5l health physics.
It was changad.
They combined the departments and 6i they put us on shift work.
I wasn't too happy about the situation, 7'
because I felt then that to do a proper fcb in the chemistry or health 8!
phyics field, the departaent shouldn't be combined.
It was hard enough H
to try and learn one job without having to learn the other job.
- Plus, 10!
we were told that when the Unit 2 started up we will be having both i
11 Units, and this is the way it ended up.
As a result I left the department, 12' I was away from the department for approximately a year a half to two 131 years, when I came back in the department I got training again for a 14 couple of weeks and that would have been about 1977 and that's the last 15i training I ever had.
I wouldn't hestitate to say that I feel that that 16:
would be the only training that I would have gotten, I wouldn't have 17l Lotten that training if I would have stayed in the department.
I have 18i one other ecmment to make, that I am, in our department now we have 19' radiation chemistry technician and radiation chemistry technician jr.
20 When I came back into the department I served my probation time and I'd 21 gotten some training in that area, in the health physics cnemistry, 22 mostly health physics, I didn't get any chemistry training.
I'm sorry.
23 I lost my train of thought.
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SHACKLETON:
You're referring to your training and you were talking 2':
about that there was a Rad Chem Tech Junior and a Rad Chem Tech.
Does E
that help?
4!
BURKHOLDER:
That helps.
6i 7
SHACKLETON:
Okay.
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9l BURKHOLDER:
Yot: move. rom Junior to Senior technicians, well they call 10 them technicians, but we call them Senior to differentiate between the 11!
Junior.
When I went freni the Junior to the Senior job I was never 1
12!
tested to see that I was quali fed for that job and I feel that that is I
13l completely wrong.
14!
15!
COLLINS:
Was there, you say you were never tested.
There was no 16 writter, test, no oral test, no performance test at all to go from 17 Junior to Senior technician?
18r 19:
BURKHOLDER:
No.
Not for me there wasn't.
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COLLINS:
Let's get back to the activities on the day of the 28th, 21 you've gone out, you've checked out the equipment its operable and your own team with Erckcridge who does know how to use the equipment.
Who 4!
radioed you to start taking onsite readings and what was the specific
~d instructions, where did they ask you to go?
i 6i 7
BURKHOLDER:
I don't know who it was that radioed us, mt they told us i
8!
that they wanted readings on the western side of the island.
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10l COLLINS:
What instruments did you use and how did you use them to take i
11l the readings?
i 12l I
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BURKHOLDER:
We use the Sam-2 and air sampler.
14!
15 COLLINS:
What survey instruments did you have?
Radiation measurement 16{
instruments?
17 18i BURKHOLDER:
We had a Pic 6.
19!
20l COLLINS:
What type of readings did you take with the Pic 6, open and 21l closed window, or was it just closed window or just open window?
l 22' 23 BURKHOLDER:
Just closed window.
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COLLINS:
To whom did you report the results of the surveys?
2!
i 31 BURKHOLDER:
We reported it to the ES.
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COLLINS:
Did you maintain any records of the survey results in the 6!
vehicle?
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8l BURKH0LDER:
At first during the confusion, there was several readings t
9!
that had to be taken right away, there wasn't enough time to write i
10!
things down and get them in order.
But later on during the day we 11l started to get the information together.
I 12!
13 COLLINS:
What happended to those records.
14!
15:
BURKHOLDER:
I don't know.
16:
17l COLLINS:
Did you turn them over to the team who relieved you?
18t 19l BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
20!
l 21l COLLINS:
Throughout the first day, were all the readings you took 22 closed window only?
23 24!
25!
orn
() 0 li() - [ U./ U l
t
l
[
21 11 BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
2!
i 3[
l COLLINS:
Do you recall any of the readings or locations, significant 4l readings or locations?
Si 6i BURKHOLDER:
There were significant readings at the...during the day 7
there was a northerly wind and at the gate about the north weather I
8!
station we were picking up about 10 mR.
9!
10f COLLINS:
You mentioned that Mr. Etheridge kner how to use the Sam 2 11 and you indicated later in the day, you and Mr. Etheridge became com-l 12!
fortable in the use of the Sam 2.
Was there any change in the way you i
131 use the Sam 2 to count air samples during the day?
14!
15' BURKHOLDER:
Any change?
I don' t understand?
16; 17!
COLLINS:
Did you change any of the window settings or thresholds or 18l voltage or anything?
19!
20!
BURKHOLDER:
No.
21:
22f COLLINS:
So, the Sam 2 was used the same way the entire day?
23l l
24l 25!
