ML20150D266
| ML20150D266 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000025 |
| Issue date: | 10/20/1978 |
| From: | Book H, Cooley W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20150D261 | List: |
| References | |
| 70-0025-78-04, 70-25-78-4, NUDOCS 7812050093 | |
| Download: ML20150D266 (7) | |
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, U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT REGION V Report No. 70-25/78-04 Docket No. 70-25 License No. SNM-21 Safeguards Group 1 Licensee: Energy Systems Group Rockwell International Corporation Canoga Park, California 91304 Facility Name: Headquarters Site and Nuclear Development Field Laboratory Inspection at: Headquarters Site Inspection Conducted: July 20-21,1978 Inspectors: .
Td..,/ Cc(b W. J. Cooley / Fuel Facilities Inspector
- Date
/&If Signed Other Accompaning Personnel: Donald E. Bunn, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration Approved By: ! '
- N 7f H. E. Book, Chief,vFuel Facility and Materials date' Signed Safety Branch Summary:
Inspection on July 20-21, 1978 (Report No. 70-25/78-04)
Areas Inspected: The inspection was made primarily with regard to a complaint by a licensee employee concerning possible exposure to radio-active materials. The complaint was issued to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The substance of the complaint was that exposure to radiation may have caused illness ex-perienced by the employee. Because the employee's work assignment placed him in areas of the licensee's facilities which are under the jurisdiction of NRC licensing and others which are under the jurisdiction of State of California licensing, both agencies assigned representatives to review the matter.
The inspection included reviews of personnel monitoring, bioassay and contamination survey records, health physics monitor logbook entries, Restricted Access Area Entry Permits and discussions with the complainant and licensee representatives. During the inspection, it became apparent that the matter was subject to NRC jurisdiction and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration withdrew as an interested party on July 21, 1978. The inspection involved 15 inspector-hours onsite by one NRC inspector.
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Energy System: Group l Docket No. 70-25 :
Summary (Continued) 1 Resul ts : The inspection resulted in the conclusion that the complainant l Fad not been exposed to radioactive material internally or radiation i levels externally in excess of the limits of 10 CFR 20. No items of noncompliance or deviations were observed during this inspection.
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DETAILS
- 1. Persons Contacted M. E. Remley, lianager, Health, Safety and Radiation Services Department R. J. Tuttle, Manager, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Unit and Criticality Safeguards Advisor T. N. Barbian, Manager, Plant Services, Facility Installation M. Popovic, Maintenance Utility Worker, Plant Services F. W. Begley, Health Physics Representative, Building 001 The results of the inspection were discussed with Messrs. M. E. Remley and R. J. Tuttle at the conclusion of the inspection. The results of the inspection were also discussed with fir. M. Popovic at the conclusion of the inspection.
- 2. Complaint of Unsafe Working Conditions by Licensee Employee On July 17, 1978 Mr. M. Popovic filed a complaint with the State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupa-tional Safety and Health Administration (DOSHA). In that filing he indicated that he had worked five or six days about February,1978 in an area which he believed was contaminated with radioactive material and that he believed his health might have been adversely affected by that condition.
A preliminary investigation was made by the DOSHA on July 17, 1978 and it was determined that the entry referred to by the complainant was to Room 119-33E in Building 1 at the licensee's De Soto Avenue plant. Work performed by the licensee in that area has been under the authorization of the subject license and, therefore, NRC, Region V was notified by DOSHA of the matter.
A DOSHA representative and a Region V, NRC representative met with l Mr. Popovic at the DOSHA office in Los Angeles on July 20 to review l the information already available and to discuss the complaint further.
The representative of DOSHA and the representative of NRC, Region V visited the De Soto Avenue facilities of the licensee on the after-noon of July 20 and on July 21, 1978 to inquire further into the matter. The DOSHA representative departed from the licensee's
- facilities at noon on July 21, 1978 having determined that the matter was under the jurisdiction of NRC.
