| U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center Event Reports For
09/15/2006 - 09/18/2006 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** |
 | General Information or Other | Event Number: 42838 | Rep Org: NC DIV OF RADIATION PROTECTION
Licensee: DUKE UNIVERSITY
Region: 1
City: DURHAM State: NC
County:
License #:
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: NC DIV OF RADIATION PROTE
HQ OPS Officer: JOE O'HARA | Notification Date: 09/12/2006
Notification Time: 15:36 [ET]
Event Date: 09/11/2006
Event Time: 06:30 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/12/2006 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
JAMES TRAPP (R1)
SCOTT FLANDERS (NMSS)
| Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - FIRE IN A LABORATORY CONTAINING NUCLEAR MATERIALS
The State provided the following information via facsimile:
"Duke police reported a fire on the 2nd floor of the Nanaline Duke Building at 6:30 AM September 11, 2006. OESO-Radiation Safety Division On Call staff were notified by Duke Police and responded on scene shortly after 7 AM, along with representatives of other OESO Divisions. By 7:15 AM, the Fire Department had the fire out.
"Radiation Safety staff immediately obtained the inventory of the Principal Investigator whose lab the fire damaged, verifying the lab's current holdings at less than 0.8 mCi S-35, 0.6 mCi P-32, and 0.005 mCi I-125. All of these amounts are below the ingestion and inhalation ALIs , and would have presented no real health risk even if ingested in their entirety. In the unlikely event that these radioactive materials were to be involved in the fire and dispersed, atmospheric dilution would reduce the hazard to zero outside the building.
"Radiation Safety staff surveyed the firefighter's gloves and boot soles as they exited the building. These surveys indicated no evidence of any radioactive contamination. Radiation survey staff surveyed the burnt lab area later that morning, again finding no indication of contamination. Radiation Safety staff also verified that the research radioactive materials had not breached their containment (dry waste containers in a room adjacent to the fire damaged lab and stock solutions in a sealed freezer in the lab). These actions and observations provide concrete assurance that this fire presented no radiation exposure to the emergency responders, Duke employees, the public, or the environment, and none of the material was lost or dispersed."
The licensee informed Region I Duncan White. |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 42839 | Rep Org: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Licensee: BONDED INSPECTIONS, INC.
Region: 4
City: GARLAND State: TX
County:
License #: L00693
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: RAY JISHA
HQ OPS Officer: STEVE SANDIN | Notification Date: 09/13/2006
Notification Time: 12:00 [ET]
Event Date: 09/13/2006
Event Time: 09:45 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 09/16/2006 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
REBECCA NEASE (R4)
MICHELLE BURGESS (NMSS)
PETE WILSON (IRD)
AARON DANIS (TAS)
MEXICO VIA E-MAIL ()
|
| This material event contains a "Category 2" level of radioactive material. | Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING A STOLEN RADIOGRAPHY CAMERA
The following information was received via email from Texas Department of State Health:
"At approximately 0920hrs on 09/13/06, while parked at a Texaco Station located at the corner of Miller Street and 1935 Jupiter, Garland, TX 75042, a radiography truck belonging to Bonded Inspection, Inc. was stolen. The driver was in the store talking with his supervisor while the keys were reportedly left on the floorboard. This vehicle had a large dark room style camper which contained a 95-100 Ci, Ir-192 source (s/n J254) inside a model Ir 100, INC camera (s/n 4189). The first contact to TX DSHS came [redacted] at 0950 hrs. [Redacted] the situation was also reported to local law enforcement authorities (LLEA), Garland PD. GPD response time was within 10 minutes and all Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) area LLEAs have been notified also. The JTTF coordinator for the DFW area FBI was notified as was the NRC, local DSHS inspectors and the TX State Operations Center. No malicious of suspicious intent is suspected at this time. The truck is described as a white Ford F350 pick-up conspicuously posted with Bonded Inspections, Inc. and it has flames as decals on the front. The TX license number is 5YL T51."
TX Incident No.: I-8362
Notified DHS (Alex Constantopoulos), DOE (Mike Wyatt), EPA (Peter Menk), USDA (Chuck Brown), HHS (Mark McKinnon) and FEMA (Chris Liggett).
* * * UPDATE FROM ILTAB (ENGLISH) TO W. GOTT ON 15 SEPT 06 * * *
"According to the Texas LLEA and the Texas Department of Health, the stolen truck and radiography camera were discovered at a business park in Dallas, TX approximately 3 miles from where they were taken. The source was found intact in the vehicle, and is in the possession of LLEA while they continue to investigate to find the person(s) responsible for the theft of the vehicle."
Notified R4DO (Johnson), NMSS (Flanders), NRR (Case), DHS (Cassandra), DOE (Carolyn Lawson & Ronnie), EPA (Crews), USDA (Dean Giles), HHS (Smith), FEMA (Irwin Casto) and Mexico (via E-mail).
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate brachytherapy and medium dose rate brachytherapy. |
| Other Nuclear Material | Event Number: 42841 | Rep Org: AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
Licensee: AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
Region: 1
City: WILMINGTON State: DE
County:
License #: 0728762-01-02
Agreement: N
Docket:
NRC Notified By: DAVID BENNETT
HQ OPS Officer: BILL GOTT | Notification Date: 09/14/2006
Notification Time: 17:02 [ET]
Event Date: 09/14/2006
Event Time: [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/15/2006 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
20.2201(a)(1)(i) - LOST/STOLEN LNM>1000X
| Person (Organization):
EUGENE COBEY (R1)
SCOTT FLANDERS (NMSS)
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text MISSING SOURCES
In February 2006 the licensee shipped 60 Ni-63 (15 millicuries each) sources to Isotope Products Labs in California. The licensee determined today that the shipment never made it to its destination. The licensee has commenced an investigation.
