Event Notification Report for November 26, 2018

UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARED FOR EXCESSIVE SMOKE IN CONTAINMENT

At 0816 EST, a Notification of Unusual Event was declared for Unit 2 under Emergency Action Level H.U.4 for excessive smoke in the lower level of containment with a heat signal. Onsite fire brigade is responding to the event. A command post is established. Offsite support is requested by the fire brigade. No flames have been observed as of this report.

The NRC Resident Inspector and State and Local government agencies will be notified.

Notified DHS SWO, FEMA Operations Center, DHS NICC, FEMA NWC (email), DHS Nuclear SSA (email), and FEMA NRCC SASC (email).

* * * UPDATE ON 11/26/18 AT 1036 EST FROM BILL HARRIS TO JEFFREY WHITED * * *

At 1036 EST, Sequoyah Nuclear Station Unit 2 terminated the Notice of Unusual Event. The licensee determined that the source of the smoke in containment was oil on the pressurizer beneath the insulation, that heated up during plant heatup. The licensee did not see visible flame during the event. The licensee is still working to determine if there was any damage to the pressurizer.

The licensee will notify the NRC Resident Inspector.

Notified R2DO (Rose), R2RA (Haney), NRR (Nieh), IRD MOC (Gott), DHS SWO, FEMA Operations Center, DHS NICC, FEMA NWC (email), DHS Nuclear SSA (email), and FEMA NRCC SASC (email).

* * * UPDATE ON 11/26/18 AT 1337 EST FROM STEPHEN FRIESE TO KARL DIEDERICH * * *

Following declaration of the Notification of Unusual Event, TVA media relations communicated with the local media regarding the event.

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

Notified R2DO (Rose).

* * * UPDATE ON 11/26/18 AT 1551 EST FROM STEPHEN FRIESE TO DONG PARK * * *

"At 1036 EDT, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN) terminated the Notification Of Unusual Event (NOUE) due to initial report of heat and smoke in Unit 2 Lower Containment.

"At 1000 EDT, it was determined that no fire had occurred. Due to difficulty of access to some of the areas being searched, the source could not be identified prior to 1000 EDT. No visible flame (heat or light) was observed.

"The source of the smoke was determined to be residual oil from a hydraulic tool oil in contact with pressurizer piping. The pressurizer piping was being heated up to support Unit 2 start-up following U2R22 refueling outage. Once the residual oil dissipated, the smoke stopped. It has been concluded that no fire or emergency condition existed.

"Unit 2 is currently in Mode 5, maintaining reactor coolant temperature 160F-170F and pressure 325psig-350psig with 2A Residual Heat Removal (RHR) system in service in accordance with U2R22 refueling outage plan."

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

Notified R2DO (Rose).

* * * RETRACTION ON 11/29/2018 AT 1358 EST FROM FRANCIS DECAMBRA TO ANDREW WAUGH * * *

"Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN) is retracting this notification based on the following additional information not available at the time of the notification:

"Following a full Reactor Building inspection, it was concluded that a fire did not exist. The source of the smoke originally reported was later determined to be residual oil from a hydraulic tool in contact with pressurizer piping. Once the residual oil dissipated, the smoke stopped. The source of heat originally reported was normal heated conditions associated with the pressurizer commensurate with plant conditions. SQN reported initially based on the available information at the time and to ensure timeliness with emergency declaration and reporting notification requirements."

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

Notified R2DO (Shaeffer).

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOSS OR THEFT OF MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGE

The following report was received from the State of California via email:

"On November 26, 2018, at approximately 1015 [PST] .., [the] RSO [Radiation Safety Officer] of RMA Group, Radioactive Materials License #8054-37, contacted RHB [Radiologic Health Branch] Brea concerning the moisture/density gauge, Troxler 3430, Cs-137 serial #750-4104, Am-241 serial #47-26740 (Cs-137, 0.333 GBq, Am-241, 1.6 GBq) that had been found missing during a semi-annual inventory of the radioactive gauges possessed at the permanent storage facility at 6976 Convoy Court, San Diego, CA 92111. [The RSO] will contact local law enforcement in San Diego and will fill out a police report with them. A copy of the theft report will be forwarded to the RHB Brea office to be included as part of this report. [The RSO] will contact local newspapers to attempt to retrieve the stolen radioactive gauge as well as notifying local servicing vendors of radioactive gauges to be alert for the serial number of the stolen gauge in case it turns up for service. The investigation will continue to determine if the radioactive gauge can be found and determination can be made on how it was lost at the permanent storage location. This is being reported to the NRC Operations Center as a 24-hour report under 10 CFR 30.50(b)(2) since the radioactive gauge has been lost and it can not be determined what condition the sources are currently in."

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. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST STATIC ELIMINATOR

The following information was summarized from information received from the state of Colorado via email:

On November 11, 2018, Karcher North America reported that one static eliminator was lost. The device contained 0.01 Ci of radioactive material. The radioactive material was not identified. Research identified that alpha emitters, such as poloniun-210, were normally used in static eliminators.

* * * UPDATE ON 03/20/2020 AT 1259 EDT FROM KATHRYN MOTE TO OSSY FONT * * *

The following update was received from the state of Colorado via email:

The State notified the NRC that the lost radioactive material was polonium-210.

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. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf