ML19242D913
| ML19242D913 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 05/19/1979 |
| From: | Telenko F METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7908280860 | |
| Download: ML19242D913 (19) | |
Text
I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
. i NUCLEAR REGULATORY CCMMISSION i
i l
1l In the Matter of:
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IE TMI INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW l
3; of 4;
Frank D. Telenko g
Auxiliary Operator
-1 6!
7l 8!
l Trailer #203 9l NRC Investigation Site l
TMI Nuclear Power Plant 10l Middletown, Pennsylvania ll!
May 19, 1979 12; (Data of Interview) 13!
Julv 3. 1979 (Date Transcript Typed) 14) 228 15!
(Tape Numcer(s))
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181 19l 20) i 21{
l NRC PERSONNEL:
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Gregory P. v has, Radiation Scecialist u
23i l,
William H. Fcster, Senior Irsnector / Auditor 24j 250
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FOSTER:
The following interview is being conducted of Mr. Frank D.
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Telenko.
Mr. Telenko is an auxiliary operator aide at the Three Mile 3I Island Nuclear Power Facility, the present time is 4:16 p.m.
Today's 4{f date is May 19, 1979.
The place of the interview is Trailer #203, Si l
located immediately outside the south gate of TMI site.
Individuals Gl j
present for the interview are interviewer:
Mr. Gregory P. Yuhas, radiation specialist, Region ' my name is William H. Foster, I'm a 8
senior inspector auditor 'sith the Office of Inspector and Auditor, NRC.
9I I'll be monitoring the interview.
Prir to 'Me interview being recorded 0
Mr. Telenko was previded a document explaining his rights concerning 11 information to be.;tained regarding the incident at Three Mile Island.
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In addition Mr. Telenko was apprised at the purpose of the investigation, t
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its scope, and d e authority by which the Congress authorizes the NRC 1M te conduct an investigation.
On the second page of the advisement 15 document Mr. Telenko has answered three questions, the questions and 16 Mr. Telenko answers will now be recorded as part of the interview.
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Mr. Telenko do you understand the document?
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19i TELENK0:
Yes.
2C; 21 FOSTER:
Do we have your permission to tape the interview?
22' 23!
TELENK0:
Yes.
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FOSTER:
Would you like a copy of the tape?
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TELENK0:
Yes.
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FOSTER:
Mr. Telenko at this time, if you would, give us a brief summary 6l of you academic background and employment history as they relate to the 7
nuclear industry?
81 91 TELENK0:
I'm a high school graduate of the academic course.
Upon l
10 graduation of high school I enlisted in the Navy for a period of 6 11l years in the nuclear power program.
Served a total time in the Navy of seven years and approximately nine months with the last, I would imagine, 13 six years in the nuclear power field.
Commissioned two nuclear submarines 14 and went through new construction on both.
When I got out of service I 15I spent a little over two years working on industrial boilers and home 16!
furnaces, and in 1973 I came to work for Metropolitan Edision as a 17 facility operator.
18j 19!
FOST:R:
Ok, thank you Frank.
At this point, I will turn you over to 1
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Mr. Yuhas.
21l 22 YUHAS:
Mr. Telenko, while in the Navy, what was your jcb description?
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l TELENK0:
Upon discharge from the service I was an engine room supervist:
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l I was a machinest mate and I'd qualified as engine room supervisor just 31 l
prior to discharge.
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YUHAS:
Did you go through the Engineering Laboratory Technician School?
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TELENK0:
No I did not.
8 YUHAS:
Ok, so you are EWS qualified?
10l t
11f TELENK0:
I went through the welding school.
I did not go ELT school.
12 I didn't quite make the EWS.
i 13l t
i 14; YUHAS:
What I'd like you to do now is describe how you became aware of 15 the incident thai. occurred on the 28th, when you came to work and 16 essentially what your job assignments are to the best of your recall 17 for the period from the 28th t.hrough Friday the 30th at midnight.
18j lb TELENK0:
Well, the first information I had that anything was wrong was 20i listening to the news report on the radio at home.
