ML19249B003
| ML19249B003 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 05/21/1979 |
| From: | Miller D METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7908290099 | |
| Download: ML19249B003 (35) | |
Text
l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I!
In the Matter of:
2 IE TMI INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW 3
of Donald R. Miller, Auxiliary Operator A 4
Si 6
7 8
Trailer #203 9
NRC Investigation Site TMI Nuclear Power Plant 10j Middletown, Pennsylvania 11f 5/21/79 12 (Date of Interview) 13:
7/3/79 I
(Date Transcript Typed) 14 239 15-(Tape Numcer(s))
16 17; I
- 181, 19!
20 21 NRC PERSONNEL:
i
'22 Mark Resner Anthony Fasano 23 895 217 24 25' I
f l
l 1
RESNER:
This is an interview with Mr. Donald R. Miller.
Mr. Miller is 2!
l employed with the Metropolitan Edison Company at the Three Mile Island 3
Facility, and his job title is Auxiliary Operator A.
Present time is 4'
3:15 p.m. eastern daylight time.
Today's date is May 21, 1979.
This 5
interview is being conducted in trailer 203 which is located just outside 6
of the south gate, Three Mile Island Facility.
Individuals representing 7
the NRC, present at this interview are Mr. Anthony Fasano.
Mr. Fasano 8
is an inspection specialist, Region I, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
9 Presently speaking, moderating this interview is Marc E. Resner.
I am 10 an investigator with the Office of Inspector and Auditor, Headquarters, 11 of the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Prior to taping this inter-12 view Mr. Miller was given a two page document, which explains the purpose, 13 the scope, the authority which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has 14 been given to conduct this investic'-
on.
In addition to this document 151 I apprised Mr. Miller that he was entitled to a representative of his 16i choice to be present at this interview should he desire one.
Also, I 17 apprised Mr. Miller of the fact that in no way is he compelled to talk 18l to us during this interview should he not want to.
On the second page 19 of the document, there are three questions which Mr. Miller has answered.
20 I will state these for the record.
Question No. 1, Do you understand 21 the above? Mr. Miller has checked "Yes".
Is that correct, Mr. Miller?
22 23 24 895 218 25!
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1 1
MILLER:
Yes.
2 3
RESNER:
Question 2, Do we have your permission to tape the interview?
4 Mr. Miller has checked "Yes".
Is that correct MR. Miller?
5 6
MILLER:
Yes.
7 RESNER:
Question 3, Do you want a copy of the tape? Mr. Miller has checked "Yes".
Is that correct?
10 11 MILLER:
Yes.
12 13 RESNER:
Alright.
We will provide you with a copy of the tape at the 14 conclusion of this interview.
15l 16 RESNER:
Now for the record, and for those who'll be listening to the 17 tape in the future, Mr. Miller I'll ask you to provide us with a brief 18 synopsis of your educational experience and job experience as related to 19 the nuclear industry.
I 20' 21 MILLER:
Well I've got high school education in which I had a real good 22 background in high school in the Mathematical field and physics field 23 which was what Met Ed had required at the time, when I got the job, when 24 I applied for the job here on the island.
And I've worked for Metropol-25j l
895 219
3 1
ll' itan Edison from 1970, March of that year, and in 1976, in October, I 2'
bid the auxiliary operator, auxiliary operator job here on the island 3
and took a math test and those tests and they deemed me qualified in 4'
that respect and then I went through schooling here on the island for a 5
nine-week schooling on the secondary side of the plant, and three weeks 0
of on-the-job training and -took a final written exam issued to me by Metropolitian Edison.
And past that written exam and a walk-around by 0
the instructors from Metropolitian Edison and then in one years time 9
after that, took another written test on the secondary side of the plant 10 and a walk-around by my shift supervisor and they deemed me qualified as 11 would have been the C operator program.
And after that one year, we 12 went to the B operator program which we had six weeks of schooling on 13 the primary systems and took a written test and walk-around from shift 14!
supervisors and the test from the training department here on the island I
15 from Metropolitian Edison.
And then one year after that took another 16 test and walk-around from shift supervisor and became qualified as an 17 auxiliary A with Metropolitian Edison.
18' 19 RESNER:
Okay, what thank you very much.
At this time Mr. Fasano has 20 some questions that he would like to ask you.
