ML20107J226
See also: IR 05000219/1974004
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U. S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE OF REGULATORY OPERATIONS
REGION I
R0 Inspection Report No:
50-219/74-04
Docket No:
50-219
Licensee:
Jersey Central Power & Light Company
License No:
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Madison Avenue at Punch Bowl Road
Priority:
Morristown, New Jersey 07960
Category:
C
Location:
Oyster Creek Nuclear Station (OC)
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Forked River, New Jersey
Type of Licensee:
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Type of Inspection:
Special - (Environmental Monitoring)
D:tes of Inspection:
March 20, 1974
Dates of Previous Inspection:
February 6-13, 1974
UMd
R; porting Inspector.:
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J. Bores, Radiation Specialist
Date
Accompanying Inspectors:
Date
Date
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W. M. Lowder - Physicist - USAEC - HASL
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K. M. Miller - Physicist - USAEC - HASL
Other Accompanying Personnel:
A. 2nwintowski - N..T. Rurenti nf Rad. Protect-
C. McNally - N. J. Bureau of Rad. Protect.
Date
R.
essler
.USAEC - DL (RAB)
Rcviewed By:
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J.P/St'ohr,Se'niorEn41ronmentalScientist
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9604250008 960213
DEKOK95-258
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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
E nforcement Action (Environmental Monitoring)
None
Licensee Action on Previously Identified Enforcement Items
Fbnitoring)
(Environmental
None - within the scope of this inspection.
Design Changes
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_ Unusual Occurrences
Nore
Other Significant Findings (Environmental Monitoring)
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Current Findings
None
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B.
_ Status of Previously Reported Unresolved Items (Environmental Monitoring)
None identified
Management Interview
on March 20, 1974,
office of Mr. J. T. Carroll at Oyster Creek Nuclear Station.follow
following individuals were in attendance:
The
Mr. R. J. Bores, Radiation Specialist, AEC, RO:I
Mr. R. Lessler, Radiological Assessments Branch, AEC, DL
Mr. J. T. Carroll, Plant Superintendent, OC
During this meeting the inspector stated the purpose of this inspecti
was to provide an independent determination of the gamma radiation le
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over and adjacent to the discharge canal. The_ types of measurements
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made were discussed and that sediment samples were taken from both the-
intake and discharge waterways for independent analyses by New Jersey
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and IHSL. The inspector stated that the preliminary gamma radiation
measurements indicated the levels along the canal were no higher than
elsewhere in the area, but that the final results would have to await
the report from HASL.
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DETAILS
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Persons Contacted
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Mr. J. T. Carroll, Station Superintendent,
OC
Mr. H. Kurtz, Oyster Creek Marina
2 . General
The stated purpose of this inspection was to determine whether
there was an observable effect on the ambient gamma radiation
levels associated with radionuclides in the sediments along
the discharge in Oyster Creek.
Radiation measurements were made
and sediment samples were obtained.
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3.
Environmental Radiation Measurements
The inspector accompanied and observed representatives of USAEC
Health and Safety Laboratory, New York, N.Y. as they made
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radiation measurements along the banks and over Oyster Creek.
The
detailed results of these measurements, including instruments
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used, locations, etc. , are included in the attached report (attachment
1), " Gamma Radiation Measurements at the Oyster Creek Discharge
Canal March 20, 1974." The inspector observed that there was no
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evidence of elevated gamma radiation levels along the banks or
over Dyster Creek.
In addition, the inspector obtained four sediment samples (three
from Oyster Creek and one from Forked River) which were split with -
personnel from the State of New Jersey, Bureau of Radiological'
Protection.
The RO:I samples were sent to the USAEC Idaho Health
Services Laboratory for analysis. When the results of these analyses
are available they will be included as a supplement to this report.
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ATTACHMENT I
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Gamma Radiation Measurements at the Oyster Creek Discharge Canal
March 20, 1974
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Wayne M. Lowder and Kevin M. Miller
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Radiation Physics Division
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USAEC Health and Safety Laboratory
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1 New York, N. : Y.
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In response to a request dated March 5,1974, from D. F. Knuth, Regulatory-
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Operations, to J. L..Liverman, Director, DBER, we undertook a series of, gamma
radiation measurements over and adjacent to the waters of Oyster Creek, which
is the liquid effluent discharge canal for the Oyster Creek nuclear power
station.
The purpose of these measurements was-to establish if th~eFe was any
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observable effect on ambient gamma ray levels of the presence of plant-p ^4uced
radionuclides in the water or the associated sediments.
Present during tne survey
were R. J. Bores, R0 Region I; R. Lessler, DLR; and A. Zawistowski and C. McNally,
N. J. Bureau of Radiological Protection.
The New Jersey team collected sediment
samples from both Oyster Creek and Forked River which are being independently
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analyzed at their laboratory and by HSL, Idaho Falls.
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The instrumentation used for the measurements included two lO-inch diameter
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argon-filled ionization chambers (24 and 40 atm., respectively) with 2.4 g/cm
steel walls, and two portable NaI(Tl) scintillometers.
The ionization chambers
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are calibrated to an overall accuracy of 13 percent, and have a range of 0.05
to 100 pR/h.
The portable instruments are field-calibrated against the ionization
chambers,andcanbereadtothenearest{2pR/h.
The i
chamber response to
the cosmic ray exposure rate of 3 7 gR/hb
was subtracte from the total ion
chamber readings in order to infer the gamma radiation intensity.
