ML20128H668
| ML20128H668 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/18/1979 |
| From: | Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Jarrod Palmer TRANSPORTATION, DEPT. OF |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20127A006 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-85-3 NUDOCS 8505300604 | |
| Download: ML20128H668 (1) | |
Text
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Mr. James D. Palmer, Administrator Research and Special Programs Administration i Department of Transportation Washington, D. C. 20590
Dear Mr. Palmer:
It the request of Congressman Timothy E. Wirth, 'the Department of l
- Transportation (DOT) and the Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC) under-took last year a joint study of packaging requirements for uranitsa ore concentrate and emergency response to transportation accidents involving radioactive materials. Members of your staff participated in developing -
a report and we have sent them draft copies. On November 6,1978, we requested DOT review and concurrence or coment on the latest draft report and advised your staff of our plan to publish the joint study - group report for public consent subject to NRC Connission approval. To date.we have received no response. We would appreciate it if this matter would be expedited and will be happy to work with you in any way necessary. .. ,_. . ,. Sincerely, M*U WUnr.m J, pg,cg i hog 53g0gg4850213 ygjjj,, J. Dircks, Director DOUGHERTY85-3 PDR Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Distribution:
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L-81-130 Mr. James P. O'Reilly, Director, Region II - Office of Inspection and Enforcement U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 101 Marietta Street, Suite 3100 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 .
Dear Mr. O'Reilly:
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. 50-250/80-37 -
50-251/80-35 Florida Power & Light Company has reviewed the subject inspection ' report and a response is attached. There is no proprietary information in the report. Verv .o. your , hG Robert E. Uhrig Vice President - Advanced Systems & Technology . . ,. ., REU/JD4/ ras , Attachment ., Harold F. Reis, Esquire cc: l e l
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. Finding: -
. i As a result of the ' inspection conducted on December 9,1980, and in accordance with the Interim Enforcement Policy, 45 FR 66754 (October 7, 1980), the following violation was identified.
L . 10 CFR 71.5(b) requires that "the licensee comply with the applicable
- requirements of . . . 49 CFR Parts 170 - 189." 49 CFR,173.392(c)(1) ,
i requires that " Materials must be packaged in strong, tight packages so 1 that there will be no leakage of radioactive material under conditions' ~ j ! normally incident to transportation." . I Contrary to the above, on December 9, 1980, 21 barrels in this shipment J delivered to the Chem-Nuclear burial site at 8arnwell South Carolina were ! not strong, tight packages in that there were punctures in the sides which ! j . permitted the contents to spill onto the trailer bed. l This is a Severity Level III Violation (Supplement V.C.(1)). , Response: - We acknowledge that twenty-one drums contained in shipment No. 80-082 were i punctured. However, we disagree that those containers were required to be n strong tight packaces for purposes of transportation. On the contrary, i shipment No. 80-082#qould have baan m m p e ed unoackaced because the content of the shipment was a LSA radioactive material g was transported in a closed transport vehicle assign'ed for the sole use of the Turkey Point Plant and, otherwi se ~' met the criteria stipulated in 10 CFR 113.292(D)(1)(iii). Tht;- paragraph provides that materials of low radioactive concentration may be transported unpackaged; "
. . . if the average estimated radioactivity concentration does not exceed 0.001 millicurie per gram and the contMoution from Group I material does not exceed One percent of' the total radioactivity. The average estimate of rapicactive concentration of the material in shipment No. 80-082 was 1.2.x 10 millicurie per gram. However, the material was containerized in 55 gallon drums primarily -to sat 1sfy
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conditions in the Barnwell Site Disposal Criteria. In view of the above, we disagree that the punctured drums in shipment No. 80-082 constitutes a SeverityTevel III violation. On the otherhand, there was no intent to allow the shipment to include drums which were punctured and
-Florida Power- & Light Company management has expressed considerable concern that it happened. Consequently, an immediate investigation was initiated at
- the time of the incident and appropriate corrective measures quickly implemented in order to prevent a reoccurrence. In that regard, we are submitting the following information which previously was transmitt'ed to the Bureau of Radiological Health of the State of South Carolina, Department of
.- Health and Environmental Control.
Based upon our investigation into this incident we were able to determine that the drums were damagec because of an equipment problem, and that our failure to detect the damage was a consequence of a weakness in our inspection procedures. .
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- as much as each . container was inspected completely just prior to being
, loaded onto the transport vehie.le, we were able to conclude that any damage _
e occurred while pos.itioning the containers within the transport . vehicle. By evaluating the type and location of the damage on the drums it was determined that the punctures were caused by the loading blades on the fork lift. We also learned that the drum lifting device used .to load the shipment was a new piece of equipment. Subsequently, we were able to determine that" it was . possible for the blades of the forklift to protrude through the fork guides on the drum lifting device and contact could be made between the fork blades.and the drum. . To prevent a recurrence of this incident the following corrective actions and procedural modifications have been implemented:- a) The incident was reviewed with plant- personnel who have assigned
- responsibilities in radioactive waste handling and management and appropriate precautions urged.
