NUREG-1450, Completes Item 1.F to GE Staff Action Plan Re GE Response to Investigation of 910529 Incident at GE Nuclear Fuel & Component Mfg Facility (NUREG-1450)

Completes Item 1.F to GE Staff Action Plan Re GE Response to Investigation of 910529 Incident at GE Nuclear Fuel & Component Mfg Facility (NUREG-1450)

ML20059C343
Person / Time
Site:	07001113
Issue date:	08/02/1993
From:	Bernero R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
References
RTR-NUREG-1450 NUDOCS 9311010117
Download: ML20059C343 (3)

Text

AUG 0 21993

. MEMORANDUM FOR: James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations FROM:

Robert M. Bernero, Director Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

SUBJECT:

COMPLETION OF ITEM 1.F TO GENERAL ELECTRIC STAFF ACTION PLAN,.

RESPONSE TO INVESTIGATION OF THE MAY 29, 1991, INCIDENT AT THE GENERAL ELECTRIC NUCLEAR FUEL AND COMPONENT MANUFACTURING FACILITY (NUREG-1450)

Item 1.F of the General Electric (GE) Staff Action Plan required the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) and Region II to evaluate GE's response to the Incident Investigation Team (IIT) report with respect to site-specific corrective actions.

Included in this evaluation was to be the adequacy of (1) the current license, (2) the facility change request process and its implementation; and, (3) the criticality safety margins. As detailed in the enclosure, NMSS and Region II have completed this task.

The contacts for Item 1.F are Ed Flack (301-504-2405) and Gerry Troup (404-331-5566).

Onginal signed tr/

Bobert M. Bemoto Robert M. Bernero, Director Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Enclosure:

As stated cc:

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DESCRIPTION OF STAFF ACTIONS PLANNED IN RESPONSE TO THE INVESTIGATION OF THE MAY 29, 1991, INCIDENT AT THE GENERAL ELECTRIC NUCLEAR FUEL AND COMP 0NENT FACILITY

(

Reference:

NUREG-1450)

UEM 1.F NMSS and Region II will evaluate General Electric's (GE's) response to the Incident Investigation Team (IIT) report with respect to the site-rpecific corrective actions.

Include in this evaluation, the adequacy of:

(a) the current license, (b) facility change request process and its implementation; and, (c) criticality safety margins.

ACTION PLAN The staff (NMSS and Region II) will evaluate GE's response to the IIT report with respect to the site-specific corrective actions. This evaluation will include the adequacy of the current license, the facility change request process and its implementation, and criticality safety margins.

Region II will conduct inspections to verify that corrective actions have been made.

STATUS Following the May 29, 1991 incident, Region II has inspected GE at an increased frequency. The inspectors reviewed operations in progress including the pre-operational testing and startup of a new fuel conversion system and major modifications to waste processing systems. These inspections emphasized review of the implementation and maintenance of nuclear criticality safety control s.

The inspections also reviewed the actions being taken by the licensee to improve performance in the area of nuclear criticality safety.

Since the incident, GE has conducted a review of actions needed to improve its nuclear criticality safety program. These included longer term actions to be completed to upgrade equipment, systems, and programs. These actions were

.ncorporated into a Performance Improvement Program (PIP).

Initially, the licensee submitted status reports on the PIP biweekly which were supplemented by periodic meetings with NRC management. The management meetings were conducted to provide NRC management the opportunity to discuss and review improvement activities and tour plant facilities where improvements had been implemented.- After many of the immediate actions were completed, the status report frequency was changed to monthly and then to quarterly with a corresponding decrease in the number of NRC management meetings. On March 1, 1993, the licensee submitted a status report which stated that the closure of the last items indicated in the report " completes the tasks enumerated in our Performance Improvement Program." A meeting was held with the licensee on April 20, 1993, to review the completion of the PIP. On June 4, 1993, the Regional Administrator of Region 11 sent a letter to the Manager, Nuclear Fuel

& Components Manufacturing, GE confirming that the PIP was considered complete.

Enclosure

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Jn ' addition to those actions included in the PIP, the licensee identified other actions which will be taken to provide additional long term improvements to facility operations. The principal long term programs are the revision and improvement of operating procedures and upgraded training of operators and other personnel. As part of the over-all training upgrade, specific skills will be included in the job specification or category. Region II will continue to monitor their status during future routine inspections.

Through License amendments and revision of procedures which are traceable to the license, the current license has been significantly upgraded since the May 1991 incident.

For example, on October 10, 1991 by License Amendment 21, GE's license was amended to incorporate, into Part I of the application, additional requirements concerning the transfer of liquids from favorable to non-favorable geometries and special process commitments related to the uranium recovery unit.

In addition, after several meetings and many telephone conference calls involving GE, Region II, and NMSS staff, GE's Radiological Contingency and Emergency Plan (RCEP) was upgraded in its entirety on October 29, 1992 by License Amendment 27.

GE in its short and long term corrective actions, including its PIP program, has upgraded many of its procedures which are traceable to the license. Short term corrective actions included GE engineering, operations, and nuclear safety engineering staff reviewing and revising critical operating procedures.

Longer term corrective actions included similar reviews of other procedures.

GE revised the facility change request process immediately following the completion of their internal investigation.

Previously, the originator of the project made the determination as to whether a facility change request was required. This was changed to require that a request be submitted and-Nuclear Safety Engineering (NSE) make the determination of the extent of tN review and analysis necessary.

A separate issue was the extent of the usr >f

" replacement in kind," which was changed to require NSE concurrence for all but " exact replacement." These changes have made the control over modifications as well as new projects much stronger. The utilization of functional tests on a periodic basis provides an overcheck to the change process to verify nuclear safety controls are operable.

l PRIORITY:

2 RESOURCES:

0.75 FTE (NMSS)

STATUS:

Closed COMPLETION DATE:

06/04/93 CONTACTS:

NMSS-Emeigh RII-Collins i

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