ML20217Q357
| ML20217Q357 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/20/1998 |
| From: | Lohaus P NRC OFFICE OF STATE PROGRAMS (OSP) |
| To: | GENERAL, OHIO, STATE OF, OKLAHOMA, STATE OF, PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF |
| References | |
| SP-98-030, SP-98-30, NUDOCS 9805080050 | |
| Download: ML20217Q357 (16) | |
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.. - 'C UNITED STATES:
~ '
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION g
e WASHINGTON, D.C. 20666-0001 April 20, 1998 l
ALL AGREEMENT STATES OHIO, OKLAHOMA, PENNSYLVANIA' TRANSMITTAL OF STATE AGREEMENTS PROGRAM INFORMATION (SP-98-030)
Your attention is invited to the enclosed correspondence which contains:
j INCIDENT AND EVENT INFORMATION......... XX PROPOSED REVISION TO j
APPENDIX C "OTHER
[
EVENTS OF INTEREST" OF THE ABNORMAL OCCURRENCE REPORT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT INFORMATION...
l TRAINING COURSE INFORMATION............
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TECHNICAL INFORMATION....................
OTHER INFORMATION...................
Sucolementarv information: Enclosed for your review and comment is a draft document that presents three options for revising the Guidelines for Appendix C "Other Events of Interest" of the Abnormal Occurrence Report to Congress. The staff has prepared the revisions in response to direction from the Commission that the NRC staff review Appendix C, and provide l
a clear set of criteria for events to be included in the, Appendix. (A copy of the February 6,1998 P
Staff Requirements Memorandum (SECY-97-288)is enclosed). In response to the Comrnission's direction, a Working Group was established to review the current criteria for m
Appendix C of the Abnormal Occurrences (AO)' report. The AO Criteria Working Group has
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7.
com.pleted their review and developed a paper. The Working Group is proposing O. ion 1, deleting Appendix C, "Other items of Interest" fro.m the AO report, and is requestL, omments j
zon the three options presented in the draft and the Working Group's recommendation.t We
'j request that you provide comments by cob May 4,' 1998, directly to Harriet Karagiannis, Chair,
' AO Criteria Working Group at (301) 415-6377 or INTERNET: HXK@NRC. GOV. We will not be able to accomodate any comments received after this date.
'Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (PL93-438) requires that NRC provide L
information on AOs, unscheduled incidents or events that the Commission determines to be
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significant from the standpoint of public health and safety, to Congressf in early 1977, the Commission determined that AOs that have occurred at Agreement State licensed facilities j
should be included in the periodic reports to Congress. Through a cooperative effort to regulate the nuclear materialindustry and keep Congress and the public informed, the Agreement i
States voluntarily review significant events against the AO criteria and prepare AO reports for potential AOs. Any revisions to the AO guidelines or criteria, therefore, have the potential to impact the Agreement States.
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' Based on your experience, we would also appreciate your providing an estimate of the level of effort you have devoted during Fiscal Year 1997 to the AO reporting process. This would include the time required to review significant events against the AO criteria, preparation of AO reports, review of revisions made to' AO reports by NRC staff, or review and comment on AO reports prepared by NRC staff for events' occurring in your State. We would also appreciate your estimate of any change in this level of 6ffort that would result from either Option 2 or 3.
c Information received on level of Agreement State (%rt to report AOs will be included in the Resources section of the attached draft.
-f Information requested has been approved by OMB 3130-0178, expiration data ' 'ne 30,2000, if
'an information collection does not display a currently valid OMB control nut-5e NRC may.
not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, the ir' collection.
If you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please contact me vs ine individual i
named below.
POINT OF CONTACT:
Patricia M. Larkins TELEPHONE:
(301) 415-2309 FAX:
(301)415-3502 INTERNET:
PML@NRC. GOV t it$1' Rv di Paul H. Lohaus, Deputy Dire or Office of State Programs
Enclosures:
1 As stated
T.
. APR 2 01998 Based on your experience, we would also appreciate your providing an estimate of the level of -
effort you have devoted during Fiscal Year 1997 to the AO reporting process.- This would j
include the time required to review significant events against the AO criteria, preparation of AO reports, review of revisions made to AO reports by NRC staff, or review and comment on AO l
reports prepared by NRC staff for events occurring in your State. We would also appreciate
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your estimate of any change in this level of effort that would result from either Option 2 or 3.
Information received on level of Agreement State effort to report AOs will be included in the l
Resources section of the attached draft.
Information requested has been approved by OMB 3130-0178, expiration date June 30,2000. If an information collection does not display a currently valid OMB control number, the NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, the information collection.