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- 3. Status of Room 119-33E at the Close of 1977 ,
Room 119-33E has been used for the melting and casting of fuel pins for.the EBR-II reactor. The casting material was 67% enriched uranium.
By September 15, 1976 the EBR-II manufacturing work had been compl eted . Survey records pertaining to Room 119-33E (EBR-II melt room) dated September 15, 1976 indicated maximum removable con-tamination at flgors, walls, and doors of equal to or less than 1000 dpm /100 cm . Those survey records also indicated j a maximum removable contamination level of 40,000 dpm /100 cm at hoods and equipment. Between September 29, and December 31, 1976 a series of at least five entries were made- to EBR-II melt room to decontaminate the room and to remove equipment as determined by review of the licensee's Restricted Access Area Entry Permits issued for work in that area.
Control film badges located on the north, east,. and south walls of the melt room during the calendar year,1976. indicated a maximum dose of 290 mrem penetrating and 0 mrem nonpenetrating radiation as determined from independent laboratory dosimetry reports to the licensee. Similar reports indicated 0 mrem penetrating and non-penetrating radiation for the fourth quarter of 1976. According to licensing representative, the 0 radiation reading on the control .
badges for the fourth quarter of 1976 might be due to an actual film badge exposure in the melt room or might be due to an film
- badge exposure elsewhere because the badges may not have been used as controls in that room during the fourth quarter.
Starting about September 8,1977 further decontamination of the melt room was begun as determined from a Restricted Access Area Entry Permit and records of removable contamination and instrument surveys made during the month of September,1977. Survey records indicate a concerted effort to decontaminate walls to less than 40 dpm/100 cm2 .
130dpm/100cm[ntriesonthosesurveyrecordsindicateamaximumof on the west wall of ghe melt room. The north wall indicated a maximum of 80 dpm/100 cm .2 The south wall and east wall indicated less than 40 dpm/100 cm .
Based on the review of radiation and contamination survey records, Restricted Access Area Entry Permits, and control film badge results, Room 119-33E was essentially decontaminated, radiation levels in that room were at background levels, and potentially contaminated heavy equipment had been removed by the end of December 1977.
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- 4. Time Available to the Complainant for Entry into Room 119-33E The complainant stcted to the NRC representative that he had worked five or six days in Room 119-33E during February, 1978. He stated that most of that work was on the second shif t and that he had felt ill while working there. He said that the five or six days of work in that area had not been consecutive but that he could not remember the precise dates. He said that he had helped different craftsmen including a carpenter and a painter. He added that he had cleaned up debris including electrical fixtures, piping, wood and " thin flat filters" which he had thrown into a large wooden box. He said that because he felt ill while in the room he took two weeks vacation. He said that when he returned from his vacation he found that the floor tiles of Room 119-33E had been removed because they had been found to be contaminated. He said that he then associated the floor removal with his illness and began to wonder if the illness was caused by radiation. He stated that he did not work in Room 119-33E af ter the floor had been removed.
He said that he did not wear a film badge during any entry into the melt room and that he had not signed a Restricted Access Area Entry Permit for access to that room. Mr. Popovic also stated that he had no bioassay examination prior to entry in the room. He indicated that he had received basic radiation safety training and a medical examination provided by the licensee.
A review of personnel, training, and job assignment records for the complainant was made during this inspection. That review indicated that Mr. Popovic transfered into the licensee's organization on
- October 2, 1977. He attended criticality safety, radiation safety, and security training classes on October 17, October 19, and October 21, 1977, respectively. On each of these occasions he ^
passed the written examination.
Work assignment records indicate he spent two hours in Room 119-33E on January 4,1978 and eight hours in that room on January 26, 1978. A licensee representative stated that additional time might have been spent by the complainant in that room which could not be accounted for by job orders because that time may have been assigned in a more general account.
A review of time and attendance records for the complainant in-dicated that he was generally available for work from the beginning of November,1977 through February 17, 1978 at which time he left -
on vacation through March 3,1978.