Then about between i
2b 10 and 10:30 in the morning I received a phone call from Bob Parnell, 22{
shift foreman, telling me that there was a problem in Unit 2 and that 2$
he would like me to report for work early.
I had previously been 24 scheduled to come in the 3-11 shift.
Needless to say, I got ready kind 2S\\
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l of quickly and came into the plant.
F'rst, I was stopped at the obser-l vation center, then told to come down to the north gate at whic;1 time 31 I
the HP personnel got clearance for me to come on to the site.
At that 4i time I reported directly to the Unit 1 control room and just got bits 5'
and pieces as to what was goi.ig on and was asked to just more less 6i i
standby until I was needed.
Basically, all I did the first four to 7
five hours was just sit back in the Unit 1 instrument shop.
Later on that evening, they had me go into the Unit 1 Auxiliary Building in the bleed tank room and put rubber floor plugs in the drains.
At approxi-10 mately 11 or 12:00, they took us cff the island out to the observation 11 center for something to eat and to take a break.
About 1:00 they 12 brought us back in.
They were going to do some plastic on the floor in 13l the basement of the Unit 2 auxiliary building.
We put our heads together I
14l and we talked them out of doing this.
Just simply due to the fact that 15:
if we put all this plastic down and we decided to pump the floor drains, 16!
we wouldn't be able to drain the water off the floor.
I would imagine 1
along around 3:00 they let us go home.
Now its getting into a gray 18!
area.
I reported for work the following day which was a normal rest 19!
day for me.
I reported to the observation center at 3:00.
They sent 20 us up to Crawford Station to be in standby and it was about 5 pm when I
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they decided they wouldn't need us and they sent us home.
Then Friday 22 came out a normal shift of 11-7 and basically everything was run from 23 the observation center shuffling in to the plant and back out.
Most of 24l 25l
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that time was spent in Unit 1 either taking messages i,' the control 21 i
rocm or just running other little errands that needed to be run.
On 3\\
l Sunday....
4i 5'
YUHAS:
That would have taken you into the period, through the period k
concerned 0700 through the 31st?
I'd like to go back now and ask you 7
l about your entry to the Unit 1 auxiliary building bleed tank area.
Can 8!
you describe that in a little more detail for us?
10 TELENK0:
In what respect as to ?
11l l'n YUHAS:
Who told you to enter the Unit I to place these rubber plugs?
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TELENK0:
I believe the reauest came from Jim Seelinger that they were 15 !
going to,..
they wanted to pump water into the bleed tank room and 16; that they needed the plugs installed.
I was told that the plugs were ljj in the auxiliary building in a locker.
No one had the key for it.
We i
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had to cut the lock for the locker.
We took the plugs down and we were ld one plug short so we installed what we had and we waited until they got 20i some more plugs out the warehouse and they gave us an additional plug 2i to take down and put in the floor drain.
22 23 YUHAS:
Did you have an RWP to go in and do this work?
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TELENK0:
I personally did not have an RWP.
I signed in or an RWP to 2
l get into the Auxiliary Building, but specifically into the bleed tank 3l l
room I did not have an RWP.
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YUHAS:
Did a health physics or rad tech accompany you on this task?
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j TELENK0:
No, I had another auxiliary operator with the radiation 8
instrument and we had an instrument man with us who had an air bottle 9
who was pressurizing the floor plugs.
10l 11 YUHAS:
Did someone brief you on what the dose rates would be in a I]P bleed tank prior to going down there?
13l 14!
TELENK0:
No one briefed me on the levels in the bleed tank room but 15' having operated in Unit 1 before being transferred to Unit 2 I was 16 aware that the bleed tank room was at a higher radiation level then 17 most of the plant and specifically under the tanks was a high radiation Ibi area.
We wasted no time going in and getting out.
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20 FOSTER:
Tim Martin is now under the interview.
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22' YUHAS:
Who was the other auxiliary operator that went with you?
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I 11 TELENK0:
I have to think.
I believe it was either Jim Kimmey or Al 21
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Curry one of those two I can't recall right off.
