ML19281B107
| ML19281B107 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Wood River Junction |
| Issue date: | 02/22/1979 |
| From: | Joyner J, Woltner E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19281B102 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0820-78-26, 70-820-78-26, NUDOCS 7904210070 | |
| Download: ML19281B107 (4) | |
Text
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT Region I Report No. 70-820/78-26 Docket No.70-820 Safeguards Group 1
License No. SNM-777 Priority 1
Category UR Licensee:
United Nuclear Corporation Wood River Junction, Rhode Island 02894 Facility Name:
Fuel Recovery Operation Inspection at:
Wood River Junction, Rhode Island Inspection conducted:
November 28-30, 1978 Inspectors:
[h tI{,
2 42 / /p E. Woltner, Safeguards Auditor date signed date signed date signed Approved by:
e_w w/ z. 2e/7 9 Jhdoy'rdr, Cdief, Nuclear Material Control dite signed Suppcd Section, Safeguards Branch Inspection Summary:
Inspection on November 28-30, 1978 (Report No. 70-820/78-26)
Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection by a regional based inspector of nuclear material control and accounting in the area of:
records and reports covering project control; and shipping and receiving.
The inspection involved 25 inspector-hours on site by one NRC regional based inspector.
Results: No items of noncompliance were identified.
79042100To Region I Form 12 (Rev. April 77)
DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted Mr. C. Bowers, General Manager
- Mr. R. Gregg, Manager, Quality Assurance Mr. J. Rosser, Manager, Marketing
- Mr. D. Daigler, Quality Assurance Engineer The inspector also interviewed other licensee employees during the course of the inspection.
They included nuclear material control and process personnel.
- denotes those present at the exit interview.
2.
R3 ards and Reports ThE licensee maintains an overall system of plant Controls and accuanting for special nuclear material.
In addition, an internal system of project control is maintained for the benefit of customers.
NRC inspections review the licensee's system of plant control as required by 10 CFR 70, the Department of Energy (D0E) reviews the licensee's system of project control maintained for SNM being recovered under DOE contract.
An imbalance between element weight and weight percen': isotope for material recorded in the project control has created a problem for the closing out of contracts with Babcock and Wilcox Company (B&W), Nuclear Material Division, Apollo, Pennsylvania.
A review of the ledgers for the August 8 - October 2, 1978 physical inventory period reflected agreement between the total plant material balance and the project control accounts.
The licensee and B&W were in agreement on the quantity of input for the remaining open projects.
Some of the projects cover six or more years and the imbalance has occurred due to various conditions.
They include, but are not limited to, physical inventory differences, material discards, transfers between project accounts (shown as blending but in actuality a paper recording transfer), inaccurate weight percent isotope data provided by the licensee's customers, and recovery of material of different enrichments in the same process batch, as a result of the err,oneous isotopic data.
3 UNC has used the relative percentage of material input from each contract as the method of allocation of the recovered product to each contract.
This difference will have to be resolved between the licensee and DOE.
No items of noncompliance were found.
3.
Shipping and Receiving The licensee received a shipment of enriched uranium scrap by commercial carrier on November 30, 1978 from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The shipment consisted of 13 type 6M shipping containers.
The Nuclear Material Transaction Reports (Form NRC/ DOE-741) documenting the shipment were CZA-FBY 19 and 20.
A total of 4348 grams of U-235 were reported in the shipment.
The licensee reported two possible problems with the receipt.
First, the shipper used an estimated gross weight of 250 pounds per container.
UNC's actual gross weights ranged between 217 and 253 pounds.
No weights were provided by the shipper for the inner items for verification.
Second, the shipping containers were tamper sealed with simple lead seals.
The licensee contacted ANL and discussed the problem.
It was agreed that UNC FR0 would seal the 13 containers with UNC seals using their acceptable procedure and the NRC inspector on site would also witness the tamper-safing.
When the containers are to be opened for processing, DOE inspectors will be on site and any difference will be the responsibility of the shipper.
1he following are the details for the 13 containers:
Drum No.
ANL Seal UNC Seal UNC Wt.
C-014 15556 10628 222 0-75 15572 10627 239 D-62 15506 10626 242 D-34 15929 10625 228 D-84 15633 10624 249 D-41 15968 10623 230 C-009 15589 10622 217 C-006 15619 10620 228 D-23 15639 10619 245 D-46 15678 10618 244 D-011 15934 10621 253 D-26 15825 10616 245 C-022 15669 10617 222
4 The seals were applied by UNC process operators.
The UNC FR0 Quality Assurance Engineer and the inspector were present during the procedure.
DOE will be notified of the above situation.
This type of ship-ment could create an item of noncompliance for the licensee if the material is not processed or measured and properly sealed by the next physical inventory.
No items of noncompliance were found.
4.
Exit Interview The inspector met with the licensee representatives (denoted in Para-graph 1) at the conclusion of the inspection on November 30, 1978.
The inspector sumarized the scope and findings of the inspection.