ML19249B586
| ML19249B586 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Haddam Neck File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png |
| Issue date: | 08/10/1979 |
| From: | Grier B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Counsil W CONNECTICUT YANKEE ATOMIC POWER CO. |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909040585 | |
| Download: ML19249B586 (1) | |
Text
por
/
{o UNITED STATES g
y )')eq, g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION g J-\\
E REGION I
%, ' V [/ _ 8 M[
631 PARK AVE *4UE o,
g, KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406 August 10, 1979 Docket No. 50-213 Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company ATTN: Mr. W. G. Counsil Vice President - Nuclear Engineering and Operations P. O. Box 270 Hartford, Connecticut 06101 Gentlemen:
Enclosed is IE Bulletin No. 79-19, which requires action by you with regard to your reactor and/or facility (.ies) with an operating license.
Should you have questions regarding this Bulletin or the actions required of you, please contact this office.
Sincerely, hf s
oyce H. Grier Director
Enclosures:
1.
List of Bulletins Issued in Last Six Months cc w/encis:
R. Graves, Plant Superintendent D. G. Diedrick, Manager of Quality Assurance J. R. Himmelwright, Licensing Safeguards Engineer c.
s2, :' *. s
' # s
~
7909040jd}~
ENCLOSURE 1 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY C0ffiISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C.
20555 IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 1 of 3 PACKAGING OF LOW-LEVEL RADI0 ACTIVE WASTE FOR TRANSPORT AND BURIAL Description of Circumstances:
Low-level radioactive waste is that waste which can be transferred and shipped to one of three waste burial facilities which are located in and licensed by the Agreement States of Nevada, South Carolina, and Washington.
On July 10, 1979, the Governors of the three states notified NRC Chairman Hendrie of the serious and repeated disregard for rules governing the shipments of low-level radioactive wastes to these burial facilities.
Examples of violations of Agreement State, D0T and NRC rules follow:
Improperly packaged uranium fines igniting packaged liquid scintillation vials in combustible waste is believed to have caused a fire and destruction of a truck at the Beatty, Nevada burial facility on May 14, 1979.
On July 2,1979, three of twelve steel containers shipped to the Beatty burial facility were found to be leaking radioactive material.
The material was described on the bill of lading as being a solid inorganic salt (evaporator concentrates solidified with urea fonnaldehyde) from a reactor facility.
The Governor of the State of Nevada ordered the drums to be shipped out of the state and the burial facility was temporarily closed.
On July 30, the first shipment into the reopened Beatty facility contained free liquid in " solid" material.
The radioactive contents were sand filters used at an insitu leaching process at a uranium mill.
Forty-three shipments with sixty-three deficiencies were observed during the package inspection program between April 10 and July 5,1979, by the Agreement State of South Carolina, at the Barnwell, S.C. burial facility.
The shipments were frcm reactor, medical, industrial and military facilities.
On June 28, 1979, the Federal Highway Administration issued a Notice of Violation to a reactor facility proposing a $10,000 fine for truck contamination resulting frcm improper closures on 55-gallon crums of LSA material and for improper loading of the drums on the vehicle.
These are a few examples of shipments of radioactive material to burial facilities which did not fully meet NRC, DOT and Agreement State requirements which were developed to protect the health and safety of the public.
The Governors of the three States with licensed burial facilities have indicated that if the situation is not rectified, they may have to initiate actions which would deny use of the three burial sites by violators.
O d.h.1l B IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 2 of 3 Sources of Iaformation:
The D0T regulatory requirenents can be found in 49 CFR Parts 170-179.
The NRC regulatory requirements can be found in 10 CFR Parts 19 to 71.
The NRC regu-latory requirenents for Agreement State licensees in non-agreement states are in 10 CFR Part 150.
Copies of the regulations may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
Infomation about licensing requirements for NRC packages can be obtained from the NRC Transportation Branch (301-427-4122).
Infomation about DOT packaging and transport requirements can be obtained by calling the DOT Office of Hazardous Materials (202-426-2311).
Action To Be Taken By Licensees:
To assure the safe transfer, packaging, and transport of low-level radioactive waste, each licensee is expected to:
1.
