ML19340A446

RO 77-116E:on 770918,unmonitored Radioactive Release to Atmosphere Occurred.Caused by Reactor Bldg Purge Monitor RM-A1 Vacuum Pump & Monitor Alarm Indicator in Control Center Being Inoperable During 2-h & 51 Minute Purge

ML19340A446
Person / Time
Site:	Crystal River
Issue date:	09/26/1977
From:	FLORIDA POWER CORP.
To:
Shared Package
ML19340A435	List: ML19340A434 ML19340A446
References
NUDOCS 8003260784
Download: ML19340A446 (2)

Text

O' . ' ' * ' ' t.it,CI VO CC ' C V Cl \1 i h Cl"t.J11 ! '

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r:ONTROL BLOCK:l ' l l\l l l -

gpttf ' gigi;NT ALL REDutRCD INFOR;M.Y;C;JJ '

1 6 DCENSEE LCENSE EVENT NAME LCENSE NUMBER

• TYPC TYPE ',

lF lL lCl nl Pl 3l l 0 l 0-l-l 0 l 0 l 0 l 0 l 0l-l 0 l 0 l l' 4l 1l 1l 1l 1 l l 0l 4l 9 14 15 25 26 30 31 32 CATEGORY T r DOCKET NUMOER . EVENT DATE REPORT DAtt

ONT l- l - I 57 50 W 59

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60 l0l5l0l-l0l3l0l2l 61 08 l 0l 9{ 1l 8 l7 l7 l l0 l9 l2 l6l7l7l CD 74 75 Fu EVENT DESCRIPTION In Node 1 operation, the Reactor building was purged for a period of two hours and l 00 fifty one minutes w[th the RB Purge Monitor RM-Al vacuum pump inoperable causing an

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unmonitored radioactive release to the atmosphere contrary to Tech. Specs. 3. 3. 2.1, l t

ec Tables 3.~3-3 and 3.3-4. Redundancy NA. third occurrence of this event as reported eg .

ll (See additional factors) I

-l systEu cou"po.YrNT O

cAusE bePostuT (LER 77-116E)

CODE CODE COMPONENT CoOE SUF PUER mat.UF ACTU"4ER VOLATON SlB] y lP lU lM lPl XlXl W l Xl 9l 9 l 9 l lY l 10 11 12 -

17 43 44 47 48 lAUSE. OESCR PTION'

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This event was caused by. failures of the Purge Monitor RM-Al vacuum pump and the Monito'r l Alarm Indicator in the Control Center. A request to Production Engineering has been' BO initinted to recommand a cositive indicatiori to annunciate pump failure and to automatica1-l l ly terminate . purging -and a revision to the containment equalization portion of OP-41,7 to 80 i ensure vacuum cumo operability will be initiated to preclude recurrence. l '

1 FActny '

METHOo oF STATUS  %. POWER oTHER STAT'JS OSCoVERY DISCOVERY DESCR;PTON '

9 W l 0l9 l2 l- l 10 12 13 NA l

44 lAl 45 l R.B. Purge Duct High Radiatic' . Alorm 4S l

_s0 ACTMTY CONTENT

• RELEASED AMOUNT OF ACTMTY -

LoCATON oF RELEASE I;

9

(_C_l OF dRELEASE l 347 Curies Noble 10 11 l Gas 44 lReactorBldg., Vent to atmosphere 45 l

60 ERSONNEL EXPOSURES -s NUMDER TYPE DESCRIPTON I II [_J l NA l

h, 11 12 13 , EO '

ERSONNEL INJURIES -

NUMBER DESCRIPION p

' t' l l 1 -l NA l '!

11 12 87 .l FFSITE CONSEOUENCES . '

yi .

l 00 ,

2SS OR OAM(LGE TO FAC!tITY v OEScRPTON. .

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10 "

. , 1,0 JBLICITY ,

NA l '

t:0 3OITIONAL FACTORS , .

LERs77-74E and 77-105E. Purge immediately terminated upon ' discovery. ,f va See attached Supplementary Inf5rmation. _ 8 03 260 7h j ~

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i l SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

1. Report No.: 50-302/77/116E j 2. Facility: Crystal River Unit #3

3. Report Date: 26 September 1977 S

! 4. Occurrence Date: 18 September 1977

, 5. Identification of Occurrence:

An unmonitored radioactive release to the atmosphere contrary to Technical Specification 3.3.2.1, Tables 3.3-3 and 3.3-4.

t

6. Conditions Pr.ior to Occurrence:

Mode 1 operation, Reactor Building purge in progress.

7. Desc~ription of Occurr-ence- ,

i At 1850 on 15 September 1977 a' weekly Reactor Building purge was initiated and was continuous to 0800 18 September 1977 when it was discovered that the vacuum pump for the Reactor Building purge monitor RM-Al had failed at 0509 18 September 1977. This constituted an unmonitored radioactive release to the atmosphere for a period of 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> and 51 minutes at a release rate of.35 microcuries per second.

Upon discovery of the inoperable vacuum pump the purge was terminated immediately I

and a maintenance Work Request was -initiated for repair of RM-Al vacuum pump.

~

8. Designation of Apparent Cause: -

J The cause of the occurrence was due to the failure of the RM-Al alarm indicator in the Control Center to annunciate vacuum pump failure, and personnel not

responding to computer alarm of "RB Purge Duct high' radiation level". .

9. Analysis of Occurrence:

The health and safety.of the plant and public were 'not affected as no Environ-mental Technica? Specification limit was exceeded and the release rate represented l

.005% of the maximum allowable-instantaneous release rate.

T

10. Corrective Action:

! A request to Production Engineering has been initiated for an investigation, i'

evaluation and recommendation of positiv, action to be taken to ensure vacuum

. pump failure annunciation and purge termination. Corrective action to preclude recurrence will be taken upon receipt of rdcommendations. OP-417 Section on Containment Equalization will be revised to ensure operability of RM-Al vacuum

• pump. -

.11. Failure Data:

This constitutes the third occurrence of an unmonitored purge to this date, but it is the first occurrence of vacuum pump failure while purge was in progress.

Refer to LERs77-74E dated' 26 July 1977 and 77-105E dated 12 September 1977.

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