[ (t 4
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t j v --l Vs i
i
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2:.
It' BURKHOLDER:
That's correct.
I 2!
3j COLLINS:
You mentioned that you were instructed to go to locations that you thought were not in the direction of the prevailing winds.
5 What did you use to determine the direction nf the prevailing winds?
6 7
BURKHOLDER:
Well the wind was heavy enough that day that you could 8
tell what direction it was going just by the way it was blowing.
We f
found that some of our higher readings were in areas that weren' t, we i
10' weren't told to go to those areas to report.
11; l
12l COLLINS:
Did you look at the cooling towers or any furnace stacks or i
13l anything that might have given a plume to determine what direction the I
lt wind was at about the stack?
(
15!
16!
BURKHOLDER:
Yes, but even sometimes the stack is going in different 1
17l directions then the air down below is going and we used..you could i
18!
tell which way the air was blowing.
Dust from the roads, whenever we 19!
would be driving you could see which way it was blcwing, trees you 20l could use those as reference.
21;i 22l COLLINS:
Do you know who was giving the instructions by radio at l
23j anytime during that day, any of the individuals names?
24j 25!
l
(,01 I; < 0
[
23 i
l ll BURKHOLDER:
Yes. Jim Seelinger was giving us the instructions the time i
f that we had radioed back and told him that we were gatting, that we knew that the wind was going in a.iother direction and that we were k
getting higher readings there and we were emphatically given instructions c;
- l to go to where he told us to go.
7 COLLINS:
Is there any thing else you recall significant that first day 8
while you were taking readings offsite?
9 10 BURKHOLDER:
No.
11!
12 COLLINS:
You stated that you left about 5:00, who did you turn your 13 equipment over to? Who was your relief team?
14!
15!
BURKHOLDER:
The relief team was Joe Hipple and Mike Gabner.
16i 17 COLLINS:
The 29th, you believe the 29th, you went into the auxiliary 18(
building to take radiation level measurements.
Who told you to go in 19l to take these measurements?
20; 21{
BURKHOLDER:
Dick Dubiel, 22 231 24 25i ro:
oc' UO'.
vvi f
l
[
24 11 COLLINS:
How did you enter the auxiliary building? Which doorway did i
2l' you use?
31 4
BURKHOLDER:
We used the door at the 305 level.
It goes into the HP 5I area.
I 6i 7
COLLINS:
So you entered from the Unit 2 HP side?
8 9
BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
10 11l COLLINS:
What type of protective clothing did you have at that time?
12)
What did you wear?
I 13i 141 BURKHOLDER:
I wore cotten coveralls, a wet suit, cotton gloves, rubber 15 gloves, and a Scott airpack.
i 16!
17 COLLINS:
What prebriefing did you receive that conveyed to you what i
18i kind of radiation levels and air concentrations you might encountered 19l in the auxiliary building?
20!
21{
BURKHOLDER:
There were no specific instructions as to what the problems 22 were except they knew the airborne activity was high and that the 23 readings were high in those areas to go into to where they specifically i
24l told us to go and told me to go and then come back out again.
25l n.
h!$
U
i
i I
(
25
~
1!
COLiJyS; Was trare sufficient instrumentation available for radiation 2
l detection and measuring instrumentation available for you to go in 31 l
with.
Was there a teletector available?
4l l
c
~
BURKHOLDER:
At the time there was, yes.
61 7
COLLINS:
Did you have a RWP feed befcre you could enter?
a!
9 BURKHOLDER:
No.
10 11l COLLINS:
What kind of access control was in effect at that time at the 12; entry to the auxiliary building?
13 14:
BURKHOLDER:
There were two people there that were manning that doorway.
?
15!
16:
COLLINS:
Could you recall who they were?
i 17!
18!
_B_URKHOLDER:
No.
191 20!
COLLINS:
You mentioned a 750 R per hour field, was that with the 21; teletector open window, closed window, do you recall?
22l l
23l BURKHOLDER:
The teletector has no open window or closed window on it.
i 24l 25;
(> fj ;j nf, uo 5
26 11]
COLLINS.
It has a little cap that goes over the end, you weren't using 2'
i that type?
i 31 l
BURKHOLDER:
Oh, no.
No.
Si COLLINS:
Who was in charge of the HP function on that day, who was the 1
71 foreman?
9l BURKHOLDER:
The person who was completely in charge of the HP function
(
10 was Dick Dubiel.
11l 121 COLLINS:
Who did you report to immediately, was there a foreman?
13 14 BURKHOLDER:
I was taking my instructions from Dick Dubiel, 15!
16 COLLINS:
Did you take any air samples on that day.
