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Ack Receipt of Informing NRC of Steps Taken to Correct Violations Noted in Insp Rept 50-133/97-02 on 971001
	ML20199B385
Person / Time
Site:	Humboldt Bay
Issue date:	11/13/1997
From:	Scarano R; NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:	Rueger G; PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO.
References
	50-133-97-02, 50-133-97-2, NUDOCS 9711180297
	Download: ML20199B385 (5)
	v • d • e

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- - - - November 13, 1997-.

Gregory M. Rueger, Senior Vice President

and General Manager

~ Nuclear Power Generation Bus. Unit -

Pacific Gas and Electric

Nuclear Power Generation, B14A77

77 Beale Street, Room 1451

P. O. Box 770000

San Francisco, California 94177

SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO NRC INSPECTION REPORT 50-133/97-02

Dear Mr. Rueger:

Thank you for your letter of Octcber 27,1997, in response to our October 1,1997iletter

and Notice of Violation concerning the incorrect setting of the process water monitor high alarm.

We have reviewed your reply and find it responsive to the concerns raised in our Notice of

Violation. We will review the implementation of your corrective actions during a future inspection

to determine that full compliance has been achieved and will be maintained.

Sincerely,

[ /

Ross A. Scarano, Director

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety

Docket No.: 50-133

License No.: DPR-7

cc:

Christopher J. Wamer, Esq.

Law Department

Pacific Gas and Electric Company {

P.O. Box 7442 l

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San Francisco, California 94120

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- Pacific Gas and Electric Company _ '- 2-

Thomas A. Moulia, Plant Manager -

- Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Humboldt Bay Power Plant

1000 King Salmon Avenue

Eureka, California _95503

Chairman -

- Humboldt County Board of Supervisors

County Courthouse

825 Fifth Street

Eureka, California 95501

Linda J. Brown, Esq.

Donohew, Jones, Brown & Clifford

1100 Van Ness Avenue,19th Floor

San Francisco, California 94102

' Regional Radiation Representative

U. C Environmental Protection Agency _

- Region IX Office --

75 Hawthorne Street

. San Francisco,- California 94105

Dr. Richard Ferguson

Energy Chair

Sierra Club California

1100 lith Street, Suite 311

Sacramento, California 95814

Dr. James F. Davis, State Geologist

Department of Conservation

Division of Mines & Geology

801 K Street MS 12-30

Sacramento, California 95814-3531

Mr. Steve Hsu

Radiological Health Branch

State Department of Health Services

- P.O. Box 942732

Sacramento, California 94234

' Director

Energy Facilities Siting Division

' Energy Resources Conservation &

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. Development Commission

1516 9th Etreet

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31400.10 Street, Room 108 ,

Sacramento, Califomia 95814 ,

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PG&E Letter HBL 07 016 *'

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Docket No. 50-133 OL-DPR 7

Humbo!di Bay Power Plant, Unit 3

Reply to Notice of Violation in NRC Inspection Reoort No. SM33/97-02

Dear Commissioners and Staff:

NRC Inspection Report No. 50-133/97-02, dated October 1,1997. included a

Notice of Violation citing one Severity Level IV violation. The violation perteins to

an incorrect setting of the process water monitor high alarm. PG&E's response

to the Notice of V:..iation is enclosed,

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Sincerely,

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Gregory M. Rueger

O cc: Richard F. Dudley

Kenneth E. Perkins

Ellis W. Merschoff

Humboldt Distribution

Enclosure

HB3-97-QC-N003

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'9-1-idOSWZ _________ _ _ _ _

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Enclosure

l .' PG&E Lett:r HBL 97-016

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REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION IN

NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50133197-02

On October 1,1997, as part of NRC Inspection Report No. 50-133/97-02, NRC Region

IV issued one Severity Level IV violation for Humboldt Bay Power Plant (HBPP), Unit 3.

The statement of violation and PG&E's response follow.

STATEMENT OF VIOLATION

Facility Operating License DPR-7, Paragraph 2.(2) states, in part, that the

Technical Specification contained in Appendix A, as revised, is hereby

incorporatedin the license.Section V.B.2.b of the Technical Specifications

state, in part, that the process water monitor shaII be set to alarm at or below a

cesium 137 concentration in the discharge line of 1 x 10' microcuries/ milliliter

(pCl/ml).

Contrary to the above, from April B-15,1997, the process water monitor was set

to alarm at 300,000 counts per minute. This equates to 9.78 x 10' pCi/ml.

