ML23010A291

Louisiana Energy Services, LLC - 10 CFR 70.74(b) and Appendix a (b)(4), 60 Day Report for EN 56225

ML23010A291
Person / Time
Site:	07003103
Issue date:	01/09/2023
From:	Padgett W Louisiana Energy Services, URENCO USA
To:	Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Document Control Desk
References
LES-23-002-NRC
Download: ML23010A291 (1)

Text

LES-23-002-NRC

1/9/2023

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. 74(b) and App endix A (b)(4), 60 Day Report for EN 56225

References 1) EN 56225, Alert - Seismic Event Felt Onsite

On November 16t h, 2022, Louisiana Energy Services (LES), dba Urenco USA (UUSA),

made an Event N otification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Operations Center in accordance with 10 CFR 70.74(b) and Appendix A (b)(4), External Events.

This notification w as made due to a vibratory ground motion felt in the Control Room,

recognized as an earthquake, and verified by field personnel. NRC Event Notification 56225 details th is occurrence.

The written report to supplement Event Notification 56225 is provided by Enclosure 1.

Should there be any questions concerning this submittal, please contact Chris Schwarz, Licensing and Performance Assessment Manager, at 575. 394.5783.

Respectfully,

Wyatt Padgett Compliance Manager

Enclosure:

10 CFR 70.74(b), App A (b)(4) 6 0 Day Report for EN 56225 LES-23-002-NRC Page 2 of 6

CC:

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

Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 RidsRgn2MailCenter@NRC.gov

Jacob Zimmerman, Branch Chief Fuel Facility Licensing U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Jacob.Zimmerman@NRC.gov

Jonathan Rowley, Project Manager U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Jonathan.Rowley@nrc.gov

Robert Williams, Region II, Projects Branch 1, Chief U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Robert.Williams@nrc.gov

Timothy Sippel, Senior Fuel Facility Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Timothy.Sippel@nrc.gov

LES-23-002-NRC Page 3 of 6

Enclosure 1

10 CFR 70.74(b), App A(b)(1) 60 Day Report

10 CFR 70.50(c)(1)

(i) Caller's name, position title, and call -back telephone number;

• The individual who facilitated Event Notification56225 was Curtis Pankratz, Operations. The call-back telephone number for Curtis Pankratz is 575-394-6778.

(ii) Date, time, and exact location of the event;

• The earthquake occurred on November 16th, 2022 at 14:32 MST. The location of this event was at Urenco USA in Eunice, New Mexico (Lea County). The affected area is the Controlled Access Areas (CAA) of the UUSA facility.

(iii) Description of the event:

• At 1445 MST on November 16, 2022, an Alert was declared at Urenco USA as the result of a seismic event detected near the facility.

The vibratory ground motion was felt in the Control Room, recognized as an earthquake, and verified by field personnel. An Alert is the least significant emergency classification at the URENCO USA site.

• The Headquarters Operations Officer was notified of the Alert at 145 7 MST.

No radioactive release had occurred and no structural damage was detected. A 5.4 magnitude earthquake occurred in western Texas with an epicenter 90 miles southwest of Hobbs, New Mexico. Plant personnel initiated walkdowns of the site.

(A) Radiological or chemical hazards involved, including isotopes, quantities, and chemical and physical form of any material released;

• There were no radiological or chemical hazards involved or released.

(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);

• There were no actual or potential health and safety consequences to workers, the public, or the environment. No unexpected exposure to radioactive materials or hazardous chemicals produced from licensed materials occurred.

• Plant instrumentation detected no release during the event.

• No contamination events occurred; therefore no decontamination was necessary.

LES-23-002-NRC Page 4 of 6

• No dose alarms or dose rate alarms occurred during the response.

• The horizontal accelerations experienced due to this seismic event do not exceed the seismic design criteria for safety related structures and systems.

(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

• On November 16, 2022, Operations felt ground movement in the Control Room and received reports of ground motion from personnel onsite. Operations entered the earthquake response procedure. An Alert was declared in accordance with the UUSA procedure, and an event notification was transmitted to local and state officials as well as the NRC.

