ML20031D479
| ML20031D479 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000025 |
| Issue date: | 09/18/1981 |
| From: | Book H, Cooley W, Thomas R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20031D472 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0025-81-06, 70-25-81-6, NUDOCS 8110130378 | |
| Download: ML20031D479 (6) | |
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U. S. NUCLEAR REGUIATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION tha ENFORCEMENT REGION V Report No.
70-25/81-06 I
Docket No.
70-25 License No.
SNM-21 Safeguards Group Licensee:
Energy Systems Group Rockwell International Corporation Canoga Park, California 91304 Facility Name:
Headquarters Site, and Santa Susanna Field Labor.. tory 4
Inspecticn at:
Headquarters Site, and Santa Susanna Field Laboratory Inspection conducte;:
August 17-20, 1981 Inspectors:
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U. J. Cooley, Fu Facilities Inspector Date Signed Accompanied ty: An-Liang Soong, NRC Headquarters ate Signed Approved by:
A f4 # W 9/
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R. D Thomas, iet, Materials Radiological D' ate Signed Protection Section 0
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Approved By:
H. E. h ok, Chief, Radiological Safety Branch
'Date Signed
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Su= nary :
Inspection on August 17-20, 1981 (Report No. 70-25/81-06)
Areas Inspected: Radiation and criticality safety audits and reviews; quarterly and annual radiation safety control reviews; safety conmittee activities; employee training; criticality safetv studies; radiation protection; and environmental program.
The inspection involved 24 inspector-hours onsite by one NRC inspector.
Results: No apparent items of noncompliance were identified within the subject areas inspected.
, - -8110130378 810923 RV Form 219 (2)
PDR ADOCK 07000025 C
PDR m.
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t DETAILS i
1.
Persons Contacted:
- R. G. Jones, Vice President and Controller, Finance and Administration M. E. Remley, Mana'ger, Heal th, Safety end Radiation Services Departnent
- R. J. Tu ttle, Manager, Radia tion and Nuclear Safety Uni t R. R. Garcia, Heal th Physics Representative and Cri ticali ty Coordina tor F. E. Begley, Heal th Physics Representa tive
- Denotes those a ttending the exi t interview.
2.
Radiation and Cri ticali ty Safety Internal Audi ts and Review The inspection included a review of internal correspondence giving the resul ts of cri ticali ty inspections and audi ts perfomed by the cri ticali ty s taff of Heal th, Safety and Radia. tion Services.
The inspections were conducted at a frequency greate.r than veekly and were addressed to fuel storage, fuel elenent manufa;turing and cssembly areas.
The auci fs perfomed by the staff werc conducted a t a monthly frtauency and were addressed to the same areas.
The reports of i
those inspections and audit indicated no pr%lems in the area of cri ticali ty safety.
The licensee continues te conduct radiation safety reviews of facilities operated of the subject licease a t quarterly intervals.
This inspection included a review of the radiation safety cuarterly reports for the 4th quarter of 1980 and 1s t and 2nd auarters of 1981.
Those cuarterly reviews were reported for Buildings 20, 55, and 1.
A review of the radiation safety reports indicatcd they present the current status of the facility in tems of work being done; surface contamina tion levels; air sample resul ts; effluent activi ty; external
-exposures; internal exposures and qummary of incidents which my have occurred.
The measured parameters are usually expressed in t oth maximum and averaged resul ts.
The review indicat6d that no NRC limi ts were exceeded and that no reportable incidents occurred during the quarter reported.
As 4 equired by condi tion 23 of the subject license, the licensee provides the annual "eview of radiation safety controls.
The annual review for the year 1980 was examined during this inspection.
The examination revealed that all external exposures during the year 1980 were less 3 rem. Of 63 lung scans perfomed on individuals, saven scans (for six people) showed posi tive resul ts.
The naximum resul t was 19.6 percent MPLB.
The 1980 annual review listed six unusual events -
. none of which were reportable to the NRC.