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- 5. Status of Room 119-33E Between' January 1 and February 17, 1978 The status of the EBR-II melt room during January and February of j 1978 was established by reference to health physics monitor logbook :~
entries, Restricted Access Area Entry Permits executed during that
- time and health physics type records.
Health physics monitor logbook entries for the period January through February 17, 1978 indicate seven different occasions on which tools, electrical equipment, pipes and pipe valves, and -
various other items were checked for contamination before removal ,
from Room 119-33E. Those entries indicate the health physics -
monitor continued to regard objects removed from the room as potentially contaminated. Additional health physics monitor log-book entries over that period of time indicated that at le&st two radioactive material waste boxes (large wooden boxes used for low-level' waste disposal) were located in or near Room 119-33E and that they contained low-level radioactive waste. Restricted Access Area Entry Permits issued over the same period of time indicated the requirement of special protective clothing including the use of full-face masks and lapel air samplers for tasks including removal of filters, filter boxes and duct work. A Restricted Access Area Entry Permit for sorting low-level waste in the wooden boxes was issued for February 2 through 13, 1978. That permit required ,
film badges, personal surveys, coveralls, surgeon's gloves and ~~
shoe covers for that work but did not require respiratory pro-tective devices. The health physics monitor logbook 2ntry for February 4,1978 indicated the waste sorting was completed that day and two wooden boxes were removed from the room.
A health physics monitor logbook entry dated February 8,1978 indicated that the melt room floor had been smeaped and that con-tamination levels of approximately 48 dpm/100 cm had been detected in floor tile fastening material which was oozing between the floor tiles in the melt room. It was that circumstance which led to the decision to remove the tile floor of the melt room according to licensee representatives. Those licensee representatives indicated the tile was removed during the week of February 19 and that the job had been completed by February 27, 1978.
Five licensee employees named on Restricted Access Area Entry Permits over that period of time wore film badges which indicated a .3 maximum of 80 mrem accumulated over the first quarter, 1978. Bio-assay analysis results for two of those individuals who had sorted -
contaminated waste indicated less than detectible uranium content by both fluoride and radiometric analysis. .
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Lapel air sample results for licensee employees who had worked in Room 119-33EfromtheweekofFeguary5throughFebruary 27, 1978 indicated a maximum of 5.9 x 10' uCihr/cc potential exposure as .
compared to the permissible 40 hr exposure of 4 x 10'g uCihr/cc. %
Those employees were performing the operations of removing filters, -
filter boxes, and duct drops, which operations are regarded as having the highest potential for creating airborne contamination.
Based on the licensee's survey records, airborne activity records, film badge records, and bioassay records it appears that Room 199-33E was essentially decontaminated and contained no source of radiation sufficient to cause significant internal or external employee exposures during the first quarter of 1978.
- 6. Special Urinalysis Bioassay On July 21, 1978 the complainant submitted a urine sample for '
uranium analysis. The analysis results were reported by telephone on August 1,1978 and indicated activity at the limit of detection of 0.6 dpm/100 cc by radiometric analysis and 0.0002 uCi/cc by fluorometric analysis. Those results indicate uranium excretion rates on the order of 300 to 1000 times less than the rates ex-pected as the result of the deposition of one permissible lung burden for the radioactive material in question.
- 7. Management Interview The results of this inspection were discussed with Messrs. M. E. Remley, R. J. Tuttle, and T. N. Barbian on July 21, 1978. Those persons were informed that no items of noncompliance or deviations were observed within the scope of this inspection. ,
The results of the inspection were also discussed with Mr. M. Popovic, I on July 21, 1978. Mr. Popovic was informed that the inspection indicated he had not been exposed externally or internally to radiation. Mr. Popovic was asked to submit a urine sample for analysis, which analysis could confirm that no substantial internal exposure had occurred.
Mr. Popovic was again contacted by telephone on October 6,1978 at which time the NRC inspector relayed to him the results of his urinalysis bioassay. .
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