ML12073A327

University of California - Irvine, Reply to a Notice of Violation, Dated January 17th 2012

ML12073A327
Person / Time
Site:	University of California - Irvine
Issue date:	02/14/2012
From:	Gottfredson M, Geoffrey Miller University of California - Irvine
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML12073A327 (4)

Text

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE BERKELEY

• DAVIS

• IRVINE

• LOS ANGELES

• RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO

• SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA

• SANTA CRUZ George E. Miller IRVINE, CA 92697-2025 Senior Lecturer Emeritus (949) 824-6649 or 824-6082 Department of Chemistry and FAX: (949) 824-8571 Director, Nuclear Reactor Facility email : gemiller@uci.edu Faculty Advisor for Science, UCI Center for Education Partnerships February 1 4 th 2012 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN: Document Control Desk Washington, D.C. 20555 Reply to a Notice of Violation, dated January 1 7 th 2012.

References:

Docket 50-326. License R-1 16 UC Irvine Nuclear Reactor Facility NRC Inspection Report 50-326/Notice of Violation We are pleased that the recent inspection report on the inspection conducted December 12.-i44 2011 concluded that our operation of the nuclear research reactor was generally found acceptable and within compliance and continues with due..regard to the health and safety of the public. However, your inspectors determined that two violations of rules and regulations had occurred.

In response we reply as follows. .1. Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.54(k) states-that an operator or senior operator licensed pursuant to part 5-5 of this chapter shall be present at the controls at all times during the operation of the facility...

The NRC-approved Facility License states in part:, The license shall be deemedto contain and be subject to -the conditions S specified'inPart 20,Secion 30.34,of Part 30, sections 50.54 and 50.59 of Pait.50, and sectio6n70.32 of Part 70 of the Commissioner's regulations; is subject to all applicable provisions of the Act and Rules, regulations and orders of the Commission now or hereafter in effect.Contrary to the above requirements, an operator or senior operator licensed pursuant to' 10 CFR par 55 was not present atthe controls at all times duringthe operation of the facility'."On December' 12,2011, the inspectors observed that the reactor operator left the' controls ivhile the reactor was not secured. Once, while the reactor key was in the control panel during start-up, and another time while the reactor was'in operation.

a. We regret these instances carried out by a recently licensed SRO. We are fully cognizant of the responsibilities conferred by the cited 10 CFR regulations.

b. CorrectiveSteps Taken. This operator and our other licensed operators-and trainees have been made fully aware of the governing, parts of the cited regulations that are in addition to our current Technical Specifications (TS).

We now consider our facility to be in full compliance.

c. Further Corrective Steps. We are currently reviewing our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) with a view to bringing them in line with major changes upcoming in TS as relicensing progresses.

We will incorporate additional language to draw attention to this issue and the cited regulations in 10 CFR. We believe that this and the associated training and requalification needed will assure future compliance at this facility.2. Regulation 10 CFR 71.5(a) requires that a licensee who transports licensed material outside of the site of usage, as specified in the NRC license, or where transport is on public highways, or who delivers licensed material to a carrier for transport, comply with the applicable requirements of the regulations appropriate to the mode of transport of the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 49 CFR Parts 107, 171-180, and 390-397. Specifically, 10 CFR 71.5(a)(1)(vi) identifies the need for hazardous material employee training.

Regulation 49 CFR Part 172: subpart H identifies the need for recurrent hazardous material training every three years.Contrary to the above requirements, on several occasions beginning September 25, 2010 and throughout 2011, an NRC licensee "shipper" shipped licensed material outside the site of usage without receiving recurrent hazardous material training every three years. It was determined during the course of the inspection that the NRC licensee performing the shipping had exceeded the recurrent training requirement for shipping hazardous material.

The expiration date for training was on September 25, 2010.a. We regret the oversight that led to this occurrence.

However we would emphasize that the actual shipments were made entirely in accord with appropriate DOT regulations.

b. Corrective Steps. We have completed the recurrent training for the one individual who made the shipments prior to making any shipments in 2012.We have also trained two additional persons for shipping hazardous material, and now consider that we are in full compliance.

c. Further Corrective Steps. We will provide reminders for the three year required recurrent training within our reactor maintenance and surveillance listings in order to maintain future compliance.

We would disagree, however, that either of these incidents, while clearly violations of regulatory requirements, constituted any actual decrease in safety at our facility, nor did either increase the probability of an unsafe condition being realized.

In the first event, the TRIGA reactor is unable to initiate an unsafe condition even if no person is at the controls.

Sufficient checks and safeguards, in addition to the inherent fuel safety, are in place to avert any unsafe incident.

Indeed, in the early days of TRIGA implementation, an effort was made to persuade regulators that the presence of an operator at all times in close proximity was not essential to safety.

In the second instance, all shipments made during the period of concern were entirely in accord with appropriate DOT/NRC regulations so that at no time was any unsafe condition created or threatened.

Sincerely

/ /'George E. Miller Mic ael R. Gotfre sonku, Executive Vice-tU ancellor and Provost Acknowledged.

Cc: Mr. Greg Schoenbeck, NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Dean Ken Janda, UCI School of Physical Sciences Members, UCI Reactor Operations Committee Licensed reactor operators for the UCI reactor.

University of California, Irvine Physical Sciences Dean's Office 164 Rowland Hall Irvine, CA 92697-4675 016H26520002

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