21 22 FASANO:
Don, what we would like to do is get information about the 23 event on March 28, 1979.
I understand you were on shif t work at that 24 time and what I'd like to know from you, if you can, the sequence, if 25 l
895 220 0
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4 1
l possible, the time sequence, what you remember happening at that time 2t l
just prior to the occurrence say maybe an hour or two and then following.
31 l
4 MILLER:
Well the whole evening of the accident, from the time I came on 5
shift at 11:00 I was working at the condensate polishing system.
We had 6
resins clogged in the resin transfer lines between the vessel and what 7
we call the regeneration tank on the condensate polishing system, where 8
we transfer them over there to regenerate resins.
I was working on that 9
the whole evening.
10 11' FASANO:
The vessel you mean the, of the condensate polishing system?
12 13 MILLER:
Yes.
14)
\\
15 FASANO:
Now that was just before, that was before 4:00?
16' 17 MILLER:
Up till 4:00, yes.
I was there at the time of the trip.
18j
\\
19l FASANO:
Okay, at the, how did you know there was a trip?
20 21 MILLER:
Well when you work in the basement of the turbine building, 22 there is a lot of pumps, motors and so on running and when the turbine 23 trips everything gets quiet.
You know all the pumps stop running and 24 you no longer need your ear protection.
So it is definitely quite 25 clear.
l 895 221 i
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1' FASANO:
All pumps stop?
2!
3 MILLER:
All pumps stop in the immediate area.
They really, they did l
4 here.
The feedwater pumps tripped.
The condensate pump had tripped but 5
the booster pump did continue to run, but it just got that much quieter.
6 7
FASANO:
Okay.
Did, your memory now, the first pump that you realized 8
had stopped was the... which, the feedwater?
9 10 MILLER:
Condensate pump...
11 12' FASANO:
That's locateo probably to your, from facing the board, behind 13 you?
14 15!
MILLER:
It would be behind and to the right.
16, 17 FASANO:
Did you notice any valve change on the condensate polishers?
18{
19 MILLER:
At that, the direct time of the trip, no.
Within the first two 20' to three minutes afterwards, yes, I noticed that my air operated valves 21 on the polisher, the inlets and outlet valves, had failed shut.
I 22 23 24 25 895 222 I
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.I-6 1
FASANO:
How long after the fact?
j 2
3 MILLER:
I'd say within two to three m'nutes.
4 FASANO:
Two to three winutes?
6 MILLER:
Beause I left where I was.
There are electrical overrides on 0
all those valves so they will not fail shut electrically.
And when the 9
plant tripped, I had to close, you know, close them outlet valves and 10 the inlet valves to all but two polishers just to get it ready to come 11'
~
back up on the line.
And I was opening those electrical overrides and 12 then came back to the panel and that's when I noticed those valves were 13 failed shut.
14 15 FASANO:
The, okay, so-you did notice that they had closed, failed shut?
16 To your memory you was this orior to tne condensate pump stop, or was it 17 prior?
18{
19f MILLER:
I cannot redily say.
Because at the exact time of the trip 1 20 was behind the panel and.had no real way of, you know, being able to be 21
'here at the exact time of the-trip.
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4 1
FASANO:
Were you there alone?
2 1
3l MILLER:
No, Fred Scheimann was with me, the shift foreman.
i 4
5 FASANO:
Is he your immediate supervisor.
6k 1
MILLER:
Yes.
8 9
RESNER:
How do you spell Mr. Scheimann for the records? You know how 10 to spell it?
11 12 MILLER:
I believe it's S-C-H-I-E-M-A-N.
13 14l RESNER:
Thank you.
15 16l FASANO:
The work you were doing on it on the condensate polishing 17 system, you said you were.... unclogging resin?
How do you do this?
18 19 MILLER:
There is what we call fluffing air valve that is located under 20' the vessel that you'll cut in and cut out, cut in and cut out, to try 21 and free the resin up.
At the same time you're trying to push resin 22 through with steam and water pressure.
23 24 895 224 25 t
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l 1
FASANO:
So you're using water pressure, like to move, and air to fluff?
2 3
MILLER:
Yes.
4; 5
FASANO:
Is there any precaution in this evolution?
Is there a possi-bility of getting water into your air lines which could feed back to the 7
other seven tanks?
8 9
MILLER:
It would not feed back to the other seven tanks.
