ML19352E152

Reportable Occurrence on December 4, 2019 at the Kansas State University Triga Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility

ML19352E152
Person / Time
Site:	Kansas State University
Issue date:	12/13/2019
From:	Cebula A Kansas State University
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML19352E152 (3)

Text

-KANSAS STATE U N.1 V - E R S I T-Y 3002 Rathbone Hall

. Kansas Sta!e University M~attan, KS 66506 ATfN: Document Control Desk College of Engineering Dej)amnem: ofMechanlcal a_na Nuclear Engineering US-Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 13 December 2019

Subject:

Reportable Occurrence on December 4, 2019 at the Ka.nsas State University TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility To Whom It May 'Concern:

On December 5, 2019, I notified the NRC of a reportable occurrence involving discovery of a surveillance requirement violation on Decer;nber 4, 2019. The surveillance requirement for fuel inspection was identified as not being met for four elements. Accordii;ig to Technical -

Specifications (TS), surveillance requirements must be met to consider equipment/components operable. Failure to perform a surveillance within the required time interval shall result in the component being inoperable. Due to an inspection tracking sbeet sorting error, four fuel elements

• were not marked to be inspected and were subsequentlfidentified as being outside-of the required surveillance frequency.

This letter documents the reportable occurrence in accordance with reporting requirements._

Background

The rel_evant *surveillance requirement is,TS 4.7.3: B, C, D, E, and F RING elements comprising approximately 1/3 of the core SHALL be visually inspected annually for corrosion and mechanical damage such that the entire core SHALL be insp~ted at 3-year intervals; but not to exceed 3 8 months.

Review o_ffuel element inspection and tracking records revealed a discrepancy in last inspection dates_ between multiple documents.

-r c 2: 3 Page 1 of 3

KANSAS STATE I ~!:~_ ~~;~::~

Nuaear~neerlng U N I V -E-R S I - T Y Reportable Occurrence-Description On December 4, 2019 at approximately 11 :45 AM CST the Reactor Supervisor notified the Reactor Manager of a possible surveillance deficiency involving fuel element inspections. At the rune of notification, no operations were occurring, and a quick review of inspection records was conducted. The initial review of records presented two documents* indicating different inspection dates for the same fuel elements. At approximately 12: 18 PM CST, the Reactor Manager -

provided verbal notification to the Reactor Supervisor of operations suspension to conduct a comprehensive review offuel inspection records. The comprehensive review was completed at

- approximately 6:00 PM CST and discovered a surveillance deficiency for four fuel elements.

The deficiency was the result of mismatch in fuel element serial number with last inspection date in an inspection tracking spreadsheet document. The mismatch_ occurred because of user error in properly sorting the records by inspection date. Following the review-and identification of four elements not meeting surveillance requirements, a reportable occurrence was declared and logged in the operations logbook-indicating operations suspension until review and approval for res:tart by the Reactor Safeguards Committee (RSC):

Immediate Corrective Action-and Efficacy Upon declaration of the reportable occijrren_ce, ope~ons were administratively suspended at approximately 6:00 PM CDT on December 4, 2019. At the time of qeclaratiqn, the repof4lble occurrence was communicated to the Reactor Supervisor. Other members of the reactor staff were notified and provided a description of the reportable occurrence by email on December 4, 2019 at approximately 6:18 PM CST. Immediately following notification of the NRC,.the RSC -

was emailed on December 5, 2.0f9 at 10:15 AM CDT with a description of the occurrence and' planned additional corrective actions. The suspension of operations was effective in preventing further TS violations.

Summary of Findings The main cause of the reportable occurrence was an error in tracking fuel inspection dates and deiertnining which elements required inspection.

i Additional Corrective Actions the following actions were taken:

1. Reactor staff review of the reportable occurrence_ on 12/6/2019.

2. Four elements not meeting the surveillance frequency requirement were inspected on 12/6/2019. -

3. Complete review of fuel inspection records including gauging records finished on 12/11/19.

4. Revised fuel inspectipn tracking document on 12/13/19.

Page.2 of 3

\\-

KANsAS STATE College of Engineering U.NIVER-SfTY Department of Mechanical and Nudear Engineering -

Please contact me if additional information is required. Resumption of operations will only occur following RSC approval based on review of the reportable occurrence including corrective actions taken.

i swear under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Regards,

-AJan T. Cebula, PhD KSU TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility Manager Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Kansas State University Phone: -

(785)532-6657 Fax:

(785)532-7057 Email:

alanc@ksu.edu cc:

Linh Tran, Project Manager, NRC

• Craig Bassett, Inspector, NRC Page 3 of 3