If you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please contact me or the individual i
named below.
POINT OF CONTACT:
Patricia M. Larkins TELEPHONE:
(301)415-2309 FAX:
(301)415-3502 INTERNET:
PML@NRC. GOV OriginalSigned By RICHARD L BANGART Paul H. Lohaus, Deputy Director Office of State Programs
Enclosures:
As stated Distribution:
DIR RF DCD (SP03)
SDroggitis PDR (YES_y_' ) (NO__)
HNewsome, OGC JPiccone,' NMSS FAXED TO STATED: 4/20/98 NCostanzi, RES HKaragiannis, AEOD CTrottier, RES RHogan, AEOD A/S File DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\PML\\ SP98030.PML
- See Previous Concurrence.
T) receive a cop r of this document. Indicate in the box: "C" = Copy wtthout attachment / enclosure "E"
- Cop r with attachment / enclosure *N" = 140 copy OFFICE OSP OSP:DD OSP:D[,.7, NAME PMLarkins:nb PLohaus RBangart N DATE 04/08/98
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D R A F T_.
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- e PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR APPENDIX C "OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST" OF THE l
. ABNORMAL OCCURRENCE REPORT TO CONGRESS PREPARED BY NRC AO CRITERIA i
' WORKING GROUP, APRIL 1998 :
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l PURPOSE:
i s
The staff is responding to an SRM dated February 6,1998, on SECY-97-288, " Report to I
Congress on Abnormal Occurrences for Fiscal Year 1997." The SRM directed staff to "...
provide a clearly defined set of criteria for events to' be included in Appendix C to be used in
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. next year's report."
j BACKGROUND.
- l I
"Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-438), as amended, L
requires the NRC to submit to Congress each quarter a report listing for that period any AOs at L
.or associated with any facility which is licensed or otherwise regulated pursuant to the Atomic l
Energy Act of 1954, as amended,' or pursuant to this Actc However, the Federal Reports p
Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-66), changed the AO report to an annual p
publication. An AO is defined in Section 208 as an unscheduled incident or event that the NRC s determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety. Pursuant to Section h
~ 208, events that meet the AO criteria are reported to Congress._ in addition to the AOs, the report to Congress includes events in the section, "Other Events of interest" attached as"
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' Appendix C to the AO report. "Other Events of intorest," however, is not required by Section 208. It was established in 1976, to provide Congress with information on events determined not -
to be AOs, but may be possibly perceived by the'public to be of heath or safety significance.
i L
in 1995, in SECY-95-244, " Revised Abnormal Occurrence Reporting Criteria and Streamlining
'I the Abnormal Occurrence Report," the staff recommended to the Commission streamlining of l
z the AO process. ' These recommendations included deletion of "Other Events of Interest." The
- SRM 'on SECY-95-244, dated November 27,1995, stated ".., the Appendix listing 'Other Events l?
- of Intenst' that do not meet the criteria for reporting as Abnormal Occurrences should be l-retained, it should include items that may possibly be perceived by the public to be of health or
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safety significance, but did not, in fact, involve a major reduction.in the level of protection j
l-provided for public health or safety. An example is an event where upon final evaluation by an h
NRC incident investigation Team or an Agreement State equivalent response a determination i
~ was made that the event did not meet the criteria for an abnormal occurrence. The staff should implement the recommended actions to simplify the abnormal occurrence process."
f i
d in 1997, the staff developed SECY-97-288, that included the proposed AOs for fiscal year 1997 Following consideration of this report, the Commission,'in the February 6,1998 SRM for SECY-97-288 directed the staff to clarify the criteria for Appendix C.
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2 DISCUSSION:
e The staff has evaluated different approaches for selecting a guideline for "Other. Events of Int'erest." This evaluation revealed that in 1976 when Appendix C was established, the
- methodology of communicating NRC information' was limited. Since then, the technology in sharing information has evolved at a rapid rate and has improved NRC communications
- drastically.. Therefore, such information is~ readily available electronically to Congress and the -
public on the Intemet. Event Notifications (ens) of significant events that have been received in
~
the NRC Operations Center, are available on a daily basis via NRC'S extemal home page.
~ Preliminary Notifications of Event or Unusual Occurrence (PNOs), and Moming Reports (MRs), -
a are made available on a daily basis through Intemet.. Generic communications (GCs),1 enforcement actions (EAs), and Weekly Highl_ights (WH), are made available shortly after they are issued The availability of this information provides a more practical and timely method to inform Congress and the public of "Other Events of Interest" than by the AO report which is published annually.
