| U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center Event Reports For
05/07/2008 - 05/08/2008 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** |
 | General Information or Other | Event Number: 44185 | Rep Org: NEW MEXICO RAD CONTROL PROGRAM
Licensee: PUBLIC SERVICE OF NEW MEXICO
Region: 4
City: WATERFLOW State: NM
County:
License #: GA 174
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: JOHN PARKER
HQ OPS Officer: HOWIE CROUCH | Notification Date: 05/02/2008
Notification Time: 19:00 [ET]
Event Date: 05/02/2008
Event Time: [MDT]
Last Update Date: 05/02/2008 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
AGREEMENT STATE
| Person (Organization):
GREG PICK (R4)
RICHARD TURTIL (FSME)
| Event Text AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOSS-OF-CONTROL OF RADIOACTIVE SOURCE BY NEW MEXICO LICENSEE
The following information was received from the State of New Mexico via email:
"A radioactive gauge was found in a Farmington, NM scrap metal facility and reported to the New Mexico Radiation Control Bureau (Bureau) on Friday, April 18, 2008. An employee at the scrap metal facility reported that a semi-truck delivering scrap metal to a Colorado metal recycler was found to have a 'hot spot'. The radioactive bale was isolated and returned to NM.
"Using information from the label on the gauge, the generally licensed source was traced to a NM radioactive material licensee. The Bureau's investigation included a review of Colorado's fax of DOT-SP 10656 Shipment Approval Form (Colorado survey: 1.8 mr/hr on side of trailer), interviews with personnel at the scrap metal facility, radiation surveys of the device, and interviews with licensee personnel. The Bureau's radiation survey of the gauge indicated exposure rates of 7-10 mr/hr at contact with the source housing and 0.3-0.5 mr/hr at one meter from the source.
"Discussions with licensee personnel revealed the gauge was listed on the August 20, 2007 physical inventory and the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) had been laid off on November 7, 2007 in the midst of a scheduled outage of operations that included removal of gauges from service. It appears the gauge was removed from service and discarded with other scrap metal, arriving at the scrap metal facility sometime in late March 2008.
"The gauge was retrieved by the licensee and placed in secure storage. The loss of control of the radioactive source is attributed to lack of oversight of the licensee's radiation program during gauge removal operations. Based on scrap metal facility configuration, location of the radioactive bale on the semi trailer during transport, storage of the gauge upon return, and exposure rates from the gauge, it is estimated that public dose limits were not exceeded. The NM Environment Department is evaluating enforcement actions in response to the incident."
The gauge was manufactured by Kay-Ray. It has a 50 mCi Cs-137 sealed source, S/N 92B-03016 and was licensed to Public Service of New Mexico. |
| Power Reactor | Event Number: 44191 | Facility: COMANCHE PEAK
Region: 4 State: TX
Unit: [1] [ ] [ ]
RX Type: [1] W-4-LP,[2] W-4-LP
NRC Notified By: MIKE STAKES
HQ OPS Officer: KARL DIEDERICH | Notification Date: 05/07/2008
Notification Time: 18:02 [ET]
Event Date: 05/07/2008
Event Time: 11:00 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 05/07/2008 | Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(3)(xiii) - LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE
| Person (Organization):
DAVID PROULX (R4)
|
| Unit | SCRAM Code | RX CRIT | Initial PWR | Initial RX Mode | Current PWR | Current RX Mode | | 1 | N | Y | 100 | Power Operation | 100 | Power Operation | Event Text LOSS OF MULTIPLEXER POWER SUPPLY
"Plant computer multiplexer power supply has failed resulting in a loss of some monitoring capabilities. Included are: ICRR [Inverse Count Rate Ratio], Digital Reactivity calculations, axial flux difference, meteorological inputs, main steam safety indication, source range, intermediate range, power range, and containment humidity. Control board indications remain available, for assessment of above functions."
The licensee is implementing procedural compensatory measures.
The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector. | |