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l YUHAS:
Can you recall the type of instrumentation you took with you?
SI I
6i TELENK0:
It was an E Tri-20.
7 0
YUHAS:
Is the bleed tank a locked high radiation area?
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10' TELENK0:
Yes it is.
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l 12 YUHAS:
Who provided you with the key to get in?
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TELENK0:
In the auxiliary building on the primary operator's key ring, 15!
we have keys to different doors in the auxiliary buildine,.
I used the 16 key from the primary aux operator's key ring.
17l 18 YUHAS:
Did any Rad Chem Tech HP foreman or supervisor brief you prior 19!
to making this entry?
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21 TELENK0:
I talked to Tom Mulleavy when he asked me where I was going.
2Nl He told us that we should not waste any time in there.
I had had 23 previous knowledge of the radiation levels that it had been a high 24l radiation area for quite some time.
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YUHAS:
What did you all wear in terms of raspiratory protection and 2
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dosimetery protection?
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4l TELENK0:
Well I had low range dosimater, my TLD, four ANTI-Cs and a
]ci full face respiratory.
71 YUHAS:
What sort of cartridge did you have on the respirator?
8 9
TELENK0:
I believe it was the iodine respirator cartridge because it 10) was, I think they said the purple ones were for iodine and that's what i
11 I nad.
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YUHAS:
What sort of dose rates did you find in the bleei tank?
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15; TELENK0:
I wasn't carrying the meter, I was worried about getting the 16 plugs in and getting out.
I think at the time I had only picked up II something like 10 or 12 mR in installing the six plugs in the floor.
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YUHAS:
Who was trying t.o convince you to put plastic on the floor of 20!
the auxiliary building?
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21l 2Il TELENK0:
From what I gathered, when we came back in that night the 23 shift supervisor had had four people go and start putting plastic down 2d on a portion of the auxiliary building.
They had not got finished and 25!
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l they picked up quite a bit of radiation from what I understand.
To the 2
best of my knowledge I think it was Greg Hitz that I talked to and 3
convinced that it wouldn't be a good idea to put the plastic down due 4l to the fact that it would clog up the floor drains.
He talked to, I 5l believe it was, someone from NRC that was at that time in the shift 6!
supervisor's office and they figured that it was a good idea not to put i
7l it down.
I 81 i
9f YUHAS:
Do you remember the name of any of the individuals who were 10[
first involved in placing the plastic?
1 11 12l TELENK0:
Off of our shift the only name that I can think of right off i
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hand is Jim Hendrick. I know there were three other people with him but 14 right now I can't remember who they were.
15 Y
YUHAS:
Can you describe what ycur normal assignments are at TMI?
i 175 18 TELENK0:
Normal assignments are making a tour of the plant depending 19't on whether we are assigned to primary side or secondary side, keeping 20!
an eye on equipment, checking oil levels, pump leakages, valve leakages, 21 doing condensate polishing, its various operating..
22l 23 YUHAS:
What plant are you normally assigned to 1 or 2?
24l 25!
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i 10 1
TELENK0:
Right now, Unit 2.
2' 3t j
YUHAS:
How long have you been assigned to Unit 2?
4!
Si TELENK0:
I would say just about a year.
j 6l I
7l YUHAS:
Can you describe for ne an incident that occurred somewhere 8l around the first of the month or the second when you entered the auxiliary building witn another operator and when yo came out your 0 to SR 10 pencil read at 3.8 R?
1 11 i
12 TELENK0: That was when we were getting ready to go on the hydrogen 13 recombiner.
We were going to pressurize the lines and check for leakage 14 on the flanges where the hydrogen recombiner was hooked up.
At that 15:
time without thinking of the volume of pipe I had to put air in, the 16l instrument shop gave me a small flask of air hich required a quart?r I
17l inch rubber tubing to hook up to a test connection.
They told me that 18!
if I needed additional quarter inch tubing that there was tubing by the 19I Hayes gas analyzer which is right outside the make up tank room.
Two 2b of us entered the auxiliary building and that was the only time that I 21!
didn't carry the teletector.