In addition, the Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA) provides information, as it becomes available, to the appropriate Congressional committees on events reported to the NRC. Also, -
the Office of Public Affairs (OPA), in' headquarters and the regional offices, issues press
_ releases on events that may be perceived to be of public hea th or safety significance.
Additionally, the NRC regional offices conduct quarterly press conferences that include discussions of licensee related events as they occur and provide responses to questions from -
the public and the media.
The staff has developed the follo' wing three options which it plans to provide for Commission consideration < a) Option 1 -_ delete Appendix C "Other Events of interest" b) Option 2 -include events where an Accident Review Group'(ARG),' llT or equivalent Agreement State
. investigation was established, and c) Option 3 - include events'where an ARG, llT or equivalent
~ Agreement State investigation was established, or a Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP) occurred.- Each is described below:
Option 1: Delete' Appendix C."Oth'er Events of Interest" g
- Rationale fdr Option 1:
' Reporting "Other Events of Interest" is not required by Section 208.
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An Accident Review Group (ARG) performs an investigation of an accident related to any radiological, safeguards, or other safety-related operational event at an NRC-licensed
, facility that poses a significant hazard to public health or. safety, or the environmant, or involves high public, media, congressional, or' executive branch interest. The Commission approve's the investigation of an event by an ARG and follow-up actions assigned as a result of the
- investigation.
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. Information oh reported events is availabid"to Congress and the public in a timely.
l-rnanner.with the current availability of technology in computer network. This :
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, includes PNOs,- MRs, ens, GCs, EAs, and WH.
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, OCA provides Congress with information on events reported to NRC as they e.
occur.
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.e OPA in headquarters and the regions are holding press releases and
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conferences and provide the public and the media with available event information.
Hard copies of PNOs, MRs, ens, GCs, EAs, WH, llTs, Augmented Inspection e
L Team (AIT)2 reports, and other licensee inspection reports can be found in the
' NRC Public Document Rooms.
Option 2: Only include events where an ARG, llT or equivalent Agreement State investigation was established. The guideline for selection of items for "Other Events of Interest" would be modified to read as follows:
i V
L The Commission may determine that events other than abnormal occurrences (AOs)
L may be of interest to Congress and the public and should be included in an Appendix to the AO report as "Other Events of Interest." Such events are those where an NRC L
- " Accident Review Group", " Incident Investigation Team" or Agreement State equivalent
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' investigation was established and a determination is made that these events do not j-meet the criteria for an AO.'
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Rationale for Ootion 2:-
- it provides a consistent safety and risk significance for both reactor and non-e reactor events based on the criteria of an ARG (see Management Directive 8.9,
" Accident Investigation"), and ilT (see Management Directive 8.3 "NRC incident investigation Procedures") that may be of interest to Congress or the public.
L
- information on these events is already available to the public electronically L
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through Internet and in the NRC Public Document Rooms. The Agreement States provide public access to event information at the State level. Also, a brief -
summary of these events is included in the AEOD Annual Report, the NRC Annual Report, and is available in the NRC Public Document Rooms.
2 An Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) inspects events of lesser health and safety or safeguards significance than llT. The AIT assesses events in which facts, conditions, Q
' circumstances, and probable cause may contribute to the regulatory and technical understanding of a generic safety concern or an important lesson of experience. The AIT reports directly to the appropriate regional administrator.
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- As shown in Attachment 1,(Table 1, for the past three fiscal years 1995 through 1997, h
5 there was only one llT event (materials case) that was determined to be an "Other -
L Events of Interest" ite'm'for the AO report to Congressa
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' Option 3:. Include events where an ARGi llT or equivalerd Agreement State investigation was established, or a Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP)' occurred. ~ The L_
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, guideline for selection of items for "Other Events of Interest" would be modified to read as -
< folicws:
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- The Commission may determine that events other than abnormal occurrences (AOs)
L may be of interest to Congress and the.public and, should be included in an Appendix to the AO report as "Other Events of Interest." Such events are those where an NRC
" Accident Review Group", " Incident Investigation Team" or equivalent Agreement State
^
l) investigation was established l or an incident occurred involving on site response of more
- than one Federal agency (Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan) or more than one State and a determination is. made that these events do not meet the criteria
.for an AO.
e Rationale for Ootion 3:
'It provides a consistent safety and risk significance for both reactor and non-
.e reactor events based on the criteria of an ARG (see Management Directive 8.9, Accident Investigation"), and llT (see Management Directive 8.3 "NRC incident
' Investigation Procedures") that may be of' interest to Congress or the public.
