ML20042D179

Summarizes Fifth Radiation Sterilizers,Inc,Capsule & Site Recovery Meeting on 891026 in Decatur,Ga.Agenda Encl

ML20042D179
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/02/1989
From:	Vacca P NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Glenn J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
Shared Package
ML20042D180	List: ML20042D179 ML20043C298 ML20043C299 ML20043C303 ML20043C313 ML20043C315
References
FOIA-90-29 NUDOCS 8911130168
Download: ML20042D179 (7)

Text

_._

i i

NOV 0t q l

l MEMORANDUM FOR: John E. Glenn Chief Medical, Academic, and Commercial Use Safety Branch L

Division of Industrial and i

Medical Nuclear Safety THRU:

Michael A. Lamastra, Section Leader Commercial Section Medical, Academic, and Commercial u

I Use Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety FROM:

Patricia C. Vacca Commercial Section l

Medical, Academic, and Commercial

)

Use Safety Branch I

Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety

SUBJECT:

FIFTH RS! CAPSULE AND SITE RECOVERY INFORMATION MEETN On 00tcLer 26, 1989, I attended the fitth Radiation Sterilizers, Inc. (RSI)

Capsule and Site Recovery Meeting held in Decatur' Georgia, chaired by l

John Rothrock of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Gak Ridge Opersiions (ORO)

Office.

The apnda is enclosed an<f qy smnary of tr.e meethg vill follow the agende.

1

. Status of Oct Ridga National Labo: story (ORNL) H'ot Calls The discussion centered on information similar to what I had received about two weeks ago from Dick Chitwood of DOE Headquarters; namely, an independent i

consultant is reviewing Bldg. 3517 and will report to the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy with his recommendation for restart of Bldg. 3517 for cesium-137 (Cs-137) work. The new infonnation provided at the meeting was that the consultant's report is due on or before November 15 (i.e., a date that is about two weeks later than I had been led to believe based on my conversation with Mr. Chitwood). DOE staff contirue to believe that the consultant will support the restart recommendation of the DOE staff. Their "best guess" is that Bldg. 3517 will be reopened in January 1990 and work on the Waste Enca February 1990.psulation and Storage Facility (WESF) sources will begin in 1

Information in this record was ddeted in accordance with the Freedom ol laformatiori i

Act, exemptions /

E0lk 90 29 p-i gy///3h/fof 0 ?

John E. Glenn

-2 NOV 0t Ngg l

Alan Chin of RSI asked if DOE has any action plans if the consultant's report does not support restart. 002 indicated that use of another hot cell at ORNL is possible, but would require construction of a " containment" facility to be used in the hot cell.

The delays associated with construction of the containment facility way be similar to those' encountered if Bldg. 3517 is used.

Also, DOE reported that there have been some very preliminary discussions of the use of a Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PNL) facility, but no decisions have been reached.

On this issue, NRC may wish to consider indicating, via letter or telephone call to a high official of DOE (e.g., Secretary or Assistant Secretary of DOE),NRC's interest in a speedy decision of restart of 81dg. 3517, so that

'i cause of failure of WESF sources can be determined.

3-13 Various Agenda items Assigned to Westinghouse Hanford Corporation (WHC)

[ Bill Bowen of WHC was not able to attend the meeting, sa these items, i

which were assigned to WHC, were discussed by the Chairman, Mr. Rothrock.

Arrangenents had been made for a telephone conference call with WHC, if l

needed. However, there were no issues that the meeting participants wished todiscuss'nithWHOandthecallwasrotplaced.]

O Since the last meeting, the WESF (i.e., the building, not the sources) was off limits to norma! entry due to contamination in its duct system.

The problem may hava bcen associated with work being done to upgrade the facility.

l Because of this problem, all operations associated with returned WESF sources wereheltedforaberiodoftime. Mr. Dagenhart reported that now the a

restrictions have aan lifted, VESF scurces havo been unloaded from the casks 4

and the casks are in transit back to Decatur. The cesks and WHC staf f are expectad in Decatur by the weekend (October 28-29) at which time the casks will be retested (as required by the amended Certificate of Compitance(CofC)) and additional soarces will be loaded into the casks. The next shipment should be November 1-2, 1989.

O An eighth RSI-1500 cask failed the set of three tests required by the amended CofC.

In res Systess, Inc. (CNSI) ponse to my questions, John Christian of Chem Nuclearin all three tests) was returned to Decatur, it was retested.

It failed all three tests and showed large bubbles originating from the area of the drain line.

0 WHC is arranging for receipt of a third GE-1500 cask that is expected to be received in Decatur by mid-November 1989.

L I

l l'

l John E. Glenn

-3 NOV e tg O

The GE-600 cask and liner are to be sent to RSI(Ohio) and the single "non-clunker" source in Ohio is scheduled to be shipped on November 6, 7, 1989.

loading of an additional 0.4 mci of cobalt-60 (Co-60) after is removed, l

O I informed the participants about the status of NRC's review of the liner to be used with the RSI-1500 casks for shipment of normal form (NF) sources (i.e., DOE's contractor. CNSI, has been infor1ned orally by NRC's Transportation Branch (SGTB) of the issues needing additional infonnation or l

clarification.

SGT8 expects a call from CNSI some time during the week of October 22 in which CNSI will specify whether it anticipates any problems As of 11:30 a.m. on October 25, CNSI had not called SGTB 13.

Repair Schedule for 8 Defective RSI-1500 Casks This was the most important item on the agenda.

i At this time, the following casks are available:

2 GE-1500 casks with a third expected in mid-November and 1 RSI-1500 cask for shipping special form (SF) sources and 1 GE-600 cask for shipping NF sources.

