ML20205R317

Notice of Violation from Insp on 990322-25.Violation Noted: Lab Analyst Failed to Perform Over 20 Required Weekly Calibrations of Leco Hydrogen Analyzer During Period of Apr 1996 - Mar 1999

ML20205R317
Person / Time
Issue date:	04/21/1999
From:	NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
To:
Shared Package
ML20205R304	List: ML20205R299 ML20205R317 ML20205R327
References
REF-QA-99900003 NUDOCS 9904220290
Download: ML20205R317 (2)

Text

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NOTICE OF VIOLATION GE Nuclear Energy Docket No. 99900003 During an NRC inspection conducted March 22-25,1999, a violation of an NRC requirement was identified, in accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Erforcement Actions," NUREG-1600, the violation is listed below:

Section 21.21, " Notification of failure to comply or existence of a defect and its evaluation," of 10 CFR Part 21, requires, in part, that each individual, corporation, partnership, dedicating entity, or other entity subject to the regulation adopt appropriate procedures to evaluate deviations and failures to comply to identify defects and failures to comply associated with substantial safety hazards as soon as practicable, and, except as provided in paragraph 21.21(a)(2) of 10 CFR Part 21, in all cases within 60 days of discovery, in order to identify a reportable defect or failure to comply that could create a substantial safety hazard, were it to remain uncorrected.

Section 3.1, " Identification of a Potential Safety Concern," of GE Nuclear Energy Procedure 70-42, " Reporting of Defects and Noncompliance Under 10 CFR Part 21," (NEDE-31746) issued January 1997, states that any employee who becomes aware of a condition that may represent either a dcparture from technical requirements or a failure to comply with the Atomic Energy Act or any applicable NRC rule, regulation, order or license shall advise the SEP Project Manager in writing if (a) the condition is associated with, or could have implications for, a facility or activity subject to NRC regulations or a safety related product or service supplied to such facility or activity, and (b) there is a concem that the condition may have the potential to create a substantial safety hazard or contribute to the exceeding of a technical specification safety limit.

Contrary to the above, GE Nuclear Energy (GE-NE) failed to identify and evaluate a potential deviation related to a laboratory analyst who failed to perform over 20 required weekly calibrations of the LECO hydrogen analyzer during the period April 1996 through March 1999.

The analyzer is used to perform hydrogen tests for both zirconium fuel cladding and ceramic fuel pellets. The results are compared to GE-NE and customer specification limits.

A similar issue regarding a different analyst was raised internally to GE-NE by an employee in late 1998. The review, evaluated only as an employee integrity issue, concluded that no integrity problem existed since only one calibration had been performed by the employee during the six month period preceding the date of the concern. However, the review did not trigger a parallel review for applicability under 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, and 10 CFR Part 21 which was required to evaluate the possibility that other laboratory analysts may have performed inadequate calibrations over the years possibly resulting in the shipment of nonconforming material to operating nuclear plants. This issue has ben identified as Violation 99900003/1999201-01.

This is a Severity Level IV violation (Supplement Vil).

Enclosure 1 9904220290 990421 PDR GA999 ENVGO E 99900003 PDR

Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, GE Nuclear Energy is hereby required to submit a written statement or explanation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, D.C. 20555 with a copy to the Chief, Quality Assurance, Vendor inspection, Maintenance and Allegations Branch, Division of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, within 30 days of the date of the letter transmitting this Notice of Violation (Notice). This reply should be clearly marked as a " Reply to a Notice of Violation" and shoula include for each violation: (1) the reason for the violation, or, if contested, the basis for disputing the violation, (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results achieved, (3) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (4) the date when full compliance will be achieved. Your response may reference or include previous docketed correspondence, if the correspondence adequately addresses the required response.

Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to extending the response time.

Because your response will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), to the extent possible, it should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so 1 that it can be placed in the PDR without redaction.

If personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of informatior will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.790(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or financial 3 formation). If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day of April 1999 2