Information on these events is already available to the public electronically.
e through Intemet and in the NRC Public Document Rooms. The Agreement States provide public access to event information at the State level. Also, a brief summary of these events is included in the AEOD Annual Report, and available in the NRC Public Document Rooms.
4 As shown in the Attachment 1, Table 2, for fiscal years 1995 through 1997, the NRC coordinated 3 FRERP responses (materials cases). One of these events met the criteria for an AO and was included in the AO report to Congress. None of these events was included in Appendix C.
Resources
-The Working Group has estimated that the NRC staff effort for identifying AOs, coordinating
. with NRC and Agreement State staff, preparing write-ups, editing, compiling, and process the
' AO report, has been estimated to be approximately 2.5 NRC full-time equivalents (FTEs). The i
1 staff has also estimated that an additional 20 percent of NRC FTE will be required if Option 2 is selected and 30 percent of FTE if Option 3 is selected.
- In evaluating alternatives and developing guidelines for Appendix C, the Working Group has considered items such as the loss of control of material events similar to those listed in the SRM dated February 6,1998, in SECY-97-288. The Working Group, however, has determined l
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that a consistent selection of other materials and reactor events tSit are "significant" is required i
and should repre'sent equivalent safety and risk significance? The Working Group believes that the potential number of su'ch events for the preparation of the report contradicts previous AO l~
streamlining staff efforts. In addition, loss of' control of material events reported or otherwise submitted to NRC will be included in future AEOD Annual Reports (NUREG-1272).
b The Working Group's preferred option is Option 1, elete "Other Events of interest."
Attachments:
l Table 1. NRC Reactor and Nonreacto'rllTs for FYs 1995-1997 f
Table 2. Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan for FYs 1995-1997 l
e L
- V-
- SP Ba' sed on your experience, we would also appre' iate your providing an esti te of the level of f
c effort you have devoted during Fiscal Year 1997 to the OA reporting proces This would l
include the time required to review significant events against the AO criteri, preparation of AO reports, review of revisions made to AO reports by NRC staff, or review a d comment on AO reports prepared by NRC staff for events occurring in your State. We w uld also appreciate your estimate of any change in this level of effort that would result from ither Option 2 or 3.
Information requested has been approved by OMB 3130-0178, expira on date 06/30/2000." If an information collection does not display a currently' valid OMB contr I number, the NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, e information collection.
if you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please ontact me or the individual named below.
POINT OF CONTACT:
Patricia M. Larkin
. TELEPHONE:
(301) 415-2309 FAX:
(301)415-3502 INTERNET:
PML@NRC.G V Pa ! H. Lohaus, Deputy Director ice of State Programs
Enclosures:
~ As stated 1
Distribution:
DIR RF DCD (SP03)
I SDroggitis PDR (YESL) (NO_) -
HNewsome, OGC JPicdo,ne, NMSS i
NCostanzi, RES Hydragiannis, AEOD CTrottier, RES ogan, AEOD A/S File DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\PML\\SP980
.P
- SEE PREVIOUS CONCURRENCE Tm receive a copt of this document, indicate in the bon). "C'/4 gp Ithout attachment / enclosure "E" = Copo with attachment / enclosure "N" = No copy OFFICE OSP l
/ $90)@D OSP:D NAME PMLarkins:nb
/ PLonyX\\
RBangart l
DATE 04/08/98 *
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04/ 4 /98 04/
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-3' criteria? Also provide information on tfie resource effort necessary to prepare a roximately.
two AO reports per year?
Information requested has been approved by OMB 3130-0178, expiration ate 06/30/2000." If an information collection does not display a currently valid OMB control umber, the NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, t information collection.
If you have any questions regarding this correspondence, pleas ontact me or the individual named below.
POINT OF CONTACT:
Patricia M. L ins TELEPHONE:
(301) 415-2,309 FAX:
(301)41 /3502 INTERNET:
PML@
C. GOV Paul H. Lohaus, Deputy Director -
Office of State Programs
Enclosures:
As stated I
Distribution:
DIR RF DCD (SP03)
SDroggiti PDR (YES.L) (NO_)
FCameydn, OGC DCool, NMSS HNewsome, OGC JPiccone, NMSS NCostanzi, RES -
HKariagannis, AEOD j.
CTrottier, RES RHogan, AEOD A/S File i
f DOCUME'NT NAME: G:\\PML\\SP9801X.PL Ta receive a copy of this document. Indicate in the box: "C" a Copy without attachment / enclosure "E" = Cop r with attachment / enclosure "N" = No copy OFFICE JASP IE OSP:DD OSP:D l
NAME PMdaEhff#U PLohaus RBangart DATE' 04/D 9 /99 04/
/98 '
04/
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Table 1. NRC Reactor and Nonreactor llTs for FYs 1995-1997-Licencee llTs Abnormal Other Events of l
Occurrence Interest l.
