ML22355A635

Louisiana Energy Services, LLC, Dba Urenco USA (Uusa), 10 CFR 70.50(c)(2), 30 Day Report

ML22355A635
Person / Time
Site:	07003103
Issue date:	12/21/2022
From:	Padgett W Louisiana Energy Services, URENCO USA
To:	Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Document Control Desk
References
LES-22-159-NRC
Download: ML22355A635 (1)

Text

LES-22-159-NRC



ATTN: Document Control Desk Director Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Louisiana Energy Services, LLC NRC Docket No. 70-3103

Subject:

10 CFR 70.50(c)(2), 30 Day Report On December 4th, 2022, Louisiana Energy Services (LES), dba Urenco USA (UUSA),

made an Event Notification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Operations Center in accordance with 10 CFR 70.50(b)(1). This notification reported a spill in the Liquid Effluent Collection and Transfer System (LECTS) room. Event Notification 56258 details this occurrence.

As required by 10 CFR 70.50(c)(2), Twenty-four Hour Reports will be supplemented within 30 days with the information of 10 CFR 70.50(c)(1). Enclosure 1 provides the written follow-up report within 30 days of the initial report.

Should there be any questions concerning this submittal, please contact Jim Rickman, Senior Licensing Specialist, at 575-394-6558.

Respectfully, Digitally signed by Wyatt Padgett Wyatt Padgett Date: 2022.12.21 14:26:23

-07'00' Wyatt Padgett Compliance Manager

Enclosure:

10 CFR 70.50(c)(2) 30 Day Report

LES-22-159-NRC CC:

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Avenue, NE.

Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 RidsRgn2MailCenter@NRC.gov Jacob Zimmerman, Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Chief U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Jacob.Zimmerman@NRC.gov Matt Bartlett, Senior Project Manager U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Matthew.Bartlett@nrc.gov Robert Williams, Region II, Projects Branch 1, Chief U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Robert.Williams@nrc.gov

LES-22-159-NRC Enclosure 10 CFR 70.50 (c)(2) 30 Day Report 10 CFR 70.50(c)(1)

(i) Caller's name, position title, and call-back telephone number; x The individual who facilitated Event Notification (EN) 56258 was Jim Rickman, Senior Licensing Specialist. The call-back telephone number is 575-394-6558.

(ii) Date, time, and exact location of the event; x The NRC Event Notification was submitted on December 5th, 2022 at 12:10 PM EST. The event reported in EN 56258 was identified at approximately 9:01 AM MST on December 4th, 2022. The location of this event was at Urenco USA in Eunice, New Mexico (Lea County). The affected area within the UUSA facility in the Cylinder Receipt and Dispatch Building (CRDB) on the floor of the Liquid Effluent Collection and Transfer System (LECTS) room.

(iii) Description of the event:

x While investigating a high pressure alarm on the LECTS slab tank pumps, an operator observed standing liquid within the south slab tank berm.

Additional investigation revealed a small amount of liquid had escaped the berm area and flowed westerly against the wall. The liquid escaping the berm resulted in an additional 3 square feet of contaminated area.

(A) Radiological or chemical hazards involved, including isotopes, quantities, and chemical and physical form of any material released; x The radiological hazard was confined to the LECTS room. UUSA has determined that the quantity of material involved was greater than 5 times the annual limit on intake for the U-232 isotope. The radiological hazard remained in a water solution and did not become airborne.

x There were no chemical hazards involved and no release occurred from the site.

(B) Actual or potential health and safety consequences to the workers, the public, and the environment, including relevant chemical and radiation data for actual personnel exposures to radiation or radioactive materials or hazardous chemicals produced from licensed materials (e.g., level of radiation exposure, concentration of chemicals, and duration of exposure);

x There were no actual or potential health or safety consequences to workers, the public, or the environment. No unexpected exposure to radioactive materials or hazardous chemicals occurred. Throughout the event, radiation exposure levels remained less than 1 mr/hr and no airborne alarms were received.

LES-22-159-NRC (C) The sequence of occurrences leading to the event, including degradation or failure of structures, systems, equipment, components, and activities of personnel relied on to prevent potential accidents or mitigate their consequences; and x The pump casing seals failed causing the fluid that was running through it to come out of the sides and the bottom of the pump.

Although the slab tank berm is of sufficient size to hold the fluid inside of the berm, the joint seal between the berm and adjacent wall allowed the fluid to leak from the berm. As a result, approximately 7.1L of fluid leaked from the berm. Almost all of the fluid was contained in absorbent mats pre-placed in the area outside the berm.

The remainder remained on the floor.

(D) Whether the remaining structures, systems, equipment, components, and activities of personnel relied on to prevent potential accidents or mitigate their consequences are available and reliable to perform their function; x The structures, systems, equipment, components, and activities in the unaffected areas remain available and reliable to perform their function. Air monitoring and contamination monitoring was available during the spill. No personnel were contaminated and no contamination was released into the environment.

(iv) External conditions affecting the event; x No external conditions affected this event.

(v) Additional actions taken by the licensee in response to the event; x The condition has been entered into UUSA's accredited Corrective Action Program as EV 158739. A causal analysis was performed and concluded that failure of the pump casing seal resulted in the fluid to spill into the berm area and subsequent contamination outside the berm. The spill was cleaned up but the contaminated area posting has not yet been removed.

(vi) Status of the event (e.g., whether the event is on-going or was terminated);

x The event is not considered to be on-going. Portions of the area remain posted as contaminated due to potential of radioactivity returning to the area where the wall meets the floor.

(vii) Current and planned site status, including any declared emergency class; x No change in site emergency status occurred or will occur in response to this event.

(viii) Notifications, related to the event, that were made or are planned to any local, State, or other Federal agencies; x No notifications to local, State, or other Federal agencies occurred or are planned for this event.

(ix) Status of any press releases, related to the event, that were made or are planned.

LES-22-159-NRC x UUSA did not provide a press release regarding this event.

10 CFR 70.50(c)(2)

(ii) The probable cause of the event, including all factors that contributed to the event and the manufacturer and model number (if applicable) of any equipment that failed or malfunctioned; x The probable cause of the event is a leak from the Slab Tank pump seal resulted in fluid leaking into the berm area. Subsequently, leakage through a berm seal between the berm and the adjacent wall resulted in the contamination of approximately 3 square feet of the adjacent floor.

(iii) Corrective actions taken or planned to prevent occurrence of similar or identical events in the future and the results of any evaluations or assessments; and x Replacement of the seal between the berm and adjacent wall is planned.

Additionally, UUSA is evaluating changes to the maintenance program as well as improved system design.

(iv) For licensees subject to Subpart H of this part, whether the event was identified and evaluated in the Integrated Safety Analysis.

x The UUSA Integrated Safety Analysis Summary (ISAS), Table 3.7-1 Accident Sequence and Risk Index and Table 3.7-3, External Events and Fire Accident Sequences and Risk Index list the potential accident sequences that were identified that could have consequences that exceed the performance criteria of 10 CFR 70.61 listed in Subpart H.

x A spill from the slab tanks has been analyzed (ISA-MEM-0037 and 51-2400546-01-LES) and was determined to not be a consequence that exceeds the performance requirements of 10 CFR 70.61. Items Relied on For Safety (IROFS) are not necessary to prevent or mitigate spill event sequences as these do not exceed 10 CFR 70.61 criteria.