Event Notification Report for February 08, 2005

UNUSUAL EVENT PER EAL 13 E DUE TO FIRE/SEVERAL MINOR EXPLOSIONS IN TEMPORARY SECURITY TRANSFORMER.

The following information was provided by the licensee via facsimile:

"Fire in a temporary security transformer resulted in several minor explosions. No injuries occurred. Damage was limited to the affected transformer.

"Off-site notification of Miami-Dade County fire rescue was made for additional assistance. The fire was extinguished by plant personnel at 0634 prior to arrival of the county fire department.

"The security computer system was not affected. Some security lighting and search equipment was affected due to switching to battery back-up power. Additional security personnel were deployed to compensate. No security threat exists, however a Security Event was declared."


The State, County and the NRC Resident Inspector were notified of this event by the licensee.


***** UPDATE PROVIDED BY JAMES SPEICHER TO MACKINNON AT 0752 EST ON 02/08/05 *****

Emergency Action Level 13 E exited and the Unusual Event was terminated at 0725 EST.

Notified R2DO (C. Payne), IRD (J. Crlenjak), NRR EO (J. Foster), FEMA (Chung) & DOE (DaSilva).

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION MADE DUE TO AN ASBESTOS SPILL

An asbestos spill that was quantified at 1430 on 2/8/05 to be approximately 10-15 pounds occurred. The spill was from old pipe lagging that came off pipes that were on an outside roof area and did not contact the ground or surrounding waterway. Reports have or will be made to the following government agencies: National Response Center, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Public Service Commission as part of the licensee's requirement. Containment and cleanup of the asbestos is in progress.

The NRC Resident has been notified.

STEAM-DRIVEN AUXILIARY FEEDWATER (AFW) PUMP DECLARED INOPERABLE DUE TO DESIGN ISSUE

The following information was obtained from the licensee via facsimile:

"At 0920 [hrs.] CST, on February 8, 2005, Fort Calhoun Station declared the steam driven auxiliary feedwater (AFW) pump (FW-10) inoperable due to discovery of a design problem with the pump turbine. The station entered the appropriate technical specification action statement at that time. The pertinent action statements for auxiliary feedwater ([T.S.] 2.5.1) read as follows:

"B (Action statement): With one AFW train inoperable for reasons other than condition A, restore the AFW train to OPERABLE status within 24 hours.

"C (Action statement: If the required action and associated completion times of condition A or B are not met, then the unit shall be placed in MODE 2 in 6 hours, in MODE 3 in the next 6 hours, and less than 300 [degrees] F without reliance on the steam generators for decay heat removal within the next 18 hours.

"A change to the design basis is in progress to allow the pump to be made operable within 24 hours."

The design problem is due to the AFW pump drains. The manufacturer states that the drain lines must drain below the level of the AFW turbine. The current configuration is that the drains are aligned to the condenser which is approximately 18 feet above the elevation of the AFW turbine. This is not a problem during normal AFW turbine operation as the condenser would most likely be in service. However, the condenser cannot be relied upon during all accident conditions that require AFW actuation.

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

*** RETRACTION - E. MATZKE TO J. KNOKE AT 11:44 EST ON 03/27/05 ***

The licensee faxed the following retraction:

"Fort Calhoun Station (FCS) has conducted a thorough engineering evaluation of the effects on water in the turbine exhaust housing of the steam driven feedwater pump (FW-10). It was concluded that FW-10 was able to perform its design function based on the results of the evaluation. FW-10 was determined to be operable as required during past plant operation whether or not condenser vacuum was available.

"The conclusion was based on four points:
1. The preparer's experience with a multi-stage turbine that was started with water up to the centerline of the rotor and sustained no damage.
2. OPPD's strong evidence that FW-10 has been operated multiple times with some water in the casing.
3. A simple conservative analysis of the forces on a turbine blade when operated in a water submerged condition. The blade stresses were determined to be well below allowables for the loading condition presented with the blade moving through the static water volume during a startup event.
4. In addition, inspection of the turbine in 1998 and 2005 does not show any adverse indications of stress or wear.

"Therefore this notification is being retracted.."

The plant is presently in a scheduled refueling outage. The licensee will notify NRC Resident Inspector.

LICENSEE REPORTED A SHIPMENT THEY WERE TO RECEIVE IS UNACCOUNTED FOR

Halliburton Energy Services had shipped a well logging source and calibrating source containing 18.5 curies of Am-241 Be and .5 curies of Am-241 from Nizhnevartovsk, Russia to Houston TX. Both sources were in a 18" dia 23" long cylindrical type "A" container which weighed 83kg. The sources went through Amsterdam to JFK in New York and cleared customs in New York on 10/09/04. After clearing customs they have not been able to track the package to any of the transport companies that were scheduled to handle it. An ongoing search is still being conducted.


* * * UPDATE ON 02/09/05 @ 1751 FROM RICHARD ARSENAULT TO CHAUNCEY GOULD * * *

The licensee was notified at 1621 CT that the unaccounted for sources were located at the Forward Freight facilities in Boston, MA. It appears that they were trucked to Boston after a Boston label was inadvertently placed on the package at the Newark facility of Forward Freight. The licensee stated the package appears to be intact and the are sending a rep to Boston on 2/10/05.

Notified Regs 1 & 4, NMSS, PAO, DHS, DOT, DOE, IP, TAS, STP

* * * UPDATE ON 02/10/05 @ 1358 HRS. EST FROM ARSENAULT TO CROUCH * * *

A representative from Halliburton Energy Services has verified that the sources and packaging are intact and all source material is accounted for. Forward Air Freight is scheduled to ship the package to Halliburton in Houston, TX.

Notified R1DO (Cobey), R4DO(Whitten), R4 (Cain) and NMSS (Essig).

* * * UPDATE ON 2/13/05 @ 2348 EST BY S. SANDIN * * *

During administrative review of this report, two (2) corrections were made; the previously shown notification time of 1921 EST was corrected to read 1642 EST, and the 10 CFR Section citation of 20.2201(a)(1)(ii) was corrected to read to show 20.2201(a)(1)(i).

* * * UPDATE FROM HALLIBURTON (BROWN) TO NRC (HUFFMAN) AT 10:33 EST ON 02/14/05 * * *

The licensee reported that the source has arrived in Houston and is currently enroute to the Halliburton facility and is scheduled to arrive at 1100 CST. R1DO( Lorson), R4DO (Whitten), and NMSS (Moore).

* * * UPDATE FROM HALLIBURTON (BROWN) TO JEFF ROTTON AT 1601 EST ON 02/15/05 * * *

The licensee reported that the source was delivered to the Halliburton facility at 1100 CST on 02/14/05 and has been satisfactorily inspected and leak tested with no problems. Notified R1DO (Cobey), R4DO (Whitten), and NMSS (Moore).

CALIFORNIA AGREEMENT STATE REPORT- LOST RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

The California Radiation Health Bureau reported that a radiopharmaceutical carrier had lost 112 milliCuries of Thallium-201. The shipment of thallium was picked up at the airport in Burbank, CA and was in transport to Loma Linda, CA when it was discovered missing. The carrier had made two stops after picking up the product in Burbank, CA. The carrier reported that when they left Placentia, CA, (the second stop) their truck tailgate was closed. When they reached Loma Linda, CA, they discovered that the tailgate was open. It is believed that the package with the thallium fell out on the interstate between Placentia and Loma Linda.

The carrier searched the route twice without success. The State of California did notify the California Highway Patrol of the missing package.

California incident number is 020805.