The data obtained on the survey are indicated in the accompanying table.
Loc-
ations 1, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 13 are normal background locations, and the observed
gamma exposure rates of 1-2 R/h
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from the Oyster Creek plant site
Such levels, corresponding to an annual
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gamma exposure of ~ 15mR, are much lower than is typical of the eastern United
States.
This is due to the low concentrations of uranium (~ 1p,m), thorium
(~ 3 ppm) and particularly potassium (~ 0 3%) in the sandy soil 13].
Locations 2, 5 and 14 are situated along the banks of Oyster Creek, where radio-
nuclides in the water discharged from the plant might be deposited.
No evidence
of-any elevated gamma radiation levels.was observed.
This result is consistent
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with the previous observation by the New Jersey group that most of the effluent
radioactivity was deposited in mid-channel rather than on or near the shoreline [4].
ATTACHMENT I
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Locations 3 and 10 are situated near the center of the creek, approximately
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200 ft. from the nearest bank.
The measurements agree with our estimate [1]
of the cosmic ray intensity at sea-level plus a small additional contribution
of gamma radiation from radon daughters in the atmosphere, potassium in the
water, natural radionuclides in the wooden pier, and air-scattered radiation
from the shore.
It is noteworthy that this fairly unambiguous " measurement"
of cosmic ray intensity was made over the discharge canal of a large nuclear
facility, and represents nearly the lowest radiation level that is physically
possible in the outdoor environment.
Location 6 is situated at a place in the parking area where the hulls of the
boats are scraped.
Small quantities of sediment that are removed,may have
mixed with the sand and gravel, as indicated by the darker color of this area.
The gamma level is slightly higher here than in the rest of the parking area
(e.g., location 7), and this may be indicative of the presence of very small
quantities of radionuclides of plant origin.
However, the level is no higher
here than that in the lot across the street (location 9)
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Location 11 and 12 are boats of wood and galvanized metal construction that are
moored near the center of the creek.
To answer the question whether the close
proximity of the bottom of the hull of each of these boats to the underwater
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sediments resulted in an enhanced gamma radiation level, these boats were sur-
veyed with a portable scintillometer.
The gamma levels were exceedingly low,
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except near a large compass in boat 11.
Within 3 ft. of the compass, a gamma
field of greater than 10 R/h was noted, and the level at the operator's chair
was ~ 5 R/h,
i.e.,
more than twice the normal gamma background on shore.
There
was no indication of increased radiation levels at accessible points near the
hull bottoms.
This is not surprising if the water depth beneath the hull was at
least 6 inches, as seems likely.
Such a depth would absorb essentially all
gamma ladiation emitted by the bottom sediments.
In summary, our measurements indicate that the local population,
e.g., fishermen
and boat owners, receives no measurable exposure from external ganma radiation
emitted by radionuclides of plant origin in the discharge canal.
It should be
pointed out, however, that the dredging of the bottom sediments of the main
channel and their removal to a local land site might produce excess gamma levels
nearby comparable to or somewhat higher than the local natural background level,
depending on the depth of sediment removed.
This estimate is based in a cal-
culation, using the New Jersey sediment radioactivity data [5], of the air exnosure
rate (~ 100 R/h) above the exposed mid-channel sediments if the water were removed,
and consideration of the mixture of the more radioactive surface layers (< L-in.
depth) with the deeper layers after transport to another site.
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References
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1.
W. M. Lowder and H. L.' Beck, " Cosmic-ray ionization in the lower atmos-
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phere", J. Geophys. Research, 71. ~ 4661, 1966.
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' 2. . H. L. Beck, et al., "HASL Studies at the Oyster Creek' Nuclear Electricity
Generating Station", USAEC . Technical Memorandum HASL 'D4 72-3,1972. .
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et al.
" Experimental investigations of the environmental
W. ' M. Lowder, 5'F ,c. Second Int. Symposium on the Natural Radiation
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radiation fiel
Pro
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Environment, to be published, 1974.
4.
D. E McCurdy, "1971 Environmental Radiation Levels in the State of -
New Jersey," N. J. State Dept. of Environmental Protection,1CJf3
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D. E. McCurdy, et al.,
" Environmental Radiation Surveillance of the Oyster
Creek Nuclear Gene'ritting Station", ' N. J. State Dept. of Environmental
Protection, 1973
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Oamme Radiation Measurements
Location
7 Exposure Rate *
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(1) Field, E. side of Rt. 9, 200' N. of creek
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N. bank of creek, at Rt. 9 bridge
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(3) Sands Point Yacht Club, on wood pier, center
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of creek
(4) Sands Point Yacht Club, gravel parking lot
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(5) Sands Point Yacht Club, wet silt, S. side of creek
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(6) Oyster Creek Marina, " hot spot" in parking lot
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(7) Oyster Creek Marina, gravel parking lot
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(8) Oyster Creek Marina, asphalt street
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(9) Oyster Creek Marina, lot across street
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(10) Oyster Creek Marina, end of wooden pier,
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center of creek
(11) On board 40' boat, end of pier (slip 228)
(12) On board 40' boat, end of pier (slip 128)
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(13) Small park, 1/4 mile E. of Oyster Creek Marina,
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S. side of creek, sandy soil
(14) Over sandy beach at park, S. shore of creek
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(washed by tide)
Exposure rates are given to the nearest 0.1 R/hforionchambermeasure-
ments, and to the nearest i for portable scintillometer readings.
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