ML20246L617

Insp Rept 99990001/89-02 on 890118.Violation Noted.Major Areas Inspected:Geology & Hydrology of Site,History of Site, Description of Process & Collection & Analysis of Samples

ML20246L617
Person / Time
Issue date:	02/17/1989
From:	Friedman L, Kinneman J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20246L587	List: ML20246L581 ML20246L612 ML20246L617
References
REF-QA-99990001-890221 99990001-89-02, 99990001-89-2, NUDOCS 8903240233
Download: ML20246L617 (13)

Text

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U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I Report No. 99990001/89-002 Docket No. 99990001 License No, none Priority Category Program Code Licensee: _My nesium Elektron, Inc.

500 Point Breeze Road Flemington, New Jersey 08822 Facility Name: Magnesium Elektron, Inc.

Inspection At: Flemington, New Jersey Inspection Conduct  : January 18, 1989

-Inspector: zww 3. Yd um laurence F . Fr ~ edman', Ph.D. , C.H. P.

A!/779

' date Approved by: / /7 b

'dats Ud hnNuclear Materials Safety D. Kinneman, ChiefSection B

-Inspection Summary: Special Safety Inspection Conducted January 18, 198_9_

(Report No. 9979M 01/B9-002)

Areas Inspected: Geology and hydrology of site; history of site; description BT process; tour of plant; collection and analysis of samples.

Results: One violation was identified: Possession of scarce material without an NRC license.

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2 l DETAILS l

1. Persons Contacted Magnesium Elektron, Inc.

• G. H. McIntyre  !

• LanceC.Kunkel,Jr.,Ph.D.,SeniorVicePresident Manufacturing Group Manager State of New Jersey, Division of Environmental Protection, Division of  ;

Water Resources

• Karl W. Muessig, Ph.D., Geologist, N. J. Geological Survey

• indicates those present at exit interview j

2. Geology and Hydrology of the Site The Senior Vice President stated that the site occupies approximately 100 acres north of Flemington in Kingwood Township, l'unterdon County, New Jersey. The State Geologist stated that the site rested on two different types of shale which had folded and fractured, allowing for penetration g by water. He stated that not much additional detail was known about the  !

site.

3. History of Site The following site history was provided by the Senior Vice President.

Prior to'1952, the site was a working farm, except that for the last few .

years prior to 1952 the owner processed mare's urine to extract hormones.

In 1952, Titanium-Zirconium, Inc., bought 3.5 acres, including the horse 3 barns, and began to produce zircanium chemicals using the same feed l stocks presently in use. An additional 10-12 acres were subsequently purchased.

In 1957, following a public offering, the company bought the remaining 100 acres and constructed cinder block buildings. The process remained the same.

In l?6', the company changed its name to Tizon Chemical. No other change l was made.

In 1973 the site and plant was sold to Magnesium Elektron, Inc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Magnesium Elektron, Limited, an English firm. Magnesium Elektron, Ltd., is now owned by British Alcan (Aluminium Company of Canada, Ltd.)

Magnesium Elektron, Inc., formerly held an NRC license to possess and distribute magnesium-thorium alloy, which was imported. The alloy was l

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shipped directly to warehouses located at various remote sites, and then .

shipped directly to customers by the warehouses. The license was termi-l nated when the NRC decided that it was more practical to license the l' warehouses, since they actually possessed the licensed material, and 10 CFR Part 40 provides a General License to own source material.

4. Description of Process A flow chart of t% process is included as attachment 1. The plant feed stock is zircon f1:ar, which is composed of 65% Zr0 and 35% Si0 plus trace impurities. Foratleastthepast26 years,dreaterthan30%of the plant feed stock has been obtained from American Minerals. Inc., and its predecessor, Combustion Engineering, in Camden, New Jersey. The balance of the feed stock is purchased from another supplier in order to maintain an alternate source of supply. This material is blended with soda ash and fused. The resulting material is dissolved in acid and filtered. Silica and other material is filtered off at this point. The silica is stored for recovery in large ponds which dry slowly. The filtrate is treated with other acids to precipitate the final products, which are various compounds of zirconium. The remaining filtrate is which causes heavy metals, uranium and thorium to precipi-neutralized,ludge tate. The s from this process is pumped to settling ponds.

The remaining filtrate, after neutralization, is the plant effluent, and y is discharged to a creek. The State Geologist stated that all necessary j permits had been obtained. j The Senior Vice President stated that the plant produced approximately 2,000 short tons of various compounds of zirconium per year, expressed as i the e uivalent amount of Zr0 content of the products is .

20-40*).. The plant uses 3,808. The Zr0 tons of z$rcon flour per year. 1 The Senior Vice President provided the Inspectors with a chart showing the quantities of materials stored in each of the waste ponds. (See He explained that, while the table was in cubic yards, he Attachment had determine2)d that one cubic yard of this material weighed approximately one short ton. The column headed " Contaminated Soils" refers to salt contamination. The leachate from the sludge and silica contains approxi-S0 in a 4:1 ratio. It seeps into the clay beneath mately 3% Nacl the unlined and ponds, anNa$ c8ntaminates the top few inches of soil with salt.

