ML20147E968

IE Inspec Rept 70-036/78-08 on 781010-13 During Which No Items of Noncompliance Were Noted.Major Areas Inspec Incl: Health & Safety Prog,Facil Mod,Internal Reviews,Oper Review, Nuclear Criticality Safety,Training & Radiat Protec Prog

ML20147E968
Person / Time
Site:	07000036
Issue date:	11/15/1978
From:	Fisher W, Peck C NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:
Shared Package
ML20147E952	List: ML20147E947 ML20147E968
References
70-0036-78-08, 70-36-78-8, NUDOCS 7812210272
Download: ML20147E968 (7)

Text

-- --

V 9 O

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT REGION III L

Report No. 70-036/78-08 Docket No. 70-36 License No. SNM-33 Licensee: Combustion Engineering, Inc.

Nuclear Power Systems Windsor, CT 06095 Facility name: Hematite Facility Inspection at: Hematite Facility, Hematite, M0 Inspection conducted: October 10-13, 1978 Inspectors: C. C. Peck b / hI 1

W. L. Fisher 1 Approved by:

W*Tfe, W. . ni f // // 4,// '77 Fuel Facility Projects and Radiation Support Section Inspection Summarv Inspection on October 10-13, 1978 (Report No. 70-036/78-08)

Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced health and safety inspection, including: organization, f acility changes and modifications, internal reviews and audits, operations review, nuclear criticality safety, training, and shipping and receiving; radiation protection program, including: respiratory protection, internal exposures, and personnel dosimetry. The inspection involved 33 inspector-hours onsite by two NRC inspectors.

Results: No items of noncompliance or deviations were found in the ten areas inspected.

78122102 h

l DETAILS

1. Persons Contacted

• J. A. Rode, Plant Manager

• H. E. Eskridge, Nuclear Licensing, Safety and Accountability Supervisor

• L. J. Swallow, Quality Assurance Manager l

• A. G. Swaringin, Production Superintendent l R. C. Miller, Production and Materials Control Supervisor

• C. E. Lovell, Health Physics Technician G. Frankenback, Quality Control Engineer

• L. F. Deul, Equipment Engineer j

• Denotes those present at the exit interview.

2. General The inspection began at 10:30 a.m. on October 10, 1978 with visual observation of operations in the oxide plant and recycle -

recovery areas. In subsequent days, these areas were revisited and other portions of the plant including areas outside the restricted area were inspected. The inspection was conducted to determine compliance with Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-33 and NRC Regulations.

The plant was operating routinely at the time of the inspection.

The licensee stated that no unusual events had occurred since the previous safety inspection conducted in July 1978 (Report 78-06).

The licensee is continuing to plan for expansion of the uranium hexafluoride conversion f acility, with the beginning of construc-

, tion expected in the spring of 1979.

3. Organization There have been no recent organizational changes. A quality control laboratory technician is being cross-trained as a health physics technician to provide more flexibility in health physics coverage.

4. Licensee Action on Previous Inspection Findings (Closed) Commitment (70-036/78-03): Concerning the need for tests of the exhaust from the laundry dryer and the vapors

from the filtrate boil-down tank to determine whether these emissions contain radioactivity. The licensee has made such tests and intends to monitor these effluents periodically.

(paragraph 12) 4 1

(Closed) Commitment (70-036/78-03): Concerning the need for compliance with Regulatory Guide 8.15 in order to use respira- J tory protection factors. Minor weaknesses in the respiratory I protection program have been corrected, and the licensee is using protection factors as permitted by 10 CFR 20.103 and the regulatory guide. (paragraph 10)

(Closed) Commitment (70-036/78-03): Concerning a means of distinguishing, in instrument calibration records, those i instruments not calibrated because of inoperability. The 1 licensee now has a plan for identifying such instruments. l l

(Closed) Commitment (70-036/78-01 and 70-036/78-03):

Concerning the annual inspection of Raschig rings in three I recycle-recovery vessels. Analyses of samples were completed, l I

concluding the inspection. Baron content was unchanged from the original analysis.

(Closed) Commitment (70-036/78-06): Concerning actions necessary to assure that the sampler at the site dam is functioning reliably.

This inspection disclosed that the sampler has functioned as l designed since the July 1978 inspection (Report 78-06). l l

4 Operations Review The inspectors toured the facility on the first and third day I of the inspection. Operations in the oxide plant and in dry scrap recovery were in progress. The wet scrap recovery process was not in operation. In the pellet plant, manufacture of some depleted uranium pellets was in progress.

The licensee plans to replace existing paper criticality limit signs with engraved plastic signs. There are problems of legibility and durability with the present signs in operating and outside areas. The signature of the authorizing individual on the new plastic signs will not be possible, so it is planned to replace the signature with a number of authorization on each sign. The number will ref er to a log book entry whici will identify the. authorizing individual and date of authorization.

