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Event Notification Report for February 23, 2000

                    U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
                              Operations Center

                              Event Reports For
                           02/22/2000 - 02/23/2000

                              ** EVENT NUMBERS **

36689  36716  36717  36718  36719  

!!!!!!!!! THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RETRACTED. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RETRACTED  !!!!!!!
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Power Reactor                                    |Event Number:   36689       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FACILITY: DUANE ARNOLD             REGION:  3  |NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/14/2000|
|    UNIT:  [1] [] []                 STATE:  IA |NOTIFICATION TIME: 12:19[EST]|
|   RXTYPE: [1] GE-4                             |EVENT DATE:        02/14/2000|
+------------------------------------------------+EVENT TIME:        10:30[CST]|
| NRC NOTIFIED BY:  TIM ERGER                    |LAST UPDATE DATE:  02/22/2000|
|  HQ OPS OFFICER:  JOHN MacKINNON               +-----------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------+PERSON          ORGANIZATION |
|EMERGENCY CLASS:          N/A                   |BRUCE JORGENSEN      R3      |
|10 CFR SECTION:                                 |                             |
|AOUT 50.72(b)(1)(ii)(B)  OUTSIDE DESIGN BASIS   |                             |
|NLCO                     TECH SPEC LCO A/S      |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|UNIT |SCRAM CODE|RX CRIT|INIT PWR|   INIT RX MODE  |CURR PWR|  CURR RX MODE   |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|1     N          Y       100      Power Operation  |100      Power Operation  |
|                                                   |                          |
|                                                   |                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                                   EVENT TEXT                                   
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| THREE CONTAINMENT NITROGEN MAKEUP FOR TORUS AND DRYWELL VALVES  ARE NOT      |
| CAPABLE OF CLOSING DURING A DESIGN BASIS ACCIDENT.                           |
|                                                                              |
| Control Room was notified by system engineering that design basis review     |
| calculations have determined that Air Operated Valves CV4311, CV4312, and    |
| CV4313 (containment nitrogen makeup for torus and drywell) are not capable   |
| of closing during a design basis accident.  The spring closing force is      |
| borderline such that the spring force may not be large enough to close the   |
| valve when the containment is at its maximum pressure during a design basis  |
| accident.                                                                    |
|                                                                              |
| CV4311, CV4312, and CV4313 have been declared inoperable.  The licensee      |
| entered Technical Specification 3.6.1.3 condition B to isolate the affected  |
| penetrations within one hour. The valves have been closed and at this time   |
| the licensee is de-energizing the power to the valves.                       |
|                                                                              |
| The NRC Resident Inspector was notified of this event by the licensee.       |
|                                                                              |
| * * * UPDATE AT 1137 ON 02/22/00 BY BRIAN HUPKE TO JOLLIFFE * * *            |
|                                                                              |
| After testing the above valves and reviewing the margins in the analysis     |
| used, the licensee has concluded that the valves were actually capable of    |
| performing their intended containment isolation function.  The licensee      |
| declared these valves operable at 1619 CST on 02/17/00.  Since this event is |
| no longer reportable to the NRC, the licensee desires to retract this event  |
| and does not plan to submit an LER on this event.                            |
|                                                                              |
| The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.                            |
|                                                                              |
| The NRC Operations Officer notified the R3DO Jim Creed.                      |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|General Information or Other                     |Event Number:   36716       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| REP ORG:  NC DIV OF RADIATION PROTECTION       |NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/22/2000|
|LICENSEE:  SRB TECHNOLOGIES                     |NOTIFICATION TIME: 12:16[EST]|
|    CITY:  WINSTON-SALEM            REGION:  2  |EVENT DATE:        02/22/2000|
|  COUNTY:                            STATE:  NC |EVENT TIME:        10:15[EST]|
|LICENSE#:                        AGREEMENT:  Y  |LAST UPDATE DATE:  02/22/2000|
|  DOCKET:                                       |+----------------------------+
|                                                |PERSON          ORGANIZATION |
|                                                |CHARLES OGLE         R2      |
|                                                |DON COOL             NMSS    |
+------------------------------------------------+JOSEPH GIITTER       IRO     |
| NRC NOTIFIED BY:  LEE COX                      |                             |
|  HQ OPS OFFICER:  DICK JOLLIFFE                |                             |
+------------------------------------------------+                             |
|EMERGENCY CLASS:          N/A                   |                             |
|10 CFR SECTION:                                 |                             |
|NAGR                     AGREEMENT STATE        |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

