ML19249B027
| ML19249B027 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 05/24/1979 |
| From: | Houser E METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7908290232 | |
| Download: ML19249B027 (12) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 1,
In the Matter of:
2 IE TMI INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW 3
of Edward W. Houser Chemistry Foreman 5'
6 7
si l
Trailer #203 9
NRC Investigation Site TMI Nuclear Power Plant 10-Middletown, Pennsylvania 11 May 24, 1979 12 (Date of Interview) 13 July 4, 1979 (Date Transcript Typed) 263 15 (Tape Number (s))
16j 17f 18 19' 20 21I NRC PERSONNEL:
A 6h
,22 g
Gregory P. Yuhas 23 Owen C. Shackleton 24; "9 282 25' i
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{
l 1
SHACKLETON:
This is Owen C. Schackleton speaking as moderator.
The time 2
is now 11:05 a.m. EDT, May 24, 1979.
This is a interview of Mr. Edward W.
3 H'ouser.
Mr. Houser is a chemistry foreman employed by Metropolitan Edison 4
at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station.
Present to conduct this 5
interview from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is Mr. Grego.y P.
Yuhas.
Mr. Yuhas is a radiation specialist presently assigned to Region I.
6 7
My Name is Owen C. Shackleton.
I am an i~/estigator assigned to Region V.
8 This interview is taking place in Trailer 203 which is parked just outside the south security gate at the Three Mile Island installation.
Mr. Houser g
10 was interviewed before by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission April 24 and 25, 1979.
At that tir c we presented to Mr. Houser a twopu, advisory sheet 3
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission which still, Mr. Houser, do you understand, remains in effect.
The conditions of this document:
that you have the right to refuse to be interviewed, that you have the right to have someone present of your choice, and that you do not nave to give any form of signed statement to the Commission or its representatives.
Do you understand that, sir?
18l HOUSER:
Yes, I do.
20 SHACKLETON:
And do we have permission to tape this interview?
21 22 HOUSER:
Yes.
23 (1 n Q 283 24 25l
2 1
SHACKLETON:
And would you 11ke a copy of this tape?
2 HOUSER:
Yes, I would.
3 4
SHACKLETON:
All right, Mr. Houser, that will be provided at the conclusion 5
6 f the interview, and now I will turn the interview over to Mr. Yuhas.
7 YUHAS:
Mr. Hauser:
Did you describe what has happened to the urine sample g
g' that we discussed before?
10 HOUSER:
Well, it's been taken now by Len Landry, our health physics engineer.
He took that this morning for analyses.
13 YUHAS:
Did you bring your r,otes that we referred to in the past?
15i l
HOUSER:
Yes, I did.
16l l
17 YUHAS:
Are you going to provide us with a copy of those?
18[
19 HOUSER:
Yes, I have a little explaining to do on them, but yes, you can 20 have a copy.
21 1
22 YUHAS:
Please go ahead and make the explanations on the tapes.
23l 24 ong 4
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3 HOUSER:
- 0. K.
On the night that I actually took these readings all I had 1;
2 at the 500 KB substation was an RM-14 and with that the highest reading I 3
c uld get was 50,000 counts.
And some of the places on my body were greater, 4
would peg out the meter ~, so I couldn't really tell you how much higher they 5
were than 50,000 counts, and then I did have a dose rate instrument and I 6
did check my one finger, and I have that readi.'g down below there.
But I 7
just wanted to say that you cannot say how much greater than 50,000 counts 8
they ware.
9 10 YUHAS:
You have indicated here that your finger read 50 millirad per hour beta gamma contact with E120.
Was that open window or closed window?
12 HOUSER:
That was beta gamma open window.
g 14 l
YUHAS:
On any of these other areas that are described on the survey sheet, 15l l
for instance hair, wrist of both arms and forearms, did you check those 161 with the E520?
18l HOUSER:
Not that day.
191
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20j YUHAS:
The survey results that are indicated for 4-4-79, were these also with an RM-14 and HP210 probe?.
23 HOUSER:
Yes they were.
on9 2OD 241 25 l
?
1
4 1
YUHAS:
As were those on 411?
2 HOUSER:
Yes, that's right.
3 4
YUHAS:
The same probe?
5 6
HOUSER:
The same probe a 418.
