ML19332B267
| ML19332B267 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07002560 |
| Issue date: | 08/10/1979 |
| From: | Seyfrit K NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | TULSA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, TULSA, OK (FORMERLY |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19332B268 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8009260392 | |
| Download: ML19332B267 (1) | |
Text
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Gentlemen:
Enclosed is IE Bulletin No. 79-19, which requires action by you with regard to your NRC license.
Should yo.2 have questions regarding this Bulletin or the actions required of you, please contact this office.
Sincerely, 1
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I KarlV.Seyra.t[J j
Director
Enclosures:
1.
'2.
List of Bulletins Issued
' n Last Six Months i
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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 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 RADIOACTIVE 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, DOT 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 mater'al.
The material was described on the bill of lading as being a solid i organic salt (evaporator concentrates solidified with urea formaldehyde) 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 radicactive 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, South Carolina burial facility.
The shipments were from reactor, medical, industrial and military tacilities.
On June 28, 1979, the Federal Highway Administration issued a Notice of Violation to a reactor facility proposing a $10,000 fine for truck contamina-tion resulting from improper closures on 55 gallon drums 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 sttes by violators.
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IE Bulle.in No. 79-19 Date: August 10, 1979 Page 3 of 3 7.
Establish and implement a management-controlled audit function of all transfer, packaging and transport activities to provide assurance that personnel, instructions and procedures, and process and transport equip-ment are functioning to ensure safety and compliance with regulatory requirements.
8.
Perform, 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 NRC or DOT inspectors.
(Note: If your have an estab-lished audit function and have performed such an audit of all activities in Items 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 submitted 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 information 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 information 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.
IE Bulletin No. 79-19 August 10, 1979 79-05A Nuclear Incident at 4/5/7.4 All Power Reactor Three Mile Island Facilities with an Operating License (OL) or Construction Permit (CP)79-05B Nuclear Incident at 4/21/79 All B&W Power Reactor Thrae Mile Island Facilities with an Operating License (OL) 79-06 Review of Operational 4/11/79 All Pressurized Water Errors and System Power Reactor Facilities Misalignments Identified Except B&W Facilities During The Three Mile Island Incident 79-06A Review of Operational 4/14/79 All Westinghouse PWR Errors and System Facilities with an Misalignments Identified Operating License During the Three Mile (OL)
Island Incident 79-06A Review of Operational 4/18/79 All Pressurized Water (Rev. 1)
Errors and System Mis-Power Reactor Facilities alignments Identified of Westinghouse Design During the Three Mile with an Operating License (OL)
Island Incident 79-06B Review of Operational 4/14/79 All Combustion Engineer-Errors and System ing PWR Facilities with Misalignments Identified an Operating License During The Three Mile (OL)
Island 79-07 Seismic Stress Analysis 4/14/79 All Power Reactor of Safety-Related Piping Facilities with an Operating License (OL) or Construction Permit (CP)
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