ML19259D500

Environ Incident 50-289/74-3:on 740605,excessive Chlorine in River Discharge Water Violated Ets.Caused by Varying River Conditions,River Cooling Water Transit Time & Lack of Proper Chlorine Feed Rate Guidelines.No Immediate Actions Taken

ML19259D500
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	06/12/1974
From:	Arnold R METROPOLITAN EDISON CO.
To:
References
NUDOCS 7910240766
Download: ML19259D500 (4)

Text

AEC DISTR" TION FOR PA!!T 50 DOCKET MATMAT( ^

, ,3 (TEMPORARY FORM) CONTROL NO: 5344 FILE: ENVIRO FRCH: DATE OF DOC DATE REC'D LTR TWX RPT OTHER Metropolitan Edison Company Reading, Pa.

R. C. Arnold 6-12-74 6-1L-74 X TO: ORIG CC OTHER SENT AEC PDR m J. P. O'Reilly 1 CLASS UNCLASS PROP INFO INPUT NO CY3 REC'D DOCKET NO:

XXX 1 50-289 DESCRIPTION: ENCLOSURES:

Ltr furn info re enviro incident #EI 50-289/

74-3 of 6-5-74 re excessive free chlorine and

• ACKNOWLEDGED total chlorine concentrations at the Plant River Discharge........ .

DO NOT REMOVE PLANT NAME: THREE MILE ISLAND UNIT #1

, FOR ACTION /INFORMATION 6-14-74 GMC BUTLER (L) !SCHWENCER(L) ZIDIANN(L) /REGAN(E)

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PCGT OFFICE BOX 542 READING, PENNSYLVANIA 19603 TELEPHONE 215 - 929-3601 June 12,1974 . _ _ _ _ _ .

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Mr. J. P. O'Reilly, Director '

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Dear Mr. O'Reilly:

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Operating License DPR-50 Eceket No. 50-289 In accordance with the Environmental Technical Specificaticns for Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1, ve are reporting the following Environ = ental Incident :

(1) Reporting Hu=ber: E.I. 50-289/74-3 (2a) Repcrt Date: June 11, 1974 (2b) Occurrence Date: June 5, 1974 (3) Facility: Three Mile Island nuclear Generating Statien, Unit 1 (h) Identificaticn of Incident:

Excessive Free Chlorine and Total Chlorine Concent-aticns at the Plant River Discharge, which are violatiens of Environmental Technical Specifications, paragraph 2.2.la, and constitute exceeding limiting conditicns for operation.

(5) Conditions Pricr to Occrrence: Hot chutdown, prior to Initial Criticality, with rajor plant paraneters as follevs:

Pover: Core: 0 Elec: 0 1459 234 RC Flor: 1kh X 10 lbs./hr.

RC Pressre: 2155 pcis O d,' aid REGifiMORY DOCKET FILE COPY

~ Mr. J. P. O'Reilly - June 12,197h RC Temperature: 532 F PRZR Level: 100 in.

PRZR Temp.: 650 F (6) Description of Incident: During a periodic evolution conducted to chlorinate the systens cooled by the Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower, the plant river water discharge sample taken 30 minutes after conmencement of the evolution indicated a free chlorine concentra-tion of .10pps and total chlcrine concentration of .30 ppm; and the discharge sample taken 50 minutes arter contencement of the evolu-tien indicated a free chlorine concentration of .15 ppt and a total chlorine concentration of .30pp=.

In that chlorine addition had been terminated about 15 minutes after con =encement of the evolution, it was determined that there were no additional actions which could be taken to get the readings within the specification limits.

(7) Designation of Apparent Cause of Incident: Although not certain, there are two possible causes of the incident:

a. Procedure, in that there are no guidelines to aid in deter-tining hev the chlorine feed rate should be varied as a functicn of existing conditions. Some of the conditions which can affect the amount of free chlorine consumed as it passes through the systems are:

1. river cooling water transit time from the river cooling water pump discharge to the cooling tower discharge, which is in turn a function of the number of systets and purps in use, and

2. various river water ccnditions such as tenperature , pH, and organic ec= position. ,

b. Material =alfuncticn of the free chlorine conitoring apparatus.

(8) Analysis of Incident: It is believed that the free and total chlcrine levels did not exceed their limits by severe enough degrees o.r for 1cng enough durations to cause environmental damage in that the 250 lb/ day chlorination rate, which was in effect at the time of the incident, had never before resulted in exceeding either the total or free chlcrine specificatien limits.

(9) Corrective Actien: Operations personnel tock no inmediate actienc as described in the above analysis.

The Plant Superintendent was notified of the incident, and notified the Vice President of Generation.

1459 235

.c Mr. J. P. -&8-Reilly - - --

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ihi E.I. 50-289/74-2 seven-day letter dated June 5, 19Th, it was stated with regard to this same proble that long tern corrective actions would consist of utilizing the 90-day period referenced in the Environmental Technical Specifications, paragraph 2.2.1.b, to better determine (1) if and how chlorine addition rate limits should be established as a function of existing conditions and (2) the reliability of chlorine measuring apparatus. Although this action is still planned for later this year, subsequent discussions among the Vice President-Generation, Manager-Generation Engineering, and Station Superintendent have led to the conclusion that the 90- day period in itself may not provide sufficient time to perform the necessary technical evaluations. For this reason, therefore, a meeting has been arranged with a consultant to discuss terms of a contract to evaluate establishtent of chlorine addition rates and the reliability of chlorine measuring apparatus.

(10) Failure Data:

a. Previous Failures: Possible malfunction of the chlorine monitoring apparatus has been previously noted in E.I. 50-289/74-2 seven-day letter dated June 5, 1974.

b. Equipment Identirication: It vill not be possible to identify if the monitoring apparatus failed until the previously referenced additional technical analyses are completed. Failure of the apparatus, however, is considered to be highly unlikely.

Sincerely,

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R.CZ"Abn0LD Vice President-Generation RCA:DNG:sh cc: , Director Directorate of Licensing U. S. Atomic Energy Co=aission Washington, D. C. 205h5 File 20.1.1 7.7.3.11.1 1459 236

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