The inspectors observed that ef forts are in progress to improve the recovery of uranium f rom various liquid waste streams. If successful, these would reduce uranium losses to the site pond and the retention (evaporation) ponds. Specific efforts underway are:

. Installation of a filter to recover insoluble uranium in the laundry waste water line which discharges via the storm sewer to the site pond.

. Procurement of a filter press to be installed in the line from the potassium hydroxide scrubber to the filtrate hold tank in recycle - recovery area. If successful, this would reduce the uranium in the waste discharged to the evaporation ponds.

. Further reduction of the uranium in the waste filtrate discharged f rom wet scrap recovery to the site pond.

Startup of wet scrap recovery caused a relatively large increase in the uranium discarded to the site pond in April and May 1978. The amount was sharply reduced in subsequent months by concentrating the filtrates and precipitating out the uranium as recoverable ammonium diuranate (Report 78-03). At present, an attempt is being made to precipitate uranium out of the filtrate from the ADU precipitation to reduce the uranium effluent further.

The proportional sampler at the site dam was observed to be functioning normally during the inspection. Records indicate that the sampler has been operating satisfactorily since the inspection in July 1978 (Report 78-06).

The licensee plans the installation of an additional monitoring well. The licensee stated that the well would be located near the existing dry monitoring well and would be deeper than the present well.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

5. Facility Changes and Modifications Two minor changes were completed since the June 1978 inspection (Report 78-06). Neither required a criticality review. The changes were:

5 s

6

. Installation of a 3785 liter filtrate hold tank outside the building housing the recycle - recovery process. The vessel provides additional holding capacity. Solution concentrations are limited to ig/l uranium.

. Reinstallation of a Pyrex ion exchange column to remove technicium-99 from filtrates before their disposal. The technicium is being found in some of the scrap that is being recovered. It was brought into the plant in uranium hexafluoride received two years ago (Report 76-03).

No instances of noncompliance were found.

6. Internal Reviews and Audits Records of weekly inspections by the NLS and a supervisor and '

monthly inspections by the QA manager were examined. As a result of these audits, defects such as illegible or missing criticality signs and obliterated exclusion area lines were corrected.

I A semiannual health-safety audit by Windsor personnel is scheduled in October 1978.

l No noncompliance items were detected.

7. Training Operations and maintenance people attend monthly safety meetings. .

Records of meetings held since the July 1978 inspection were  !

reviewed. Subjects covered in the four month period included respiratory protection, biossay program, criticality, and emergency procedures.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

8. Criticality Safety I

This subject was not inspected in detail.

Records indicated that criticality alarms were calibrated and tested during the plant shutdown in July 1978. I Evacuation drills, initiated by actuating a criticality alarm, were conducted for each of the three operating shifts in late a - September.

No noncompliance was identified.

5-

l 4

9. Shipping and Receiving Test certificates for all licensee-owned uranium hexafluoride shipping containers were examined. These are type 30-I, five ton cylinders. The testing was. performed by Goodyear Atocics during the period October through December 1975, except for one cylinder examined in August 1977. Recertification is required at five year intervals.

The licensee submitted a quality assurance program to the NRC prior to July 1, 1978, as required by 10 CFR 71.12.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

10. Respiratory Protection Employees have been instructed to test half-mask respirators using irritant smoke whenever worn for specified jobs that could require use of a protection factor. A protection factor of ten is then used in converting lapel sampler results to inhalation intake, provided that the employee has noted in the respirator use records that the respirator was tested.

11. Internal Exposure In August 1978, whole body counting indicated that one employee '

had a-body burden of 160 ,pg of uranium-235, a significant increace' from previous measurements. Such an intake cannot yet be recon- I ciled with work assignments and lapel sampler data. The licensee is continuing to evaluate this potential exposure and is awaiting the results of bioassay samples taken since learning of the whole j body counter result.

12. Exhaust Vapor Sampling Filter samples of the laundry exhaust obtained during normal laundry operations on September 18 and 21,1978 showed no activity concentration above the licensee's minimum detection level of 1E-14,pCi/ml.

Samples of condensed vapors from the open-top filtrate boil down tank were obtained on three occasions. These also did not contain activity above the detection limit.

The licensee intends to monitor both types of effluents periodically during normal operation.

9

13. Personnel Dosimetry The licensee is investigating the cause of some anomalous, although low, film badge results. The results of this inves-tigation will be reviewed during a future inspection.

14. Exit Interview The inspectors met with the licensee representatives identified in Paragraph 1 at the conclusion of the inspection. The inspectors described the scope of the inspection and stated that no items of noncompliance had been identified.

There was discussion of the uranium inventory in the onsite retention ponds (lagoons). The licensee stated that records of quantities discarded to the ponds since Combustion Engineering assumed responsibility for the license are available. Records of prior years' discards may not be available. The licensee agreed to consider ways of obtaining an estimate of the inventory.

The inspectors pointed out the need for calculating MPC-hours of intake f rom uranium measured by whole body counting in those instances in which the WBC indicated a significant body burden.

However, such calculations are not necessary if there is solid evidence for disregarding the WBC measurement.

1 i

(

- .-