7 8
YUHAS:
g Have you provided a copy of these four sheets of survey results through licensing?
10 11 HOUSER:
Yes Len Landry and Tom Malevy were given a copy.
13 YUHAS:
When did 3ou provide them a copy?
i 15j HOUSER:
About a week ago.
17 YUHAS:
Was that at Landry's request?
19' HOUSER:
No, I informed them that I was having this interview and that you 20 had requested those and then I showed them a copy of it.
21 22 YUHAS:
I want to clarify, since there is a conflict, as to the type of 23 respiratory protection that was worn when you drew the reactor coolant 24 samples on the 29th.
25
" 9 286
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5 1
HOUSER:
It was an MSA mask with a iodine charcoal cartridge.
2:
3 YUHAS:
Did Mr. Velez wear the same thing?
4 5
HOUSER:
I am not sure.
6 7
YUHAS:
Did Mr. Velez wear a Scott airpack?
8 HOUSER:
No.
g 10 YUHAS:
Did Mr. Reed wear a Scott airpack?
11 12 HOUSER:
No.
13 14 e es y ur n e ge, what type of cartridge did Mr. Reed 15 have?
16:[
17 HOUSER:
We talked about that.
I am not sure what the mask was called.
It I
was the one with like a netting over the hair, and I don't know what it 194 was, but there was a small cartridge on it.
21 YUHAS:
It was not an iodine cartridge?
23 HOUSER:
I'm pretty sure not.
" 9 287 25{
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6 1
YUHAS:
Can you recall if you took the Unit i reactor coolant let down 2;
sample for the boron analysis that was reported in the operator's log?
3 4
HOUSER:
To the best of my knowledge, and what we've tried to get together, 5
yes, I took that sample.
6 YUHAS:
Do you recall if you took that sample before the Unit 2 sample was 7
8 taken, or after the Unit 2 sample was taken?
9 HOUSER:
That was before.
10 11 YUHAS:
Did Velez survey the room before you took the Unit 1 sample?
13 H
es.
As soon as we got there we did a survey.
14:
15j YUHAS:
Can you recall the dose rates that Velez may have told you?
17 HOUSE"-
Right as you walked into the' room you are shielded farily well, l
and then as soon as you get away from that shielding there was a 1R field 19l and he told me by the drag valve which regulates the pressure on the Unit 2 let down, he said the drag valve itself read around 10 R.
He did a survey in front of the hood.
Mainly we weren't interested in Unit 1 because we did not know at the time that we were going to take it, so we were just 23 surveying where we were going to be working.
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1 YUHAS:
Did he survey the let down coolers?
2 3
HOUSER:
No, I don't think so.
4 5
YUHAS:
Did you have to go in the. vicinity of the let down coolers to make 6
a valve line up to take the Unit 1 sample?
7 8
HOUSER:
Not for the Unit 1 sample, no.
Just for the Unit 2.
The Unit 1 g
was already on recirc.
10 YUHAS:
After you took the Unit 1 sample, before you took the Unit 2 sample, 11 g
did you check your pocket dosimeter?
I 13 14l HOUSER:
No, I didn't.
15' YUHAS:
What prompted you to run the PH on the Unit 2 reactor coolant let 16:
down sample prior to doing boron analyses?
g 18l HOUSER:
Somewhere in my travels I was told that we had high pressure g
injection, which is sodium hydroxide, and you have to compensate for it.
20l 21l YUHAS:
Were you involved in a phone call to Ken Fredericks on the 28th, or are you aware of the discussion between Reed and Horner and Fredericks?
24 2si
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8 1
HOUSER:
I was just aware of it yesterday.
I heard there was a conversation' but no, I didn't know anything about it prior.
2 3
YUHAS:
Did Dubiel formally or specifically discuss with you and Valez your 4
plans on how you were going to take that sample ?rior to taking it?
5 6
HOUSER:
No.
7 8
YUHAS:
About how long were you aware that they were planning to take the g
reactor coolant sample, or the need for that reactor coolant sample?
10 11 HOUSER:
Well, the day the accident happened I know we hadn't had a good boron.
I thought we hadn't had a good boron, and as soon as I could come in the second day, you know, that was the major topic of discussion and was our first assignment, really, for that day.