The person I was with carried the teletector, 22 went up on the second floor 322 elevation where we were going to work 23 24 25!
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2' and I went down to the Hayes gas analyzer room to grab another piece of tubing.
I didn't know what radiation levels I had picked up until I 3
came out of the auxiliary building that night.
4l YUHAS:
Har. anyore instructed you as to what the dose rates were in the 61 cubical that contained the Hayes gas analyzer prior to making that 7
entry?
8 TELENK0:
No, because I think probably most of that was my fault, 101 because where I was going and what I was going to be doing the people I
advised me what the radiation levels were.
This was a side trip that 12 one of the instrument men told me that if you do need other parts this 1
13 is where they are.
Normally, I would not have gone in there at all.
14!
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YUHAS:
What is located in that room beside the Hayes gas analyzer that 16 would have been a high dose rate?
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TELENK0:
Well in that room itself is the letdown flow monitor and 19!
behind cinder block walls are two letdown filters and on the other sid?
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of the wall on the other~ side of the room is the make up tank.
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YUHAS:
Did you suspect that there may be very hig' dose rates in that i
23 cubical?
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l TELENK0:
Yes, that is why when I opened the door, I ran in and I ran 2:
i out.
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4j YUHAS:
By t2chnical specifications are you required to have a dose I
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rate indicating device when you an area greater than 100 millirem per Ok hour?
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TELENK0:
By my RWP I was required to have a dose rate meter.
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10 YUHAS:
So you were aware that you were in a very high area and didn't 11 know what the dose rate was?
12l t
13 TELENK0:
Yes.
14 15l YUHAS:
The licensee evaluated this dese.
Your pocket dosimeter indi-16 cated 3.8 R.
What was the conclusions of the licensee's evaluation of lYl the dose you received?
18l 19l TELENK0:
Well, immediteiy after it happened I was sent to the observa-20j tion center to have my TLD read and the TLD, I believe, it read around 21l 550 or 560 mR as to what I had picked up.
22l 23 YUHAS:
Do you remember who read your TLD?
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l TELENK0:
I believe it was Ed Egenrider.
2' 3
YUHAS:
Who was with you and what did he pick up without going into that room?
5 6
TELENK0:
I don't remember who I was with that night.
7 8
YUHAS:
What did your, O to SR pocket dosimeter read before you began 9'
that entry?
10' 11l TELENK0:
Both dosimeters were reading zero before I made an entry.
12
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13 YUHAC:
What was the second dosimeter, what range?
14!
l 15l TELENK0:
0 to 200 mR.
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17, YUHAS:
What are reading came out?
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TELENK0:
It was off scale.
20i 21, YUHAS:
What was the final dose assigned on your NRC Form 5 as a result 22 of this entry?
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TELENK0:
I believe they added the previous dosage I had received, I 2!
l think the total was 740, 750 mR.
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i YUHAS:
Did the licensee representative offer or offer an explanation
'al of why he was invalidating the pocket dosimeter readings?
Gl 7
TELENK0:
Well, I personally didn't feel that I had pick up that much 8
radiation and I had bumped both dosimeters a couple of times on the 322 9l elevation as I was doing a valve lineup.
And to coincide with this Tom 10' Mulleavy told me he would check the dosimeter to see if it was accurate.
11 What be told me was he had checked it against two different sources and I
12{
that it had read high under both tests.
I did some quick calculations 131 on myself and I figured I would have picked up close to 500 mR.
You 14 know with the amount of time that I'd spent in what they said was a 15!
very high field and when my TLD said only slighty over 500 I figured it 16 was pretty accurate.
i 17l 18 YUHAS:
What dose rate did you do or did you use in your evaluation to 19!
come up with this 500?
20; 21' TELENK0:
I think the figure at the time was, was it a 100 R field, I 22 think that I figured that I had spent a total of 15 seconds at the 23 most.
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l YUHAS:
That dose rate that you're using was that measured after your 2:
l entry?
31 4l, TELENKO.