But, now 10 since the accident, I've found out, that there are two check valves in 11 that service air line that haven't been seating totally properly, and 12l they have... water gotten back into the air resevoirs in the past and I
13 had tripped the condensate polishing system.
14, i
15!
FASANO:
The way you understand this system is if you loose air or I
16l electrical the valves will either fail open or as is, is that correct?
17!
k 18l MILLER:
No.
They fail shut.
19l 20 FASANO:
If you loose electrical or air?
21t 22 MILLER:
Yes.
Now they do have electrical overrides on them, and then 23 we put those into the open position, so if we would loose electrical 24 power that they will stay open on loss of electrical po'..cr.
25[
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3^
FASANO:
That means that loss of air you
...?
2, I
3 MILLER:
They fail shut.
On a previous interview with GPU, I had stated 4f to them too that, since the accident, I feel now that those valves 5
should be " fail as is" to prevent us frnm losing flow possibly that way 61
'again.
Although after talking to some of the control operators and so 7
on they don't think that would have given us sufficient flow through 0
there anyway because, you know we have lost the fced pumps.
And we lose 9
the feed pumps on a turbine trip or, and reactor trip 10 11 FASANO:
The condensate pump... the condensate pump is the first to go, 12 right?
13 14 MILLER:
Yes.
According to, that is what I can remember because of the 15 check valve on there and when they close they swing pretty hard and you I
16 can distinct that ncise.
And that is also confirmed by the computer 17 printouts.
18' 19 FASAN0:
Then let's go back now, you had heard the clang and the conden-20 sate pumps, as far as you knew, had stopped? Now whet was the next...
21 did you hear on the announcer?
How did you know there was a turbine 22 trip and a... ?
23l 24 895 226 as i
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1 MILLER:
Liko I said I knew the turbine tripped because you know the 2
noise levels in the plant changed.
But within 15 seconds from the time 3
I noticed it there was an announcement over the page that we had a 4
turbine trip and at the same time they said there was also a reactor 5
trip.
6 7
FASANO:
Okay.
Now what do you do now that you have confirmation that 0
the... the having turbine trip and the reactor trip? What do you do 9
with your system that you are in charge of?
Do you... ?
10 11 MILLER:
Well working with the condensate polishing system, I had ex-12 plained to you about the electrical override on the outlet valves.
So I 13 went down along the vessels themselves, on their control 14 panels, and physically put those back in the auto position.
That gave 15 me control to go to the panel board and clcse the valves on all but two 16!
of the polishing units.
17 18 FASANO:
Okay.
But you said all valves had gone closed did you... does 19 that mean that you, on two of the units, you opened and put them in 20 their proper open, open position, or...?
21 22 MILLER:
I tried to but they would not open directly.
While I was there 23 at that present time they hadn't opened it.
Later on during the evening 24 and I'm not sure exactly what time, but they had gone back to the open 25 position.
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1' FASANO:
So when you left at that time you really weren't lined up to 2
use the polishers?
3 4
MILLER:
That's true.
Yes.
5 FASANO:
Okay.
Did you check the status of your breaker?
Where is your breaker located for the condensate pump? Did you check it?
8 9
MILLER:
That,is located on the 305 level of the turbine building, which 10 would have been one level higher than what I was.
11 12 FASANO:
On your way up did you check it?
13 14 MILLER:
No I did not.
On my way to the control room I did not check 15 the breaker.
16l 17 FASAN0:
Who would normally check the reason for say a condensate pump 18' failing?
19 20 MILLER:
The control room operator would usually have one of the auxiliary 21; operators check that.
And I know we did check it later in the evening.
22 I'm not positive but I believe that pump started back up for them.
The 23 control room operator, I believe, was able to start that pump back up 24 again right away but I cannot swear to that statement.
25 i
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1 FASANO:
Someone did check the breaker board though?
2 3
MLLER:
We had checked it later in the evening.
I would guess, or try 4
and estimate the time....
5 6
FASANO:
This would be on a motor control center?
7 MILLER:
Yes the motor controi center would have been on either 2-3 or 9
2-4.
It was, I believe it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:00 10 that we checked that breaker.
11 12 FASANO:
As an auxiliary operator, do you know what causes a condensate 13 pump to trip?
Do you have, is that within your realm of knowledge?
14; i
15!
