Event Notification Report for May 16, 2012

PRESS RELEASE REGARDING STATUS OF ONGOING LABOR NEGOTIATIONS

"On May 18, 2012, at 2100 [EDT] hours and the reactor at 100% core thermal power the following press release is being issued by Entergy Nuclear regarding the status of the ongoing labor negotiations.

"Plymouth, Mass -- Entergy Nuclear, the owner and operator of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass. said today that the company remains focused squarely on plant safety as a negotiating team works toward a four-year contract with plant workers that reflects the realities of the competitive electric power business and fairly compensates the workforce.
The contract with the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 covers approximately 240 production and maintenance/office technical and professional workers out of a total workforce of about 650 employees at the plant. The contract expired May 15 without final resolution. Plant management directed workers covered by the contract in non-essential positions to remain at home Wednesday with full pay with benefits and insurance pending further progress on the contract. It is not a lockout. The management decision to temporarily limit the workforce at the plant is in the interest of safety.
The company remains prepared to implement contingency plans in the event of a strike by the union members. Those plans assign routine tasks to other pre-qualified workers in roles that ensure continued safe operations.

"The Resident Inspector staff is onsite and has been informed of this press release and notification.

"This notification is being made in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi)."

The company feels they have adequate numbers of pre-qualified workers available to fill necessary positions to ensure continued safe operations.

STATE NOTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL CHLORINE DISCHARGE TO THE DELAWARE RIVER

"At 2210 [EDT] it was reported to the State of New Jersey that a permitted discharge exceeded Total Residual Chlorine permit level of 0.3 ppm. Actual Total Residual Chlorine discharged was 3.0 ppm. Currently the amount of the discharge is unknown and the event is under investigation. The discharge has been terminated and no personnel injury resulted form this event. The discharge originated from a tank overflow from the Chemical Treatment Building that entered the storm drain system that discharges to the Delaware River via a permitted outfall.

"No safety related equipment was impacted by this event.

"The report to the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was made in accordance with the Salem Station Spill/Discharge Reporting Plan."

The licensee estimates that the discharge occurred between 2010 and 2135 EDT on 5/16/2012 and that less than 1000 gallons overflowed the clarifier.

The licensee will notify the NRC Resident Inspector and has notified the State and Lower Alloways Creek Township.

LOST IONIZER DEVICES

During a review of records on May 10, 2012, the licensee was unable to account for 4 NRD Nuclecel In Line Ionizer model number P-2021 1000. A thorough sweep of the facilities was completed on May 16, 2012 at 1600 HST. The sweep failed to locate these devices and they were declared lost.

The materiel involved were four devices, each containing 10mCi of Polonium-210 and encased in a steel pressure welded cylindrical case, each approximately 2.3 inches long and .5 inches in diameter.

The circumstances under which the loss occurred were that one shipment of 2 devices (Serial Numbers: A2HE600A/A2HE601A) were last known to have been delivered to the licensee logistics center in August 2010 and there were no record of those two items having been returned to NRD, LLC. These two items were received from NRD on 7/8/2010. A second set of two devices (Serial Numbers: A2HT541/A2HT540) were last known to have been in a sealed package in the possession of a Boeing employee in March, 2012. These items were received from NRD on 7/14/2011.

All devices are presumed lost and potentially disposed of as ordinary waste. The casing of all devices were known to be intact at the time of loss and no exposure has occurred. A thorough review of shipping records and site wide physical search have been conducted and failed to account for the devices.

In the future, all such devices will be subject to the accountability rules, requirements, and procedures established by the USAF Bio-Environment office, Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii. Internal company procedures will be updated to conform to the requirements of the USAF Bio-Environmental Office, Hickam Air Force Base.

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. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - RADIOGRAPHY CAMERA CRANKOUT GEARS LOCKED WITH SOURCE EXPOSED

"On Wednesday May 16, 2012 at 1900 MDT, two Midwest Industrial X-Ray, Inc. radiographers had a reportable incident involving a radioactive material exposure device. The exposure device involved was a SPEC 150 SN:386 loaded with an Ir-192 sealed source model G-60 SN: TC1301. The activity level on 5/16/12 was 56 Ci (2072 GBqs). A SPEC Double Gear Control Assembly with red conduit was used for the drive cable.

"The radiographers had made previous exposures during the day without incurring any equipment malfunction. At approximately 1900, the radiographers had 'cranked out' the source to make an exposure and upon retraction were unable to retract the source. The radiographers removed the cover plate of the control assembly and manually pulled the drive cables in order to retract the source back into the locked and shielded position. The sealed source was exposed for approximately 3 minutes. Caution Radiation Area cones were posted at 95 ft. from the source and no persons were inside the 2mR/hr zone. The drive cable was disconnected and no further exposures were made that day. The exposure device was inspected and was found to be in good working condition.

"Corrective Actions: A set of SPEC single gear control assembly, yellow conduit drive cables were brought to the radiographers to replace the malfunctioning drive cables. The set of malfunctioning drive cables will be sent back to SPEC and traded in for a set of single gear control assembly/yellow conduit drive cables."

* * * UPDATE FROM STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA VIA EMAIL AT 1046 EDT ON 6/15/12 * * *

Source Production & Equipment Company (SPEC) was unable to replicate the failure using the returned gears. They did note that the gears offered a large amount of resistance, had impurities and that the drive cable was out-of-tolerance.

Notified R4DO (Lantz) and FSME Events via email.

* * * UPDATE FROM STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA VIA EMAIL AT 1148 EDT ON 6/19/12 * * *

The final closeout report of event notification 47933 was provided.

Notified R4DO (Miller) and FSME Events via email.