                                   EVENT TEXT                                   
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| - UPS is searching for an overdue shipment of a  box of 10 fire exit signs   |
| which contain tritium gas -                                                  |
|                                                                              |
| At 1015 on 02/22/00, Lee Cox, North Carolina Division of Radiation           |
| Protection (NC DRP), was notified that 1 of 10 cardboard boxes of fire exit  |
| signs did not arrive at the intended destination.  The missing box contains  |
| 10 model #B-100 fire exit signs; each sign contains 17 curies of tritium     |
| gas.  The signs were shipped via UPS from SRB Technologies Company (NC       |
| Licensee), Winston-Salem, NC on 01/27/00 and were scheduled to arrive at DMA |
| Company, Salt Lake City, UT on 02/03/00.  On 02/07/00, the shipper, SRB      |
| Technologies Company, was notified by the receiver, DMA Company, that 1 of   |
| the 10 boxes of signs had not arrived in Salt Lake City.  On 02/22/00, the   |
| shipper notified NC DRP of the missing box of signs and that UPS is          |
| searching for the missing box of signs.                                      |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Fuel Cycle Facility                              |Event Number:   36717       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FACILITY: PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT   |NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/22/2000|
|   RXTYPE: URANIUM ENRICHMENT FACILITY          |NOTIFICATION TIME: 15:54[EST]|
| COMMENTS: 2 DEMOCRACY CENTER                   |EVENT DATE:        02/22/2000|
|           6903 ROCKLEDGE DRIVE                 |EVENT TIME:        12:00[EST]|
|           BETHESDA, MD 20817    (301)564-3200  |LAST UPDATE DATE:  02/22/2000|
|    CITY:  PIKETON                  REGION:  3  +-----------------------------+
|  COUNTY:  PIKE                      STATE:  OH |PERSON          ORGANIZATION |
|LICENSE#:  GDP-2                 AGREEMENT:  N  |JAMES CREED          R3      |
|  DOCKET:  0707002                              |BRIAN SMITH          NMSS    |
+------------------------------------------------+JOSEPH GIITTER       IRO     |
| NRC NOTIFIED BY:  RICK LARSON                  |                             |
|  HQ OPS OFFICER:  DICK JOLLIFFE                |                             |
+------------------------------------------------+                             |
|EMERGENCY CLASS:          N/A                   |                             |
|10 CFR SECTION:                                 |                             |
|NBNL                     RESPONSE-BULLETIN      |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