5. Tour of Plant The inspectors toured the plant and the waste ponds. The plant is composed of a three-storied main manufacturing building which is approxi-mately 200 by 60 feet, and an adjoining tank farm which is approximately 120 by 60 feet. There is also an engineering-mechanical building, an office-warehouse building, the front office building, and a " barn" used for storage of drums, etc. The plant is staffed by 129 employees, and

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. operates 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> a day, seven days a week. Approximately 12-14 employ-ees staff the back shifts.

area where the feed stocks and soda The ash are radiation stored levels in the receiving was approximately 30 uR/hr, measured with a Ludlum Model 19 micro-R meter. Background was about 15 uR/hr, which was the radiation level measured throughout most of the piant.

Radiation levels over the " dry" sludge beds ranged up to 350 uR/hr, and down to 100 uR/hr over the " wet" slud e. Radiation levels over the silica beds was of the order of 25 uR hr. A radiation level of 700 uR/hr was measured in a narrow band at the ottom of the wooden tanks where the plant filtrate is neutralized and heavy metals and source material precipitates.

The inspectors observed that all of the processing except for'the initial fusion was performed wet. The initial fusion is done in closed systems loaded from hoppers. The inspectors observed that there was virtually no J airborne dust in the plant. As a result, there was no airborne hazard at ,

the plant.

6. Collection and Analysis of Samples Five samples of plant feed stock, material from waste ponds, creek sediment, and water effluent were collected. The position of each sample  !

in the process stream or waste beds is indicated on Attachments 1 and 2.

The solid samples ranged in mass from 720 to 1036 grams. The water sample was 500 milli 11ters. Each sample was analyzed by gamma spectros-copy using an intrinsic germanium detector calibrated for the geometry of with NBS-traceable 1 the samplesNo standards. (Marinelli attempt beaker or 500 was made ml bottle)d to dry the soli samples, which makes the  !

reported weight-per cent values low. The activity of lead-212 was taken i as the activity of thorium in the sample, and the activity of- i protactinium-234m was taken as the activity of uranium. These nuclides were assumed to be in equilibrium with the thorium-232 and' uranium-238 parents, respectively. Activities were converted to masses using specif-ic activities of 1.09E-1 uCi/g for thorium-232 and 3.33E-1 uCi/g for  :

uranium-238. The weight-per cent of thorium, uranium, and total source l material is reported in Table 1.

The " dry" sludge bed had a source material concentration of 0.370% and the incoming zircon flour had a source material concentration of 0.050%.

This would result in an estimated source material inventory of 70 tons.

" Source material" is defined [10 CFR 40.4(h ] as 1) uranium or thorium, or any combination thereof, in any physical)or che(mical form, or (2) ores which contain by weight one-twentieth of one percent (0.05%) or more of (i) uranium, (ii) thorium, or (iii) any combination thereof. 10 CFR l 40.13, " Unimportant quantities of source material," provides an exemption

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for any person who receives, possesses, uses, transfers, or delivers source material in any chemical mixture compound, solution, or alloy in which the source material is by weight less than one-twentieth of one percent (0.05%) of the mixture, compound, sclution, or alley. Except for this exemption,10 CFR 40.3 provides "that no person . . . shall receive title.to, own, receive, possess, use, transfer, or deliver . . . any source material after removal from its place of deposit in nature, except as authorized in a specific or general license issued by the Commission pursuant to the regulations in [10 CFR Part 40]."

The finding that Magnesium Elektron, Inc., possessed and used incoming zircon flour and " dry" sludge in which the concentrations of source material were greater than or equal to 0.05% by weight without being authorized to do so by en NRC license is an apparent violation of 10 CFR 40.3.

7. Exit Interview The results of the inspection were discussed with the individuals indi-cated in Section 1. The inspector explained the provisions of 10 CFR Part 40, and that whether Magnesium Elektron, Inc., would have to apply for an NRC license depended on the results of the analysis of the sam-ples. The Plant Manager stated that he would cooperate in applying for a license if one were required.

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6 TABLE 1 SOURCE MATERIAL CONCENTRATION IN SAMPLES (WET BASIS)

Sample No.- Description  % Th %V  % Source Mat.

1 incoming zircon flour. 0.008 0.042 0.050 2 " dry" sludge 0.361 0.054 0.370 3 silica waste 0.001 <0.001- 0.001.

4 creek sediment 0.005 <0.001 0.005 l 5 plant effluent (water) <0.001 .<0.001 <0.001 f

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L uAttachment 1 - . 'a L 99990001,/89-001

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PLANT' CAPACITY AND PRODUCTION PROCFSS POR MANUFACTURING ZIRCO'NIUM CHEMICALS AT MEINC. FLEMINGTON l

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