ML20024E198
| ML20024E198 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000398 |
| Issue date: | 07/20/1983 |
| From: | Elsasser T, Roth J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20024E195 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0398-83-02, 70-398-83-2, NUDOCS 8308090402 | |
| Download: ML20024E198 (8) | |
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I
- Report No. 70-398/83-02 i,
Docket No.70-398 License.No. SNM-362 Priority 1
Category UR & PU Licensee:
U.S. Department-of Commerce-
. National Bureau of Standards-Washington, D.C.
20234 Facility Name: National Bureau of-Standards-Inspection At: Gaithersburg, Maryland Inspection Conducted: July 5-8', 1983 b'
Inspectors
. Roth, Wojec gineer date Approved by:
.T. C. Els@HIr~, Chief, Reactor Projects date t
Section 18, DPRP-J~
Inspe'ction Summary:
Inspection on July 5-8, 1983 (Inspection Report No. 70-398/83-02).
- Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection by a region-based inspector
. (33 hours3.819444e-4 days <br />0.00917 hours <br />5.456349e-5 weeks <br />1.25565e-5 months <br />) of: organization, facility changes and modifications, internal
. review and audit,Esafety committees, review of operations, nuclear criticality safety, emergency planning-tests and drills,~. radiation protection, trans--
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.portation activities,-nonroutine events, and licensee action on previously
. identified enforcement items.
1 Results: No violations or deviations were. identified.
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8309090402 830725 PDR ADOCK 05000398 4
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DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted
- G. W. Chamberlin, Jr., Director, Office of Administration
- T. G. Hobbs, Chief, Health Physics
- L. A. Slaback, Jr., Accelerator and Laboratory Supervisory Health Physicist
- E. Eisenhauer, Special Assistant to the Director, Center for Radiation Research
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- S.
Carpenter, Scientific Assistant to the Director, National Measurements Laboratory
- denotes those present at the exit interview.
2.
Licensee Action on Previously Identified Enforcement Items (Closed) Violation (398/82-05-01) Failure to survey during operation of the waste compactor for airborne contamination..The inspector verified that the licensee modified posted procedures to require particulate air sampling during operation of the compactor and that compactor operators were retrained in the details of the compactor operating instructions.
Licensee records indicated that air samples were taken and analyzed during operation of the compactor since December 6, 1982. Corrective actions have been completed.
(Closed) Inspector Follow Item (398/82-05-02) Conduct of contamination and radiation surveys in storage areas. The inspector verified that the licensee established instructions to health. physics technicians to require periodic contamination and radiation surveys in storage areas. These surveys were conducted during December 1982 and January 1983 and will be continued on about a six month cycle.
(Closed) Inspector Follow Item (398/82-02-02) Check air sampling results and evaluation for correlation with breathing zone samples during oper-ation of the waste compactor. The licensee completed a series of tests using nonradioactive particulate matter which indicated that there could be an increased likelihood of radioactive particulate matter being released from the compactor during operation. Therefore, the licensee modified internal procedures to require air sampling in the operator's breathing zone during operation of the compactor with radioactive con-taminated materials.
3.
Review of Operations The inspector examined all. areas of the site where special nuclear material (SNM) is handled to observe operations and activities in progress; to inspect the nuclear safety aspects of the facility; and to check the general state of cleanliness, housekeeping, and adherence to fire protection rules.
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a.
SNM Inventory The inspector reviewed licensee inventory records; and, as of May 31,1983, the licensee's inventory of SNM was found to be within the limits authorized for License No. SNM-362.
No violations were identified.
b.
Standard Reference Material (SRM) Storage Vault The inspector noted _that the licensee was reducing the inventory of uranium and plutonium Standard Reference' Material samples stored in the vault located in Building 222. The inspector observed the plutonium sample (Pu SRM 944) transfer and repackaging operation which was conducted in accordance with procedures described on Form NBS 367, " Proposed Removal or Transfer of Radiation Source or Irradiated Equipment", dated July 6,1983. The repackaging operation was conducted in a ho'od by health physics technicians under the supervision of a supervisory health physicist. Only one of four layers of plutonium sample encapsulation was removed during the repackaging operation and no contamination was found on the resulting individual packages.
No violations were identified.
c.
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory During examination of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory located in Room 344, Building 222, the inspector noted that housekeeping improved since the last inspection.
No violations were identified.
d.
Shipping - Receiving Area (Building 245)
The inspector observed that a shipping cask used for the storage of Cf-252 sources was located on the loading dock in the Building 245 Shipping - Receiving area. Approach to the cask was restricted by ropes on three sides. The fourth side was protected by the building wall. However, Caution-Radiation Area signs which had been attached to the rope on each side were laying on the ground.
Licensee repre-sentatives immediately attached the signs to the rope to identify the radiation area.
No violations were identified.
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Nuclear Criticality Safety a.
- Criticality Monitors Examination of licensee records for the period September 28, 1982, through July 5, 1983, indicated that the monitors had been silent tested once each week by exposing the detector to a built-in test radiation source.
Corrective actions were immediately taken by the licensee when equipment malfunctions occurred.
No violations were identified.
b.
Criticality Alarm Checks and Evacuation Drills The inspector verified through a review of licensee records that criticality siren tests were conducted monthly between September 28, 1982 and June 8,1983. The licensee also set off the criticality
. monitors with a cobal't source to annunciate evacuation drills for Building 222 at least every six months from September 29, 1981 to March 17, 1983.
Licensee records. indicated that the evacuations were completed in less than four minutes and that the emergency evacuation alarm system functioned properly during each drill. The records also indicated that corrective actions were taken in a timely fashion whenever the alarm system was found to be improperly operating.