This is a Severity LevelIV violation (Supplement IV).

REASON FOR THE VIOLATION

PG&E agrees with the violation as stated in the inspection report.

Setting the process water monitor high alarm too high is a violation of Technical '

Specification (TS) V.B.2.b.

TS V.B.2.b. requires 11* process water monitor alarm to be set at or below 1.0 E-4

microcuries per milliliter (pCl/ml) for Cs 137, which is equivalent to approximately

26,500 counts per minute (cpm). To ensure HBPP effluents remain in compliance with

TS V.B.2.b., Surveillance Test Procedure (STP) 3.21.3, " Weekly Process Monitor ,

Checks,"is used to set the process water r 'onitor warning and high alarm settings at

1500 cpm and 5000 cpm, respectively.

The process water monitor has two scales: one from 1 cpm - 10,000 (10K) cpm, the

other from 10 epin - 1,000,000 (1M) cpm. To parform STP 3.21.3, the operator sets

the alarms for the readings on the 1M scale of the monitor.

The following are the causes of the event.

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PG&E Lett:r HBL 97-016 l

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Personne! Error- .

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In performing STP 3.21.3 on April 8,1997, the operator manually _

_ adjusted the alarm setpoints on the monitor alarm panel in the control <

.

room such that the alarm trip point was reduced to below the background i

i level. Th's initiated the alarrn. After the test, the alarm setpoints were

readjusted back to the required readings of 1500 and 5000 opm. ;

However, the operator read the wrong scale on the process water !

monhor_ when setting the woming and high alarms. Instead of reading i

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the 1M scale, the operator read the 10K scale. The value of 1500 cpm

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as read on the 10K scale corresponds to 41,000 opm on the 1M scale,- ;

and is equivalent to approximately 1.28 E-4 pCL/ml. The value of _

5000 cpm as read on the 10K scale corresponds to 300,000 cpm on the _,

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1M scale, and is equivalent to approximately 9.78 E 4 pCi/ml, which

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exceeds the TS limit of 1.0 E 4 pCl/ml. ,

, Procedural Weakness ;

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STP 3.21.3 did not clearly identify the appropriate scale for the operator !

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to use when setting the warning and high alarms.

A description and analysis of this event was provided to the NRC in Licensee ;

Event Report 3 97-001-00, submitted May 15,1997. ;

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CORRECTIVE STEPS TAKEN AND RESULTS ACHIEVED

' A number of immediate actions were taken to assure that the process water monitor !

warning and high alarms would remain set corredly while long term corrective actions

were being implemented.

When a different operator performed STP 3.21.3 on April 15,1997 he observed the- !

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i: incorrect settings and correctly reset lne procese water monitor waming and high

- alarms.

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All op3rators were re-educated on the proper method to set the process water

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monitor warning and high alarms.

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. . A shift order was sont to' shift foremen requiring them to independently verify the

correct settings for process water. monitor waming and high alarms. The shift order ,

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- action wasW. interim measure that remained in place until incorporated as a long-

term corremlve action in a revision to STP 3.21.3. !

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..I Enclosure

. PG&E Letter HBL 97-016

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CORRECTIVE STEPS THAT WERE TAKEN TO AVolD FURTHER VIOLATIONS ,

The following actions were taken to prevent recurrence, based on the causes of

the event:

PersonnelError

The supervisor discussed the event with the responsible employee. The

supervisor issued the employee an oral reminder as part of the positive

discipline prograr,1

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Procedural Weakness

STP 3.21.3 was revised to:

e not require adjusting and resetting the process water monitor warning

and high alarms if the as found settings are 1500 cpm and 5000 cpm,

respectively.

require an independent verification whenever the process water monitor

warning and high alarm settings are changed.

. clearly identify the appropriate scale for the operator to use when setting the

process water monitor warning and high alarms.

'

HBPP personnel reviewed other STPs that contain alarm settings required by TS

to determine if these other STPs require modifications similar to those made to

STP 3.21.3. The results of this review dearmined that two other procedures,

STP 3.16.2, ' Source Check Area Mon 5 tors," and STP 3.16.3, " Stack Gas +

Monitoring System (PIOPS) Annual Calibration Check," include changing alarm

setpoints. Both of these STPs were revised in a similar manner to the revision

for STP 3.21.3.

All the above actions were completed by September 26,1997. *

DATE WHEN FULL COMPLIANCE WILL BE ACHIEVED

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PG&E is currently in full compliance.

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ML20199B385

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