ML18107A355

LER 99-005-00:on 990504,failure to Meet TS Action Statement Requirements for High Oxygen Concentration in Waste Gas Holdup Sys Occurred.Caused by Inability of Operators. Existing Procedures Will Be Evaluated.With 990602 Ltr

ML18107A355
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	06/02/1999
From:	Garchow D, Knieriem B Public Service Enterprise Group
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
LER-99-005-01, LER-99-5-1, LR-N990263, NUDOCS 9906080296
Download: ML18107A355 (5)

Text

"I Public Service Electric and Gas Company P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey 08038-0236 Nuclear Business Unit

. LR-N990263 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555 LER 311/99-005-00 SALEM GENERATING STATION -UNIT 2 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-70 DOCKET NO. 50-311 .

Gentlemen:

This Licensee Event Report en~itled "Failure To Meet Technical Specification Action Statement Requirements For High Oxygen Concentration In The Waste Gas Holdup

• System" is being submitted pursuant to the requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations ****1 OCFR50.73(a)(2)(i)****

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D. F. Ga(chow General Manager Salem Operations Attachment

/rbk C Distribution LER File 3.7 9906080296 990602 PDR ADOCK 05000311 S PDR

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95-2168 REV. 6/94

NRC FORM 366 U.S. NUCLEAR LATORY COMMISSION APPROVED B B NO. 3150-0104 EXPIRES 06/30/2001 (6-1998)

Estimated burden per response to comply with this mandatory information collection request: 50 hrs. Reported lessons learned are incor~orated into the licensing process and fed back to industry. Forward commen s re~ardi~

LICENSEE EVENT REPORT (LER) burden estimate to the Records Management Branch ra-6 F33 ; U. .

Nuclear Re9!tlatory Commission~ Washin8.ton, DC 20555- 001, an to the Paperwork eduction Pro~ct 3150-01 4), Office of Management and Bui:l~et, Washin~ton, DC 050 . If an information eollection does not (See reverse for required number of disp ay a current y valid OMB control number, the NRC may not conduct or spons9r, and a person is not required to respond to, the information digits/characters for each block) collection.

FACILITY NAME (1) DOCKET NUMBER (2) PAGE(J)

SALEM UNIT 2 05000311 1 OF 4 TITLE (4)

Failure To Meet Technical Specification Action Statement Requirements For High Oxygen .Concentration In The Waste Gas Holdup System EVENT DATE (5) LER NUMBER (6) REPORT DATE (7) OTHER FACILITIES INVOLVED (8)

MONTH DAY YEAR YEAR I SEQUENTIAL NUMBER I REVISION NUMBER MONTH DAY YEAR FACILITY NAME DOCKET NUMBER 05000 05 04 99 99 -- 005 - 00 06 02 .99 FACILITY NAME DOCKET NUMBER

. 05000

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OPERATING POWER

- THIS REPORT IS SUBMITIED PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF 10 CFR §: (Check one or more) (11) 20.2201(b) 20.2203(a)(1) 20.2203(a)(2)(v) 20.2203(a)(3)(i) x 50. 73(a)(2)(i) 50.73(a)(2)(ii)

50. 73(a)(2)(viii) 50.73(a)(2)(x)

LEVEL(10) 0 20.2203(a)(2)(i) 20.2203(a)(3)(ii) 50.73(a)(2)(iii) 73.71 I : '. :y;';~~\~"* .*: *** .. *.: 20.2203(a)(2)(ii) 20.2203(a)(4) 50.73(a)(2)(iv) OTHER 1:ffe::. ,. 20.2203(a)(2)(iii) 50.36(c)(1) 50.73(a)(2)(v) Spec~in Abstract below or in C Form 366A 20.2203(a)(2)(iv) 50.36(c)(2) 50. 73(a)(2)(vii)

LICENSEE CONTACT FOR THIS LER (12)

NAME TELEPHONE NUMBER (Include Area Code)

Brooke Knieriem, Salem Licensing ( 609) 339-1782 COMPLETE ONE LINE FOR EACH COMPONENT FAILURE DESCRIBED IN THIS REPORT (13)

CAUSE SYSTEM COMPONENT MANUFACTURER REPORTABLE TOEPIX 1r* *

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CAUSE SYSTEM COMPONENT MANUFACTURER REPORTABLE.

