Event Notification Report for September 23, 2007

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THIS IS NOT A NEW REPORT.

This event report was originally withheld from public release under the NRC's policy for protecting sensitive unclassified information. The NRC has reevaluated this policy and is now making this event report available to the public with suitable redactions.
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NOTIFICATION TO DEQ OF POTENTIAL AIR POLLUTION LIMIT VIOLATION

"At or around 6:30 am on Sunday, September 23 the main ventilator fan on the [DELETED] exhaust system in the [DELETED] Area ceased operation and the back-up ventilator was activated. It was determined that a breaker tripped on the main ventilator and power was lost. The breaker was reset and the main fan reactivated. At this time, it is not known how long the main fan was inactive.

"At approximately 9:30 am the breaker on the main fan tripped again and the back-up fan was activated. The main fan was inactive for approximately 30 minutes before the breaker was reset.

"The BWXT Title V Air Permit requires that if air pollution control equipment fails or malfunctions such that excess emissions occur for more than one hour, the DEQ must be notified as soon as practicable, but in no case later than four daytime business hours after the malfunction is discovered. Once Environmental Engineering was notified on Monday morning, September 24, it could not be ascertained with 100% certainty that excess emissions had occurred for more than one hour. To ensure compliance with the permit, BWXT notified DEQ within the four business hour permit limitation that an event had occurred. Should it be determined during our evaluation that an exceedance did not occur, BWXT will withdraw both the DEQ and NRC notifications.

"BWXT is making this concurrent notification in accordance with 10 CFR 70 Appendix A (c)."

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

* * * UPDATE AT 1429 EDT ON 09/27/07 FROM LEAH MORRELL TO S. SANDIN * * *

This report is retracted based on the following:

"Upon further investigation, the following was determined:

"Per area operating procedures the components being [DELETED] were removed from the acid baths, and heat/agitation to the spacer component [DELETED] baths was turned-off. Following the 6:30 am fan failure it was determined that no [DELETED] activities were occurring and hence there were no excess emissions. Following the 9:30 am fan failure, the breaker was reset and the main ventilator was re-activated in approximately 30 minutes. Since the main ventilator was restarted within approximately 30 minutes, it was concluded that no excess emissions were possible for more than one hour and hence no notification was required. BWXT, therefore, has withdrawn the Title V Air Permit notification and is also withdrawing the concurrent 10 CFR 70 Appendix A (c) notification."

The licensee will inform the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified R2DO(Widmann), FSME (Burgess) and Fuels OUO Gp via email.

* * * UPDATE ON 05/11/08 BY H. Crouch * * *

THIS IS NOT A NEW REPORT.

This event report was originally withheld from public release under the NRC's policy for protecting sensitive unclassified information. The NRC has reevaluated this policy and is now making this event report available to the public with suitable redactions.
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