ML19343D454
| ML19343D454 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 10/09/1980 |
| From: | Frederick E METROPOLITAN EDISON CO. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8105040522 | |
| Download: ML19343D454 (13) | |
Text
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1 i
THE UNITED STATES 2
NUCLEAR REGULATORY C05 MISSION 3----------
---X 4In the Matter of:
5 METROPOLITAN-EDISON (THI II) 6----------------X 7
l NRC Trailer No. 1 8
TMI Nuclear Station Middletown, Pennsylvania 9
Thursday, October 9, 1980 10 f
l 11 Deposition of 12 EDWARD RUSSELL FREDERICK J
13 the deponent, called for examination by the staff of the
] ()
14 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, pursuant to notice, at 1510 4 3 5 a.m.
when were present on behalf of the respective 16 parties s 17 For thg Nuclear Reculatory Commission 18 NORNAN C.
MOSELEY, Office of Inspection and Enforcement
~
19 TERRY HARPSTER, Office of Inspection and Enforcement 20 JOHN W.
CRAIG, Office of Inspection and Enforcement 21 RICHARD K. HOEFLING, Office of the Executive Legal l
Director i
22 DAVID H. GAMBLE, Office of Inspector and Auditor 23 25 l
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 06040SM
']ao*'^ ^v5 $ * *^$"*o{o". o.C; 2=2. <202 su.ms
2 1
On behalf of the Deconents f
2 MICHAEL F. McBRIDE, ESQ.
l LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae 3
1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.
C. 20036 JANE G.
PENNY, ESQ.
5 Killian C Gephart 216-218 Pine Street f
6 Box 886 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108 f
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ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC,
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400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W WASHINGTON. D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345 t
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E E 2 q E E D I, 1 E E 2
MR. HARPSTERs Ed, the purpose of our 3 investigation today is to continue the inquiry into the flow c:)
4 of inf ormation at Three Mile Island on March 28th, 1979.
1 5 Whereupon,
1 6
EDWARD RUSSELL FREDERICK c
i 7 having first been duly sworn by Mr. Harpster, was examined f
8and testified as follows:
l 9
MR.-HARPSTER:
Would you state your full name for I
10 th e record, please.
[
11 Edward RussellFrederick.
12 MR. MOSELEY:
Would you identify yourselves.
l 13 MR. McBRIDE My name is Michael F. McBride of the
)
141av firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby C-McRae and counsel for Mr.
i 15 Frederick.
l 16 MS. PENNY:
Jane G. Penny f rom the Harrisburg firm 17of Killian E Gephart for Mr. Frederick.
(
18 EXAMINATION l
19 BY MR. MOSELEY:
20 0
Mr. Frederick, on March 28th at around 2 p.m.
what 21 specifically were your duties?
22 A
I am afraid I can't give you my specific tasks a t l
23 that time.
Generally I was overseeing the operations on the i ()
24 pa n el.
25 0
Well, could you tell us which particular panel you
()
l l
ALDERSO.4 REPORTING COMPANY,INC, l
400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 054-2345
4 1 were responsible for?
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2 A
No, not in relation to time of day.
No.
3 0
The time around 2 p.m.
is around the containment O
4 spike time.
Does that help you?
5 A
At around the time of the spike I was near Panel 3.
6 Q
And Panel 3 is the panel which contains what j
7 controls and ins trum en ta tion ?
I don't mean the whole thing, 8I mean in general.
9 A
In general the ECCS controls, the logic controls, 10 the reactor building spray, deca y heat removal and make-up 11 and purification.
12 0
Could you describe your recollections of what you 13 personally saw and did at the time of the spike?
()
14 A
Around the time qf the spike, like I said, I was 15 stan ding at Panel 3.
I don' t remember actually standing
(
16 there and watching the panel at the time.
I just remember i
17 being in the vicinity.
I did not see the spike occur on the l
l 18 graph and I didn't see it until someone pointed it out.
