ML19343D439
| ML19343D439 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 10/09/1980 |
| From: | Scheimann F METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8105040486 | |
| Download: ML19343D439 (16) | |
Text
1 1
THE UNITED STATES
{}
2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3----------------X 4 In the Matter ofs S METROPOLITAN-EDISON (TM.I II) 6--------------
- -X 7
NRC Trailer No. 1 8
TMI Nuclear Sta tion Middletown, Pennsylvania 9
Thursday, October 9, 1980 10 11 Deposition of 12 FREDERICK JOSEPH SCHEIMANN, JR.
13 the deponent, called for examination by the staff of the
()
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, pursuant to notice,
't a
14 15 11:15 a.m.
when were present on behalf of the respective 16 pa rties:
For the-Nucigar Reculatory Commission 17 18 NCRMAN C. MOSELEY, Office of Inspection and Enforcement l
l 19 TERRY HARPSTER, Office of Inspection and Enforcement i
JOHN W.
CRAIG, Office of Inspection and Enforcement 20 RICHARD K. HOEFLING, Office of the Executive Legal 21 Director 22 DAVID H. GAMBLE, Office of Inspector.and Auditor 23
()
24 25 l
(
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, o
o O#R6 4oo viaoi~i> ^ve s * *^s~i~oroa. o c. 2co24 <2o2> ss4 224s
2 1
On behalf of the Deconent; 2
MICHAEL F. McBRIDE, ESQ.
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae 3
1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.
W.
O a1aatoa, o. c. 2003e 4
-JANE G. PENNY, ESC.
5 Killian & Gephart 216-218 Pine Street 6
Box 886 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 O
14 15 16 17 18 19 l
l 20 21 22 23 l
24 i
25 O
l ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
-.-. ---~....-.--.----.-,..
3
{}
1 E E 0,C E E p. I E E E 2
MR. HARPSTER:
Mr. Scheinann, the focus of our 3 investigation today is to continue our inquiry into the flow O
4 of information at Three d'.le Island on March 28th, 1979.
5Whereupon, 6
FREDERICK JOSEPH SCHEIMANN, JR.
7having been first duly sworn by Mr. Harpster, was examined 8and testified as follows:
9 MR. HARPSTER:
Would you state-your full name for 10 the record.
11 THE WITNESS My name is Frederick Joseph 12 Scheimann, Jr.
13 MR. HARPSTERs Counselor.
14 MR. McBRIDEs My name is Michael F. McBride of the 151a w firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae, counsel for 16 M r. Scheimann.
17 MS. PENNY:
Jane G. Penny, Harrisburg law firm of 18 Killian & Gephart for Mr. Scheimann.
19 EXAMINATION 20 BY MR. MOSELEYs 21 0
Mr. Scheimann, on March 28th at around 2 p.m.
what 22were your specific duties?
23 A
At around 2 p.m.
I was on the pressure control 24 st a tion.
Then I was relieved and I made an entry into the 25 aux building.
O 1
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
4 f
1 0
You were relieved about what time, do you recall?
[
2 A
A little after 2.
3 0
You were there when the pressure spike occurred?
O 4
A Yes.
5 0
Could you describe your recollection of what you i
6saw when the spike occurred?
j 7
A Okay.
At the time the spike occurred I was i
8contro111ng pressure in the RCS by throttling on the l
l 9 electromatic block valve.
At.the time spike occurred I had
[
10 just gone to open on the electromatic.
11 0
What evidences did you personally observe and hear 12of the spike ?
L 13 A
Essentially what I heard amounted to something
()
14 along the line of "look at that pressure."
That is all 15 be cause I was over minding the pressure control.
16 0
Were you aware that the SFAS had come in?
i i
17 A
I had heard somebody say something to the effect l
18 tha t the building spray pumps had started.
19 0
You left shortly after the spike to go and survey I
20 the auxiliary building?