Yes, this was after I had come back out and had gone tc, the S
j observat.on center and nad my TLD read.
6i i
'7 YUHAS:
Wa.' that dose rate measured inside the cubical or at door 8
before you went in?
9 10' TELENK0:
I think it was when you opened the door.
This is what the 11!
reading was, the 100 mR was inside the room.
12, 13 YUHAS:
In your trip into that room did you not have to open the door, i
14' walk pass the letdown floor monitors and MbV-720 and then go pick up I
15' the tubing, come back past the monitors, then back out the door?
16l 17 TELENK0:
Yes, I dio.
18j 19l YUHAS:
This is where you estimate the 15 seconds frcm the time you 20j went in?
i 21t 22 i
23.
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l TELENK0:
From the time I opened the door until the time I was back 2!
j out, because the room is not that big and I knew where the instrumenta-3l l
tion equipment is kept on the other side of the Hayes gas analyzer.
4{
Because during operations we are always in there reading the Hayes gas 5{
analyzer and I knew exactly where I was going and where the tubing was.
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YUHAS:
The linear distance from the door to the tubing cabinet is 0
about how far?
9l l
10 TELENK0:
I would say 15 feet at the most.
11l 12 YUHAS:
You were wearing Scott air pack?
13 14!
TELEN:?'; Yes, I was.
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YUHAS:
Did Mulleavy indicate to you how your dosimeter responded, how 17j much high 50%, 25%, 100% in the test that he conducted?
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TELENK0:
No, he did not.
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21i YUHAS:
Did you have whole bcdy counts since the incident?
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23 TELENK0:
No, I haven't.
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YUHAS:
For the benefit of Mr. Martin I would appreciate it if you 2l l
wculd describe those duties and assignments that you perform as an A 3t auxiliary operator in Unit 2, especially with reference to periodic 4l surveillance in the auxiliary feed system?
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TELENK0:
Well in the time that I have been in Unit 2 I have never had 7
to do any surveillance of any kind on the auxiliary feed system, so I 8
really can't help you out there.
9 10' YUHAS:
At this time I would like to (;ive you the opportunity to bring 11{
forth any comments or concerns that you might have in general about the 12l way the incident was handied or any other problems that might come to i
13 light while you worked here?
14 1
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TELENK0:
The only thing that really gave me an uneasy feeling was the 16 way it was handled by the press I guess.
I would leave here thinking I 17 had some idea of what was happening, but by the time I got home or read 18{
the newspaper or listened to TV or radio I had a tremendous amount of 19[
doubt as to is this the same place I just left.
I was really confused 20I and worried about you know whose lying to me or am I missing the boat.
I 21i In fact I'm still not straightened out I don' t thi.~.k.
22 23 YUHAS:
You mean to indicate that you are doubting what the company was 1
24j telling you, you had to balieve the press?
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l TELENK0:
No, but its hard to convince your neighbors that you think 2!
l you know what's going on when the paper and television are telling them 31 l
something completely different.
4l l
5 YUHAS:
Two more questions, one is:
Do you have any idea the amount of 61 j
the dose the people were received in placing the plastic in the Unit 2 7
auxiliary building to a 281 elevation mission?
8 9
TELENK0:
Just from hearsay, I thought I heard someone say they picked 10 up between 14-1700 mR.
11!
12 YUHAS:
That would be a piece c: total?
13l 14 TELENK0:
The one person in particular, I thought he said 14 or 1700 15!
that he had picked up.
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17 YUHAS:
Do you remember that name.
18i 191 TELENK0:
I believe that was Mr. Hetrick.
20f 21l YUHAS:
The other additional question I have is do you have any any 22 reasons to believe that any individual may have deliberately percipated 23 or may have aggravated the incident that occurred at Unit 2 on the i
24i 28th?
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j TELENK0:
No, I don't.
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YUHAS:
If no one has any other questions at this time, I would like to 41 i
thank Mr. Telenko for his cooperation and I don't have anything else.
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6 FOSTER:
Ok.
Thank you, Frank.
This interview is concluded at 4:40 i
7 p.m.
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