19 Gene rally I just was standing behind some of the other 1
20 operators.
I may have been involved in a conversation.
I 21 don ' t kno w.
l 22 0
You didn't see the spike indication on the ' graph?
23 A
Not as it occurred, no.
I didn't see it until
()
24af ter it had been recorded.
25 0
Is this a matter of a couple of minutes or a i
I 1
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
5
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1 couple of hours later?
l 2
A Within a few minutes.
3 0
And you saw the SFAS initiation?
l 4
A I did not verify the entire initiation.
The only t
5 component I remember being pointed out was the building 6 spray pumps.
7 Q
So you were aware that the spray pumps had come on 8at this point in time?
l 9
A Yes.
10 Q
Did you participate in or overhear any 11 conversation about the cause or the probable cause of the 12 spik e ?
i 13 A
Again, I don't remember any specific j
14 conversa tions.
I remember the conclusions thtt I had tha t 15 day.
That is about it.
How I arrived at them I don't 16really know.
17 0
What were those conclusions?
18 A
That there was a failure in the system that caused 19 the pumps to start.
20 0
You mean an instrument failure?
Is that what you 21 mean ?
22 A
Yes.
23 Q
Did you say you don't recall any conversation with
()
24 anyone about the cause?
25 A
I remember that there were conversations, but I O
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE, S.W, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554 2345
6 1 don' t remember who exactly I was speaking with.
2 0
What was the substance of those conversations even 31f you don't know who you were talking with?
4 A
I am trying to remember specifics, but all I can 5 remember is that va concluded that it was probably an 6 electrical failure in the instrument that caused the pumps 7to start.
Tht' is about all I remember about it.
8 Q
Do you recall any conversation about the amount of 9 redundancy in +he instrumentation and the number of 10 dif f eren t redundant channels that would have to be actuated 111n order for these actions to take place?
12 A
I am aware of all of that now, but 'I don 't know 13 vha t my state of awareness was at that time.
I don't O
44 remember anr conversettons.
15 0
You don't recall any conversations?
16 A
No.
17 0
As a follow-up to the indications of the pressure 18 spike did you, yourself, or did anyone, to your knowledge, 19 monitor the containment temperatures?
20 A
I don't remember anyone specifically doing that, 21 no.
22 Q
Do you recall anyone monitoring the reactor 23 coolan t pump air cooling system temperatures?
24 A
I can say that I didn ' t do it.
Those are values 25 that come out on the computer and I wasn't involved with the O
ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W. WASHINGTON. D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
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1 computer operations at the time.
2 Q
And no one made any comment about what they might 3 have been which you did overhear?
O 4
A No, sir.
5 0
The same question about the pressure instruments 6 which use containment as a reference.
Do you recall 7 overhearing anyone or observitig the pressure instruments 8 that use containment atmosphere as a reference?
9 A
You are talking about the ones on Panel 3, the 10 graph readings?
11 Q
I don 't know what panel they are on, but they are 12 pressure instruments that use the containment atmosphere as 13 a reference such that they would have recorded the pressure 14 spike in the other direction with the reference pressure 15 going up which would have caused a negative spike, right?
16 A
We don't have any instrumentation like th a t.
The 17 only instrumentation that we have that records pressure is 18 just the graphs on Panel 3 that show a positive spike on 191ncrea sin g pressure.
I don't know of any other 20 instrumentation.
21 MR. HARPSTER:
The steam generator pressure or the 22 air coolant system pressure, things like that that actually 1
23use the ref erence f rom the containment building pressure.
- ()
24 THE WITNESS:
No, no discussions.
25 ALDERSoN REPORTING COMPANY. INC.
400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W WASHING!oN. D.C. 20024 (202) 554 2345'
8 1
BY MR. MOSELEY:
2 Q
Following the spike was there an order given or a 3 discussion of inspecting or surveying the containment to see O
41f it was still intact, to your knowledge?
i 5
A Not that I was involved in or that I heard, no.