15; 16' YUHAS:
About how long had you been in before you were told to take the sample?
18!
19j HOUSER:
I would say, probably about two hours.
20l i
21 YUHAS:
You just indicated that you doubted the credibility of the first 22 baron samples.
Did you discuss that with Dubiel or Mulleavy or recommend 23 to them that somebody go back in and take some of the sample that was left 24 sitting in there and rerun it or anything like that?
25
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9 1
HOUSER:
The sample that was taken on the 28th in the morning, I don't know 2
what happened to th-d sample.
I didn't see it anywhere around, so, you 3
know, there wasn't any sample to be reanalyzed.
I think when.
That sample 4
was taken by Mike Coons and I think it was discarded when we evacuated that 5
area we were forced out of that area.
6 7
YUHAS:
Did you address your concerns over the boron and the possible 8
reasons for them with anyone?
9 HOUSER:
On which day do you mean?
10 11 YUHAS:
The 28th.
7 13 HOUSER:
No.
On the 28th I spent very little time actually on the island.
I came in in the morning and by, I would say, around 9:30 I had left the 5
island.
Surveying cars and people and stuff like that.
16 17 YUHAS:
So you had no communications with Dubiel to hash over the credibility of the boron analysis?
20 HOUSER:
No.
21 22 YUHAS:
I don't have any further questions, unless you'd like to bring something up at this time.
2s!
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10 1
HOUSER:
No, ! don't think so.
2 3
YUHAj.
Fine, thank you very much.
Mr. Shackleton?
4 5
SHACKLETON:
Thank you, Ed, if you would, just for a matter of record, on 6
this one tape, on what day did you originally submit your urine sample for 7
analysis?
8 HOUSER:
I guess that was the 30th or the 31st.
g 10 SHACKLETON:
Of March?
g 12 HOUSER:
Yes.
14 SHACKLETON:
And today they took the sample for analysis?
15 16 HOUSER:
Yes.
18l SHACKLETON:
And this is May 24, 1979.
20 HOUSER:
Yes.
21 22 SHACKLETON:
We will conclude the interview.
23 24
"*9 292 25
11 1
YUHAS:
Pardon me.
One additional question.
Do you remember who you made 2
aware that you collected the sample?
3 4
HOUSER:
Well, as Gary Reed and myself both collected them, and it was S
right after the quarter had ended, I had come back on the island to start 6
working chemistry again, and I had seen Fred Hovey and it's one of the NSS 7
people foreman's name.
8 YUHAS:
Hornbecker or Ferguson?
g 10 HOUSER:
No, neither of those two.
It's a guy with a grey mustache.
I'm g
n t sure what his name is.
But I met them in the Unit 2 control room and I 12 told them, you know, what was going on about the contamination of the stuff, and I told him I'd collect a urine sample and then I had also told g
5l Tom Mulavey later on, you know, and he said I shouldn't have told Fred this and I should have gone right to him right away.
50..
6 17 YUHAS:
Do you remember about what period of time you told Mulavey.
Was it within a week after?
19 20 HOUSER:
I would say yea.
Cause I had gotten no satisfaction, so I talked to Tom, yea.
"9 293 23 YUHAS:
Thank you.
25 t
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12 1;
SHACKLETON:
Ed.
The container for the urine cample.
Was it identified in 2'
any way as to what it was and who it was from?
3 4
HOUSER:
Yea.
My name was on it.
5 6
SHACKLETON:
Would it appear obvious then, in your opinion, to anybody in 7
the chemistry laboratory why the urine sample was drawn?
8 HOUSER:
I don't know really what you mean.
g 10 SHACKLETON:
Well, you don't submit urine samples en a continuous basis, do 11 you?
y 13 HOUSER:
No.
No.
It wouldn't be a normal, everyday occurrence, if that's p
15 16 SHACKLETON:
The point I'm trying to make, Ed....
Trying to resolve, is if it was placed in the chem lab, a reasonable and prudent person would under-18(
19 stand that it was submitted to be analyzed.
20 HOUSER:
Oh, yea.
- 0. K.
But Mulavey and our health physics type supervisors don't very often come in the chem lab.
23 SHACKLETON:
There is no further questions.
We will close this interview 24 at this time.
The time is now 11:19 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, May 24, 25j l
1979.
I nn9 294 i