The licensee identified a violation of
10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B, Criterion XVI, Corrective Action, when a
condition adverse to quality, associated with a leaking pipe from the turbine building
sump discharge, was not corrected in a timely manner. Condition Report 07-26481, written on September 12, 2007, identified that portions of the
cathodic protection system were non-functional and that the material condition of underground piping was unknown. An action plan was approved to evaluate the condition of the underground piping; however, the work was delayed. On October 22, 2008, an excavation crew discovered water leaking from a 3-inch
carbon steel pipe that runs from the turbine building
sump to the settling ponds. Analysis of the water leaking from the pipe indicated the presence of
tritium at a concentration of approximately 37,000 picocuries per liter. As directed by procedure, the licensee notified State of
Ohio, Lucas County and Ottawa County government agencies and made a four hour non-emergency event notification to the NRC. Groundwater well sampling was performed on eleven wells during the week of October 27, 2008.
Tritium concentrations from each sample were below reporting limits and had not changed significantly since the previous groundwater monitoring six months prior. There was no indication that the release migrated to off-site ground water sources. This issue was entered into the
CAP as CR 08-48288. The licensee has since replaced the leaking pipe and verified its integrity. The issue is of very low safety significance because there was no radiological dose impact to a member of the public from the leak