17!
l 18!
BURKHOLDER:
No.
19i 20:
COLLINS:
Did you make any other entries into the aux building?
21 22 BURKHOLDER:
That particular day, no.
i 23i 24j 25l i-e t 8 e
(f d
4 I
t j
27 l'
,i COLLINS:
What dose did you pick up in doing that survey?
2!
i i
I i
BURKHOLDER:
450 mR.
4l a
COLLINS:
How long were you in the area?
Gi i
7 BURKHOLDER:
I was in that. area for approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
8 9
COLLINS:
Were you whole body counted subsequent to that entry?
10f Ill BURKHOLDER:
A few days later, yes_
12:
l 13I COLLINS:
What were the results?
14!
t 15 BURKHOLDER:
There was no results.
16; 17 COLLINS:
How did yout pocket chamber reading compare to the TLD readings?
18j i
191 BURKHOLDER:
It was pretty close.
20' 21 22 23 l
24i 25!
i
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O/I UU!
UUJ
l 1
i l
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28 i
l' j
COLLINS:
You mentioned picking up samples from Crawford Station on the 2
29th, some samples bottles from Crawford Station on the 29th, did you 3
see any sample bottles that contain samples when you returned from 4
Crawford Station.
Who did you give the bottles to and what was the 5
activity in that area?
Gi 7
BURKHOLDER:
The bottles, I took them to the north gate and there was 8
another truck coing in at the time so they took them in for me.
9l
[
10 COLLINS:
In your wandering, or in your work at the observation center 11l did you see any samples coming into the observation center and where I
121 were they going if you did?
t 13' 14 BURKHOLDER:
There was none that day that I saw, no.
15:
16 COLLINS:
Can you recall anything else happening those first three 17l days? For example, were you in any way involved in taking primary 18i coolant samples, or steam generator samples, or analyzing any of the 19!
samples taken?
20l i
21l BURKHOLDER:
No.
I 22l t
23l COLLINS:
Were you involved in surveying any people out or in assisting i
24l in decontamination of individuals?
25f a-f O Y' G
\\_
l L) U 7 l
I
i f
{
29 i
l{'
BURKHOLDER:
No.
2 3l COLLINS:
During any of your entries into the aux building these first 41 three days, did you receive any personnel contamination?
5 61 BURKHOLDER:
No.
7 8
COLLINS:
Did you participate in any investigations into personnel 9
exposures or personnel contaminations.
10 11!
BURKHOLDER:
No.
b 12l t
13l CO.LLINS:
Did you operate the TLD reader, read any TLDs, maintain any i
14I of the TLDs records?
15; 16i BURKHOLDER:
No.
17l 18i COLLINS:
Was you assigned to any offsite survey teams?
19!
20t BURKHOLDER:
No.
I 21!
CCLLINS:
Have you had any other interviews prior to this one?
22j 23j 24!
25l i
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7 U U --).
Ut I l
l
[
30 i
lli BURKHOLDER:
No.
2!
3 COLLINS:
Have you been given any guidance as to how to respond to any l
41 of the questions that we might have in here?
5 6i E'JRKHOLDER:
No.
7 8
COLLINS:
Do you have any reason to believe that anyone would purposely 9
try to damage tha plant?
10 11 BURKHOLDER:
No.
m 13!
COLLINS:
Do you have any other facts or any cther comments you might 14) want to bring to our attention at this time?
15 16 BURKHOLDER:
I'm a little hazy on the Lima again, but it was within the 17f first three days, I was in the auxiliary building in Unit 2, I had on i
18!
cotton coveralls, Scott airpack, wetsuit, bcots.
I was supposeed to go 19!
in to get a sample from HPR 227 which is the reactor building containment.
20; I was in on two different occasions to get those samples which was a 21l air sample and on both occasions I thought that I had gotten the samples i
42l and it turned out that they did not have the alves open to that 3amoler 23l and I got a high exposure from being in that area for no reason.
l 24l l
25
)%
i
31 I
i l':
COLLINS:
Who assigned to go take these samples?
F 2!
l BURKHOLDER:
Dick Dubiel.
4f l
5 COLLINS:
Was there any prebriefing or organized discussion between HP Gl and operations with regard to when you were going to go in, what you 7
were going to do, what valves needed to be lined up, what kind of 8I communications there would be between you and the Control Room for the 9l lineup of valves, or anything like that?
10l l
11; BURKHOLDER:
Yes, we were, we had full knowledge that I was going in to l
12l take these samples.
