On 4/4/19 at approximately 1250 PDT, it was discovered that the Nuclear Test Reactor (NTR) facility control room console had not been properly secured at the Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC) in accordance with license technical specifications and internal procedures. The console key remained in the console and no licensed operator was present. The reactor is considered secured when the console key lock switch is off and the console key is in proper custody.
The reactor was shut down at the time and the key lock was in the off position. The licensed operator exited and locked the control room at 1250 PDT but left the console key at the console failing to secure it in the designated storage safe as required.
No personnel entered the control room until 1345 PDT when an authorized Radiation Monitoring Technician entered, discovered the key and immediately notified a licensed operator. Additional actions are being evaluated as a part of the corrective action program.
No unsafe condition existed, however, the event is being reported pursuant to an inadequacy of an administrative or procedural control in NTR
Technical Specification 6.2.2(a)(2) because it could have caused the existence or development of an unsafe condition with regard to reactor operations.