MILLER:
Not totally, as far as I must know but I have some pretty 16 decent ideas as far as you know just knowing the electrical systems in 17 going over the things, that they will trip on over current.
There is, 18I I've looked, looked into it since the accident for a little bit more i
19 information on it.
And there were no trips on say if you deadheaded the 20 pump 21 22 FASAN0:
if you deadheaded the pump?
23 24 895 229 25 l
13 1
MILLER:
In other words if you pump it against closed valves as we had 2
in the polishing systems, the pumps would continue to run even though 3
there is nowhere to pump the water.
4 5
FASAN0:
You say an over-current exists?
6 7
MILLER:
Yes, there is one I know of for sure.
And 8
9 FASANO:
And if you have over-current what would expect to see if you 10 went to the motor centrol center?
11 12 MILLER:
I believe there is what they call a red flag that falls on a 13 relay there and you would just have to manually reset it by taking your 14 finger and just pushing up a small lever there to reset those red flags.
15j 16 FASANO:
If you had gone there you'd have known?
17 18{
MILLER:
We had gone there later in the evening but there were no flags.
I 19l 20 :
FASANO:
No flags?
So it was completely wired and ready to go?
21 22 MILLER:
Yes.
895 230 23 24 25 e
14 1
FASAN0:
The circuit was there?
2 3
MILLER:
Yes.
4 5
FASANO:
I asked you that question mainly because I am interested in 6
finding out what caused the condensate pumps to trip out.
The logic 7
doesn't seem to lend itself to... you know, the cause is just not quite 8
evident.
9 10 MILLER:
ah certainly agree with you and have gone over electrical 11 prints which I'm not really not that schooled on reading them.
But I 12 have gone over them with engineering people that are working on the same 13 problem.
And I believe now that pump motor has been I know it's been 14 pulled out, if it's been sent somewhere check or if it's arouni here to 15i be checked out and to find out what actually happened.
I 16i 17 FASAN0:
You said the condensate pumps... the booster pumps, I guess 18f they're maybe... what behind you?
19 20 MILLER 1 Yes.
21 22 FASANO:
And you say they were running... they continued to run?
23 24 895 231 25!
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15 1
MILLER:
Yes.
2 3
FASANO:
Were they still running when you left' the area?
4 5
MILLER:
Yes, they were.
6 FASANO:
Did anything unusual happen as you were going... anything 8
unusual that normally doesn't occur, anything different?
9 10 MILLER:
Not at the direct time I left then.
But I went to the control 11 room and they wanted me to go back down and double check and make sure I 12 had everything lined up that I could.
Even though the valves were 13 failed shut I had the rest of it all lined up and squared away and when 14 I was headed back up to the control room the second time, which would I
15 have been about approximately about 15 minutes after the accident, or 161
.after the turbine trip, that I noticed suction line on the A booster 17 pump blew to approximately 2-1/2 to 3 feet.
It was like a water hammer 18 whenever it blew pretty good, and then the suction valve there was a 19 leak there in the suction valve.
20 21 FASANO:
In the valve like, in the packing?
22 23 MILLER:
Well, I really tell that because the way it's insulated, but I 24 know there was leak there.
I called the control room and started closing 25 895 232 i
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the valve and they sent ah Terry Daugherty and Dale Laudermilch down to 2
help me get that valve shut.
3 4
FASANO:
Was it a gross leak or just sort of you know... a few gallons 5
coming out, or... quarts?
6 7
MILLER:
It would have been in the gallons, but it wasn't really...
8 9
FASANO:
Gushing?
10 11 MILLER:
Gushing, yes.
12 13 FASANO:
When you isolated it, did it stop?
14 15 MILLER:
Yes.
16 17 FASANO:
So you thought there was a water hammer, now that was on the A 18 pump?
19 20' MILLER:
Yes, on the A pump.
I believe I stated that wrong there as far 21 as the I saw that pipe move when I went up the first time and when I 22 came back down is when I discovered the leak.
23 895 233 25 l
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17 1
FASANO:
Okay, was it the sar.r nipa?
2 3
MILLER:
Yeah, same pipe.
4 5
FASANO:
Okay, so the, when you were on your way up the first time...
6 7
MILLER:
Is when I saw the pipe move.
8 9
FASANO:
You saw a movment in the pipe.
When you came back that pipe 10 which now goes to, the valve would be... in line with this pipe, you 11 saw it leaking?
