| U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center Event Reports For
09/10/2007 - 09/11/2007 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** |
 | Power Reactor | Event Number: 43614 | Facility: TURKEY POINT
Region: 2 State: FL
Unit: [3] [4] [ ]
RX Type: [3] W-3-LP,[4] W-3-LP
NRC Notified By: EDWARD NIELSEN
HQ OPS Officer: BILL HUFFMAN | Notification Date: 09/05/2007
Notification Time: 12:46 [ET]
Event Date: 09/05/2007
Event Time: 11:17 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/10/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(3)(xiii) - LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE
| Person (Organization):
MIKE ERNSTES (R2)
|
| Unit | SCRAM Code | RX CRIT | Initial PWR | Initial RX Mode | Current PWR | Current RX Mode | | 3 | N | N | 0 | Cold Shutdown | 0 | Cold Shutdown | | 4 | N | Y | 100 | Power Operation | 100 | Power Operation | Event Text MODIFICATION TO PROCESS COMPUTER THAT IMPACT ERDS AND SPDS
"The Plant Process Computer System (Emergency Response and Data Acquisition System, 'ERDADS') will be taken out of service for an approximate 4 week period (on Unit 3) to implement a planned modification. The current ERDADS is being replaced on Unit 3 and a computer outage is required for the installation of the new ERDADS. During this time period ERDS and SPDS functions will not be available for Unit 3. Unit 4 will function normally after a modification (expected duration 6 hours) to the existing computer operating system software is implemented. Also, Unit 3 Regulatory Guide 1.97 category 2D containment temperature and power system indicators for motor control centers, batteries, and inverters will not be available in the Control Room, although other instrumentation is available to monitor these parameters.
"This is an 8-hour reportable event per 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(xiii) Major Loss of Assessment Capability. The operation of plant systems will not be affected due to this planned action. ERDS and SPDS parameters will be monitored by control board indications. Compensatory actions have been developed.
"Follow up notification to NRC will be given once Unit 4 ERDS and SPDS are returned to service."
The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.
* * * UPDATE PROVIDED BY JIM SPEICHER TO JEFF ROTTON AT 1031 EDT ON 09/10/07 * * *
"The Plant Process Computer System (Emergency Response and Data Acquisition System, 'ERDADS') was taken out of service on both Unit 3 and Unit 4 in order to implement a planned modification on Unit 3. The current ERDADS system is being replaced on Unit 3 during the current Unit 3 refueling outage. In order to perform this replacement, ERDS and SPDS functions had to be temporarily removed from Unit 4.
"ERDADS and SPDS functions have been returned to service on Unit 4 and have been verified to operate correctly. The ERDS link for Unit 4 was satisfactorily tested on 9/7/07.
"The ERDADS replacement on Unit 3 will continue with an estimated completion on September 24, 2007."
The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified R2DO (S. Shaeffer) |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 43618 | Rep Org: CALIFORNIA RADIATION CONTROL PRGM
Licensee: ENGINEERING REMEDIATION RESOURCES GROUP, ERRG
Region: 4
City: CONCORD State: CA
County:
License #: GENERAL
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: KENT PENDERGAST
HQ OPS Officer: BILL HUFFMAN | Notification Date: 09/06/2007
Notification Time: 18:06 [ET]
Event Date: 09/04/2007
Event Time: 06:23 [PDT]
Last Update Date: 09/06/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
TROY PRUETT (R4)
JACK DAVIS (FSME)
ILTAB VIA E-MAIL ()
MEXICO VIA E-MAIL ()
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - CALIFORNIA - THEFT OF TWO THERMO-NITON ANALYZERS
The State provided the following information via email:
"Two XRF Analyzers possessed under a general license by Engineering Remediation Resources Group (ERRG) were stolen from the cab of a truck parked overnight in San Francisco, California at Grove and Masonic. The serial numbers of the stolen Analyzers are 7497 and 7706. These devices contain 40 mCi of Cadmium-109 each. The police and the company from which the Analyzers were rented, Thermo-Niton in Boston, MA, have been notified. The cases for the Analyzers were found broken open about a block away from the location of the parked truck. All the equipment for the Analyzers was missing as well. The employees of ERRG, a soil gauge licensee (RML# 6739-07), have been retrained on maintaining the security of radioactive material in their possession. ERRG has agreed to offer a reward for the return of the Analyzers in a local newspaper. A 30 day reporting requirement was chosen because of the low exposure rate of Cadmium-109 and the unlikely possibility of opening the devices to get at the radioactive material. The energy of the X-Rays from Cadmium-109 are 22.1 Kev, 24.9 Kev and 88.0 Kev."
CA State Report No.: 090407
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Sources that are "Less than IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.
This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 43620 | Rep Org: CALIFORNIA RADIATION CONTROL PRGM
Licensee: UNKNOWN
Region: 4
City: BREA State: CA
County:
License #: UNKNOWN
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: BARBARA HAMRICK
HQ OPS Officer: BILL HUFFMAN | Notification Date: 09/06/2007
Notification Time: 19:38 [ET]
Event Date: 09/06/2007
Event Time: 08:30 [PDT]
Last Update Date: 09/06/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
TROY PRUETT (R4)
JACK DAVIS (FSME)
| Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - CALIFORNIA - STRONTIUM 90 SOURCE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN FOUND
The licensee provided the following information via email:
"On September 6, 2007 at approximately 8:30 a.m., [REDACTED] the Brea Olinda Landfill notified RHB-Brea that a radiation alarm had been set off from a transfer truck carrying a load of waste from Taormina (CVT). The maximum reading at the surface of the truck was 0.29 mr/hr. A DOT exemption (CA-CA-07-32) was issued and the truck was allowed to return to Taormina. At approximately 1:55 p.m. an RHB inspector arrived to survey and identify the waste. The item recovered appeared to be a Sr-90 eye applicator. The dose rate was approximately 100 mr/hr at approximately 1 foot from the open source and approximately 10 mr/hr at 1 foot behind the plexiglass shield that comprised part of the handle, with a background of 13 microR/hr. The source was collected by RHB, and is in safe storage, pending an investigation as to its origin. RHB intends to work with a local manufacturer and distributor to quantify the source and determine the model and serial number. The source did not appear to be compromised.
