| U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center Event Reports For
12/17/2007 - 12/18/2007 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** |
 | General Information or Other | Event Number: 43640 | Rep Org: MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Licensee: ASSET MANAGEMENT
Region: 3
City: HUGO State: MN
County:
License #: 1008-200-82
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: GEORGE F. JOHNS, JR.
HQ OPS Officer: STEVE SANDIN | Notification Date: 09/13/2007
Notification Time: 17:11 [ET]
Event Date: 09/13/2007
Event Time: 14:00 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 12/17/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
SONIA BURGESS (R3)
PATRICE BUBAR (FSME)
ILTAB (via email) ()
CNSC (via fax) ()
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING A STOLEN TROXLER MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGE
The following information was received via email:
"The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has been notified that on September 13, 2007 at approximately 2:00 PM, a moisture-density gauge containing sealed sources of radioactive material was stolen from a pick-up truck owned by Asset Management. The truck was parked at a residence in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and the gauge was believed to have been stolen sometime during the previous night.
"The MDH, which regulates the use of these types of radioactive materials in Wisconsin, is working with the Forest Lake Police Department and officials of Asset Management to recover the stolen gauge.
"The moisture density gauge is used to measure the moisture content and density of soils and building materials. The gauge is a yellow box measuring approximately 30 inches in length, 14 inches in width and 17 inches in height (see attached picture). The gauge and the case weigh a total of 90 pounds. The gauge itself weighs 29 lbs. The case and the gauge are clearly marked as containing radioactive materials. . ."
The gauge is a Troxler Model 3430 (S/N 33277) containing two (2) sources; 9 milliCuries Cs-137 and 44 milliCuries Am-241:Be. The State of Minnesota issued a press release with contact information for the return of the gauge.
MN Report No.: MN070006.
* * * UPDATE FROM MDH (JOHNS) TO CROUCH AT 1358 EST ON 12/17/07 * * *
The Troxler moisture density gauge was recovered at 0600 CST this morning. An unknown person placed the gauge outside the Forest Lake, MN Police Department. The gauge appeared intact and no detectable leakage existed. The gauge was returned to the licensee.
Notified R3DO (Duncan), FSME (Morell), and ILTAB via email.
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. |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 43839 | Rep Org: FLORIDA BUREAU OF RADIATION CONTROL
Licensee: TIERRA INC.
Region: 1
City: WEST PALM BEACH State: FL
County:
License #: 2307-2
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: STEVE FURNACE
HQ OPS Officer: JOHN MacKINNON | Notification Date: 12/12/2007
Notification Time: 10:54 [ET]
Event Date: 12/12/2007
Event Time: 09:00 [EST]
Last Update Date: 12/12/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
JIM KRAFTY (R1)
GREG MORELL (FSME)
ILTAB (e-mailed) ()
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text FLORIDA AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STOLEN TROXLER MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGE
"Troxler gauge stolen from storage facility. Incident discovered at 0900 12-Dec-07; this office notified at 1015 same day. Police on scene. Owner will offer reward. No further action will be taken by this office."
Isotopes: Cs-137 & Am-241
Activities: 8 mCi's & 40 mCi's
Material Form: By-product; Special Form
Probable Disposition of Material: Material stolen and not recovered
Model Number: Troxler 3430, Serial Number 32900
Organizations Notified: HSER, HSERE, St. Augustine Police Dept. Case #021610
Incident Location: 150 St. Johns Business Place Suite 303, St. Augustine, FL 32095
Location Classification: Controlled Area
FL Incident Number: FL07-194
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. |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 43843 | Rep Org: AREVA FUEL MANUFACTURING
Licensee: U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Region: 1
City: LYNCHBURG State: VA
County:
License #: SNM-1227
Agreement: N
Docket: 70-1257
NRC Notified By: GAYLE ELLIOT
HQ OPS Officer: HOWIE CROUCH | Notification Date: 12/14/2007
Notification Time: 14:29 [ET]
Event Date: 12/14/2007
Event Time: [EST]
Last Update Date: 12/17/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
21.21 - UNSPECIFIED PARAGRAPH
| Person (Organization):
JIM KRAFTY (R1)
ALAN BLAMEY (R2)
JOHN MADERA (R3)
RUSSELL BYWATER (R4)
MICHELLE BURGESS (FSME)
PAO-TSIN KUO (NRR)
JOHN THORP (NRR)
| Event Text PART 21 REPORT - RASCAL SOFTWARE CODE VERSION 3.0.5
RASCAL is a software code used to estimate projected dose as a result of a radioactive release. AREVA reported that the software underestimates the dose in its calculation of a uranium release using the enrichment option. This underestimate is reported to be on the order of a factor of 0 to 8.6 times when the enrichment is in a range of 0 to 5 percent.
AREVA is recalculating the doses in their Radiation Hazards Analysis. Specifically, the licensee indicated that it will apply a factor to correct for the "enrichment" option of the code if a real or potential emergency release needs to be assessed.
Other facilities that use RASCAL are not known.
* * * UPDATE FROM NRC TO R. ALEXANDER AT 1036 EST ON 12/17/07 * * *
On Friday, December 14, 2007, the Areva fuel manufacturing facility of Richland, Washington, notified NRC regarding an error in the RASCAL computer code. The reported issue involves a code option that would be used primarily by fuel cycle facilities. Specifically, the issue involves use of an option in the code that allows users to select a uranium enrichment percentage instead of entering the activity of each uranium nuclide separately (U-234, U-235, and U-238).
This error is not present for uranium hexafluoride releases. Doses from the release of enriched uranium hexafluoride are calculated correctly.
The NRC is currently evaluating the RASCAL computer code issue reported by Areva. Until the computer code is updated, fuel cycle facilities should not use the uranium enrichment percentage option for releases other than uranium hexafluoride. As an alternative, users should enter the activity of each uranium nuclide separately (U-234, U-235, and U-238) in order to insure correct dose projections from the code.
All registered RASCAL code users and the RASCAL Users Group have been notified by email regarding this issue. Any RASCAL user seeking additional information on this issue can contact the NRC via email at sam2@nrc.gov.
Notified R1DO (Trapp), R2DO (Seymour), R3DO (Duncan), R4DO (Farnholtz), and NRR (Kuo and Hodge). |
| Power Reactor | Event Number: 43847 | Facility: MONTICELLO
Region: 3 State: MN
Unit: [1] [ ] [ ]
RX Type: [1] GE-3
NRC Notified By: MARK KRUCE
HQ OPS Officer: RYAN ALEXANDER | Notification Date: 12/17/2007
Notification Time: 10:37 [ET]
Event Date: 12/17/2007
Event Time: 02:03 [CST]
Last Update Date: 12/17/2007 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(3)(xiii) - LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE
| Person (Organization):
ERIC DUNCAN (R3)
|
| Unit | SCRAM Code | RX CRIT | Initial PWR | Initial RX Mode | Current PWR | Current RX Mode | | 1 | N | Y | 97 | Power Operation | 97 | Power Operation | Event Text LOSS OF EMERGENCY ASSESSMENT CAPABILITY (SPDS)
"At 0203 CST, the plant experienced a loss of the Safety Parameter Display System (SPDS) and other computer systems used for emergency assessment in the Control Room, Technical Support Center (TSC) and Emergency Operating Facility. This capability was fully restored at 0600 CST. The cause of the loss was an electrical fault in an intercom box in the TSC."
The licensee will notify the NRC Resident Inspector. | |