Event Notification Report for May 30, 2001
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center
Event Reports For
05/29/2001 - 05/30/2001
** EVENT NUMBERS **
37902 38030 38035
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|Power Reactor |Event Number: 37902 |
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| FACILITY: CRYSTAL RIVER REGION: 2 |NOTIFICATION DATE: 04/09/2001|
| UNIT: [3] [] [] STATE: FL |NOTIFICATION TIME: 11:08[EDT]|
| RXTYPE: [3] B&W-L-LP |EVENT DATE: 04/09/2001|
+------------------------------------------------+EVENT TIME: 09:54[EDT]|
| NRC NOTIFIED BY: RICHARD SWEENEY |LAST UPDATE DATE: 05/29/2001|
| HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN +-----------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------+PERSON ORGANIZATION |
|EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY |CAUDLE JULIAN R2 |
|10 CFR SECTION: | |
|*PRE 50.72(b)(2)(xi) OFFSITE NOTIFICATION | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|UNIT |SCRAM CODE|RX CRIT|INIT PWR| INIT RX MODE |CURR PWR| CURR RX MODE |
+-----+----------+-------+--------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
|3 N Y 100 Power Operation |100 Power Operation |
| | |
| | |
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EVENT TEXT
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| OFFSITE NOTIFICATION TO THE NATIONAL MARINE AND FISHERIES SERVICE AS A |
| RESULT OF THE ENDANGERED SEA TURTLES NON-LETHAL TAKE LIMIT BEING EXCEEDED |
| |
| "On April 09, 2001 at 0940 the 40th non-lethal sea turtle take in the |
| biennial period occurred. |
| |
| "In accordance with Crystal River Unit #3 Operating License, Appendix B, |
| Environmental Protection Plan (Non-Radiological), 'Endangered or threatened |
| sea turtles shall be protected in accordance with the Incidental Take |
| Statement issued by the National Marine and Fisheries Service (NMFS).' The |
| NMFS has established numerical limits on live takes, lethal takes causally |
| related to plant operation, and lethal takes not related to plant |
| operations. |
| |
| "The NMFS must be notified within five days whenever: |
| |
| a. The 40th non-lethal take occurs in the biennial period, or |
| b. The third causally related mortality occurs in the biennial period, or |
| c. The sixth non-causally related mortality occurs in the biennial |
| period. |
| |
| "The current biennial period for monitoring sea turtle takes began January |
| 1, 2001. |
| |
| "Thus, in accordance with Crystal Unit #3 Administrative Instruction 571, |
| Sea Turtle Rescue and Handling Guidance, the NMFS must be notified within |
| five days. |
| |
| "In accordance with Crystal River Unit #3 Compliance Procedure 151, External |
| Reporting Requirements, this 40th non-lethal sea turtle take is Reportable |
| as a 4-Hour Report under 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi) as this event is related to |
| the protection of the environment for which a notification to other |
| government agencies has been or will be made." |
| |
| The licensee will inform the NRC resident inspector. |
| |
| * * * UPDATE 0944EDT ON 4/10/01 FROM R. SWEENEY TO S. SANDIN * * * |
| |
| "On April 10, 2001 at 0859 the 41st non-lethal sea turtle take in the |
| biennial period occurred." |
| |
| The licensee informed the NRC resident inspector. Notified R2DO(Julian). |
| |
| ***** UPDATE RECEIVED AT 0911 ON 04/17/01 FROM CHRISTOPHER PELLERIN TO LEIGH |
| TROCINE ***** |
| |
| The 42nd, non-lethal, sea turtle take in the biennial period occurred at |
| 0810 on April 17, 2001. |
| |
| The licensee notified the NRC resident inspector. The NRC operations |
| officer notified the R2DO (Ernstes). |
| |
| * * * UPDATE 1125 EDT ON 5/1/01 FROM DAVID SCHULKER TO FANGIE JONES * * * |
| |
| "On May 1, 2001 at 0805 a turtle was identified as the 43rd rescued, live |
| sea turtle in this biennial period. This sea turtle will be kept for a |
| short observation period and then safely returned to the environment." |
| |
| The licensee will inform the NRC Resident Inspector and the National |
| Wildlife and Fisheries Service. Notified R2DO(Jay Henson). |
| |
| * * * UPDATE ON 5/29/01 BY FERGUSON TO SANDIN * * * |
| |
| On May 29, 2001 at 0943 two turtles were identified as the 44th and 45th |
| rescued, Iive Sea turtles in this biennial period. These healthy sea turtles |
| will be kept for a short observation period and then safely returned to the |
| environment. |
| |
| |
| This is Reportable as a 4-Hour Report under 10 CFR 50.72 (b) (2) (xi) as |
| this event is related to the protection of the environment for which a |
| notification to other government agencies has been or will be made. This is |
| an update to event 37902. |
| |