It was discussed between Dick and I when I got in I
13 there that I would line the sample up and call him and he would have 14!
them open up the valves from containment to the sampler and its a 15; recirc line that there's two valves that are supposed to be open to get 16i to the sampler and two valves back to the containment.
When I called 17!
him he immediately told the control room operator that I needed those 181 valves open so I could control my sample.
They supposedly did that and 19; I thought I was drawing the sample, but in fact it was in-leakage that 20t caused the flow indicator to show me that I was getting some type of 21 flow.
And it took awhile to get the sample lined up.
There was some i
22l confusion there and after it was lined up when I left the area and then r
23f came back again to get the sample.
When I came back I noticed that the 24 flow indicator showed no flow and evidently the inleakage had, the 25l io-() U 'i U'
'1 I
i
l 32 l f
]
pressures had compensated for each other and the flow indicator showed 2l nothing.
I called back and found out later on that those valves up 3!
there were not fully opened, they were open, there must be two different 4l j
places to open those valves.
The one place wasn't open and the other i
Sl one the control room operator did in fact open the valves, b~ut he 6'!
didn't open the ones in back of the panel the way I understand.
i 7l l
8l SHACKLETON:
Mr. Burkholder have you ever performed that assignment 9
before under normal circumstances?
10 11l BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
12!
13l SHACKLETON:
Frequently, so that you were familiar with it.
14!
15i BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
16; 17l SHACKLETON:
Thank you.
I 18l 19i COLLINS:
In these instances wnen you performed the change out previous 20i to the change out that you are discussing now, were those other valves i
21; closed?
22l l
23l BURKHOLDER:
Pardon me, I don't understand.
24l 25l f
i
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n~q i
i
(
33 l
l ll COLLINS:
Did you have to call up to the control and have the valves 6
2f opened under normal circumstances to take a sample, or were those valves normally opened?
4!,
I 5
BURKHOLDER: They were normally open?
Gi 7
COLLINS:
What happened to the HPR 227 samples that were taken?
8!
9 BLRKHOLDER:
When I was there they never got the sample.
10l l
11!
COLLINS:
Did you take any gas samples or hydrogen in the first three 12l days?
t 13l 14!
BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
15, 16:
COLLINS:
Were you successful in taking these things?
That is, did you 17i get flow?
I 18f 19r BURKHOLDER:
Yes, supposedly I got flow, but there again it was in the 20j middle of shift and it was supposed to be turned over that, they were 21 supposed to have some type of lead shielding provided that after that 22f sample was gotten they would put it in that lead shielding and take it i
23l 24l 25; O
l 34 i
ld over for sampling.
I have gotten those samples, I'm sorry I did.
We've taken them over to Unit 1, then sampled them for the hydrogen content.
4 1 d1 COLLINS-You mentioned you've gotten high dosage in trying to take the i
6 HPR-227 samples.
What kind of dosage did you pick up?
7l 8l BURKHOLDER:
I picked up a combination of 700 mR trying to get those 9l samples in that area, over a period of different times?
i 10l i
11l COLLINS:
Did you take any other samples in the auxiliary building in 12l the first three days?
I know that the station vent HPR-219 was changed i
13!
a few times during that period.
Did ycu take any of those samples?
14i 15; BURKHOLDER:
No.
16l l
17!
COLLINS:
Do you know what happened to any of the valid samples that 18l were taken during the first few days? Where were they being sent?
19' 20i BURKHOLDER:
The containment samples?
21l 22' 23(
24l 25!
(. o /t (172
(
35 i
llt COLLINS:
Containment or station vent or any other sample that you 2
might know of.
Were you asked to bring any for the observation center
~
j or see that certain water samples or atmospheric samples were analyzed 41 by someone?
i 6l BURKHOLDER:
As I said before there were several hydrogen samples from i
7!
the containment building that I took and analyzed and gas partition i
8l over in Unit 1, those were left there, there was another sample, a 9
liquid sample that was taken over to the...there was an NRC trailer at 10l the observation center and we took a sample over to them.
11f i
12!
COLLINS:
This was a liquid sample, you recall how it was identified?
l 13!
14 BURKHOLDER:
No, I don't, we were instructed.
It was just given to us 15!
in a bag and we were told to put it in the back of the truck and take 16:
it over.
i 17 18j COLLINS:
Do you recall what day this was?
19I 20:
BURKHOLDER:
No, I don't.
I 21!
t 22f COLLINS:
You brought it to the NRC trailer and it was received there?
l 23!
24 25!
[. (),
U O,;
Ce J l
I
{
36 t
i 11 i
BURKHOLDER:
No, I took it in a truck, I was told to stay with the 2i sample until somebody came back and took it to where it was supposed to 3;
go, then I wa,s supposed to go back on the island again.