Maintain a current set of 00T and NRC regulations concerning the transfer, packaging and transport of low-level radioactive waste material.
2.
Maintain a current set of requirements (license) placed on the waste burial fim by the Agreement State of Nevada, South Carolina, or Washington before packaging low-level radioactive waste material for transfer and shipment to the Agreement State licensee.
If a waste collection contractor is used, obtain the appropriate requirements from the contractor.
3.
Designate, in writing, people in your organization who are responsible for the safe transfer, packaging and transport of low-level radioactive material.
4.
Provide management-approved, detailed instructions and operating procedures to all personnel involved in the transfer, packaging and transport of low-level radioactive material.
Special attention should be given to controls on the chemical and physical fom of the low-level radioactive material and on the containment integrity of the packaging.
5.
Provide training and periodic retraining in the DOT and NRC regulatory requirements, the waste burial license requirements, and in your instruc-tions and operating procedures for all personnel involved in the transfer, packaging and transport of radioactive material.
Maintain a record of training dates, attendees, and subject material for future inspections by NRC personnel.
6.
Provide training and periodic retraining to those enployees who operate the processes which generate waste to assure that the volume of low-level radioactive waste is minimized and that such waste is processed into acceptable chemical and physical fom for transfer and shipment to a Icw-level radioactive waste burial facility.
- c....
. n u 'i'%3.., 0 IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 3 of 3 7.
Establish and implement a management-controlled audit functicn af all transfer, packaging and transport activities to provide assurance that personnel, instructions and procedures, and process and transport equipment are functioning to ensure safety and compliance with regulatory require-ments.
8.
Perfonn, within 60 days of the date of this bulletin, a management-controlled audit of your activities associated with the transfer, packaging and trans-port of low-level radioactive waste.
Maintain a record of all audits for future inspections by '4RC or 00T inspectors.
(Note: If your have an estab-lished audit function and have performed such an audit of all activities in Itans 1-6 within the past six months, this audit requirement is satisfied.)
9.
Report, in writing within 45 days, your plan of action and schedule with regard to the above items.
In addition, provide responses to the three questions below.
Reports should be sutmitted to the Director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office and a copy should be forwarded to the NRC Office of Inspection and Enforcement, Division of Fuel Facility and Materials Safety Inspection, Washington, D.C.
20555.
Provide answers for 1978 and for the first six-months of 1979 to the following questions:
1.
How many low-level radioactive waste shipments did'you make? What was the volume of low-level radioactive waste shipped?
(Power reactor licensees who report this infonnation in accordance with Technical Specifications do not need to respond to this question.)
2.
What was the quantity (curies) of low-level radioactive waste shipped?
What were the major isotopes in the low-level radioactive waste?
(Power reactor licensees who report this infonnation in accordance with Technical Specifications do not need to respond to this question.)
3.
Did you generate liquid low-level radioactive waste? If the answer is
'yes,' what process was used to solidify the liquid waste?
Licensees who do not generate low-level radioactive waste should so indicate in their responses and do not need to take other actions specified in the above items.
Approved by GAO, B180225 (R0072); clearance expires 7-31-80.
Approval was given under a blanket clearance specifically for identified generic problems.