| The NRC Resident Inspector was notified. The REG2 RDO(Barr) was informed. |
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|General Information or Other |Event Number: 38030 |
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| REP ORG: CA RADIATION CONTROL PRGM |NOTIFICATION DATE: 05/24/2001|
|LICENSEE: IBA/STERIGENICS INTERNATIONAL |NOTIFICATION TIME: 23:05[EDT]|
| CITY: CORONA REGION: 4 |EVENT DATE: 04/24/2001|
| COUNTY: STATE: CA |EVENT TIME: [PDT]|
|LICENSE#: 5956-33 AGREEMENT: Y |LAST UPDATE DATE: 05/29/2001|
| DOCKET: |+----------------------------+
| |PERSON ORGANIZATION |
| |MARK SHAFFER R4 |
| |THOMAS ESSIG NMSS |
+------------------------------------------------+ |
| NRC NOTIFIED BY: ROBERT GREGER | |
| HQ OPS OFFICER: BOB STRANSKY | |
+------------------------------------------------+ |
|EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY | |
|10 CFR SECTION: | |
|NAGR AGREEMENT STATE | |
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| | |
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EVENT TEXT
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| AGREEMENT STATE REPORT |
| |
| On 4/24/2001, an irradiator facility experienced a loss of electrical power |
| to a programmable logic controller (PLC) which resulted in the inability to |
| automatically lower the source racks. The source racks were manually lowered |
| to a safe condition upon discovery of the failure. |
| |
| The following information was provided by the licensee to the California |
| Radiation Control Program on 5/15/2001: |
| |
| "Description of Events: |
| |
| "The first indication that there was a problem came at 9:00 p.m. 4/24/01, |
| when the in-line water monitor signaled a failure. The Shift Leader took |
| appropriate action per the Emergency Procedures and determined that there |
| was no radiation present in the water system. He notified the QA Technician, |
| who had performed a calibration of the monitor that afternoon. |
| |
| "After reviewing the procedure followed for calibration routine and |
| determining that no problems occurred with the calibration that would trip |
| the alarm, the QA Technician, notified the facility Radiation Protection |
| Office (RPO). She determined that this was a false alarm, probably caused by |
| air bubbles in the system, as has previously occurred with the water |
| monitor. [... Permission was given] to allow the system to continue running |
| with the water alarm disarmed until more investigation could be performed in |
| the morning. |
| |
| "Starting at about 7:00 a.m., additional water counts, using the monitor, |
| were taken and resulted in normal background readings. Since the routine |
| counts showed expected background levels and the alarm did not activate |
| again, the concluded that a pocket of water bubbles from a filter change had |
| worked its way through the system and caused spurious readings on the |
| monitor, which had occurred on previous occasions. All of the events to this |
| point were consistent with this determination. |
| |
| "At 8:20 am., the Operator notified the RPO that the in-line alarm was |
| sounding again. On reviewing the PLC control panel, she noted that none of |
| the indicators on the panel were lit, as they should have been, even though |
| the computer monitor (PLC user interface) was operating. In concert with the |
| Plant Manager, they determined that the audible alarm that the Operator |
| heard was not the in-line monitor, but was an alarm indicating that the PLC |
| was off-line. |
| |
| "Further investigation revealed that the system conveyor had stopped moving |
| (i.e., product was stationary within the cell), but that the source racks |
| bad not automatically returned to the shielded position, as they should |
| have, the source racks were manually lowered from the roof by 8:40 a.m. |
| During this time, the door interlock continued to function properly, |
| prohibiting access to the cell through the personnel access door. |
| |
| "In determining the probable cause of the event, the first evaluation was |
| that the power supply had malfunctioned. However, upon further |
| investigation, it was determined that the most probable cause was an |
| electrical short in the system. After extensive trouble-shooting and |
| investigation, the electrical short was finally located in the line going to |
| one of the emergency pull cords in the cell. The cable had actually melted |
| at the point of the failure. |
| |
| "That part of the systems was rewired and the system restarted at |
| approximately 4:00 p.m. The safety system was checked for proper operation |
| and routine processing resumed at 4:45 p.m. |
| |
| "Evaluation of Event and Root Cause: |
| |
| "Upon Engineering review of the electrical drawings, it was determined that |