4!
cl "l
COLLINS:
So then somebody came, picked it up from the north gate, I I
take it, and then brought it over to us.
7 8
BURKHOLDER:
No, we actually brought it to the observation center.
We 9
parked in the parking lot and the foreman that was with me went into 10f the observation center to find out where the sample was to go and the lif meantime I stayed outside to keep people away frem, that might come i
12l near the sample.
I 13!
14l COLLINS:
Who was the foreman with you?
15i 16 BURKH0LDER:
Joe Deman.
17 18; COLLINS:
And then you transfered to samples to someone from the NRC, 19) or RMC, or to whom?
20!
21l BURKHOLDER:
In the meantime, Joe came back out and I was sent back I
onto the Island and he took care of the sample from there.
22 23 i
24l l
25j l
b 3 'i U,<U
I I
(
37 i
j COLLINS:
What was the radiation level on this sample?
2!
i
$9 BURKHOLDER:
10 mR on contact.
4l i
f SHACKLETON:
Time is now 8:34 a.m. eastern daylight time, May 17, 1979 OI this is a continuation of the interview of Mr. Kenneth E. Burkholder, 1
7 the last tape went off at 8:31 a.m. and we will now resume the interview.
81 i
9 COLLINS:
Did, at anytime right after the incident, you maintain any 10 records or personel notes or official records, logs or results yourself?
11!
12!
BURKHOLDER:
No.
131 14!
COLLINS:
Do you have any other facts or recommendations or any sug-15r gestions for improvement that you'll like to bring to our attention.
16:
17l BURKHOLDER:
Yes.
One of the biggest is our department is much, there i
18j is too many things to do in our department.
In our departmeat you' re a 19!
Jack of all trades and a master of none.
And I emphasize the master 20!
of none because there are many things in our department that we have to f
21}
know and do in order to function and our department consists of Unit 1 22{
HP, Unit 2 HP, Unit 1 Chemistry, Unit 2 Chemistry, Unit 1 Primary i
23l Chemistry and Unit 2 Primary Chemistry and the departments being the 24l way they are we work six week rotatian, we work two weeks of daylight, l
25i l
,, ~
E e
I l
l 38 l
ll' 7:00 to 3:30, Monday tnru Fr day and the following week we rotate on a i
2' i
daylight shift, 7:00 to 3:00 then we go the following week to 3:00 to 31 11:00 and the following week 11:00 to 7:00 and the whole rotation takes 4!
six weeks.
The one six weeks, we're in chemistry; the next six weeks, i
we're in HP.
By rotating back arJ forth to each, to the departments, 6
we lose continuity of what we're doing, it takes us awhile to get back 7
into the main stream of our particular job.
There's health physics is 8
toc
-g of a job to have chemistry combined with it and chemistry is 9
too big of a job to have health physics combined with it.
You can' t be 10 a good tecnnician and work in two different departments such as these.
11:
Did you have any specifics the you wanted to ask me?
12 13 COLLINS:
No, I wanted to leave it open to your specific recommendations 14 or other facts that you want to bring to our attention at this time.
15; 16 BURKHOLDER:
In the field of health physics particularly, its gotten to i
17!
a point, there's so many things to be done, normal routine things, that 18!
are to be dor.e that it makes the job so impersonal to.1 person who come 19l back for healtn physics training.
One of the things is recordkeeping, 20i there's a lot of duplication in recordskeeping.
We have releases that t
21l we have to do from time to time, gas releases that we do.
There's so l
22l many paperwork type things to do that you cannot be, cannot have a l
23l personal relationship with people who come back there when there's a l
24l problem, and it's not that you want to feel this way but you have the 25j 1
fe p
ly L,U t
39 lt feeling that you got to get your work done because that paperwork shows 2
how much work you've done, when you are working with a person as a 31 person, that's not recorded work and you don't get credited with it and i
4!
most people are of the same opinion that if HP and the way our department i
Si j
is worked is so, there's so many things to do in that department that 61 its a very impersonal department as far as the personnel are concerned.
7 When there's a contamination problem that comes in the first thing you 8
do is tell that person to go back and take care of themselves.
If 9
their hands are contaminated or their shoes are contaminated, you ask 10 them to take care of themselves before you do, because you have other 11 things that you have to do.
And this is not the way the department 12!
should be run.
That department should be the, the person comes first, i
13l our training is nil.
This is another thing we have, in our six week 14!
program a week that we call training week but our traini1g week never 15I consisted of any training it was always, we worked in Unit 2, that was 16l the week we go to Unit 2 and it wasn't training is was normal HP or 17 chemistry functions it was never any training.