Reactor-0 0
0
(-
Nonreactor-1 0
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' Total 1
0
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i Table 2. Events Resulting in Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan -
(FRERP)-
Responses for FYs 1995-1997 l
l Licensee FRERP Responses Abnormal Other Events of l
Occurrences interest Reactor 0
0 0
Nonreactor 3
1 0
Total 3
1 0
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< TRANSACTION REPORT >
04-20-1996(MON) 23:47 l
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NO.
DATE Tire DESTINATION STATION P0.
OURATION MODE RESULT 536 4-20 21:21 518 458 6434 12 0*05'50" NORM.E OK 537 21:27 NY CITV 12 0*05'50' NORM.E OK 538 21:33 CH
'2 0'05'50" NORM.E OK~
539 21:39 OK 12 0*06'15*
NORM.E OK 540 21:46 503 731 4081 12 0*05'40" NORM.E OK C
541 21:52 PA 12 0*05'46" NORM.E OK 542 21:58
.401 277 2456 12 0*05'47" NORM.E OK 543 22:04 7996726 12 0*05*43" NORM.E OK 544 22:10 60373774:2 12 0'05'49" NORM.E OK 545 22:16 615 532 1938 12 0'05'46" NORM.E OK 546 22:22 512 239 2007 12 O'05'50*
NORM.E OK 547 22:28 5128346700 12 0*06*14*
NORM.E OK 548 22:35 801 533 4t97 12 0*06'45" NORM.E OK 549 22:43 610 337 52.S9 12 O*05'45" NORM.E OK 550 22:49 404 562 4935 12 O'05'43" NORM.E OK 551 22:56 7085151096 12 0'10'54*
NORN.E OK 552 23:07 817 860 8112 12 0*05'43" NORM.E OK 553 23:13 8608188 12 0'05'44" NORM.E OK 554 23:22 502 227 7863 12 0'06'32' NORMAL OK
/
-555 23:44 FL 0
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556 23:45' WA 0
557 23:47 RIV WC 0
0000 228 1'57'26"
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< TRANSACTION REPORT >
l 04-20-1998(MON) 21:20 4
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BROADCAST 3
NO.
DATE TIME DESTINATION STATION PO.
OURATION. MODE RESULT 511 4-20 18:30 334 206 5387 12 0*05'50" NORM.E OK 512; 18:36 1 501 661.2468 12 0'05'42' NORM.E OK 1513 18:42 602 437 0705 12 0*05'53" NORM.E OK 514
' 18:48 0111916 3243610 12 0'05'41?
NORM.E OK 515 18:54 303 343 3697 12 0*06*27*
NORM.E OK 516 19:01 303 782 5083 12 0*05'41" NORM.E OK 517-
- 19:08 404 362 2653 12 0*05*50",
NORM.E OK' 518 19 14 IA-13 0'05'47" NORM.E OK 519 19:20 217 524 4724 12 0*05'48" NORM.E OK
-520 19:26 913 296 0984.
12 0'06'29' NORM.E OK 521' 19:35 502 564 6533 12 0'05'41" NORM.E-OK 522
- 19:41 LA 12. O'06'36"' NORM.E OK j
523 19:48 6177272038 12 0'06'34*
NORM.E OK i
524 19:54 410 631 3198 12 0'06'22" NORMAL OK 525.
20:01 ME 12 0'07'58" NORMAL OK,
526 20:09 601+354+6167 12 0'08'26" NORMAL OK 527 20:18 919 571 4148 12 O'06'20" NORMAL OK 528 20:25 701 328 5200-12 O*05'40" NORM.E OK 329 20:31 402 471 9449 12 0'05'43" NORM.E OK
+
530 20:37
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NORM.E OK 531 20:43 5058271544 12 0*08*14" NORMAL OK 532 20:52 7026875751 12 0*08'30' NORMAL OK i
533 21:01 518 457 5545 12 0*06'28' NORM.E OK 534 21:07 NYSERDA 12 0*0S*24" NORMAL OK.
535 21:14 518 457 2225-12 0'05'48*
NORM.E OK 300 2'39'46*
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<; TRANSACTION' REPORT'>
04-23-1998(THU) 10 00 l
l-E.. TRANSMIT 3
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NO.
DATE TIME DESTINATION STATION PO.