TOEPIX 1'>5

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SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT EXPECTED (14) EXPECTED MONTH DAY YEAR NO SUBMISSION

'YES (If yes, complete EXPECTED SUBMl~SION DATE). x DATE (15)

ABSTRACT (Limit to 1400 spaces, i.e., approximately 15 single-spaced typewritten lines) (16)

This LER reports the operation of Salem Unit 2 in a condition prohibited by Technical Specification (TS) 3/4.11.2;5, Radioactive. Effluents, Explosive Ga~ Mixture. Specifically, TS 3/4.11.2.5 requires that the concentration of oxygen in the waste gas holdup system shall be limit~d to less than or equal to 2% by volume at all times. In the event that oxy9en concentration is greater than 2% by volume, but* less than 4% by volume, oxygen concentration must be reduced to 2% or less within 48 hours5.555556e-4 days <br />0.0133 hours <br />7.936508e-5 weeks <br />1.8264e-5 months <br />. Contrary to these requirements, on May 2, 1999, during draining of the Refueling Water Storage tank, the oxygen concentration in the 24 Waste Gas Decay Tank exceeded 2.8%. Corrective measures were commenced in accordance with station procedures to reduce the oxygen concentration when the out of specification condition was identified. However, the oxygen concentration was not reduced to a level of 2% or less within the required 48 hours5.555556e-4 days <br />0.0133 hours <br />7.936508e-5 weeks <br />1.8264e-5 months <br />. The failure to reduce the oxygen concentration to within TS limits within the required time was caused by the operators' inability to perform the necessary number of tank purges in the time available. To prevent recurrence, existing procedures and practices that involve the processing and purging of the Waste Gas Decay tanks will be evaluated to identify improvements that would allow for a shorter purge time. Operations Department Management will provide a read and sign notice to all Supervisors in the Control Room emphasizing the importance of taking immediate actions to remedy entering TS Action Statements.

The notice will stress the importance of the timely planning and execution of actions to

• correct out of specifica~ion conditions. In addition, an investigation will be c*onducted to identify and correct any process failure or equipment deficiency that may have contributed to the intrusion of oxygen into the Waste Gas System.

NRC FORM 366 (6-1998)

NRC FORM 366A U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (6-1998)

LICENSEE EVENT REPORT (LER}

TEXT CONTINUATION FACILITY NAME (1) DOCKET NUMBER (2) LER NUMBER (6) PAGE(3)

YEAR l SEQUENTIAL NUMBER l REVISION NUMBER SALEM UNIT 2 05000311 99 - 005. - 00 2 OF 4 TEXT (If more space is required, use additional copies of NRC Form 366A) (17)

PLANT AND SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION Westinghouse - Pressurized Water Reactor Waste Gas Holdup System {WE/-}*

Chemical And Volume Control System {CB/-}

Residual Heat Removal System {BP/-}

• Energy Industry Identification System (EIIS) codes and component function identifier codes appear as {SS/CC}

CONDITIONS PRIOR TO OCCURRENCE At the time of the occurrence, Salem Unit 2 was shutdown, in Mode 6 with the Reactor Coolant system depressurized. The Refueling Water Storage tank

{BP/-} was in the process of being drained to the 23 CVCS Hold Up Tank.

DESCRIPTION OF OCCURRENCE On May 2, 1999, at 2017, draining of the Refueling Water Storage tank to the 23*cvcs Hold Up Tank {CB/-} was halted based upon a report of high oxygen levels. The oxygen concentration in the cover gas for the 23 eves HUT was reported to be at 2.3% and the 24 Waste Gas Decay Tank {WE/-} was reported at 2.8%. Operations personnel commenced procedure S2.0P-SO~WG-0012(Q),

Purging Waste Gas Systems Components. Five purges were performed on Waste Gas Decay Tanks and on the 23 eves Hold Up Tank bef 6re oxygen levels were returned to below the Technical Specification 2% limit. Briefly during the purge process the oxygen concentration in the Waste Gas Holdup system reached 4.1%. TS 3/4.11.2.5 requires that with oxygen concentration greater than 4%, that all additions of waste gases to the system be suspended and the concentration be reduced to less than or equal to 2% without delay. At that time the actions to satisfy these TS requirements were ~lready being carried out. The Waste Gas System oxygen concentration was restored to within the TS limit of 2% or less at 1336 on May 5, 1999. The total duration of the out of specification condition was approximately 65.5 hours5.787037e-5 days <br />0.00139 hours <br />8.267196e-6 weeks <br />1.9025e-6 months <br />.