I 21 A
Yes, sir.
i 22 0
Why did you make that survey, that entry into the l
23 auxiliary building?
l ()
24 A
At the time we were in the line of thinking about 25 going down'on the decay heat removal system and we had to I
i i
i ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON. 0.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
~.
i 5
1 I
cI (~)
1have pressure control in the pressurizer.
So that required
}. v 2that we open the auxiliary spray flow lines.
That.is why I 3went in there.
i 4
0 Prior to leaving the control room to make the
)
5 entry did you overhear any conversations or participate in f
6any conversations about the cause of the pressure spike?
7 A
Not to my recollection.
l 8
Q After you returned to the control room -- which l
9 was about how long?
10 A
That would have been approximately a half an hour 11 or 40 minutes later.
12 Q
-- did you then participate in any discussions or 13 conversations about the cause of the pressure spike?
14 A.
No, sir, I did not.
I was sen t to the back of the 15 room to take a rest for a while.
I had been there since 16 bef o re 11 o' clock the previous night.
17 Q
At any time on March 28th did you participate in 18or overhear any conversations about the cause of the I
19 pressure spike?
20 A
No, sir, not to my recollection.
21 Q
As a follow-up to the indication.e of the pressure a
22 spike are you aware that anyone else conitored the 23 co n tainmen t temperatures?
()
24 A
I am not aware of that, sir.
25 0
Are you awa re of anyone monitoring the reactor O
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
6 1 coolant pump air cooling system temperatures?
2 A
Again, I am not aware of that.
3 0
Are you aware of anyone checking the pressure O
4 instrumentation which uses containment as a reference?
5 A
That one I would have to ask for some 6 clarification on, sir.
7 Q
There are certain pressure instruments, the steam l
80enerator pressure, for instance, which has as a reference 91ts reference leg monitors the containment pressure.
In a 10 pressure spike situation the reference pressure having gone j
11 up it would cause the indication of this other instrument to 12in the other direction.
Are you aware of anyone having i
13 monitored that ---
14 A
Not to my knowledge, sir.
15 0
--- as another means of confirming the validity of 16 the contair4 ment pressure instrumentation.
17 A
Not to my knowledge.
At the time, as I will I
18 repeat again, I was paying pretty close attention to the 19 reactor coolant system pressure until I was relieved.
20 0
I was also asking whether you overheard any I
21 conversations of other:s about this kind of stuff ?
22 A
No, sir, I don't recall hearing it.
23 0
Following the spike, to your knowledge, was there 24 an order given to inspect or survey the containment to 25 verify its continued integrity?
O ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC.
400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W. WASHINGTCN. D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
7
{}
1 A
Again, I can't really recall of anything of that 2 specific nature.
3 0
You were not asked as part of your entry into the O
4 auxiliary building to make any such checks?
5 A
No, sir, not'to my recollection.
6 BY MR. HARPSTER:
7 I
You were watching the reactor coolant system 8 pressure rather closely at the time; is that right?
9 A
Yes, sir, I was paying prime atten tion to that.
10 0
Pid you notice the downward spike on -it?
11 A
No, I don't recall seeing anything of that nature.
i 12 Q
That is one of the ways they verified it af ter the 13 f act was to go back and trace the reactor building pressure
(
14 and reactor coolant system pressure and it showed up on both 15 of them.
16 A
Again, I don't really recollect seeing that 17particular item you are referring to because at the time 18 pressure was going up and down because I was controlling it 19as it was.
20 BY MR. MOSELEY:
21 0
Mr. Seneimann, on March 28th did you hear directly 22or were you told of an order or an instruction not to change 23the status of the electrically operated equipment in
()
24 con tainm en t ?
This would have been after the pressure spike.
25 A
Again, it is 18 months.
I may have; I may not O
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRG!NIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
8
(}
1 have.
I really can't recollect.
Eighteen months is a long 2 time.
3 0
Do you have any recollection of it having been
}
4given at some other time, on the 29th.or the 30th?-
5 A
On the 29 th I wasn't there.