• The Emergency Response Organization was activated.

• Personnel were directed to evacuate from the buildings and a site wide accountability was performed per UUSA procedure.

• Plant instrumentation detected no release during the event and the building operators reported no signs of a release after touring their associated buildings.

• At 1602, the UUSA Emergency Operations Center was declared operational and took control of the response, per the UUSA Emergency Plan.

• The Alert was terminated on November 17, 2022, at 1700.

(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;

• The structures, systems, equipment, components, and activities on site remained available and reliable to perform their function.

• Other buildings on site were inspected per procedure; with no significant damage reported.

(iv) External conditions affecting the event;

• This event was the result of an earthquake 40 km west-southwest of the town of Mentone, Texas.

(v) Additional actions taken by the licensee in response to the event;

• IROFS27e/c and IROFS28 qualified personnel perform ed IROFS27e/c and IROFS28 surveillances verifying no impacts to safety related structures and systems. A walkdown of all cascades also occurred verifying no impacts to IROFSC23.

LES-23-002-NRC Page 5 of 6

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

• The event has been terminated in accordance with the Emergency Plan.

(vii) Current and planned site status, including any declared emergency class;

• Current plant status is operational with no remaining impacts from the event.

(viii) Notifications, related to the event, that were made or are planned to any local, State, or other Federal agencies;

• Notifications were made to the NRC, NM Dept of Homeland Security, NM Dept of Public Safety, Lea County Communications Authority, Andrews TX County Sheriff and the TX State Operations Center, consistent with the event response procedures. No further notifications are planned.

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

• No press releases were made and no press releases are planned.

10 CFR 50(c)(2), and by 70.74 and Appendix A paragraph (b) (4)

(ii) The probable cause of the event, including all factors that c ontributed to the event and the manufacturer and model number (if applicable) of any equipment that failed or malfunctioned;

• The event was the result of a seismic event offsite. Per the USGS website, the November 16, 2022, M5.4 Coalson Draw, Texas earthquake occurred at 2022-11-16 21:32:44 UTC as the result of shallow normal faulting about 40 km west-southwest of the town of Mentone, Texas. The earthquake occurred within the interior of the North America plate, far from any tectonic plate boundaries, and is therefore considered an intraplate earthquake. The preliminary focal mechanism solution for the earthquake indicates rupture occurred on a moderately dipping normal fault plane striking either to the northwest or southeast.

(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

• A causal analysis was performed in accordance with UUSAs accredited Corrective Action Program. Emergency Plan requirements were met, and the Operations Procedure for Earthquake Response requirements were met.

• Improvement items have been identified through the c ritique process and will be addressed as appropriate.

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

• Seismic events were identified and evaluated in the Integrated Safety Analysis as follows;

LES-23-002-NRC Page 6 of 6

The UUSA Integrated Safety Analysis Summary (ISAS), Table 3.7-3,

External Events and Fire Accident Sequences and Risk Index and Table 3.7-4 External Events and Fire Accident Descriptions 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.

• Items Relied on For Safety (IROFS) necessary to prevent or mitigate event sequences that exceed 10 CFR 70.61 criteria have been identified and are described.

IROFS27c and IROFS27 e structures are design features of UF6 containing structures to withstand the design basis seismic event that has a probability of occurrence of 1E -5. They include the Separations Building Modules, the Cylinder Receipt and Dispatch Building, the Interconnecting Corridor, and the Uranium Byproduct Cylinder Pad crane.

IROFS28 is a design feature to maintain product liquid sampling leak tight integrity during a design basis seismic event.

IROFSC23 is a design feature of centrifuges to minimize releases as a result of design basis seismic events to mitigate consequences to a low category.

IROFS39a, Limit Exposure by Requiring Evacuation of Area on Seismic Event. IROFS39a is identified as Preventative Safety Parameters for EE-SEISMIC -WORKER EVAC in Table 3.7-3.