"Since a typical Sr-90 source is between 30 milliCuries and 100 milliCuries, and the criteria for an abnormal occurrence for a Sr-90 source is 81 milliCuries, we are unable to determine if this incident is an abnormal occurrence at this time. " |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 43621 | Rep Org: NC DIV OF RADIATION PROTECTION
Licensee: BUNNELL-LAMMONS ENGINEERING, INC.
Region: 1
City: ASHEVILLE State: NC
County:
License #: 011-1252-1
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: LEE COX
HQ OPS Officer: BILL HUFFMAN | Notification Date: 09/06/2007
Notification Time: 22:29 [ET]
Event Date: 09/06/2007
Event Time: 14:00 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/07/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
TODD JACKSON (R1)
JACK DAVIS (FSME)
ILTAB (VIA E-MAIL) ()
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text AGREEMENT STATE- NORTH CAROLINA - UNAUTHORIZED REMOVAL OF PORTABLE NUCLEAR GAUGE
The licensee provided the following information via email:
"N.C. Radiation Protection Section was notified on 06 Sept. 2007 at 6:15 p.m. by the NC Emergency Operations EOC Warning Point of a call from the RSO for Bunnell-Lammons Engineering, Inc. (NC Radioactive Material License #011-1252-1). The RSO reported a missing employee in a white '02-'04 Chevy Silverado truck with 'BLE' logo on the doors. Secured in the truck's bed was one Model 3450 portable moisture density gauge (Serial No. 922). The gauge contained two sealed sources: (1) Cesium-137, approx.9 millicuries, and (2) Americium-241:Beryllium, approx. 44 millicuries.
"The BLE employee was caught sleeping at the job site (Biltmore Town Square in Asheville, NC) at around 2:00 p.m. on 06 Sept. 2007. When the supervisor returned to the site at 4:00pm the same day to check on the employee, the employee, truck, and gauge were missing.
"After RPS discussed the situation with the licensee, BLE contacted local law enforcement reporting a larceny of the truck and the radioactive material. A description of the employee and truck was given.
"The Radiation Protection Section is monitoring the event and will continue to update NRC and other contacts as appropriate.
"N.C. Radiation Protection has not received any media attention as of this report. No press release has been issued."
* * * UPDATE ON 9/7/2007 AT 07:46 FROM LEE COX TO MARK ABRAMOVITZ * * *
The State provided the following information via email:
"I [Lee Cox] received a call at 07:35 from BLE RSO [DELETED] that at 07:25 this morning the employee showed up at the job site like nothing ever happened. The gauge was taken in possession by company representatives at that time in which they indicated it was still secured in the locked case with the source handle lock still in place. The RSO indicated that the gauge would be taken out of use so that a leak test of the sources could be conducted and would not be put back into operation until the results are known. The company will contact all local law enforcement of the situation and will continue to investigate this incident. Disciplinary action of the employee (most likely resulting in termination) will occur swiftly this morning."
Notified the R1DO (Jackson), FSME (Zelac) and ILTAB (Sandler).
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Sources that are "Less than IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks. |
| Power Reactor | Event Number: 43627 | Facility: TURKEY POINT
Region: 2 State: FL
Unit: [3] [ ] [ ]
RX Type: [3] W-3-LP,[4] W-3-LP
NRC Notified By: EDWARD NIELSON
HQ OPS Officer: JASON KOZAL | Notification Date: 09/10/2007
Notification Time: 14:51 [ET]
Event Date: 09/08/2007
Event Time: 12:28 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/10/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(3)(ii)(A) - DEGRADED CONDITION
| Person (Organization):
SCOTT SHAEFFER (R2)
|
| Unit | SCRAM Code | RX CRIT | Initial PWR | Initial RX Mode | Current PWR | Current RX Mode | | 3 | N | N | 0 | Refueling | 0 | Refueling | Event Text REACTOR PRESSURE BOUNDARY LEAKAGE
"On September 7, 2007, a small amount of water was discovered in the environmental qualification boundary of the 3B RCS Tcold thermowell (TE-3-420) during inspection of the thermowell. Subsequent mass spectroscopy analysis conducted at 1228, on September 8, 2007, indicated small levels of lithium, boron, strontium, and bromine indicating that the source of the water intrusion into the thermowell was likely reactor coolant system (RCS) fluid.
"Turkey Point Unit 3 Technical Specification (TS) Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO) 3.4.6.2.a permits no reactor coolant system pressure boundary leakage. As a result of the chemical analysis and indication of fluid in the thermowell, this condition is being reported to the NRC pursuant to the requirements of 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(ii)(A) as a degraded condition. An investigation of the source of the water intrusion into the thermowell is ongoing. Leakage into the TE-3-420 was previously noted during the last refueling outage for Unit 3 in March 2006 and a Short Notice Outage (SNO) conducted in June 2007. Previous inspections and sampling did not indicate the presence of boron or activity levels that were consistent with RCS water.
"At the time of discovery, Turkey Point Unit 3 was in Operational Mode 6 (Refueling). Turkey Point Unit 3 is presently defueled.
"This is a late prompt notification. The NRC Resident inspector will be notified." | |