12 13 MILLER:
Yes.
14 15 FASANO:
Did you ah mention that pipe movement to anyone else?
l 16' 17 MILLER:
I believe I had mentioned it to the shift supervisor when I 18[
first went up stairs, yes.
19 20 FASANO:
Apparently operations had problems in getting the condensate 21.
water to flow. Were you involved in getting condensate water reestablished?
22 23 MILLER:
When you say condensate flow reestablished, are you...for 24 normal
...?
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FASANO:
Yes.
2 3
MILLER:
Normal condensate system, the problem we were having with 4
getting normal flow started there would have been the condensate polishing 5
vessel outlet valves being failed shut?
6 FASANO:
Yes.
Well...
8 9
MILLER:
You mean the emergency feedwater system problem we were had?
10 11 FASANO:
No, not, I... no I was thinking of your involvement in tha, 12 the condensate... you went back down?
13 14 MILLER:
Yes.
I went back down... back down to check to make sure we 15i had everything all right there and I really don't know what the control 16 room operator was looking for at the time, but I had everything lined up 17 that we could except that those valves were failed shut.
18j 19 FASAN0:
The two tanks you had... you told me you still couldn't get 20 the valves open so they really couldn't get water through the normal...
21 22 MILLER:
Normal flow path was blocked.
23 24 2s, 895 235 i
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19 ll FASANO:
Was blocked, yes....
Oh the other pumps... the other conden-2 sate booster pumps... did they continue to run? You had 2A that failed 3
or had stopped?
4 5
MILLER:
Yes.
The others the others were running.
6 FASANO:
Thay were still running?
8 9
MILLER:
Yes.
10 11 FASANO:
But the main feed had tripped out?
12, 13 MILLER:
Yes.
14 15 FASANO:
Did you... were you involved in setting up the bypass around 16 the polishers?
17 18{
MILLER:
Yes.
Later, sometime during the course of the... of that 19 morning Terry Daugherty and myself opened that condensate bypass valve, l
20 which for some reason would not open electrically.
21 22 FASANO:
So what did you do, open it manually?
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20 1
MILLER:
We opened it manually, and when we first crawled up to do the 2'
job the handle was missing, but it was laying right there on top of the 3
ventilation duct, that is directly below the valve.
So it was, you 4
know, we just had to put it on get it open.
5 6
FASAN0:
Is this unusual...
I mean to (1) have the handle off, and (2) 7 have to unseat this by manual?
8 9
MILLER:
Unseating them manually is pretty much normal.
You know you 10 usually have to break them off the seat because you have a... the 11 difference in water pressure across the valve.
12 13 FASANO:
You don't have an equalizer across there?
14 15 MILLER:
No.
16 17 FASANO:
Alright go back to when you were clearing the... doing your 18 clearing operation, trying to unclog the resin, do you feel that this 19 was possibly the cause of getting the air into your... water into your 20 air line?
21 22 MILLER:
I do now, yes.
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21 1
l RESNER: What did you think it was at the time? You said you think it 2'
.is now.
3 4
MILLER:
At the time I didn't know, until, you know talking to a few 5
more people, other people who have worked with this system and I found out talking to the other people that that check valve in that line do 7
leak and it has happened before.
And that with fluffing the air line 8
open and then closed and demi 7 water lined up to it that they have 9
gotten air back into the systerr, before.
10 11 FASANO:
This problem is something that you got, right when you came in 12 on the 7th... at 11:00 that... on the 27th I mean it was there at the 13 time you arrived ?
t 14l l
15!
MILLER:
Yes.
i 16 17 FASANO:
The prior shift? When you have a problem like this, do aux 1
operators have to solve it themselves and try to get this unclogged or 191 can you get maintenance assistance or how is that done?
i 20 21 MILLER:
This is the first time I've been down there where the resins 22 were clogged as hard as they really were.
Normally through shooting air 23 and running the demin water pumps we can clear them up.
Now this is the 24 longest I've been involved with any of them being clogged, but it's not 25 895 238
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the first time, but we've never had to go to maintenance or anything 2
else i;1 the past, but we've always managed, been able to break them 3
free, that way.
4 i
5' FASANO:
In putting your demin pressure on the... to do the unclogging...
6 what is this, putting a tube in or
...?