They were the discovery and repair of the leaking glove box; two cases in which individuals approached 50 percent of the MPC exposure limits for 40 hours4.62963e-4 days <br />0.0111 hours <br />6.613757e-5 weeks <br />1.522e-5 months <br />; two finger injuries which were found no t to be contamina ted; and the discovery of a contaminated article in fresh 1aundry returned from a contamina ted laundry vendor.
Further review of internal correspondence during this inspection indicated other review, audi ting, and ev7iation efforts on the part of the Heal th, Safety and Radiation Servecs staff.
TF.,, included the following i tes:
a.
Aa internal letter from HSRS to Fuel Manufacturing Managment reviewed cantamination levels experienced in the powder prepara tion room, identified tr.e sources of that contamination and recommended that timely decontraination be assigned to a particular mployee.
Fuel fabrication management responded by listing specific areas and assigning decontamina tion responsibili ties to several specific individuals in those areas.
b.
HSRS evaluated the air sampling drc;_ loca tion a t the arc mel t furnace in the powder preparation room.
Tha t evalua tion led to the installation of an Alpha-3 constant air monitor alarm set to
- uc. brs/cc exposure. Addi tionally, procedures alarm a t 2X10 now require the use of an airline supply respirator a t the arc mel t furnace primarily for furnace clean out operations.
The respirator protection factor is K2000, c.
A reevaluation of the maximum permissible lung burden was made due to a further increase in the U-234 content of the licensee's s tarting na terials.
d.
Purposely exoosed film badges in the range of 50 to 6,000 mre ere presented to the personnel dosimetry supplier as an accuracy check. Agreement between the calulated and measured film badge exposure was good.
3.
Safetv Commi tee Activities This inspection review indica ted the Fuels Committee of the Nuclear Safety Review Panel had approved the creation of a TRTR fuel element wrapping s ta tion.
The commi ttee had approved the completed Nuclear Safety Analysis for the decladding of Advanced Fuel Systems fuel pins.
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4.
Employee Training l
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A two hour training session was presented March 19, 1981 on the subject of HEPA filter changing operations.
It was attended by five persons from the Maintenance Department recognized as menbers of the filter
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changing team.
The session was concluded with a ten question quiz requim.1g a passing grade of 70 percent.
4 A two hour videotape on the subject of hazardous materials handling with respect to Department of Transnortation Regulations was given on August 18-13, 1981.
The NRC inspector viewed a vidcotape on the subject of naturally occurring radioactivity which tile licensee had acquired and presented i
te new hires.
5.
Cri ticali ty Safety l
The licensee plans to receive approxima cely 600 Sefor fuel rods containing about 383 kilograms of plu tonium.
The rods are constructed of plutonium and natural uranium pelle ts and have an active feel length of approximately three feet.
The rods are stainlers steel clad and contain approximately 800 grams of plutonium each.
The plutonium oxide constitutes approximately 21 percent of the plutonium oxide uranium oxide mixture.
Plans are to remove the stain'.ess steel cladding, replace the pellets in aluminum cladding tubes and return the fuel to the customer disposing of the stainless steel cladding.
The work will be done in Building 20 i
while the major portion of the fuel will be stored in the Radioactive Material Decontamination Facility. (RMDF) which is a license exempt, DOE facili ty.
The Nuclear Safety Study method for the decladding had been completed but required further review by the Criticality Control Advisor and the Fuels Committee of the fluclear Safeguards Review Panel.
The subcriticali ty cf a cri tical, fully reflected mass of the starting material wat. determined frm table 2.5 of TID 7016, Revision 2, for a plutonium oxide content of about 219ercent.
Forty-five percent of %t subcri ticali ty value was chosen-aaJ was approxima tely 34 kilograms of plutonium.
The licensee's possession limit restricts plutoniun use in Building /0 to a total of 2 kilograms,1 kilogram of which may be in i
process.
The plan requires the storage of the remaini_ng plutonium in the RMDF and the transport of small portions of that stored fuel to Building 20 for processing and return.
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The licensee determined from Figures 3.8 of TID 7016 that the subcritical surface density of a fully reflected system was 13.84 kilograms per square foot.
