ML19289E419
| ML19289E419 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07001113 |
| Issue date: | 03/27/1979 |
| From: | Gibson A, Troup G NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19289E417 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-1113-79-06, 70-1113-79-6, NUDOCS 7904170523 | |
| Download: ML19289E419 (7) | |
Text
UNITED STATES Atoug#
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o,,
REGION ll
[
o 5
E 101 M ARIETTA STREET, N.W.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 3o303
/
Report No. 70-1113/79-6 Licensee: General Electric Company P. O. Box 780 Wilmington, North Carolina 28401 Facility Name: Wilmington Nuclear Fuel Plant Docket No.
70-1113 License No.
SNM-1097 Inspection at Wilmington uc1 r-Fuel Plant Inspector:
b 27[~/9
/
Date Signed G.1. Troufr
/
Approved by:
.d O/O f 7Of A. F. Gibson, Section Chief, FFMS Branch Date Signed '
SUMMARY
Inspection on February 26 - March 2, 1979 Areas Inspected This routine unannounced inspection involved 31 inspector-hours onsite in the areas of radioactive liquid effluents, radioactive airborne effluents, records and reports of radioactive effluents, effluent monitoring instruments, procedures for controlling the release of effluents, shipments of radioactive solid waste, and follow-up on unusual event reports and reviewed of previous inspection items.
Results Of the eight areas inspected, no apparent items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
7904170523
~
DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted Licensee Employees
- R. J. Alkema, General Manager
- E. A. Lees, Manager, Quality Assurance
- C. E. Cliche, Manager, Fuel Fabrication Operation
- W. J. Hendry, Manager, Regulatory Compliance
- A. L. Kaplan, Manager, Licensing and Compliance Audits
- J. A. Mohrbacher, Manager, Nuclear Safety Engineering
- B. F. Bentley, Manager, Fuel Chemical Operations
- W. B. Smalley, Senior Engineer, Environmental Protection
- S. J. Menendez, Nuclear Safety Engineer
' *G. E. Powers, Senior Nuclear Safety Engineer
- W. B. Haverty, Compliance Auditor
- G. F. Finders, Compliance Auditor C. M. Vaughan, Manager, Nuclear Materials Management T. R. Crawford, Manager, Powder Production Unit R. L. Torres, Supervisor, Radiation Protection R. L. Brown, Foreman, Fuel Shipping Operations E. A. Schaefer, Senior Engineer, Chemical Labs P. N. Denison, Specialist, Nuclear Materials Management R. J. Keenan, Shift Supervisor, Radiation Protection Other licensee employees contacted included technicians and operators.
- Attended exit interview.
2.
Exit Interview The inspection scope and findings were summarized on March 2, 1979 with those persons indicated in Paragraph 1 above. Licensee management representatives acknowledged the unresolved item concerning gross beta activity analysis of nitrate-bearing liquids (paragraph 6) and the other items of concern identified by the inspector.
3.
Licensee Action on Previous Inspection Findings Not inspected.
9
. 4.
Unresolved Items Unresolved items are matters about which more information is required to determine whether they are acceptable or may involve noncompliance or deviations. New unresolved items identified during this inspection are discussed in paragraph 6.
5.
Radioactive Liquid Effluents The inspector reviewed radioactive liquid records for releases a.
from the treate nt lagoons for the periods July - September, 1978 and January, 1979. No releases above the regulatory limits of 10 CFR 20.106 were identified for these periods.
b.
Section 7.2.2 of Appendix A to license Sht-1097 states that liquid effluents from the uranium processing area shall be monitored for both uranium content and gross beta activity prior to their dis-charge from the plant site as described in Section 7 of the license application. The inspector reviewed the liquid effluent records for the periods July - September, 1978 and January 1979 and verified that the liquid effluent from the treatment lagoons were a sampled and analyzed for uranium content and gross beta activity in accor-dance with Section 7.2.2 of the license application. The inspector had no further questions.
Section 7.2.3 of Appendix A to license Sht-1097 states that action c.
levels for concentrations of uranium in liquid effluent streams shall be established and actions shall be taken whenever such levels are exceeded. Plant procedure P/P 40-18, " Regulatory Compliance Administrative Action Guidelines"sestablishes the action level for liquid effluents at 3 x 10 pCi/ml, which is 10%
of the release limit.
In discussing the ::ction levels with licensee representatives, the inspector was informed that the practice was to implement the action requirements if the concentration of uranium exceeded the action level on a monthly average. Tt e inspector noted that P/P 40-18 does not specify a time perivd and appears to require the corrective actions be implemented if a single sample is above the limit. Licensee representatives acknow-ledged this and stated that P/P 40-18 would be clarified [79-06-01].
The inspector noted that Section 7.2.2 of the license application.
which is not a regulatory requirement, lists action levels based on both daily and monthly average samples; P/P 40-18 is based on the monthly average sample value. The inspector reviewed the sample records for the lagoon and noted that in August, 1978 when the sample results exceeded the P/P 40-18 action level, corrective actions were initiated to lower the concentrations. The inspector had no further questions.
6.
Nitrate-Bearing Liquid Disposal Condition 16 of license SNM-1097 author'zes the licensee to dispose a.
of nitrate-bearing liquids by transporta, ion to an offsite liquid treatment system.
Section 1.6.5 of Appendix A to the license requires that the uranium concentration in the liquid does not The exceed a 30-day average of 5 parts per million by weight.
inspector reviewed the records for shipments of nitrate-bearing liquids for the periods August 30 - October 13, 1978 and December 1, 1978 - January 16, 1979 and verified that the uranium content of the shipments met the license requirements.
b.