6 C
Did you hear a request or hear a discussion of a 7 request for special radiation surveys around the site or 8either on site or off site as a result of the spike?
9 A
No.
The radiati;a team was elsewhere in the 10 room.
I would not have heard any of that.
11 0
You didn't overhear any discussion of I am going 12to have them check to make sure that there hasn't been eny 13 release as a result of this?
()
14 A
No.
15 0
Do you recall any comments like that?
16 A
No.
17 0
On March 28th did you hear directly or were you 18 told of an order not to start or not to change the status of 19 equipment inside containment specifically af ter the spike?
20 A
I don't recall anything lik e that.
21 0
Do you recall a conversation about hey, we ought 22 not to start any equipment inside of containment that is not a
23already operating?
(])
24 MR. HOEFLINGs On 3/28.
25 THE WITNESS:
I don't recall any conversation or ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY. INC.
400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON D.C. 20024 (202) 554 2345
9
(])
1 orders like that.
2 BY MR. MOSELEY:
3 0
Do you recall such a conversation or order at a O
41ater date like March 29th or March 30th ?
5 A
The only thing similar I can remember is that when 6they were talking about water being in the building they 7didn't want to operate any of the decay heat valves there or 8 change positions until they were sure what was going to 9 happen to them when they hit the switches, if they were 10 shorted out or whatever.
Equipment restriction was just on 11 electrical things that might have gotten vet and that would 12 primarily be in the basement level.
That is the only thing 13 similar that I can remember.
14 0
What day do you believe that was?
15 A
I don't know.
I don 't know when that was.
16 0
Can you say that it wasn't en March 28th as you 17 recall?
18 A
No, I can 't remember when it was a t all.
l' 19 Q
Since you reported to the site on March 28th what 20 pressures have you f elt or influences, if an y, to change 21 your recollection?
22 A
Would you say that again?
23 Q
What pressures, if any, either directly or
()
24 indi re c tly, have you felt to influence you t o change your 25 recollection of what occurred on March 28th?
O ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20074 (200) 554-2345
10 1
A I haven't felt any pressures to change my 2 reco11ec tion.
You mean all through what I migh t remember 3about it?
4 0
Yes.
5 A
I haven't f elt any pressures like that.
8 0
Do you have any information that information was 7 withheld from the NRC on March 28th?
8 A
No.
9 MR. 50SELEY.
That completes our questioning.
We 10 appreciate your time and thanks for coming.
We will provide
.i l
11 a transcript so that you can make corrections that you feel 12 ace necessary as soon as we can get it typed.
13 IHE WITNESS :
Okay.
O 14 na. *0Settri Thenk yeu very much.
15 (Whereupan, a t 10: 45 a.m.',
the taking of the 16 deposition concluded.)
17 18 l
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19 20 21 22 23 O
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ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY,INC, 400 VIRGINIA AVE., S.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024 (202) 554-2345
O noctria aEcutaroar co.*41ssron This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the O
in the matter of:
METROPLITAN-EDISION (Tf1I II) - DEPOSITION OF EDWARD RUSSELL FREDERICK Date of Proceeding:
October 9.
1980 Docket !!u=b er :
Place of ?roceeding:
Middletown, Pennsylvania were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the Cocaission.,
Mary C.
Simons Official Reporter (Typed)
O-
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v Official Reporter (Signature)
O.4
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0 3
s 1
4 s
l NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION j
OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT r
v Corrections to the October 9, 1980, Interview with Edward R'.
Frederick:
1 4
l Line Change To Read-l v cover page Russel Russell f
v p.1. line 12 Russel Russell vp.3. line 6 Russel Russell v p.3. line 11 Russel Russell 1
vReporter's signature page Russel Russell t
1 j
i i
l Edward RP Frbderick U
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DATE:
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