                                   EVENT TEXT                                   
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NRC BULLETIN 91-01, 4 HOUR REPORT -                                          |
|                                                                              |
| At 1200 on 02/22/00, the Plant Shift Superintendent (PSS) was notified by    |
| the Nuclear Criticality Safety staff that there was a Fissile Material       |
| Operation (FMO) for which no Nuclear Criticality Safety Approval (NCSA)      |
| existed. While reviewing NCSAs to determine the requirements for moving      |
| cylinders into the X-710 laboratory building, it was discovered that the     |
| transportation or movement of a five inch diameter cylinder in the X-710     |
| laboratory building hallways was not addressed in any current NCSA.          |
|                                                                              |
| Activities involving the use of five inch diameter cylinders in the X-710    |
| laboratory are addressed by NCSA-0710-006 (Uranium Sampling Laboratory).     |
| The laboratory extracts samples from process sampling cylinders, empties,    |
| decontaminates and prepares cylinders for reuse in the process facilities.   |
| NCSA-0710-006 failed to specifically identify and analyze the movement of    |
| five inch diameter cylinders in the X-710 building hallway as an activity to |
| be evaluated.                                                                |
|                                                                              |
| SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS:                                               |
|                                                                              |
| Since there is an issue of non-coverage of An FMO, this event is being       |
| reported as a Level 2 event - Loss of all double contingency controls        |
| applicable to an FMO.  However, in practice, the requirements of             |
| NCSA-0710-006 are followed.  The only time a five inch diameter cylinder is  |
| moved out of the Uranium Sampling Laboratory (and into the hallway) is to    |
| load them into a PLANT043 transport vehicle.  There are also spacing         |
| requirements associated with this NCSA.  All of the spacing requirements     |
| have been met while transporting five inch diameter cylinders through the    |
| X-710 building hallway.  Therefore, the safety significance is very low.     |
|                                                                              |
| POTENTIAL CRITICALITY PATHWAYS INVOLVED [BRIEF SCENARIO(S) OF HOW CRITICAUTY |
| COULD OCCUR]:                                                                |
|                                                                              |
| If a cylinder was not spaced 24 inches from other uranium-bearing material,  |
| the chance of a criticality would be increased.  Since the cylinders from    |
| the Uranium Sampling Laboratory are limited to 5% U-235 enrichment, multiple |
| cylinder spacing upsets would be required before a criticality would be      |
| possible (since the evaluation performed in PLANT043 considers two eight     |
| inch diameter cylinders in contact at 97.65% U-235 and determines that they  |
| would be subcritical).                                                       |
|                                                                              |
| CONTROLLED PARAMETERS (MASS, MODERATION, GEOMETRY, CONCENTRATION, etc):      |
|                                                                              |
| The parameters controlled are the geometry of the five inch diameter         |
| cylinder, the enrichment of the cylinder, and spacing between                |
| uranium-bearing material and a five inch diameter cylinder.  All controls on |
| parameters were maintained.                                                  |
|                                                                              |
| ESTIMATED AMOUNT, ENRICHMENT, FORM OF LICENSED MATERIAL (INCLUDE PROCESS     |
| LIMIT AND % WORST CASE OF CRITICAL MASS):                                    |
|                                                                              |
| The five inch diameter cylinders have a favorable geometry for any           |
| enrichment, but are limited to 5% U-235 by an administrative control.        |
|                                                                              |
| NUCLEAR CRITICALITY SAFETY CONTROL(S) OR CONTROL SYSTEM(S) AND DESCRIPTION   |
| OF THE FAILURES OR DEFICIENCIES:                                             |
|                                                                              |
| The NCS controls on cylinder geometry, enrichment, and spacing were          |
| maintained.  A failure has occurred in that the boundaries for NCSAs are     |
| unclear as written in their process descriptions.                            |
|                                                                              |
| CORRECTIVE ACTIONS TO RESTORE SAFETY SYSTEM AND WHEN EACH WAS IMPLEMENTED:   |
|                                                                              |
| At the direction of the PSS, the requirements for an NCS Anomalous Condition |
| were initiated.  A "Stop Work Notice" was implemented with the following     |
| requirements:  1) No movement of five inch diameter cylinders in hallways of |
| the X-710 building.   2) No movement of five inch diameter cylinders into or |
| out of the X-710 building.                                                   |
|                                                                              |
| There was no loss of hazardous or radioactive material nor radioactive or    |
| radiological contamination exposure as a result of this event.               |
|                                                                              |
| The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified of this event.                  |
|                                                                              |
| PTS-2000- 018   PR-PTS-00-01046                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Power Reactor                                    |Event Number:   36718       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FACILITY: FERMI                    REGION:  3  |NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/22/2000|
|    UNIT:  [2] [] []                 STATE:  MI |NOTIFICATION TIME: 22:59[EST]|
|   RXTYPE: [2] GE-4                             |EVENT DATE:        02/22/2000|
+------------------------------------------------+EVENT TIME:        22:05[EST]|
| NRC NOTIFIED BY:  JEFF GROFF                   |LAST UPDATE DATE:  02/22/2000|
|  HQ OPS OFFICER:  DICK JOLLIFFE                +-----------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------+PERSON          ORGANIZATION |
|EMERGENCY CLASS:          N/A                   |JAMES CREED          R3      |
|10 CFR SECTION:                                 |                             |
|DDDD 73.71               UNSPECIFIED PARAGRAPH  |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|UNIT |SCRAM CODE|RX CRIT|INIT PWR|   INIT RX MODE  |CURR PWR|  CURR RX MODE   |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|2     N          Y       97       Power Operation  |97       Power Operation  |
|                                                   |                          |
|                                                   |                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                                   EVENT TEXT                                   
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Plant Physical Security Event -                                              |
|                                                                              |
| Vital area door keys inadvertently removed from the site.  Compensatory      |
| measures were not fully implemented in the required time but are now fully   |
| implemented.  The licensee plans to notify the NRC Resident Inspector.       |
| Contact the NRC Operations Officer for additional details.                   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Fuel Cycle Facility                              |Event Number:   36719       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FACILITY: PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT   |NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/22/2000|
|   RXTYPE: URANIUM ENRICHMENT FACILITY          |NOTIFICATION TIME: 23:29[EST]|
| COMMENTS: 2 DEMOCRACY CENTER                   |EVENT DATE:        02/21/2000|
|           6903 ROCKLEDGE DRIVE                 |EVENT TIME:        23:45[EST]|
|           BETHESDA, MD 20817    (301)564-3200  |LAST UPDATE DATE:  02/23/2000|
|    CITY:  PIKETON                  REGION:  3  +-----------------------------+
|  COUNTY:  PIKE                      STATE:  OH |PERSON          ORGANIZATION |
|LICENSE#:  GDP-2                 AGREEMENT:  N  |JAMES CREED          R3      |
|  DOCKET:  0707002                              |ROBERT PIERSON       NMSS    |
+------------------------------------------------+                             |
| NRC NOTIFIED BY:  ERIC SPAETH                  |                             |
|  HQ OPS OFFICER:  JOHN MacKINNON               |                             |
+------------------------------------------------+                             |
|EMERGENCY CLASS:          N/A                   |                             |
|10 CFR SECTION:                                 |                             |
|NCFR                     NON CFR REPORT REQMNT  |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
|                                                |                             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