7 8
MILLER:
No, there is a, there is, normal demin water is used for trans-9 ferring resins normally, and all you have to is open the valve on the 10 panel to allow demin water to get into the vessel.
11 12 FASANO:
Were you doing anything differently this time?
Because now 13 you've been... it's been plugging could you put another source of water 14j to increase your pressure...
(
15i 16 MILLER:
Well, I had started the second demin water pump, which I, we've 17 used pretty much all the time when we are transferring resins.
We'd get 18l put the two of them on because they'll seem to move a lot better for 19f you.
The only thing it was doing different was the way it was operating 20f with the air, trying to break them free.
21 22 FASAN0:
When you when you leave an area... oh when you leave an area 23 after an event like this, where you have a turbine trip, and you do have 24 to do things with the condensate systems, do you have a check sheet 25!
I i,
895 239
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where you go through and see that all of the things that have to be done 2*
are checked off and sort of go through it as a step-wise sequence of 3
checking your panel, checking the pumps, checking ths valves, and I 4
understand, as far as you are concerned, this was a... pretty much at that point, a normal turbine trip and reactor trip.
So did you?
6 7
MILLER:
We don't.
We do not have a checklist as such that you described S
l there.
Usually you just take care of the piece.of equipment or whatever 9
you're working on at the time, get that squared away to the way it 10 normally is for being shutdown conditions, or in this case with the 11 polisher, knowing I have to have two vessels ready to go when we come 12 back up that's the way I was attempting to line it up.
13 14 FASANO:
Yes, and then...
15 16 MILLER:
And then we just go to the control room and whatever else the 17 control room operators or shift foreman that are up there want done, 18 then we go out on those jobs.
19 20 FASANO:
Do you have a procedure that really that describes the things 21 you do at that time and at that station?
22 23 24 89S 240 25 t
f
9 24 1
MILLER:
As per trip?
2 3
FASANO:
Yes.
4 5
MILLER:
For normal operating, yes there's a procedure there.
6 FASANO:
How about for a trip?
8 9
MILLER:
But for a trip there is no procedure right there at the panel.
10 11 FASANO:
Then you assume everything happens automatically and you take 12 so many off line and you line up two resin beds for the return, is that 13 correct?
14 15l MILLER:
Yes.
i 16' 17 FASAN0:
And that's the extent of ah your procedure?
18 19f MILLER:
For that condensate polishing panel, yes.
20 21 FASAN0:
No checks on the pumps?
The condensate pumps?
22 23 24 895 241 25
25 l
1 MILLER:
No.
2 FASANO:
What did you do after you... how long did you stay? Did you continue to work in that area or did you report back up to the... once 5
you got bypass in... did you stay in the control room for future respon-O sibilities or for any specific job?
7 8
MILLER:
Well, after we got that valve shut on the condensate booster 9
pump, we went back up to the control room and I was up there around 10 about 15 or 20 minutes and the shift supervisor, Bill Zewe, asked me to 11 go down on the primary side and check what the pressurizer level was 12 down there on some on two other, on another gauge.
It's down in makeup 13 valve alley, which is in the basement of the fuel handling building 14 actually.
And I checked that level, called them back with it was reading 15 down there which was the 300 inches and I came back up to the control 16l After we went down and well I didn't get back up to the control room.
17 room I saw Terry Daugherty and he was headed for the condensate breaker 18 so I went through that area with him.
And that's why we didn't see 19 anything tripped or anything, then we went back up then we went back up 20 to the control room and I believe that's about the time during the 21 morning that we were sent down to open CLD 12 which is the bypass around 22 the polisher.
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FASANO:
The when you... 14 this normal to have you down and check the 2
pressurizer level? This was unusual?
3 4
MILLER:
This was unusual, yes.
5 6
FASANO:
And did that match pretty much what was up in the control rcom?
7 300 inches?
8 9
MILLER:
I don't really know if it did or not.
I know I told him what I 10 was seeing down there and he said okay, and I guess they went back to 11 work.
12 13 FASANO:
This is by telephone?
14 15 MILLER:
Yes, page system.
16 17 FASAN0:
Page system.
Who did you talk to?
18' 19f MILLER:
Bill Zewe.
20 21 FASAN0:
Alright, once you got the what was that the CLD 12?
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27 1
MILLER:
Yes.
2 3
FASANO:
That's your bypass valve?