DURATION MODE-RESUL.T 661 4-23 09:54 904 487 0435 d/o 12 0*06'12" NORM.E OK 12 O'06'12" i
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04-23-1998(THU) 10 24 i-L i
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TRANSMIT-3 NO.
DATE TIPE DESTINATION STATION PO.
DURATION NOOE RESUL.T
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04-23-1998(THU)'10:31
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. RESULT NO.
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UNITED STATES 8
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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WASHINGTON, D.C. 20666-0001
.g, February 6. 1998 cFFICE OF THE SECRETARY l
MEMORANDUM TO:
L Joseph Callan ive rectorfor Operations co
/s Q
FROM:
, Secretary o
o
SUBJECT:
STAFF REQUIREMENTS - SECY-97-288 - REPORT TO z
CONGRESS ON ABNORMAL OCCURRENCES FOR FIScith YEAR 1997 3
The Commission has not approved the draft Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences for Fiscal Year 1997. As such, and based upon discussion with the staff, the staff should consider the following comments and resubmit the draft report for Commission approval.
The staff should clarify the reasoning for listing event AO 97-2 and explain how the lens of the left eye received 4 dose of 100 rads greater than it would have received under a successful treatment when the displacement caused the source to move away from, rather than towards the left eye. The staff should provide clarification of its interpretation regarding criteria IV(a)(1).
That is, is the staffs interpretation of the criteria regarding the 100 rads delivered to the bone marrow, the lens of the eye, or to the gonads, a dose that is in addition to the dose these sites would have received in a successful treatment, or is this an absolute dose, regardless of the dose the site would have received in a successful treatment. If after review of the criteria and the facts related to this event, the staff determines that this event does not meet the AO criteria, this event should be removed from the revised AO report.
The staff should insert the following under Appendix C:
"During FY 1997, a number of events occurred involving the loss of control of licensed materials resulting in the materials entering the public domain in an uncontrolled manner, in some cases causing radioactive contamination or radiation exposures. Some of these events received media coverage, and in the case of at least one event, the NRC's oversight of the licensed material was the subject of correspondence exchanged between the NRC and a State health agency. Although not meeting the AO criteria, the frequency of these types of events and the increased public interest and concem has caused the NRC to increase its attention on the issue of the loss of control of licensed materials. Therefore, this issue merits recognition in the reput to Congress under Appendix C, 'Other Events of Interest."
SECY NOTE: THIS SRM, SECY-97-288, AND THE COMMISSION VOTING RECORD CONTAINING THE VOTE SHEETS OF ALL COMMISSIONERS WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 5 WORKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS SRM.
2-For litustration purposes, the following list includes some of the events involving loss of control of licensed materials that occurred in FY 1997. This list is not all inclusive nor is there any intention to routinely provide examples of these events in the future.
1.
January 1997 - Melting of Am-241 source at White Salvage, Riply, TN. This event was responded to by the TN RCP.
2.-
March 1997 - Co 60 contaminated steel plate found in PA and traced to WCl, Inc steel millin OH. See PNO-Ill-97-029 and EN 32021. Additional Co-60 contaminated steel plate was found in WV in September 1997 (see FNO-97-047) and traced to the same wholesale distributer that distributed the stent in PA.
3.
May 1997 - Melting of Cs-137 source at Kentucky Electric Steel p! ant (see MR 2-97-0032).
4.
May 1997 - Tritium exit signs at a demolition site removed to a private home.
One sign was disassembled resulting in contaminati6n and personnel exposure (see PNO-l-97-028).
5.
August 1997 - Contamination of Royal Green metal recycling plant in PA as a result of damage to Am-241 source in a shredder (see EN 32859 & PNO-l 056).
In FY 1997, the Commission directed the staff to develop recommendations to address this problem. The staff's recommendations have been received by the Commission (SECY-97-273) and the Commission will provide direction to the staff on this matter in FY 1998."
~The following changes should be made to both letters provided in attachment 1 to the SECY paper.
1.
In paragraph 1, line 4, capitalize the 'A' in 'Act.'
2.
In paragraph 2, line 3, insert 'of a worker' after ' overexposure' at the end of the second sentence.
3.
In paragraph 2, line 3, replace 'Four AOs submitted by the Agreemeilt States are include:'with the following:
The report also addresses four AOs at facilities licensed by the l
Agreement States. Agreement States are those States that have entered into a formal agreement with NRC pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) to regulate certain quantities of AEA material at facilities located within their borders. Currently, there are thirty Agreement States. Regarding the Agreement State AOs, 4.
In paragraph 2,' line 4, insert 'of workers or a member of the public' after
i
..c 3
The following changes should be incorporated in the draft AO report.