The 30th I can't 6 recollect.either.
7 Q
Was there an instruction that no equipment wac.to 8 be operated without instructions from the management group j
9or through Mr. Ross or some of the management people who 10 were standing behind the operators?
11 A
There may have been, but, as I say, that is a long 12 time and I can't remember a specific incident as such.
[
13 Q
Well, was there a method of operation whereby no 14 equipmen t status would be changed unless it directly came 15back f rom Miller through the chain for that specific 16 operation to take place ?
17 A
To the best of my recollection, at that point 18 an ything we did concerning plant status we would have had to 19 h a ve been given direction to do it.
I 20 0
So contrary to the way you normally would operate 21you wouldn't or the operators wouldn't take a direct action 22 to correct something that they though t should be corrected i
23 rather they would await specific instructions?
l ()
24 A
In a case of that nature at the point we were at 25 a t that time we had direct supervision right with us at all
(
t i
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC.
400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W, WASHINGTON. D.C. 20024 (202) 554 2345
9 1 times.
It would not have been a matter of having to wait
[}
2any extreme amount of time to take a corrective action.
3 0
But that was the method that you would not take an O
4 action until the supervisor had ordered it or suggested it Sor authorized it?
6 A
At that time we would have told the supervisor 7what we were seeing and we probably would have been directed 8what to do at that. time.
9 Q
But this method of operation sort of evolved 10 rather than being a direct order that that is the way it 11 would work?
12 A
In an emergency situation there will be a person 13 there that will direct the activities of the plant and he
()
14 would make final decisions as f ar as operating conditions.
l 15 Q
This person is the emergency director or are you l
l 16 saying that there was in your emergency planning tha t you I
j 17 planned to have a supervisor with each panel?
l l
18 A
I can't really say that per the emergency plan i
19there was scheduled to be a supervisor at each panel, no.
20But as the case existed there were several people present 21 that filled tha t ca pacity.
l l
22 0
Was that part of a pre-plan or did it sort of 23 evolve into that on March 28th?
Had it ever happened
()
24 bef o re ?
Had you ever gone into that mode of operation 25before?
I l
CE)
I l
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
10
(~}
1 A
To the best of my knowledge, I can't recollect it s-2 being that case.
There may have been incidences when I was 3not present at the plant when it might have, but I don't O
4 recollect a situation.
5 BY MR. HARPSTER:
6 Q
At the time you said you don't recall much.. Do 7you recall the containment isolation ?
8 A
During the course of the early morning hours on 9 several occasions we had had containment isolation.
10 Q
No, at the time of the spike.
11 A
Again, I really couldn't recollect when it came in 12or anything of that nature because I was paying attention to 13 vh at I was trying to control.
14 Q
How about the loss of intermediate cooling?
l j
15 A
Again, I am not really aware of it.
l l
16 Q
And you didn't notice the spike on the one thing l
17 you were watching?
18 A
No, I did not.
Because I was controlling pressure 191n an up and downward manner I wouldn't necessarily have 20 seen it on the recorder we had.
21 BY MR. MOSELEY:
22 Q
Were you working closely wi th Mr. Zeve in 23 co ntrolling the primary coolant system pressure on March O
24 ata' 25 A
To the best of my recollection, I was.
He was
)
l l
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON. D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
11
{}
1 monitoring building pressure as I opened the electromatic-21ock or closed it.
3 Q
Do you recall a conversation with Zewe or Chwastyk O
4 perhaps about the concern for hydrogen as a result of the 5 continued operation?
6 A
I do not recollect such a concern at that time.
I 7 don't recollect that conversation is what I am saying.
8 Q
You don't recall any discussion of concern for 9 hydrogen either bef ore or af ter the containment spike?
10 A
Not to my knowledge.
No t until some time la ter.