CAUSE OF OCCURRENCE The cause of the violation of the 48-hour requirement to return oxygen levels to at or below 2% was the inability of operators to expeditiously perform Waste Gas Decay Tank purges. Procedural requirements and physical plant limitations restricted the rapidity with which operators could cycle a tank through a purging cycle. In this case two tanks per day were being purged when the process required five tanks to be purged in two days to NRC FORM 366A (6-1998)

t NRC FORM 366A (6-1998)

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I LICENSEE EVENT REPORT (LER)

TEXT CONTINUATION FACILITY NAME (1) DOCKET NUMBER (2) LER NUMBER (6) PAGE (3)

YEAR I SEQUENTIAL NUMBER I REVISION NUMBER SALEM UNIT 2 05000311 99 - 005 - 00

• 3 OF 4 TEXT (If more space is required, use additional copies of NRC Form 366A) (17)

CAUSE OF OCCURRENCE (Cont.)

reduce the oxygen levels to within required limits. Contributing to this event was an initial lack of immediacy by the Control Room Operators*. The unit was midway through a refueling outage and operators' attention was focused on refueling events. At the time of discovery, the out-of-specif ication tanks were immediately isolated, to be processed at a later time. At the start of the following shift, a Control Room Supervisor and Nuclear Equipment Operator were then dedicated to the task of restoring the system to within the required limits. Comparable individuals remained involved until final restoration.

PRIOR SIMILAR OCCURRENCES A review of LERs for Salem Units 1 and 2 and Hope Creek for the past two years did not identify any reportable occurrences that involved the failure to meet TS action statement times that were caused by restrictive procedural requirements or by physical plant or procedural limitations. In addition, no LERs were identified that were caused by a lack of immediacy on the part of Control Room personnel to satisfy TS action statement requirements.

SAFETY CONSEQUENCES There were no safety consequences as a result of this event. TS 3/4.11.2.5, Radioactive Effluents, Explosive Gas Mixture, is* provided to ensure that the concentration of potentially explosive gas mixtures contained in the Waste Gas Holdup* system is maintained below the flammability limits . of hydrog*en and oxygen. Maintaining the concentration of hydrogen and oxygen below their flammability limits provides assurance that the release of radioactive materials will be controlled. During this event, the highest oxygen concentration measured was 4.1%, for a brief period. In addition, the liquid effluents that were being processed consisted of reactor coolant that had been used to support refueling operations over a thirty-four day period prior to this event. Therefore, in the event that an explosion were to have occurred, the radiological consequences would have been minimal.

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

1. Existing procedures and practices that involve the processing and purging of the Waste Gas Decay Tanks will be evaluated for improvements to allow for a shorter purge cycle time. (PIR 990504273, CRCA 01 and CRCA 02, 6/30/99)

NRC FORM 366A (6-1998)

NRC FORM 366A U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

• 1 (6-1998)

,. LICENSEE EVENT REPORT (LER)

. TEXT CONTINUATION FACILITY NAME (1) DOCKET NUMBER (2) LER NUMBER (6) PAGE (3)

YEAR I SEQUENTIAL NUMBER 1REVISION NUMBER SALEM UNIT 2 05000311 99 - 005 - 00 4 OF 4 TEXT (If more space is required, use additional copies of NRC Form 366A) (17)

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS(Cont.)

2. Operations Department Management will provide a read and sign notice to all Supervisors in the Control Room emphasizing the importance of taking immediate actions to remedy entering TS Action Statements. The notice will stress the importance of the timely planning and execution of actions to correct out of specification conditions. (PIR 990504273, CRCA 03, 6/15/99)

3. An investigation will be conducted to identify and correct any process failure or equipment deficiency that may have contributed to the intrusion of oxygen into the Waste Gas System. (PIR 990510198, CREV 01,* 6/11/99)

NRC FORM 366A (6-1998)