Event Notification Report for November 23, 2005

AGREEMENT STATE - STOLEN MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGE

The State provided the following information via email:

"On the morning of November 23, 2005 at 11:10 am, [the] Radiation Safety Officer for S&ME, Inc. of Pelham, Alabama notified the [State] that their 2003 Ford F-150 truck with a CPN model MC-3 moisture density gauge was stolen in the Lakeshore Drive area of Birmingham, Alabama. S&ME, Inc. is authorized to possess and use radioactive material under their Alabama Radioactive Material License No.1273. The event had occurred less than one hour from [the licensee's notification] call and the Birmingham Police Department had been notified and were in route. The stolen gauge was identified as a CPN model MC-3, serial number M300405612, with 10 millicuries of Cs-137 (sealed source serial number 1148GC), and 50 millicuries of Am-241:Be (sealed source serial number 7139NE). [The licensee] indicated that the gauge transport case was chained to the bed of the pickup. [The licensee] indicated that the truck contained other valuable equipment including a cement mixer. [The licensee] is presently in route to the site of the event. This is all the information that [the State] has at this time."

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.

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION ON RADIOGRAPHY CAMERA

The State reported that a licensee, Kooney X-Ray Inc., shipped a radiography camera (Model #150; S/N 197) to QSA Global in Baton Rouge, LA, for replacement of the iridium-192 camera source. When the camera arrived and was inspected at QSA Global, low-level radioactive contamination was found on the camera. A wipe test (swipe area not specified) revealed a contamination level of 0.0059 microcuries. The acceptance limit for QSA Global is 0.0050 microcuries. QSA Global believes that the contamination is from depleted uranium shielding in the camera S-tube and not from the currently installed iridium-192 source. Kooney X-ray has requested that QSA Global return the camera. Kooney plans to have the camera S-tube repaired as necessary. The State reported that the contamination was confined to the camera and this event did not result in any personnel or uncontrolled contamination on any other items.

Texas Report Number 8278

PART 21 FROM NUCLEAR LOGISTICS INC CONCERNING POTENTIALLY DEFECTIVE MICROLOGIC TRIP UNITS

The following information is provided on a potential defect in accordance with 10CFR Part 21, paragraph 21.21(b). NLI [Nuclear Logistics Inc] does not have the capability to perform the evaluation to determine if a defect exists. NLI has supplied safety related breakers with the Micrologic trip units only to First Energy-Beaver Valley and PSEG-Hope Creek. Both of these plants are aware of the issue and the corrective actions described below.

The basic component that contains a potential defect is the Micrologic trip device installed in Square D series NT and NW low voltage switchgear breakers. The nature of the potential defect is as follows:
- Under certain combinations of operating conditions, the trip unit spuriously trips the breaker. The conditions that cause the spurious trip are starting a motor directly by breaker closure (no starter in the circuit) and system transients that have not been defined.

The reported spurious trips are as follows:
- PSEG-Hope Creek has Square D NW series breakers installed. One spurious trip was identified in over 1000 motor starts using these breakers in 7 safety related applications that start motors directly.
- First Energy-Beaver Valley has Square D NT and NW series breakers installed. One NT breaker installed in a non-safety application had multiple spurious trips upon motor starting.
- There are no other reported spurious trips of breakers at PSEG-Hope Creek or First Energy-Beaver Valley. Spurious trips in other facilities have been reported to Square D.
- NLI is not aware of the installation of Micrologic trip devices in safety related applications in other nuclear plants in the United States.

The following actions and corrective action that has been taken:
- Root cause analysis and testing has been performed by Square D and NLI. It was determined that the spurious trip was due to a combination transient voltages during motor start and a breaker configuration that lasts approximately 100ms during breaker closure.
- The NT breaker was determined to be more sensitive to the spurious trip than the NW breaker.
- The reported spurious trip rate for the Micrologic trip units installed worldwide is estimated at approximately 0.05%.
- A modification was developed and tested to prevent the susceptibility of the trip unit. This modified design will be implemented on the existing breakers and all future units.

NLI is working with the impacted utilities to replace the existing trip units.