11 When I am saying that I am referring to days or maybe even 12 week s.
13 0
Since March 28th what pressures, if any, have you 14 f elt which may have influenced you either directly or l
15 indirectly your recollections?
16 A
None really that I am aware of.
I have been 17 wo rking as no rmal as I had been before; no threats, no 18 pressures.
19 0
Do you have knowledge that inf o rma tion was 20 withheld from the NRC on March 28th?
21 A
No, sir, I do not.
22 BY ME HARPSTER:
23 Q
You were monitoring the pressure about the time of
()
24 the spike.
Do you recall what the status of your 25 pressurizer heaters were then?
O i
(_/
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
=
12 1
A Not off the top of my head, sir.
2 0
You are not aware of the efforts to draw a bubble 3or ongoing things like that th a t would affect the carameter O
4you were monitoring?
5 A
Ho, sir, not at that time I can't recall any.
The Sonly thing I can recall being done at that time was cycling 7 the electromatic block.
8 0
Are you a senior operator?
9 A
Yes, sir.
10 MR. HARPSTER:
Thank you.
11 BY MR. CRAIG:
12 Q
Mr. Scheimann, did you participate in or overhear 13 a discussion on the 18th concerning 'the pressure swi tch and
()
141ogic which would be required to initiate the containment 15 spray pumps?
16 A
No, sir, I don't recall being involved in a 17 discussion of that nature.
18 0
Were you talking to Mr. Chwastyk or Mr. Mehler 19 righ t around that time period shortly af ter the pressure 20 spik e?
21 A
No, sir, no t to my knowledge.
22 BY MR. MOSELEY:
23 Q
Nor even later in the evening?
()
24 A
No, sir, because, as I said, shortly af ter the 25 spike I got relieved.
I went into the aux building and from O
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY. INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
13 Ithat point I was sent behind the panels to rest for a while 2and than at 5:30 I went home, thereabouts.
3 0
You didn't return to the panel after you made the O
4 entry into the aux building?
5 A
Not to my knowledge, sir.
6 MR. HOSELEY:
That completes our questions, 7Er. Scheimann.
We will provide you a copy of the transcript 8for correction as soon as we can and we will ask you to get 91t back'to us as soon as you can.
10 THE WIINESS:
Okay.
I will do that.
11 MR. MOSELEY:
Thank you.
We appreciate it.
12 (Wereupon, at 11:30 a.m.,
the taking of the 13 deposition concluded. )
14 15 16 l
17 l
18 19 20 21 22 23 O
24 25 O
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
~
GV NUCISAR REGULATORY CO.VMISSION This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the 0
in the =atter of: METROPOLITAN EDISON (Tf1I II) -- DEPOSITION OF FREDERICK JOSEPH SCHEIfWIN, JR.
Da:e of ?roceeding: October 9, 1980 Docket !!u=b er :
? lace of ?roceeding: fliddletown, Pa.
were held as herein appears, and tha; this is the criginal transcript thereof for the file of the Cc==issio-Mary C.
Simons Official Reporter (Typed)
W 4*9 v
Official Reporter (Signature)
O,
~
OJ
-y-
=--,ws----._%-----
y--m,------,----wwe.-
e
.wi.r.---
-w
-wer
d NUCLEAR. REGULATORY COMMISSION 1-OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT 4
l.
j' Corrections to the October 9, 1980, Interview with Frederick J. Scheimann,.Jr.:
h
\\
Line Change
/ To Read i
1 hatleNb-iCorrechorts N 6blnsk '
i
{
+
3 l
LO i
i i
i
?
t M
[
.s t L%9W Fr.derick Q..Scheimann, Jri.
l B[BO DATE:
j t
.-,,~-, ann,..n~,nwn,-,e,vne,,,,
o.--.---a,,,
,wm.-w-..m,,ww~wm-~r.w-+,w,,,m,-n,nw...,,,,,,e-A+-.,.,.-.s-w,w,-
r,,-
,,,,,~,,s w
r~cv----
-Ar--,-