4 5
MILLER:
That's the bypass valve around the polisher.
6 FASANO:
Alright, once you had completed that and finished working with 8
the verification of the pressurizer level, what else did you do during 9
that period? You're getting close to your relief, I imagine, at this 10 time?
11 12 MILLER:
Yes.
Well one other job I had done during the night and I'm 13 not even sure what time, and the only reason and I had totally forgotten 14 it on any other interview or anybody else I'd talked to was I went down i
15 in the auxiliary building to open MUV 127 which was for emergency boration, 16 and somehow another I was reading a sequence of events report and read 17 that in there that it was done and that's when I finally realized I was 18' involved with and worked on that one sometime during the morning also.
19 And I imagine then it was up to around the time that we... they announced 20 the general emergency over the page system again.
21 22 FASANO:
By emergency borate does the auxiliary operator have to go down 23 and open MUV 127?
24 2sj 895 244 i
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28 1l MILLER:
The 127 is the one valve that the auxiliary operator has to 2
open.
3 4'
FASANO:
Is that normal I mean do you always have to do this?
S 6
MILLER:
Always emergency borate? No.
7 O
FASANO:
Why in this casa did you need someone to go down there, to open 9
it?
10' 11 MILLER:
I really don't know.
What was going on in the control room or 12 with the reactor or anything itself.
13 14 FASANO:
Alright, so you went to the aux building, auxiliary building, 15 and you opened the 127, you reported back to the control room?
16 17 MILLER:
Yes.
18 I
19 FASAN0:
About what time was this?
20 21, MILLER:
I guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:30., is what I'm 22 thinking.
I'm not positive though on that.
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FASANO:
This is a.m.?
2 3'
MILLER:
Yes.
4 FASANO:
5:00 a.m.
Okay.
Alright then did you get any other further 6
assignments?
7 8
MILLER:
At that time no then we had gone out to start you know to what 9
we call A0 central where the auxiliary operator meet where we give our 10' turnovers and everything.
And we were in the process of just starting 11 out when assigned, when they announced the general emergency.
12 13 FASANO:
About what time was this?
14 15l MILLER:
Approximately 10 till 7.
16 17 FASANO:
This was announced on the P.A.?
18 19 MILLER:
Yes.
And then we all went ir 3 the control room to ES station 20' and then it was just little odd jobs here and there.
Ah the only thing 21 that I had got tem involved with was a feedwater pump for some reason or 22 another the jack didn't seem to work that automatically turns the shaft 23 over when the pump shut down, and we had to do it manually.
So we were 24 doing it about every every 10 minutes you would turn it half a turn.
25 895 246 i
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FASANO:
This is the main feedwater pump?
1B?
2 3
MILLER:
I'm not sure which one it was, nonmenclature-wise.
4 5
FASANO:
So this would be close to where your normal station is in terms 6
of the turbine building, correct?
7 8
MILLER:
Yes.
9 10 FASAN0:
Did okay, did anyone, did you wear any, did you need any clothing 11 or any special clothing or was the area checked for any... at this 12 time?
This was after 7 now.
You had been called and before you went 13 into different areas were you checked, or was the area checked in any 14 way for any kind of radiation at this time?
15 16 MILLER:
I don't believe the turbine building was.
The auxiliary build-17 ing was totally isolated.
Evacuated and isolated, earlier.
That would 18 have been right before the general emergency was declared that they 19 evacuated the auxiliary building.
20 21 FASAN0:
Would you have any indication that there may be some contami-i 22' nation in the aux and in the turbine building?
23 24 895 247 2s t
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31 1
MILLER:
I didn't know at the time.
There is there is a alarm down 2
there off the vacuum, off the vacuum pump system.
A radiation monitor 3
down there, but there was no alarm sounding off of that, as long as I 4
was down there during the course of the morning.
5 6
FASANO:
This was what, about what time?
7 MILLER:
I would say it was along about 10:00 or 10:30 I guess I left that area down there.
10 11 FASANO:
So 10:00 or 10:30 there was no indication of any kind of contam-12 ination in that area?
Is that correct?
13 14, MILLER:
No.
That's correct.
15 16l FASANO:
Alright, so you helped manually turn the turning gear on the I
17 feed pump?
18i 19l MILLER:
Yes.
i 20 21 FASANO:
What then when you finished that you go back to the control 22 room or back to your area?