| a short circuit on the pull cords or other devices could have tripped one of |
| the circuit breakers, power from which feeds the PLC and other modules in |
| the PLC rack. The audible alarm was the PLC Off Line Sonalert, which, as |
| intended, served as a warning the PLC was not operating. With the PLC off, |
| there was no power control to lower the source racks. In normal |
| circumstances of power failure, the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) |
| provides adequate emergency power to lower the source racks by releasing the |
| hoist brakes in a pulsed mode. However, with the PLC not operating, this |
| power was not supplied to the brakes, which then had to be released |
| manually. |
| |
| "The water monitor alarm activation was probably caused by shorting line |
| voltage to the grounding circuit. This momentary surge in current, |
| particularly on the ground path, could cause an erroneous indication at the |
| monitor. Other facilities have had spurious water monitor alarms resulting |
| from ground fault conditions. |
| |
| "Corrective Actions and Additional Considerations: |
| |
| "Corrective actions to the event are: |
| |
| "1. The circuit will be modified to ensure the PLC does not lose power |
| if a device or device wiring causes a short circuit. |
| |
| "2. Additional training will be provided to operators to be more |
| cognizant of the system response to a PLC off-line fault. While the PLC |
| off-line alarm is a local alarm, meaning that it sounds at the control |
| console and does not active general alarms throughout the warehouse, all |
| system operations are stopped, including overhead conveyors and the 4-shelf |
| elevator (i.e., device that shifts totes among positions in the carrier). |
| The absence of movement in these systems should have alerted the operator to |
| a systemic failure of the controls. In this instance, the tune period |
| between the equipment failure and initial resolution (manually lowering the |
| source racks) was only a few minutes. Because the door interlock continues |
| to function under these circumstances, the situation did not pose a |
| radiation safety hazard to the operator or other personnel. Although, |
| operator training currently includes instructions for determining console |
| power status and the proper procedure for lowering the source racks under |
| circumstances such as occurred here, the training will be reinforced and |
| repeated |
| |
| "3. To avoid further problems with the in-line water monitor alarm, an |
| evaluation is being conducted to determine whether the water monitor can be |
| connected to an isolated-ground receptacle and circuit. This would have the |
| effect of making the monitor less affected by stray currents, and other |
| sources of 'noise' on the power line." |
| |
| * * * UPDATE 0945EDT ON 5/29/01 FROM CA RAD CONTROL PRGM TO S. SANDIN * * * |
| |
| California Radiation Control Prgm update to identify NMED Report Number |
| XCA52 for this incident. |
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|General Information or Other |Event Number: 38035 |
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| REP ORG: BOWSER-MORNER INC |NOTIFICATION DATE: 05/29/2001|
|LICENSEE: BOWSER-MORNER INC |NOTIFICATION TIME: 10:30[EDT]|
| CITY: TOLEDO REGION: 3 |EVENT DATE: 05/27/2001|
| COUNTY: STATE: OH |EVENT TIME: 09:30[EDT]|
|LICENSE#: 34-17390-02 AGREEMENT: Y |LAST UPDATE DATE: 05/29/2001|
| DOCKET: |+----------------------------+
| |PERSON ORGANIZATION |
| |MARK RING REG3 |
| |LARRY CAMPER NMSS |
+------------------------------------------------+ |
| NRC NOTIFIED BY: ALLEN | |
| HQ OPS OFFICER: CHAUNCEY GOULD | |
+------------------------------------------------+ |
|EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY | |
|10 CFR SECTION: | |
|BAB1 20.2201(a)(1)(i) LOST/STOLEN LNM>1000X | |
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EVENT TEXT
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| TROXLER GAUGE STOLEN FROM COMPANY TRUCK AT RESIDENCE |
| |
| Sometime between 0200-0930 hours on 5/27 a company truck was broken into |
| removing a Troxler gauge and it's case. The gauge was properly stowed and |
| it's case attached to the truck bed using a chain and lock. The truck was |
| parked overnight at the residence of the employee at 402 Lochmoor Drive in |
| Temperance, MI. The stolen Troxler is a model 3401B, S/N 13442, whose last |
| measured activity on 4/30/01 was 5.6 mCi Cs-137 and 39 mCi Am-241/Be. The |
| Monroe County Sheriffs Department in Temperance, MI and Ohio Department of |
| Health were both notified. The licensee plans on issuing a press release. |
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