Our department, for the 18i number of things that we have to do is way too small, we have found 19i that since this accident has happened we have the same number of people 20!
in our department that we had before the accident minus two, excuse me, 21; but still the functions that were doing ncw are so vast that the people 22f that we had for both units still aren't enough for one Unit now that 23)l were working in Unit 1 only.
I feel that there's enough to know in 24j chemistry and there's enough to know in HP to have those two jobs, 25!
C,,q
/OA i
j UU i
1 i
(
40 l
I l'
l different jobs, but as far as the HP function of it, I feel that there's 2{
just not enough training and not enough people and you can see a differ-3' ence when they bring in an outside contractor such as NSS.
It was much 4!
more professional because those people, the comments were always made, boy those NSS people were very good in their jobs.
Well, they should be because that's the only job they do.
Ours is such a vast amount of 7\\
l work that working two different departments we can' t be the way they 0
are.
91 l
101 COLLINS:
Do you have some specific examples, things that should have I
11 been done, that weren't done, or things that done incorrectly because 12 of a shortage of people or inadequate training?
13l l
14!
BURKHOLDER:
There's a lot of little things that weren't done because 15(
of the shortage of people.
As far as contamination there's there's 16 many people that were contaminated that were never reported or recorded i
17l contaminated because you have so much work to do that its easier to say 18f to the person, go ahead and get yourself cleaned up and check yourself 19f out again and see if everythings okay and if it is go on your merry 20j way.
It wrs much easier to do that than it is to sit down and fill out i
21[
a sheet on them that, but the underlying thing was that there was so 22l many other things to do that you were too busy to worry about that 23 small petty stuff and actually its not small and petty.
28 25!
(S il 075 f
k
I
{
41 i
l:!
COLLINS:
What do your procedures call for when an individual is con-5 2':
taminated? You mentioned filling out a form.
t 31 l
BURKHOLDER:
Yes, there's a form that's filled out, a personal loss of
- i c
dosime+.ry or contamination form that's supposed to be filled out on i
6f every contamination or loss of dosimetry type thing.
A lot of times 7
they are not filled out.
I'd say most times they are not filled out.
8!
9 COLLINS:
Do you know of any instances were individuals were contaminated 10 and were unable to decontaminate themselves and no investigation was 1 11 done with regard to how they became contaminated and what kind of doses 12l they may have received in contamination?
Is there any instances where i
13 somebody might have gone off the Island or gotten away without being 14!
decounted?
r 15 16i BURKHOLDER:
I know of an instance where there was a person got con-17 taminated but the contamination was a fixed contamination and they had 18l been let go.
Because they couldn't get the contamination off of them, 19!
it was a more of a fixed thing, it couldn't be washed off.
20 21j COLLINS:
In that instances was a record of the individual's contamin-22 ation maintained and an analysis of skin dose made?
23 i
24!
25!
U U :r U.
I i
I
[
42 f
l
,'l
^
j BURKHOLDER:
On one particular case no, on the other one I think there 2i j
was but I wasn't involved in it.
31 i
l 4'
l COLLINS:
Who are the individuals you are speaking of?
i 51 Gi BURKHOLDER:
They were people who worked for the catalytic.
7 8
COLLINS:
When did this occur?
9l 10l BURKHOLDER:
What time of year?
11l l
12!
COLLINS:
What date?
The best you can do, how long ago?
13 14 BURKHOLDER:
Okay, it would have been the last, the refueling outage in 15:
Unit 1 before the last one.
That would have been 78.
16i 17l COLLINS:
What were the levels of contamination?
18; 19!
BURKHOLDER:
I don't recall offhand.
20i i
21i COLLINS:
Was the personnel the individual's contamination brought to 22!
the attention of any foreman or management supervisors?
24; 25!
l c'
', 'I
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a.
t _ s i
{
43 1
BURKHOLDER:
Yes, it was.
2t COLLINS:
What did they do?
4!
I c
BURKHOLDER:
They tried deconning as best as possible, it was followed 6
up in this case that they were to bring their pillowcase in the next I
day and check that to see if anything came off of that in their sleep 8
at night.
t 91 10l COLLINS:
Where was the contamination?
11l l
12!
BURKHOLDER:
It was on the back of the head, the hair.
13!
i 14 COLLINS:
Were these people body counted or urine, urinalysis taken for 15 analy'ais... fecal ?
16 17I BURKHOLDER:
No.