b) All of the drum lifting devices used for' radioactive dr'mu handling have physcial modifications designed to preclude the fork lift blades from protruding beyond the fork guides. . c) Additional inspection requirements have been l added to Turkey Point's' Health Physics Procedure HP-46, Shioping and Receiving Radioactive Material so that all packages in acoltion to ceing inspecteo cefore tney are loaded will now al so be inspected after they have been positioned o,n the transport vehicle. , , ., , d) To further strengthen our package inspection requi renents , the procedural . modifications .to HP-46 have been incorporated inta the appropriate QC check sheets as QC hold po.ints. ,
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. Finally, the circumstances involving Turkey Point shipment No. 80-082 clearly illustrate a conflict between 10 CFR 173.392(C)(1), 173.3g2(.D)(1) and Supplement V.C.1. Specifically the NRC has classified the incident to be a Severity Level III violation for a breach of. package integrity in pac.xages that were not required for transportation. In view of this, we believe that the NRC should reevaluate their criteria under Supplement V and reclassify this'more' appropriately as -a level VI violation.. We suggest the criteria for a Security Level III ought to be " Breach of integrity of a package required for transportatio'n e
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APR 15 ts81 Florida Power and Light Company ATTN: R. E. Uhrig, Vice President Advanced Systems and Technology P. O. Box 529100 Miami, FL 33152 - Gentlemen:
Subject:
Report Nos. 50.-250/80-37, 50-251/80-35 and 15000039/80-23 Thank you for your letter of M' arch 27, 1981, informing us of steps you have taken to correct the noncompliance concerning activities under NRC Operating License Nos. OPR-31 and DPR-41 brought to your attention in our letter of March 2,1981. We have examined your corrective actions and have no further questions at this time. - Wa have reviewed your response to our findings and your disagreement with the assigned Severity Level III classification. Your position that the closed transport vehicle was the container and thus the punctured drums did not represent a breach of container integrity is inconsistent with vour shioment records, which clearly indicata the individual crums were tne intended ~ n -- tainers. The shipment of punctured drums is evidence that your controls for assuring compliance with the requirements for 49 CFR 173.392 were not adequate.
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}n view of the above, we continue to regard the punctured drums in your shipment No. 80-082 as a Severity Level III violation as cited in our Notice of Violation' dated March 2,1981.
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t!e appreciate your cooperation with us. , Since ely, _]f ,
. C. Lewil/ Acting Director Division of Resident and Reactor Project Inspection ~
cc: H. E. Yaeger, Plant Manager
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. July 13,1981 Mr. ' James P. O'Reilly, Director, Region Il ~ L-81-258 '
Office of Inspection and Enforcement ., U. S.-Nuclear Regulatory Cortmission - 101 Marietta Street, Suite 3100 . Atlanta, Georgia. 30301 . .
Dear Mr. O'Reilly:
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Re:. Turkey Point Units 3 & 4' .- Docket No.;50-250 and 50-251 ~
' I&E Inspection Report Nos. 50-250/80-37, '
50-251/80-35 and 15000039/80-23 The purpose of this Totter is to supplement information previously provided in FFt. letter L-81-130 dated March 27, 1981. L-81-130 was written irr response .. to the NRC letter dated March 2,1981 wherein Turkey Point 3 & 4 was assessed' , : with a Severity . Level III Violation for failure to comply with 49 CFR '
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173.392(c)(1). iIn the NRC's opinion this was due to the fact that 21 af the - ' containers in a ' low level radioactive Waste shipment were found to have~ been punctured. , .
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- Subsequent to receiving that notire, FPL wrote to the Department of Transporta ..T; tion (DOT) seeki.ng an interpretation of the provisions in 49 CFR' 173,392(d) as. .q ')
they applied to .this situation.
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" The DOT has determined that under the provisions of 49 CFR lZJJ92(d), if a shipment e.f material meets all of. the provisicr.rs of the aforementioried sectiort . '
.any containers which the shipper tr.4y elect to use are not required to meet'the . ' .
~ criteria for a s.trong, tight package. A copy of the DOT's response, dated . _ .
May 4,1981, is attached. . p The subject shipr.ent from Turkey Point 3 & 4 did meet the requirements of 173.392(d). We hereby request that NRC reassess this violation in accordante with our letter L-81-130. , '. j . va p , yours, ,i. m
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UNITED STATES ,/p---vgig f:',' q s NUCLEAR P.EGULATORY COMMISSION REGION 11
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- . ari.anra, croncia sosos gg O'l 1981 SSINS 6020 '
MEMORANDUM FOR: Dudley Thompson, Director. Enforcement and Investigation
, Staff IE FROM: Carl E. Alderson, Director, Enforcement and Investigation Staff, Region II , ,.
SUBJECT:
ENFORCEMENT POLICY REGARDING 49 CFR 173.392 .. . (AITS NO. F02300071) ,, t , Most licensees package radioactive waste containing low specific activity (LSA) in metal drur.s or boxes for transport. This packaging is used to meet the requirements of 49 CFR 173.392(c)(1) which require packaged LSA material to be shipped in " strong, tight packages". Shipment of unpackaged. (bulk) LSA material is authorized by 49 CFR 173.392(d), provided the consignor complies with t?.ie conditions of that section. Many meet the shipments conditions of of individually 173.392 d)(packaged and thus couTd wastebemade pursuant. legally shipped to in 173.392(c) ~ bulk without individual packages. In such cases, the individual packages ;
' are not required by regulation and thus enforcemerit action by the NRC . _' -
4 for breach of. integrity of ind1Rdual packages appears inappropriate. .-.. Hewever, NRC has traditionally taken enforcement action for breach of .
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package integrity without regard for_ Ge provisions of 49 CFR 173.392(d).
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In a current case, Florida Power and Light Company has denied a Severity 111 violation for punctured drums requirements for bulk shipment sii,on ecified t?ie by basis that173.392(d). 4S' CFR the shi;r.entWe met plan the . to accept this denial and withdraw the violation. Further, we do not - plan to take enforcement action for future cases involving comparable circums tances Please infonn us whether or not you concur in thir position.
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k i l v.a r . Alderson f N cc: H. Thornburg. IE:DSRSI
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R. Wessman IE:EB , R. Carlson, RI * . , . . J. Streeter, RIII
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242-5179 C1 . . .
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