]
1.
On page viii, paragraph 4, line 2, insert 'or an Agreement State' after 'NRC.' in line 5, insert 'also' after 'is.'
- 2.
On page x, paragraph 1, add ' Currently there are thirty Agreement Statos.' at the ond of the paragraph. In paragraph 2, line 8, insert 'and the Eaderal Register notice issued to provide wide dissemination of information to tha public' after
' Congress.'
3.
On page 5, paragrapii 2, last line, replace 'that localized sVA cancer may _.
develop' with,'for skin cancer to develop in the exposed area of the thumb.'
-4.
On page 6, paragraph 5, insert at the end of the first sentence 'and was initially reported to NRC in January 1996.' At the end of the paragraph, add The' State provided additional information on these events to NRC in 1997.'
5.
On page 7, last line, insert commas after 'unfortunately' and 'off.'
6.
On page 8, in the Date and Place section of AO 97-3, add at the end The State initially reported this event to NRC in December 1996.'
7.
On page 14, in item IV.B., change the roman numeral in parentheses near the end of the line to lower case.
8.
On page 16, paragraph 3 under AO 96-3, line 6, delete ' unprescribed' and insert
'in excess of the prescribed doses' at the end of the sentence after ' doses.' In line 11, insert a new sentence before 'However' which. states The remaining 18 patients could not be located.' Also on page 16, last line, insert 'the' after 'in' and put an 's' on 'misadministrations.'
9.
On page 17, paragraph 1, line 2, replace ' overdosing' with ' overdoses that met the definition of a.' in paragraph 2, line 1, replace 'that' with 'who' and replace
' overdosing' with 'a.' Also, in line 1, insert '(overdoses)' after ' misadministration.'
(SECY Suspense:
4/6/06) 8700108 2/27/98 The staff should provide a clearly defined set of criteria for events to be included in Appendix C to be used in next year's report.
(EDO) (AE00)
(SECY Suspense:
4/4/98) 9800019 5/22/98 e
, cc:
Chairman Jackson Commissioner Dicus v
Commissioner Diaz
- Commissioner McGaffigan OGC CIO CFO OCA OlG
. Office Directors, Regions, ACRS, ACNW, ASLBP (via E-Mail)
P t
e i
. Ny-jour
- fjg, Action: Martin, AE0D a
/a Sto NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Cys:
11 n UNITED STATES e
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WASHINGTON. D.C. 20555-0001 Norry
, g *-
February 6, 1998 Blaha l
HKaragiannis, AE0D l
OFFICE OF THE paperiello, NMSS SECRETA W
& gggpg gp MEMORANDUM TO:
L. Joseph Callan m
c ive irector for Operations m
/s M
FROM:
hn le, Secretary
+
a o
SUBJECT:
STAFF REQUIREMENTS - SECY-97-288 - REPORT TO 2
CONGRESS ON ABNORMAL OCCURRENCES FOR FISCith YEAR 1997 9
ca v
The Commission has not approved the draft Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences for Fiscal Year 1997. As such, and based upon discussion with the staff, the staff should consider the following comments and resubmit the draft report for Commission approval.
The staff should clarify the reasoning for listing event AO 97-2 and explain how the lens of the left eye received a dose of 100 rads greater than it would have received under a successful treatment when the displacement caused the source to move away from, rather than towards l
the left eye. The staff should provide clarification of its interpretation regarding criteria IV(a)(1).
That is, is the staff's interpretation of the criteria regarding the 100 rads delivered to the bone marrow, the lens of the eye, or to the gonads, a dose that is in addition to the dose these sites -
would have received in a successful treatment, or is this an absolute dose, regardless of the dose the site would have received in a successful treatment. If after review of the criteria and the facts related to this event, the staff determines that this event does not meet the AO criteria, this event should be removed from the revised AO report.
l The staff should insert the following under Appendix C:
'During FY 1997, a number of events occurred involving the loss of control of licensed materials resulting in the materials entering the public domain in an uncontrolled manner, in some cases causing radioactive contamination or radiation exposures. Some of these events received media coverage, and in the case of at least one event, the NRC's oversight of the licensed
- material was the subject of correspondence exchanged between the NRC and a State health agency. Although not meeting the AO criteria, the frequency of these types of events and the increased public interest and concem has caused the NRC to increase its attention on the issue of the loss of control of licensed materials. Therefore, this issue merits recognition in the report l
- to Congress under Appendix C, "Other Events of Interest."
l SECY NOTE: THIS SRM, SECY-97-288, AND THE COMMISSION VOTING RECORD CONTAINING THE VOTE SHEETS OF ALL COMMISSIONERS WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 5 WORKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS SRM.
l 02350l
[
f
i ll For illustration purposes, the following' list includes some of the events involving ' loss of control of licensed materials that occurred in FY 1997. This list is not all inclusive nor is there any intention to routinely provide examples of these events in the future.
l-41.
