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 +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Power Reactor |Event Number: 37902 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ EVENT TEXT +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |General Information or Other |Event Number: 38030 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ EVENT TEXT +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |General Information or Other |Event Number: 38035 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ EVENT TEXT +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Thursday, March 25, 2021
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Thursday, March 25, 2021