18; 19i COLLINS:
Was any records of this contamination maintained, you mentioned 20 there was no Contamination Incident Form filled out?
Was there any 21:
record made in leg or their dosimetry file?
22l 23!
BURKHOLDER:
I don't know.
24 25!
i 9'
N) Y l
(
44 1
j COLLINS:
You don't recall the names of these individuals?
2\\
l 31 BURKHOLDER:
No.
5 COLLINS:
You mentioned that you worked six weeks in chemistry and six 6
weeks in HP.
What kind of refresher or intt oductory discussion on i
7l changes that have occurred in six weeks is provided to you when you go 0
back to these people?
9f 10[
BURKHOLDER:
None.
11!
12I COLLINS:
How do you learn of changes?
13 14l BURKHOLDER:
Through word of mouth, a lot of times.
If you're doing 1N; something, somebody would say, hey, we're not doing that this way any 16f And you'll say, who else isn' t doing that? Well he'll say, well more.
171 we were told that its not this way.
Its always a wo J of mouth thing.
f 18!
There have been times though that there been memos put out on certain ld!
items, but in most cases its word of mouth 20; 21f COLLINS:
Do you know of any particular problems that have resulted, 22!
any specific "-coblems that have resulted from the changes in procedures f
23; or equipment that you were not informed of when you changed from HP to 24 chemistry and vice versa?
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BURKHOLDER:
No.
2 31 COLLINS:
You mentioned that you participated in one drill, after the 4!
drill was there not a critique where you could express to your foreman i
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or to some other individual areas where you th'ught there could be improvements or you could express your lack of understanding of how the 7!
Sam 2 operated?
i 8!
9 BURKHOLDER:
Yes, there was a critique, but that was set up mostly for 10!
the people who went to the critique.
Anybody could go to the critique, i
11 but it was set up mostly for those ceople who were the monitors and it 12l was what did they feel was the problems in the areas of responsibility l
131 as far as monitoring the drill was concerned.
A lot of times there i
14 was jest made of the fact that one of the technicians would pull out 15 something to use and it didn't work or he M dn't know how to use it or 16!
took a very long amount of time to gat results back and these things 17l were supposed to be rectified in a subsequent drill.
I 181 19!
COLLINS:
Did you go to any if these critiques?
20!
21i BURKHOLDER:
I went to one.
72 23l 24; 25j i
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46 ll COLLINS:
So it was brought up at that critique that in fact equipment 2[
that was suppose to be functional was not and the people did not know 31 l
how to the use the equipment that they were required to use.
4!
5 l
BURKHOLDER:
That's right.
61 7
COLLINS:
To whom was this shortcoming expressed?
8 i i
9I BURKHOLDER:
It was up for whoever was there.
There was recommendations 10f made that maybe we should do this or do that, my particular instance 11f was that I had been after the foraman several times to give us training 12 and I was assured that this would happen.
My problem was I told Tom 13 Mulleavy that I did not know how to use the Sam 2 and I wanted training, 14!
he assured me that I would get training and I never cid.
15:
16; COLLINS:
When was this?
17!
18!
BURKHOLDER:
This was before the drill last September.
19i 20j COLLINi And that's the drill you participated in.
21f 22i BURKHOLDER:
That's correct.
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COLLINS:
At the critique who made the comment concerning the lack of training and the inadequate equipment?
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41 BURKHOLDER:
It was the, the monitor that was on with us at the time, t
5t i
said there was considerable confusion in the use of the equipment in i
6i the areas that we were at.
7 8
COLLINS:
Were there any changes that resulted from that comment, was 9
there any training provided to any of the HP technicains?
10l 11!
BURKHOLDER:
No.
I 12!
13l COLLINS:
Any more frequent checks of equipment?
t 14!
15; BURKHOLDER:
No.
16 17l COLLINS:
That's all that I can.
18!
191 BURKHOLDER:
I nave one other comment as far as HP is concerned and 20j that's in the respect of air sampling.
It comes to mind that uo until 21j now air sampling was nil as far as being done.
We relied on our equipment 22l at the plant to tell us what problems we had in the aux building, the 1
23l fuel handling building and so on? We never took air samples as far as 24'j a part of our surveys that we did on a regular routine, it was too time 25:
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consuming.
The only thing we ever did were smears and dose rate surveys 2'
j never any air samples, tiiey always told us to rely of the monitoring 3l j
equipment for the particular areas.
4!
si
- j COLLINS:
By monitoring equipment you mean installed air samplers at 61 each plant?
i 7l l
0 BURKHOLDER:
That's correct.
9!
l 10 COLLINS:
What numbers did you use in filling out RWPs for air concen-11 trations?