23 895 248 24 25 l,
32 1
l MILLER:
When we had gotten relieved there by the incoming shift, which 2
was around 10:00, 10:30 I imagine, and then we were told to go in the 3
auditorium in Unit 1 because of the general emergency and then we were 4
gonna be, you know be able to go home.
5 6
FASANO:
This was about 10:00 or so?
7 0
MILLER:
Yes this was between 10:30 and 11:00 that we went to the audi-9 torium.
From the auditorium they sent us up to the Unit 1 control room 10 and then we were up there maybe 10 or 15 minutes and then we were released 11 to go home.
Then we went down and,we were they had individual friskers 12 and HP people checking us for any radiation or contamination that we 13 might have had in any of our clothing or anything before we were okayed 14' to leave the island.
Then when we left the island we went to the 500 KV 15 substation, across tne river, and then over there they thoroughly checked 16 the cars and checked us all again at a lower a considerably lower back-17 ground reading.
18 19' FASANO:
They you mean?
20 21 MILLER:
HP Department personnel 22 23 FASANO:
So they, before you left, they actually checked, you and your 24 clothing.
How were you, were you clean, or?
25 895 249 i
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4 33 1
MILLER:
Yes, I was what we considered clean or there was no contamination 2
of anything I had on.
3 4
FASANQ:
And your car?
5 6
MILLER:
Same, everything was clean.
7 0
FASANO:
So, about ten thirty, eleven o' clock you then were free to go 9'
home?
10 11 MILLER:
Well we left the, like I said we left the island around eleven 12 o' clock until we got to the 500 substation and everybody, you know, you 13 stood in line and they checked everybody again, had a lot lower background 14 over there.
The background was extremely high here on the island.
And 15 we went over to the substation where they checked the cars and that was 16 approximately 1:30 until we finally left over there.
17 18 FASANO:
You had turned in your TLD at that time?
19 20' MILLER:
No, I had my TLD with me.
My TLD went home with me that day.
21' 22 FASANO:
Is that normal?
23 24 895 250 2sj t,
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34 l'
MILLER:
It's not really abnormal fo[an operator to carry it with him 2
because under normal situations they must be in the rack at midnight on 3
the last night of the month is when they're changed and read, but then 4
through the incident there for the first month I imagine, they were 5
reading them every day.
That we'd turn them in, well they had different 6
locations when we came to work the next night we went to the observation 7
center and they had a, they were in the observa-tion center one night, 8
and then there was a traiIer at the south gate and then there was, they 9
set up this TLD area down here now.
10j i
11' FASANO:
When you were going back to the control room did you notice 12 people wearing masks during that time up to ten or eleven, about ten 13 o' clock or so?
14 15!
MILLER:
No.
l 16l 17; FASANO:
They didn't have any masks on at al? at that time?
18 19 MILLER:
No.
First I heard of the respirators is when we came back to 20 work that evening.
21l 22 FASANO:
Well Don, do, row we'd like you to just state some of the 23 things, if you have any opinions on how things can be made better, if we 24 can learn from what we, from this experience.
Do you have any sugges-
'i 25 l
895 2bl
35 1"
tions or any ideas? You can take this as an opportunity to let it be 2
known and it will be given attention, I'm sure.
3' 4
MIL!.ER:
Well the thing that I've told once to the foreman and I've 5
stated lt in all the other interviews that I would like to see those 6
condensate polisher valve, outlet valves, be fail-as-is.
That way if 7
.you had them closed and you lost electric, or air, they'd stay closed 8
anc if they were opened they'd stay open.
And I imagine there ought to 9
be something done to that bypass valve around the polisher.
That, maybe 10 an equalizer or something, you had mentioned, during the interview, that 11 could equalize the pressure across there and that would work.
Those 12!
were the two things there.
Going back though, I still don't know every-13 thing about the accident and I guess none of us do, that's why we're 14) still going through these interviews.
But I'de like to really have the 15 chance to go through that and really see exactly what happened all the 16 way down the line and.try and find out why.
17 I
i 18l FASANO:
I have nothing more.
19 20 RESNER:
Okay gentlemen, this concludes the interview with Mr. Donald 21 Miller.
The time now is 3:55 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. On behalf of 22 the Nuclea: Regulatory Commission we'd like to thank you for taking your 23 the Don and coming over here.
That's it.
24 5:
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