                                   EVENT TEXT                                   
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HIGH DISCHARGE ALARM FOR THE W-2 COMPRESSOR.  LEAK TESTING OF THE W-2        |
| COMPRESOR INDICATE A SEAL FAILURE WITH POTENTIAL FOR URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE    |
| OUT GASSING.                                                                 |
|                                                                              |
| At approximately 2347 hours, 02/21/00, operations personnel received a       |
| Cascade Automatic Data Processing (CADP) smoke head alarm for Extended Range |
| Product (ERP) W-2 withdrawal station compressor.  Operations personnel had   |
| responded to a High Discharge Alarm for the W-2 compressor and upon arrival  |
| discovered the compressor shutdown and the CADP smoke head in alarm.  No     |
| smoke was discovered during the investigation of the alarm, however the      |
| smoke head is located inside a heated housing not readily accessible to      |
| operations personnel.  Leak testing of the W-2 compressor indicated a seal   |
| failure with potential for uranium hexafluoride out gassing.                 |
|                                                                              |
| Operations and engineering personnel are continuing to investigate the cause |
| of the smoke head alarm, but have not provided evidence at this time to      |
| invalidate the alarm.  PORTS is reporting this alarm as a valid actuation to |
| a "Q" Safety  System.                                                        |
|                                                                              |
| There was no loss of hazardous/radioactive material or                       |
| radioactive/radiological contamination exposure as a result  of this event.  |
|                                                                              |
|                                                                              |
| The NRC Resident Inspector was notified of this event by the certificate     |
| holder.                                                                      |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+


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