Event Notification Report for July 17, 2014

FITNESS FOR DUTY REPORT INVOLVING A NON-LICENSED SUPERVISORY CONTRACT EMPLOYEE

A non-licensed supervisory contract employee had a confirmed positive for alcohol during a follow-up fitness-for-duty test. The individual's access to the plant has been terminated.

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

PART 21 REPORT - NOTIFICATION OF DEFECTS ON 2 INCH BONNETS

The following information was received from Velan Inc by facsimile:

"SUBJECT NOTIFICATION: 2 INCH BONNETS, VELAN PART NUMBER 8943-014

"On May 16, 2014 [Velan] received notification from Westinghouse Electric Co. (WES) that 2 bonnets supplied by Velan to WES in early 2013 for installation at Comanche Peak exhibited the following issues:
- The bonnets were intended to be exact replacements for the bonnets built to drawing E73-020 Rev E (OEM is Velan) except for material change to SA-182 FXM-19. Bonnets were visually inspected when received at site. No issues were noted; both bonnets appeared to be identical.
- In April 2013, Unit 1 bonnet was installed in valve 1-8109. No issues were noted with the installation. The new bonnet was put into service.
-In April 2014, Unit 2 installation was scheduled to begin. After the disassembly of the valve, the old and new bonnets were compared. It was noted that the backseat dimensions are different between the 2 bonnets. The increase in backseat diameter on the new bonnet would cause the stem to not backseat. The decision was made to re-install the old bonnet and send the new bonnet back to the OEM, Velan.

"On June 10, 2014 the bonnet, identified in the last bullet above, arrived at Velan Plant 2.

"The review by the [Velan] Evaluation Committee was finalized on July 17 and concluded that:
-Four similar bonnets were delivered to WES on three different occasions in 1988 and early 90's
-The stem head diameter is 01.312 [inches] so, when opening, the stem may pass through the stem bore of the bonnet and not seat on the backseat.
-On opening, if the limit switches on the actuator do not function, the stem may enter the packing chamber. The packing may be deformed and a leak may develop. Stem travel is limited by the disc contacting the bonnet and/or the end of the stem thread stopping on the actuator drive nut.
-If the actuator and packing flange nuts are removed, there is the potential for the stem to blow out of the valve.
-The packing chamber depth will result in more packing being installed in the valve. This may result in a higher packing friction load on the actuator when operating and reduce the actuator margin.
-The smaller packing chamber will not affect safety. A different diameter packing may be required. The gland bushing diameter (01.744 inches) is less than the packing chamber diameter and will work correctly.

"These bonnets were fabricated against ASME Sec. Ill for installation in Class 2 systems. Not knowing exactly the nature of the application we cannot determine if the [above identified] potential issues may pose a significant safety hazard and therefore we have informed WES by way of a similar letter."

* * * UPDATE PROVIDED FROM VICTOR APOSTOLESCU TO JEFF ROTTON AT 1435 EDT ON 07/28/2014 * * *

Reporting Organization/Supplier who made the original event report on 07/18/2014 reported to the NRC Operations Center that the Event Notification posted has a typographical error regarding the Velan, Inc part number described in the report. The original documentation provided was concerning Velan Part Number 8943-014 which was mistakenly transcribed as 6943-014 in the original report. This error has been corrected in this updated report.

Notified R4DO (Okeefe) and Part 21 Group via email.

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STOLEN MOISTURE/DENSITY GAUGE

The following information was received via E-mail:

"The RSO for Byer Geotechnical contacted RHB [Radiologic Health Branch] to report that an employee working at a construction site at Colorado Blvd. and Glacier St. in Eagle Rock (a suburb of Los Angeles) had a CPN model MC 1DRP gauge (s/n MD50902828) stolen from the back of his pick-up truck around 0730 PDT. This moisture density gauge contains 370 mBq (10 mCi) of Cs-137 and 1.85 Gbq ( 50 mCi) of Am-241:Be. The security chains attaching the gauge transportation case to the vehicle were cut. The employee notified his RSO asap, who contacted RHB. RHB instructed the RSO to contact the local police dept. to make a report and also place an ad in a local newspaper for return of the gauge with a monetary reward. More information will be obtained from the employee via a written report of the incident."

Notified Mexico via E-mail.

* * * UPDATE AT 1431 EDT ON 07/23/14 FROM KATHLEEN HARKNESS TO S. SANDIN VIA EMAIL * * *

"This CPN gauge was recovered by the licensee on 7/22/2014 at 1500 PDT from the driveway at the same location that it was stolen from.

"The RSO notified the RHB inspector on 7/23/2014 at 1000 PDT by phone.

"The transportation box's latch was damaged and the padlock missing, but the gauge itself appeared intact. The RSO will be bringing it to a CPN service provider for repair of the case and inspection of the gauge prior to placing it back into service. California will continue to investigate."

Notified R4DO (Miller), FSME Events Resource and ILTAB (email) and Mexico (fax).

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