January 1997 - Melting of Am-241 source at White Salvage, Riply, TN. This event was responded to by the TN RCP.
2.
March 1997 - Co-60 contaminated steel plate found in PA and traced to WCl, Inc L
steel millin OH. See PNO-Ill-97-029 and EN 32021. Additional Co-60 contaminated steel plate was found in WV in September 1997 (see PNO-97-047) and traced to the same wholesale distributer that distributed the steel in PA.
l-3.
May 1997 - Melting of Cs-137 source at Kentucky Electric Steel plant (see MR 2-97-0032).
4.
May 1997 - Tritium exit signs at a demolition site removed to a private home.
One sign was disassembled resulting in contamination and personnel exposure l
(see PNO-l-97-028).
5.
August 1997 - Contamination of Royal Green metal recycling plant in PA as a result of damage to Am-241 source in a shredder (see EN 32859 & PNO-l 056).
In FY 1997, the Commission directed the staff to develop recommendations to address this problem. The staff's recommendations have been received by the Commission (SECY-97-273) and the Commission will provide direction to the staff on this matter in FY 1998."
a i
The following changes should be made to both letters provided in attachment 1 to the SECY paper.
1.
In paragraph 1, line 4, capitalize the 'A' in 'Act.'
2.
In paragraph 2, line 3, insert 'of a worker' after ' overexposure' at the end of the second sentence.
3.
In paragraph 2, line 3, replace 'Four AOs submitted by the Agreement States are include:' with the following:
The report also addresses four AOs at facilities licensed by the Agreement States. Agreement States are those States that have entered into a formal agreement with NRC pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) to regulate certain quantities of AEA material at l
facilities located within their borders. Currently, there are thirty l
Agreement States. Regarding the Agreement State AOs, 4.
In paragraph 2, line 4, insert 'of workers or a member of the public' after
r
. The following changes should be incorporated in the draft AO report.
1.
On page viii, paragraph 4, line 2, insert 'or an Agreement State' after 'NRC.' In [
line 5, insert 'also' after 'is.'
2.
On page x, paragraph 1, add ' Currently there are thirty Agreement States.' at the end of the paragraph. In paragraph 2, line 8, insert 'and the Federal Register notice issued to provide wide dissemination of information to the public' after
' Congress.'
3.
On page 5, paragraph 2, last line, replace 'that localized skin cancer may develop' with,'for skin cancer to develop in the exposed area of the thumb.'
4.
On page 6, paragraph 5, insert at the end of the first sentence 'and was initially reported to NRC in January 1996.' At the end of the paragraph, add 'The State provided additional information on these events to NRC in 1997.'
5.
On page 7, last line, insert commas after 'unfortunately' and 'off.'
6.
On page 8, in the Date and Place section of AO 97-3, add at the end 'The State initially reported this event to NRC in December 1996.'
7.
On page 14, in item IV.B., change the roman numeral in parentheses near the end of the line to lower case.
8.
On page 16, paragraph 3 under AO 96-3, line 6, delete ' unprescribed' ar;d insert
'in excess of the prescribed doses' at the end of the sentence after ' doses.' in line 11, insert a new sentence before 'However' which states 'The remaining 18 patients could not be located.' Also on page 16, last line, insert 'the' after 'in' and put an 's' on 'misadministrations.'
9.
On page 17, paragraph 1, line 2, replace ' overdosing' with ' overdoses that met -
the definition of a.' in paragraph 2, line 1, replace 'that' with 'who' and replace
' overdosing' with 'a.' Also, in line 1, insert '(overdoses)' after ' misadministration.'
(EDO) (AE0D)
(SECY Suspense:
W6/98) 8700108 2/27/98 The staff should provide a clearly defined set of criteria for events to be included in Appendix C to be used in next year's report.
(EDG) (AE00)
(SECY Suspense:
W4/08) 9800019 5/22/98 A
s l
l
/
T.,-
e l/
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i u
j k-cc:
Chairman Jackson
!l Commissioner Dieus Commissioner Diaz Commissioner McGaffigan OGC i
i-CIO i
CFO l
OCA OlG
)
' Office Directors, Regions, ACRS, ACNW, ASLBP (via E-Mail)
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