No violations were identified.
5.
Organization The inspector determined that there had been no significant changes in the facility organization since the last inspection.
No violations were identified.
6.
Radiation Safety Committee The inspector examined licensee records of one meeting of the Radiation Safety Committee held on December 16, 1982. Topics discussed included the status of the various NBS Source, Byproduct and Special Nuclear material licenses; a draft of a revised Radiation. Safety Manual; and, the status of Health Physics Instructions / Procedures which are being written.
No violations were identified.
5 7.
Facility Changes and Modifications The inspector determined through examination of the facilities and discussions with licensee representatives that no facility changes or modifications, within the scope of this inspection, had been initiated since the last inspection.
No violations were identified.
8.
Nonroutine Events The inspector determined through a review of licensee records and discussions with licensee representatives that one nonroutine event occurred at this facility since the last inspection.
On January 24, 1983, a shipment of I-131 in solution form was received at NBS. The surface dose rate on the bottom of the cask was found to be about 930 mR/ hour which was in excess of the DOT (49 CFR 173.393(i))
requirements. No contamination was found on the box, in the packaging material or on the outside of the transfer pig. NRC, the carrier, the shipper, and DOT were notified on January 24, 1983.
According to licensee representatives, DOT is taking enforcement action with the shipper, a New York State licensee.
No violations by the licensee were identified.
9.
Internal Reviews and Audits An internal (Health Physics Group) annual review of Health Physics acti-vities was conducted by group supervision on March 15, 1983 and June 8, 1983. The following areas were reviewed:
staffing, materials license implementation, personnel dosimetry, use of Health Physics Instructions, training, environmental monitoring, and equipment budget requests. No problem areas were identified.
No violations were identified.
- 10. Status of Health Physics Instructions The licensee has continued the preparation of a series of 63 internal Health Physics Group " Instructions" covering all aspects of the operation, including health physics action levels, emergency planning, training, special nuclear material control, dosimetry, reactor monitoring, general monitoring, laboratory / accelerator monitoring, sample analysis, instru-mentation, and effluent / environmental. Of the 63 instructions identified, 37 have been completed and issued for implementation.
Four of the 37 implemented instructions were revised or modified since the last inspec-tion.
No violations were identified.
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Radiation Protection a.
Source Leak Tests The inspector reviewed leak test records for various sealed sources maintained by the licensee for' the time period June 4,1981 through -
June 4, 1983.
It was noted that records were not readily available to show that 13 of 18 californium sources acquired under License No. 08-00566-05 had been leak tested during the first quarter 1983.
Prior to the end of the inspection,.the licensee located the leak test records for the 13 sources and this information was entered into.the " official" record by licensee representatives. The in-spector questioned licensee representatives concerning control of leak test records. The licensee stated that more frequent management review of leak test records would be instituted (83-02-01).
No violations were identified.
b.
Smear Surveys The inspector reviewed weekly smear survey data for the period -
January through June 1983. The data indicated no_ areas where con-tamination exceeded 100 disintegrations per minute alpha per 2
100 cm.
It was noted that licensee procedures did not indicate what actions were to be taken if the action level was exceeded.
Licensee representatives stated that actions to be taken will be specified in internal procedures (83-02-02).
No violations were identified.
c.
Ventilation The inspector reviewed velometer data for the period October 1982 through June 1983 for all hoods used for operations with radioactive materi al. The records indicated that the linear face velocity required by the license was being maintained or exceeded.
No violations were identified.
d.
Liquid Waste The inspector examined the Liquid Waste area located in the basement of Building 245. This area houses two large storage tanks that contain liquid radioactive contaminated waste collected from the various laboratories in the building.
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The last discharge was made on September 11, 1981, and contained a total activity of 9.4 microcuries gross beta. Alpha emitters were not present.
The last prior discharge to the environs was made in June 1974.
No violations were identified.
e.
Instrument Calibration The inspector randomly selected eight portable survey instruments and verified that they had been calibrated in a timely manner between January 27, 1982, and May 20, 1983, at approximately three month intervals. However, the licensee experienced difficulty in locating all of the calibration records requested.
In addition, through discussions with licensee representatives, control of instruments is not maintained in that when instrument calibration is due, a health physics technician tours the various buildings and collects the instruments found. The inspector stated that the licensee should consider establishing an instrument records control system so that the location of any instrument and the status of calibration can be quickly established.
Prior to the end of this inspection, the licensee initiated actions to establish an instrument control system (83-02-03).
No violati,ons were identified.
f.
Waste Compactor Air Sampling The inspector reviewed the results of air samples taken during operation of the waste compactor from January 17, 1983 to May 25, 1983.
No air samples in excess of about 8% of the maximum permis-sible concentrations specified in 10 CFR 20 Appendix B for unknown alpha or mixed fission product activity were identified. However, the inspector noted that the licensee had not specified action levels or corrective actions to be taken in established procedures. The l
licensee took immediate actions to modify established procedures (83-02-04).
No violations were identified.
12.
Receiving Radioactive Material The inspector reviewed documentation, smear and external radiation surveys for receipts of radioactive material from January 3,1983 to June 23, 1983 to determine if the licensee was in compliance with the monitoring re-quirements of 10 CFR 20.205(b)(1).
No violations were identified.
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. 13. --Exit Interview
- The-; inspector. met with licensee representatives'(denoted in' paragraph 1) at. the conclusion of the' inspection on July 8,1983. The' inspector..
summarized the. scope and findings of the inspection. -At no time during-this inspection was written: material provided to the licensee by the
. inspector.
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