ML20054B734
| ML20054B734 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07001100 |
| Issue date: | 03/26/1982 |
| From: | Long J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20054B730 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8204190148 | |
| Download: ML20054B734 (4) | |
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Docket No.:
70-1100 Licensee:
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
l Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing Windsor Plant Windsor, Connecticut
SUBJECT:
REVIEW dF RADIOLOGICAL CONTINGENCY PLAN I.
Backaround Combustion Engineering, Inc. (C-E), of Windsor, Connecticut, is authorized by NRC License No. SNM-1067 to possess and use at their Windsor facility up to 500,000 kg of total uranium at enrichments not exceeding 4.1%, 4,800 g of uranium-235 at enrichments greater than 4.1% but less than 20%, 10,500 kg of source material,.10 g of plutonium-238 in encapsulated form, and 160 ug of plutonium as analytical samples.
The licensee fabricates low-enriched uranium fuel for LWR's. The current license was last renewed on January 30, 1976, and renewal proceedings e're now in progress.
On February ll,1981, the NRC issued an Order to C-E to submit within 180 days of the effective date of the Order a Radiological Contingency Plan for its Windsor facility in accordance with a standard format and content (Enclosure 1 to the Order).
By letter dated April 8,1981, the licensee requested an additional
~60 days in which to prepare and submit a Radiological Contingency Plan.
The Director, Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, found i
that good cause existed for granting the additional time, and on i
May 14,1981, an Order was issued modifying the February 11 Order to that effect.
By letter dated November 9,1981, C-E requested another 60-day extension.
The letter was sent to the License Fee Management Branch, where it was held until after the due date for the licensee submittal. Therefore no action was taken on the licensee's request of November 9, 1981.
On December 4,1981, C-E submitted a Radiological Contingency Plan for its Windsor facility in accordance with the provisions of the February 11 and May 14 Orders.
On January 29, 1982, NRC sent the licensee a letter identifying necessary additional information.
On March 4,1982, representatives of C-E met wtih NRC staff to ensure that the additional information adequately responded to NRC's request.
II.
Discussion The Radiological Contingency Plan submitted December 4, 1981, as supplemented by information presented to N'1SS staff on
arch 4,1982, is adequate to demonstrate that the licensee has accomplished the purposes of onsite radiological l
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8204190140 G20326 PDR ADOCK 07001100 C
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contingency planning except for the three issues addressed below.
The licensee has committed to resolving these issues and providing the necessary revised pages to his Plan by May 17, 1982, which is prior to the date by which the plan
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must be implemented. With the May 17, 1982, submittal the licensee will'have demonstrated (1) that its plant is properly configured to limit releases of radioactive materials and radiation exposures in the event of an accident, (2) that a capability exists for measuring and assessing the significance of accidental releases of radioactive materials, (3) that appropriate emergency equipment and procedures are provided onsite to protect workers against radiation hazards that might be encountered following an accident, (4) that notifications are promptly made offsite to Federal, State and local government agencies, and (5) that necessary recovery actions are taken in a timely fashion to return the plant to a safe condition following an accident.
The three issues that the licensee has committed to resolve by May 17,1982, are:
1.
Offsite dose estimates from a criticality excursion will be reanalyzec using a more realistic estimate of building holdup delays or an assuredly conservative assumption for such delays; 2.
C-E used emergency level classification categories different from the NRC-FEMA standard categories. The licensee will correlate its categories with the four standard categories and will commit to using the HRC-FEMA categories when making offsite notifications; 3.
C-E has not yet determined the relationship of the i
Emergency Planning Coordinator to its normal organization I
chart but has committed to resolving this internal organiza-tional problem in-the May 17 submittal.
The C-E Power Systems facility is isolated on a wooded tract of more than 500 acres, which it shares with other major C-E engineering and development programs. Radio-active materials in significant quantities are used in i
only two of the more than a score of buildings on the site:
(1) the fuel fabrication building and (2) the nuclear laboratory building with its annexes.
Manufacturing operations are the dry, batchwise mechanical steps of uranium dioxide powder blending, pellet making, rod 4
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loading, and fuel -bundle assembly.
Should an accident occur during any manufacturing step, the release of radioactivity would be inherently limited to the small quantity of material in the process batch, thus obviating the need for
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automatic shutdown provisions.
Stack effluents are sampled continuously, and the samples are checked for radioactive content during each shift. Any initiating event that could lead to a large release through the stacks would be immediately known through the concomitant effects on plant operation.
The C-E Windsor facility's emergency response capability, ~
because of the extensive nonradiological activities on the same site, has the advantage of a large installation (skilled workforce,firebrigade,etc.)
for coping with the non-radiological consequences of any accident or incident in-volving radioactive materials.
Its response capability is further strengthened by its inclusion, by S, tate requirements, in the Connecticut State Emergency Operations Plan.
To remedy the deficiencies in the Radiological Contingency Plan submitted by C-E on December 4,1981, the following license condition is proposed:
"The licensee shall, by May 17, 1982, submit replacement pages for his Radiological Contingency Plan that shall provide the additional information requested in the NRC letter of January 29, 1982, as
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presented in the meeting of the licensee staff with NRC staff on March 4, 1982, and shall include (1) a revised analysis of offsite dose from a criticality excursion based on a more realistic estimate of building holdup delay, (2) a correlation between C-E's incident level categories and the four standardized NRC/ FEMA categories set forth in Enclosure 1 to the Order of February 11, 1981, with a commitment to use the standardized categories for any offsite notifications, and (3) a resolution of the position of the Emergency Planning Coordinator within the C-E organization."
C-E has committed "to complying with this license condition.
1 III.
Conclusion and Recommendation The C-E Uindsor facility license should be amended to incorporate the Radi'ological Contingency Plan submitted December 4, 1981, as a condition of the license.
The amendment should also include a condition such as that proposed in Section II (above).
The proposed amendment should have no adverse effect on the public i
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health and safety or on the quality of the environment and should improve C-E's ability to protect against, respond to,
-and mitigate the consequences of an accident involving radioactive materials.
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c'h J. T. Long Environmental Radiation and Emergency Support Section Uranium Fuel Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Cycle and Material Safety, IMSS Approv F. D. Fisher, Section Leader i
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