Alan Chin spoke first on this issue, saying that RSI had filed a 10 CFR 71.95 repert with SGTB within a few days of last month's meeting. He said he had r:ot received a reply (i.e., nenced CofC) until the day of the meeting when !

gbve him a copy.

Dr. Chin also described his efforts to get his State of California license amenifed to prmit the possession of the contaminated casks and to authorize repeir worr.

their pn,viding health physics support for the repair work.On October Dr. Chin is i

scitedoled to mcat with State staff on Titesday, October 31 to pct ide them with d4th on the casks (i.e., surve by both WHC and U. S. Ecology)ys done on the inside and outside of the casks Dr. Chin also reported on work that has been done to develop a technique for possible repair including inserting a new, narrower diameter drain line in I

the cask.

I called Dr. Chin's attention to the need to get such a repair plan approved by SGTB before it is implemented.

Dr. Chin commented on the " regulatory delays" he had encountered (i.e., SGT8's response to RSI's 10 CFR 71.95 report took about one month; the State of California has not approved RSI's amendment request for cask repair; RSI anticipates that SGTB will not approve a repair plan quickly, once that plan issubmitted).

l I

I wer,--

i 1

' ' John E. Glenn

. Pt0V t p 1p33 t

i had been done on the two casks that he had a L

rs i

needed to be repaired and that no repair pla g

those two casks.

factif ties that are already 'icensed and that are located closer so as to avoid the costs and delays associated with shipping the ca California for repair (e.g.

r, it takes three days one way).

minimize the time needed to get the casks back into need to repair the casks PROMPTLY and PROPERLY, so that an "a 1

shipping schedule" can be pursued.

comments made previously by Mr. Rothrock.On this latter point, I was echoing

)

18.

Local Complaints or Coments Since the Last Meeting Jim Setser from the State of Georgia Department of Natural R that groups protesting various types of nuclear projects and facilitie

\\

Greenpeace) have targeted the southeastern part of this country a}

e i

s militant factions have developed.

Last weekend there were demonstrators at RSI(Decatur) and sugar was put into the gas tank of the crane i

Mr. Setser indicated that such demonstrations and vandalism, which increase i

emphasize the need to bring the RS! incident to conclusion as quickly a,s possible.

en " aggressive" schedule for removing WESF sourc although his prime interest is the Decatur location.

Apparently the Federal Sureau of Investigation it investigating the va to the crane and additional security measuret wil 19.

Date and Location Jr Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for Thorsday, November 30, 1989 in Decatur.

20. Add-on Items 0

the National Coalition to Stop Food Irradiation's pet became final (i.e.,(ARECO))

Energy Corporation NRC will not suspend the license issued to Applied Radiant 0

done in the first quarter of fiscal year 1990 (i.e., by l

l

,n.---

l i

John E. Glenn 0 I 49P l

5-I nyestfga fon' 8Nrfwbf'not. Mr. Rothrock indicated that the DOE until the results of destructive testing of the WESF sources at ae va lable.

The Board will NOT issue an interim re Glen Sjoblom, port; this differs from f nfnation previously provided orally to

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i John E. Glenn

.6 There are no usable casks available at R$1 (Decatur) as a result of damage to 1

one GE-1500 cask and the remaining' C.RSI.1500 cask having failed one or l_

tests required by the amended C o I

~

Original Signed by:

Patricia C. Yacca i

Commercial Section Medcfal, Academic, and Commercial Use Safety Branch l.

Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear. Safety

Enclosure:

Agenda cc w/ enc 1:

I M. Lamastra G. Sjoblom i

i R. Cunningham C. MacDonald, SGTB N. Osgood, SGT8 V. Miller, GPA/SLITP P. Pelke 'RIII S. Baggett DISTRIBUTION w/encls IMAB r/f NRC File Center NMSS r/f JEGlenn MLamastra INNS Center File PCVacca V

0FC: [lt NAME:P

9. v...pcv/ht DATE:ll/#/89 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY

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8 TABLEI Topics to be Addressed at the L

Fifth RSI Capsule and Site Recovery information Meeting October 26, 1989 in Decatur, Georgia 3

n 1.

Status of the 03NL hot cells. DOE 2.

Status of the capsule testing.. ORNL 3.

Status of the capsules which failed the inspections at Decatur and Westerville.. WHC 4.

Testing of capsules which failed the ' clunk' test.. WHC 5.

Capsule decontamination status.. WHC 6.

Cask decontamination status.. WHC 7.

Cask de. watering and dry!ng procedures information.. WHC 8.

Test results for the 8th defective RSI.1500 cask and repair schedule for the GE.1500 cask.. WHC 9.

Status of the shipment of special form capsules from Decatur.. WHC i

10.

Status of the shipment of the capsule at Westerville which failed the inspections.. WHC 11.

Status of the shipment of normal form capsules from Decatur and Westerville.. WHC 12.

Alternate shipping mode investigation for the remaining Cs.137 capsules at Decatur and Westerville. WHO 13.

Repair schedule for the 8ea. defective RSI 1500 casks. RSI kcco plisht tents of the Decatur cleanup activities since 14.

September 28,1989.. MMES 15.

Scheduled cleanup activities for the next month.. MMES 16.

ASI Decatur capsule shipment schedule, cleanup plan and schedule, and Site i

rebase plan and schedule.. MMES 17.

Media activity during the last month. GA 18.

Local complaints or comments during the last month. - GA 19.

Date and location for the next meeting. DOE 20.

Add-on items.

\\