ML14209A847

Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit 1, Special Written Report of Theft or Loss of Licensed Material on 05/30/2014

ML14209A847
Person / Time
Site:	Summer
Issue date:	07/24/2014
From:	Gatlin T D South Carolina Electric & Gas Co
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML14209A847 (4)

Text

Thomas D. GatlinVice President, Nuclear Operations 803.345.4342 A SCANA COMPANY July 24, 2014Document Control DeskU. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555

Subject:

VIRGIL C. SUMMER NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 1DOCKET NO. 50-395OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-12SPECIAL REPORT (SPR) 2014-005South Carolina Electric

& Gas Company is submitting this report pursuant to therequirements of 10 CFR 20.2201 (b)(1) Reports of theft or loss of licensed

material, written reports.

On May 30, 2014, it was determined that one nuclear instrumentation incore detector containing a very small amount of Special Nuclear Material (SNM) couldnot be located at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS).

Detectors of this type areused to measure incore neutron flux (intensity of neutron radiation) inside the reactorcore vessel. The detector contains a very small amount of Uranium-235 (0.0041grams), which qualifies it as. SNM. The detector is believed to be located in a temporary disposal location in the Reactor Building (RB). This event was reported to the NRC byevent notification (EN) 50229 on June 26, 2014.The attachment contains the information required by 10 CFR 20.2201(b)(1).

Should you have any questions, please call Mr. Bruce Thompson at (803) 931-5042.

Very truly yours,Thomas D. GatlinWLT/TDG/wm Attachment c: K. B. Marsh S. A. WilliamsS. A. Byrne NRC Resident Inspector J. B. Archie K. M. SuttonN. S. Carns INPO Records CenterJ. H. Hamilton NSRCJ. W. Williams RTS (CR-14-03113)

W. M. Cherry File (818.08)V. M. McCree PRSF (RC-14-0124)

Virgil C. Summer Station -Post Office Box 88.- Jenkinsville, SC.- 29065.- F (803) 941-9776 h

Document Control DeskAttachment CR-14-03113 RC-14-0124 Page 1 of 3VIRGIL C. SUMMER NUCLEAR STATION (VCSNS) Unit 1DOCKET NO. 50-395OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-12SPECIAL REPORT (SPR) 2014-005ATTACHMENT INFORMATION REQUIRED BY 10 CFR 20.2201(b)(1)

(i) A description of the licensed material

involved, including kind, quantity, andchemical and physical form:One incore detector manufactured by Imaging and Sensing Technology is currently unaccounted for. Movable incore detectors are used to measure the neutron flux insidethe reactor core. Incore detectors are approximately 2.1 inches in length and 0.188inches in diameter.

The stainless steel detector shell is welded to the leading end ofhelical wrap drive cable and to stainless steel sheathed coaxial cable. Each detector ofthis type contains 0.0041 grams of Uranium-235 prior to irradiation; therefore, they areclassified as SNM.(ii) A description of the circumstances under which the loss or theft occurred:

During RF-21, it was determined that seven incore detectors were present in atemporary disposal location within the reactor building (RB). This conflicted with stationrecords indicating that there should be nine. An examination of Special NuclearMaterials (SNM) records from 1982 to 2014 identified a series of errors. Theexamination determined that when various spent detectors stored onsite wereconsolidated into a single storage location in 2007, a single incore detector was notproperly accounted for. This discrepancy was not detected or reported at the actualtime of the unaccountability of the incore detector, because an administrative errorappears to have obscured the discrepancy.

Document Control DeskAttachment CR-14-03113 RC-14-0124 Page 2 of 3(iii) A statement of disposition, or probable disposition, of the licensed materialinvolved:

Although the detector could not be physically

located, there is a high probability that thedetector is onsite within the radiologically controlled area.(iv) Exposures of individuals to radiation, circumstances under which theexposures

occurred, and the possible total effective dose equivalent to personsin unrestricted areas:There is no known exposure to individuals.

It is believed that the detector is locatedonsite within the radiologically controlled area; therefore, no inadvertent radiation exposures are believed to have occurred as a result of this event.This material event contains a "less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material.

Sourcesthat are "Less than International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Category 3 sources,"

are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals orcontain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury.(v) Actions that have been taken, or will be taken, to recover the material:

The remaining spent incore detectors not located in the RB are stored in a singlelocation and container.

Station personnel conducted a complete re-inventory of thisstorage container.

No additional incore detectors were found.The access of the temporary disposal location for incore detectors within the RB wassearched for the lost detector during the spring 2014 refueling outage (RF21). Thisarea will be more thoroughly searched with special inspection equipment during the fall2015 refueling outage (RF22).(vi) Procedures or measures that have been, or will be, adopted to ensure againsta recurrence of the loss or theft of licensed material:

The programmatic faults and procedure weaknesses that would have allowed this errorto occur and continue to remain undetected due to other errors were corrected by morerecent program changes.V.C. Summer Nuclear Station's (VCSNS) SNM procedure and program document wasdivided into four separate procedures in order to more clearly identify the SNM Programand its basis. Each major function of the SNM program is now described in a separateprocedure.

This program update also incorporated accountability guidelines fromupdated ANSI Standard N15.8 -2009, Methods of Nuclear Material Control -Material Document Control DeskAttachment CR-14-03113 RC-14-0124 Page 3 of 3Control Systems -Special Nuclear Material Control and Accounting Systems forNuclear Power Plants. This standard was endorsed by the NRC in Regulatory Guide5.29, Revision 2, Special Nuclear Material Control and Accounting Systems for NuclearPower Plants, issued June 2013.The VCSNS SNM control procedure was revised to include programmatic requirements for tracking incore detectors with Material Transfer Forms (MTFs).The following additional enhancements will be made to the VCSNS SNM physicalinventory procedure and will be tracked by the corrective action program:" VCSNS SNM physical inventory procedure will be revised to include a ledger ofincore detectors broken down by location as part of the non-fuel SNM bookinventory.

" VCSNS SNM physical inventory procedure will be revised to include arequirement that each Item Control Area (ICA) inventory signoff include a verifierinstead of one verifier for the total inventory.

" VCSNS SNM physical inventory procedure will be revised to include arequirement that all SNM material movements be sent to records or put intorecords as part of a work order step." VCSNS SNM physical inventory procedure will be revised to include arequirement as acceptance criteria that each annual or complete inventory mustbe compared with and reconciled with the last annual or complete inventory.

" VCSNS SNM physical inventory procedure will be revised to include arequirement to create a unique spreadsheet database file and a pdf version ofthe file for each time an inventory, partial or full, is conducted.