05000331/LER-2011-001
| Duane Arnold Energy Center | |
| Event date: | |
|---|---|
| Report date: | |
| Initial Reporting | |
| ENS 46813 | 10 CFR 50.72(a)(1)(i), Emergency Class Declaration, 10 CFR 50.72(b)(1), 50.54(x) TS Deviation |
| 3312011001R00 - NRC Website | |
I. Description of Event:
On May 3, 2011 at 1328, while operating at 100% power, the site was in the process of receiving a shipment of hydrogen, a routine task that occurs approximately once per week. This evolution involves the delivery of a fresh hydrogen tube trailer by the supplier, Airgas, swapping the plant supply over from the depleted trailer, and removing the depleted trailer from the site. The hydrogen station (IEEE System Code LJ) is located outside the protected area. Due to a human performance event that occurred after the trailers were swapped, the flexible hose connection was severed when the delivery person fell on the hydrogen tube trailer connection hose. This resulted in a fire.
In response to the fire, the operations incident commander requested that security personnel evacuate a security post due to the evident safety risk posed by the fire. At 1354 it was determined that there were no adequate or equivalent compensatory measures available, and the request to suspend safeguards was granted by the Operations Shift Manager and the Technical Specification (TS) License Condition for Physical Protection (safeguards) were deviated from pursuant of 10CFR50.54(x). The decision to suspend safeguards was necessary due to the fact that the security post area was uninhabitable due to life- threatening safety concerns. At 1820 the area was declared safe for the security post personnel and they were returned to re-establish the post.
II. Assessment of Safety Consequences:
This event resulted in an injury to an Airgas employee and a hydrogen fire that created potentially fatal conditions. The fire caused nuclear safety impacts when access to the pump house was restricted. This resulted in the site declaring an Alert.
This event is being reported as Deviation from TS under 10CFR50.54(x). Additionally, this event was reported under 10CFR50.72(b)(1), Deviation from TS, reference Event Notification 46813.
This event did not result in a Safety System Functional Failure.
III. Cause of Event:
An Apparent Cause Evaluation was completed for this event. The evaluation determined that the cause was a lack of adequate or equivalent compensatory measures for the security post.
IV. Corrective Actions:
On May 3, 2011, at 1820 the area was declared safe for the security post personnel and they were returned to re-establish the post.
Follow up corrective actions include developing pre-planned compensatory measures for posts such as the one that was affected by the fire.
V. Additional Information:
Previous Similar Occurrences:
A review of Licensed Event Reports from the past 5 years did not identify any previous similar occurrences.
EIIS System and Component Codes:
LJ - Hydrogen Supply System Reporting Requirements:
This event is being reported as Deviation from TS under 10CFR50.54(x). Additionally, this event was reported under 10CFR50.72(b)(1), Deviation from TS, reference Event Notification 46813.