Section 7.2.2 of Appendix A to the license states that liquid effluents shall be monitored for uranium content and gross beta activity prior to removal from plant site in the manner described in Section 7 of the license application. Section 7.5.9 of the license application states that the contents of each truck will be analyzed for uranium on a daily composite basis but does not specify analysis for gross beta activity. The inspector verified from a review of the shipping records and discussions with licensee representatives that the uranium analyses were performed as required; however, licensee representatives stated that each batch of nitrate-bearing liquid was not analyzed for gross beta activity but was analyzed on one shipment per quarter. Licensee management repre-sentatives stated that a program would be initiated to collect samples on a composite basis for the gross beta activity analysis.
The inspector stated that this was considered to be an unresolved item [79-06-02] for the gross beta analysis.
7.
Radioactive Airborne Effluents The inspector reviewed the records of stack sample results for the periods August 26 - November 17, 1978 and January 1-21,1979 and verified that the various stacks were being monitored, that corrective actions were being initiated when sample results were above the action levels in accordance with Section 7.2.3 of Appendix A to the license and that the annual average release rate for the total of all stacks was within the limits of 10 CFR 20.106. The inspector also discussed the sampling program with licensee representatives and reviewed selected records to verify that sample filters were beirg changed as required by Section 7.2.1 of Appendix A to the license.
t 8.
Records and Reports of Radioactive Effluents 10 CFR 70.59 requires that each licensee who is authorized to a.
possess and use special nuclear material for fuel fabrication shall :.ubmit a report to the NRC semi-annually which specifies the
, quantity of each of the principal radionuclides released to unrestricted areas. The inspector reviewed the two reports submitted by the licensee for calendar year 1978 and verified that the reports had been submitted as required with the required data for liquid and gaseous effluents. The inspector discussed with a licensee representative the inclusion of radionuclides and their quantities shipped offsite in nitrate-bearing wastes as part of the report since they ultimately are discharged into the same receiving body as the plant liquid effluents.
The licensee representative noted that these data were formerly included in the effluent report until the format was changed in 1978; he stated that in future reports, the principal radionuclides and their quantities for the nitrate-bearing liquid disposal would be included in the reports. The inspector had no further questions.
b.
The inspector reviewed records of releases of liquid and gaseous effluents and nitrate-bearing liquid shipments and determined that the records were kept by the licensee as required by 10 CFR 20.401.
The inspector had no further questions.
9.
Solid Waste Shipments The inspector. reviewed records of the shipment of radioactive waste for the period January,1978 - February,1979 and determined that the shipments were to a licensed disposal agency and that records of the shipments were keep as required by 10 CFR 20.401. The inspector had no further questions.
10.
UF Release 3
On December 3, 1978 an incident involving the release of UFs a.
occurred. A report of the incident, including recommended correc-tive actions, was forwarded by a letter dated January 9,1979.
The inspector discussed the report with the cognizant licensee representatives and reviewed the recommended corrective actions.
A licensee management representative stated that the installation of the live-time air samplers alarms in the conversion control room and the study of the adequacy of the chemical area exhaust scrubber were not complete but provided the inspector with target dates for their completion. The inspector stated that these would be reviewed during a subsequent inspection.
b.
A licensee representative provided the inspector with copies of the meteorology data for the release period and the calculations of the calculations of the concentrations of airborne radioactivity at the restricted area boundary. The inspector stated that these would be reviewed in the office and the licensee would be contacted if there were any questions.
2-1
~
s 11.
Procedures for Controlling the Release of Effluents The inspector reviewed six Process Requirements and Operator Documents (PROD's) relating to processing and release of effluents to verify the content were consistent with 10 CFR 20 and the license conditions. The inspector also reviewed any changes which had been made to the PROD's in 1978 to verify that the changes were consistent with the regulations and that the changes had been approved as required by the licensee's procedures. The inspector had no further questions.
12.
Counting Instrument Calibration Section 6.2.5 (b) of Appendix A to license SNM-1097 requires that the background and efficiency of laboratory counting instruments be deter-mined on a daily basis. The inspector reviewed records of the analysis of airborne samplers and verified that the determinations were being performed and had no further questions. The inspector also discussed the standardization of instrumentation of laboratory instruments used to measure uranium in liquid effluents with licensee representatives and reviewed selected records of the standardization; the inspector had no further questions.
- 13. Plant Tour During the inspection, the inspector toured various areas of the facility, including the fuel conversion and manufacturing areas, laboratories, waste treatment areas and fuel shipping areas, to observe work practices, radiological controls and housekeeping. The inspector noted two areas of concern during these tours:
The licensee is installing a new air sampling system in the fuel a.
conversion and manufacturing areas. Each sampling point is equipped with a filter holder and a rotameter to measure and control the sample flow rate. The inspector observed that numerous rotameters are located so high off the floor that they cannot be read or adjusted without using a ladder or climbing onto process equipment, either of which may create a safety hazard. A licensee management representative acknowledged this comment and stated that a review of the rotameter installations and any necessary repositioning would be accomplished prior to placing the system into service.
b.
The inspector observed three wooden shipping boxes in an outside area which had radioactive material shipping labels affixed to the ends. The inspector also observed numerous boxes which were sten.Aled " radioactive material - fissile n.o.s.".
None of these boxes were stored in an area posted as a radioactive materials A licensee representative stated that these vere empty areas.
boxes awaiting disposal. One box was opened to verify that it was 4
I e
t The licensee representative removed the radioactive material empty.
shipping labels and initiated action to have " empty" labels affixed.
A licensee management representative stated that the " empty" labels are supposed to be affixed before the boxes are shipped back from nuclear reactor facilities but that action would be taken to ensure that the " empty" labels are in place or the markings obliterated prior to placing the boxes in outside storage areas.
[79-06-03].
8 l
..-.-ne-
-- - - - -