12l i
-10 13 BURKHOLDER:
Our limits are three E and whenever we fill out for a 14!
particular cubicle the air in that cubicle was, we were told that the 15 ventilating system was hooked up to the main monitoring and that we, as 16 long as that monitoring equipment was not alarming, that we were told 17l to put down on the RWPs less than three E-10.
i 181 19!
COLLINS:
This is, who told you to do that?
20 21i BURKHOLDER:
Nobody in particular, its another word of mouth thing.
It l
22l was something that was done, if you would ask the foreman they were of 23' the same opinion.
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COLLINS:
So the standard operating order was that if there was no air 2'
monitors being alarmed then the concentrations everywhere no matter i
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-10 l
what work had to been down was less than 3 x 10
?
i 4!
i Sl BURKHOLDER:
Yes, at times there were, depending on the type of job i
6' that was done, if it was grinding or any thing else it was assumed 71 their would be a possible airborne contamination and we would put them 3
i 8!
in a particulate respirator.
And, at times there.. we use to have a 9f HP technician take an air sample whenever any of these things would 10 happen.
They break open into a system, we would take an air sample, 11!
but that fell by the wayside because we didn't have the technicians to 1
12 give to this particular job that had to be done, there was so many jobs 131 that had to be done but too few technicians to go around to do them.
14!
15 COLLINS:
In determining whether you marked air sampler required on 16:
RWP, what requirement, what criteria did you use?
17!
18I BURKHOLDER:
If there was a air sampler, you mean the HP technician?
i 19t 20j COLLINS:
Correct.
When you sign a RWP okay, there's a section on 21f there where you could mark, or anybody completing a form, can mark air 22' sample required.
23 24:
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l 50 l
t l!
l BURKHOLDER:
Its usually HP escort required on there.
2!'
3l COLLINS:
But you can say, air sample during job or after job, or on 41 breaking container, however you wanted to account it.
What's the i
Si l
criteria for requiring an air sample for a specific job?
6!
l 7\\
COLLINS:
I guess what I'm asking is, is there a procedure that sets 0
forth that criteria and if not, what criteria is used?
P 91 10J BURKHOLDER:
No, there's no procedure and if there was a system that 11 was.. if they were going to be working in an area for any length of 12' time that they knew they were breaking into a system that might contain 13 airborne they would take a sample, they would first require respiratory 1
14l equipment and an air sample to be taken.
And the air sample itself 15' would determine whether they had to continue to wear respiratory equipment.
16!
But that was seldom done.
17) 18'{
COLLINS:
So you were not aware of any routine air samples in cubicles 19l and you are not aware of any criteria for taking air samp!es at this 20t time?
21; 22l BURKHGLDER:
There, well at this time, since the accident and since the 23 NRC has been here we have been requiring on every survey to do air 24j samples, but thats only been since this accident.
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COLLINS:
Okay. Is there anything else you would like to talk about at 2';
this time?
3:
BURKHOLDER:
No.
Si 6i COLLINS:
I want to thank you very much for ccming in and talking to us i
7I and I know that things may come to your mind, specifics may come to 8
your mind about the first three days in the fiture, I would like you 9f very much to please contact either me or Mr. Shackleton or any of the 10 NRC people, the investigating team or the NRC complement.
We are most 11 ir;terested in getting information and facts from the first three days 12!
and we will be looking into your concerns expressed about the first t
131 three days.
And your concerns expressed about t things that may have 14!
occurred in another time frame will be reviewed by someone, probably 15; not this team.
We are trying to restrict ourself to the first three 16:
days and the NRC will look into your other concerns.
17l t
18!
BURKHOLDER:
Thank you.
19!
20!
SHACXLETON:
Mr. Burkholder, that last question I might have and it was 21:
somewhat covered, I want to be sure that there's no holes.
Did you i
22l maintain any type of a log or a notebook in your pocket or something 23l concerning dose rates or any of that type of information during those l
24 first three days?
25!
4 4
4 4
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52 i
1!
BURKHOLDER:
No, I did not.
2:
3l SHACKLETON:
Did any of your colleagues that you worked with maintain 4
personal notes?
5l O
BURKHOLDER:
Not that I know of.
t 7l l
El SHACKLETON:
Alright, thank you. Doug, if you have no further questions, of again I'll extend appreciation of the Commission for coming in and 10 sitting down and working your mind and trying to recall what happened 11l nearly two months ago.
We'll close this interview at 8:58 p.m.,
eastern 12 ',
daylight time, May 17, 1979.
13l 14':
15 16 17 l
18l 19!
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.