n uussna~
IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 1 of 4 ENCLOSURE 2 LISTING OF IE BULLETINS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS Bulletin Subject Date Issued Issued To No.78-12B Atypical Weld Material 3/19/79 All Power Reactor in Reactor Pressure Facilities with an Vessel Welds OL or CP 79-01A Environmental Qualification 6/6/79 All Power Reactor of Class 1E Equipnent Facilities with an (Deficiencies in the Envi-OL or CP ronmental Qualification of ASCO Solenoid Valves) 79-02 Pipe Support Base Plate 6/21/79 All Power Reactor (Rev 1)
Design Using Concrete Facilities with an OL Expansion Anchor Bolts or CP 79-03 Longitudinal Weld Defects 3/12/79 All Power Reactor in ASME SA-312 Type Facilities with 304 Stainless Steel Pipe an OL or CP Spools Manufactured by Youngstown Welding and Engineering Company 79-04 Incorrect Weights for 3/30/79 All Power Reactor Swing Check Valves Facilities with an Manufactured by Velan OL or CP Engineering Corporation 79-05 Nuclear Incident at 4/1/79 All Babcock and Three Mile Island Wilcox Power Reactor Facilities with an OL, Except Three Mile Island 1 and 2 (For Action),
and All Other Power Reactor Facilities With an OL or CP (For Information)
Cd3231
IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 2 of 4 LIST OF IE BULLETINS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS (CONTINUED)
Bulletin Subject Date Issued Issued To No.79-05A Nuclear Incident at 4/5/79 Same as 79-05 Three Mile Island -
Supplenent 79-05B Nuclear Incident at 5/21/79 Same as 79-05 Three Mile Island -
Supplement 79-06 Review of Operational 4/11/79 All Pressurized Water Errors and System Mis-Pcwer Reactor Facil-alignments Identified ities with an OL Except During the Three Mile B&W Facilities (For Incident Action), All Other Power Reactor Facil-ities with an OL or CP (For Information)79-06A Same Title as 79-06 4/14/79 All Westinghouse Designed Pressurized Power Reactor Facil-ities with an OL (For Action), and All Other Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP ('For Information)79-06A Same Title as 79-06 4/18/79 All Westinghouse (Revision 1)
Designec Pressurized Pe,er Reactor Facil-ities with an CL
(/or Action), and All Cther Power Reactor Fccilities with an OL cr CP (For Information) q s > 1 l * ).e u
IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date:
August 10, 1979 Page 3 of 4 LISTING 0F IE BULLETINS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS (CCNTINUED)
Bulletin Subject Date Issued Issued To No.79-06B Same Title as 79-06 4/14/79 All Canbustion Engineering Designed Pressurized Power Reactor Facilities with an OL (For Action), and All Other Power Reactor Facilities with an OL or CP (For Information) 79-05C&O6C Nuclear Incident at 7/26/79 All PWR Power Three Mile Island -
Reactor Facilities Supplenent with an OL 79-07 Seismic Stress Analysis 4/14/79 All Power Reactor of Safety-Related Piping Facilities with an OL or CP 79-08 Events Relevant to 4/14/79 All BWR Pouer Boiling Water Power Reactor Facilities Reactors Identified with an OL (For During Three Mile Action), All Other Island Incident Power Reactor Facil-ities with an OL or CP (For Information) 79-09 Failures of GE Type 4/17/79 All Power Reactor AK-2 Type Circuit Facilities with an Breaker in Safety OL or CP Related Systems 79-10 Requalification Training 5/11/79 All Pouer Reactor Program Statistics Facilities with an CL c..,,
A# \\ / S ).W EM -
IE Bulletin No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 4 of 4 LISTING OF IE BULLETINS ISSUED IN LAST SIX MONTHS (CONTINUED)
Bulletin Subject Date Issued Issued To No.
79-11 Faulty Overcurrent Trip 5/22/79 All Power Reactor Device in Circuit Breakers Facilities with an for Engineered Safety OL or CP Systems 79-12 Short Period Scrams at 5/31/79 All GE BWR Facilities BWR Facilities with an OL 79-13 Cracking in Feedwater 6/25/79 All PWRs with an System Piping OL (for Action),
All Other Power Reactor Facilities with an CL or CP (For Information) 79-14 Seismic Analysis for 7/2/79 All Power Reactor As-Built Safety Related Facilities with an Piping Systems OL or CP 79-15 Deep Draft Pump Deft-7/11/79 All Power Reactor ciencies Facilities with an OL or CP 79-16 Vital Area Access Con-7/30/79 All Holders of and trols Applicants for Reactor Operating Licenses 79-17 Pipe Cracks in Stagnant 7/26/79 All PWR Power Reactor Borated Water Systems Facilities with an OL at PWR Plants 79-18 Audibility Problems 8/7/79 All Power Reactor Encountered on Evacuation Facilities with an of Personnel From High OL Noise Areas 2031 7