Consistent wi th license conditions the licensae established 25 percent of that value, or 3.46 kilegrams l
per sqaare foot, as the allowable subscritical surface concentration i
of fuel in the proposed RMDF array, ihe bare critical sphere of
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plutonium oxide was then determined f rom Figure 2.9, TID 7016 and a shape factor from figure 3.12 TID 7016 for an H/D of 8.75 was determined. A further correction for densi ty. factor from Figure 3.1, TID 7016 was applied. A subcritical array unit of approximately 80 kilograms of pluttnium was thus cerived. The actual individual uni t to be s tored contains approximately 4.2 kilograms which is less than 30 percent of the allowable unit in the tubular i
configura tion.
The storage uni t when distributed over the allowable 3.46 kilograms per square foot requires a unit cell edge of approximately one foot.
The licensee has tentatively decided to provide a surface to surface spacing of individual uni ts of at least t.velve inches.
Considerations for review include the possibility of moderating individual units of the array and the advisability of using the triemular pitch packing fraction inherent in the fuel rod configuration 1
in d'u densi ty correction.
i 6.
Fnvironmental Program The environmental monitoring and facility effluent annual report for the year 1980 was reviewed subsequent to this inspection.
Data presented in that report indicated no significant differences between soil or vegetation radioactivity data obtained onsite and
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offsi te.
Domestic water radioactivity data obtained at the Santa Susanna Field Laboratory were not significantly different from the radioactivity of the si te retention pond.
Average values of ambient air radioactivity data at both tie De i
Soto Avenue and the Santa Susanna Field Laboratory site: were approximately the same for the years 1979 and 1980 notwithstanding announced atmospheric weaoons testing during the latter part of 1980.
Ne significant differences between onsite and offsite ambient air activity levels at the Santa Susanna Field Laboratory were detected during 1980.
i Typical background levels of ambient dote rates were measured at both the De Soto Avenue and Santa Susanna Field Laboratory sites as well as at offsite control points.
The total number of samples of various types obtained and their locations have not changed for the past several years.
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7.
Radiation Protection
-r The 'icensee's bioassay uranalysis crocram requires fror analytical
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samples per year per person making use of unencapsulated material in the powder preparation area.
In-vivo lung counts are furnished to employees three times per year. On each of those occasions approximately 21 anployees are counted pen,itting the coverage of 40 to 50 individuals each year.
l This inspection included a r eview of an independent laboratory in-vivo count report.
Lenty-one employees were counted on June 3,1981 and no positive results were detected within the statistical error of the l
count.
The maximum luna count observed was 34+45 micrograms uranium-235.
A review of uranium bicassay results for the year 1981, through August 1, 1981, indicated no positive resul ts.
week were less than the permissible exposure limit of 4X10-g 40 hour4.62963e-4 days <br />0.0111 hours <br />6.613757e-5 weeks <br />1.522e-5 months <br /> Maximum lapel air sample data obtained on int:viduals over uci-hr/cc.
F As a result of the last NRC inspection of the subject licensee during i
March 3-6,1981 (NRC Report No. 70-25/81-03) one deviation from :ccepted practices was observed.
That was a deviation from internal procedures concerning the moni toring of packages of radioactive materials upon receipt.
In response to the NRC notification the licensee had rewritten and expanded his precedures for picking up, receiving and opening packages contrining radioactive material.
The publication of that document was da ted August 11, 1981.
The approval of Heal th, Safety and Radiation Services had been obtained.
The approvals of Traffic and Securi ty departments were required.
The purpose of rewriting the procedure was to assure compliance wi th the rules and regulations of D0T, NRC, DOE, State of California, and Rockwell International Policy.
The procedures were, therefore, very broad in scope and contained references to NRC, and State of California licenses, Rockwell Standard Operating Procedures,10 CFR 20,10 CFR 71, Regulatory Guide 7.3, 49 CFR, Title 17 of the State of California Code, and DOE I
Manual Chapter 0502.
f 8.
Management Interview The scope and the results of the inspection were discussed with licensee management at the conclusion of the inspection on August 20, 1981.
Those representatives were informed that no items of nonconoliance were identified within the scope of the inspection, 4
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