* * * UPDATE ON 9/15/2006 AT 1010 FROM AGILENT (RSO) TO ABRAMOVITZ * * *
The RSO was able to locate Fed Ex tracking numbers and the tracking information confirms that Isotope Products Labs received the sources on February 1, 2006. The initial number of 60 sources has been revised to 65 sources.
Notified NMSS (Wastler), the R1DO (Cobey) and the R4DO (Johnson).
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
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. |
| Other Nuclear Material | Event Number: 42843 | Rep Org: BURLE INDUSTRIES
Licensee: BURLE INDUSTRIES
Region: 1
City: LANCASTER State: PA
County:
License #: 37-30196-01
Agreement: N
Docket:
NRC Notified By: SCOTT MOULZOLF
HQ OPS Officer: BILL GOTT | Notification Date: 09/15/2006
Notification Time: 12:34 [ET]
Event Date: 09/05/2006
Event Time: 12:00 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/15/2006 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
20.2201(a)(1)(ii) - LOST/STOLEN LNM>10X
| Person (Organization):
EUGENE COBEY (R1)
SANDRA WASTLER (NMSS)
|
| This material event contains a "Less than Cat 3" level of radioactive material. | Event Text MISSING TRITIUM SOURCE
One tritium source (27 - 47 milliCuries) was determined to be missing, during an inventory being conducted to return the sources to the manufacturer, one of the tritium sources (27 - 47 milliCuries) was determined to be missing. Because the source is about the size of a grain of rice, the source is normally mounted in a lucite block. A hole is drilled in the lucite block and a set screw holds the source in place. The sources are stored in a locked cabinet. During the inventory on September 6, 2006, the RSO noted that even though the set screw was in place the tritium source was not in the lucite block. The sources have not been used in over a year and the last inventory was conducted on May 1, 2006.
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
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. |
| General Information or Other | Event Number: 42844 | Rep Org: TYCO VALVES AND CONTROLS LP
Licensee: TYCO VALVES AND CONTROLS LP
Region: 1
City: WRENTHAM State: MA
County:
License #:
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: DAVID THIBAULT
HQ OPS Officer: BILL GOTT | Notification Date: 09/15/2006
Notification Time: 19:38 [ET]
Event Date: 09/15/2006
Event Time: [EDT]
Last Update Date: 09/15/2006 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
21.21 - UNSPECIFIED PARAGRAPH
| Person (Organization):
EUGENE COBEY (R1)
BINOY DESAI (R2)
PATRICK LOUDEN (R3)
CLAUDE JOHNSON (R4)
VERN HODGE (email) ()
| Event Text IMPROPER VALVE SPRINGS IN PRESSURE RELIEF VALVES
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green and MacRae LLP provided the following information on behalf of the licensee via facsimile:
Tyco Valves & Controls LP (TVC) manufactures, sells, and services Pressure Relief Valves (PRVs) to NRC licensees for use in NRC licensed facilities. There is a potential problem with one series of those PRVs, but TVC's analysis to date leads TVC to believe that there is not an imminent safety problem with the PRVs that would require the immediate shutdown of licensed nuclear facilities. Rather, TVC believes that there is adequate assurance that the public health and safety can and will be adequately protected until such time as it is possible to replace the spring(s) at issue. The background of this matter is as follows:
"The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors performed certification testing on PRVs manufactured by the TVC plant located in India (Tyco Sanmar Ltd). The valves tested by the National Board (NB) were the Crosby series JLT pressure relief valves. These valves are spring-loaded PRVs which are used to provide over-pressure protection for liquid applications. The Series JLT are certified to be in compliance with ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Sections III and VIII. The certification testing performed by the National Board indicated that these JLT valves did not meet ASME standards and so notified TVC. Thereafter, TVC performed its own testing on the JLT valves and confirmed the NB findings.
"TVC performed a root-cause analysis and determined that the Spring Selection Tables were inaccurate in that the Tables specified a spring with a spring rate which was too high for the adjusted set pressure. It was further determined that, in most cases, the Spring Selection Table specified the correct spring for the higher portion of the tabulated set pressure range; however, the Table specified a spring too strong for the lower portion of the range.
"The corrective action which has been taken by TVC is as follows:
1. The Spring Selection Tables are being revised and will take effect by 9/23/2006;
2. All of the safety-related PRVs which were affected by the Spring Selection Table have been identified;
3. A list of all nuclear facilities has been compiled;
4. A Product Safety Advisory is being drafted and will be forwarded to all nuclear facilities as identified in Exhibit A; and
5. The Product Safety Advisory recommends replacement of the spring.
"[TVC] believes that, while not in compliance with ASME, these PRVs do not pose a safety hazard inasmuch as there are many levels of conservatism built into the design of pressurized equipment and selection of PRVs such as:
1. These valves will open at the specified set pressure and will flow some capacity at the ASME specified overpressure of 10%. Further, based on our testing, these valves will flow the ASME certified capacity at an overpressure of not more than 20%. Most equipment will have been designed with a safety factor above the set pressure of at least 200%.
2. In sizing a PRV for an application, the 'required capacity' is determined by the user and the next largest PRV is selected to assure that the ASME certified capacity of the ARV is always greater than the 'required capacity' adding additional conservatism.
3. These valves have been supplied to the industry using these same spring selections for over 21 years without incident.
TVC has notified the affected NRC licensees: Arkansas Nuclear One, Beaver Valley, Calvert Cliffs, Clinton Nuclear Station, Columbia Generating Station, Davis-Besse, Fort Calhoun, Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Nine Mile Point, Oconee Nuclear Station, Peach Bottom, Salem Station, Seabrook Station, Wolf Creek Generating Station. | |