ML13212A051
| ML13212A051 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Aerotest |
| Issue date: | 12/18/2013 |
| From: | Zimmerman R NRC/OE |
| To: | Mary Anderson Aerotest |
| Bowman G, 301-415-2939 | |
| References | |
| EA-13-108 IR-12-201 | |
| Download: ML13212A051 (6) | |
See also: IR 05000228/2012201
Text
December 18, 2013
Mr. Michael Anderson, President
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
Autoliv ASP, Inc.
1320 Pacific Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
SUBJECT:
AEROTEST OPERATIONS, INC. - NOTICE OF VIOLATION - NRC
INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-228/2012-201
Dear Mr. Anderson:
This letter refers to an inspection conducted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
on January 17 and 18, 2012, at the Aerotest Radiography and Research Reactor facility. The
purpose of this inspection was to review the results of a fuel inspection conducted by your
facility in December 2011. During that fuel inspection, Aerotest identified cracks in four
aluminum-clad fuel elements and on January 11, 2012, Aerotest submitted a letter to the NRC
describing these findings. A copy of that letter is available under the NRCs Agency Documents
Access Management System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML12018A336. On August 10, 2012,
Aerotest submitted a letter to the NRC (ADAMS Accession No. ML12250A659) documenting
that a follow-up fuel inspection at the facility revealed that there were a total of 22 aluminum-
clad fuel elements with cracks in the cladding. The subject inspection report (ADAMS
Accession No. ML120310173) documented the results of the NRCs inspection and identified an
unresolved item (URI) associated with operation of the reactor with damaged fuel
(URI 50-228/2012-201-01).
During a telephone conference on September 6, 2013, Mr. Gregory T. Bowman of the NRC
informed Ms. Sandra Warren of your staff that the NRC had completed its review of the URI and
was considering escalated enforcement for an apparent violation involving operation of the
reactor with significantly damaged fuel, contrary to Section 10.2 of your Technical
Specifications. During that telephone conference, Ms. Warren indicated that Aerotest
Operations, Inc. believed that a predecisional enforcement conference or written response was
needed and on October 4, 2013, the NRC issued Aerotest a letter (ADAMS Accession No.
ML13254A074) offering the opportunity to provide the NRC with additional information before
making an enforcement decision in this matter. Subsequently, on November 1, 2013, you
submitted a letter (ADAMS Accession No. ML13309A017) providing your written response to
the apparent violation. In your letter you indicated that Aerotest accepts that a violation
occurred, but believes that the violation is of low safety significance (i.e., Severity Level IV).
Based on the information developed during the subject inspection and subsequent inspection
activities, and the information that Aerotest provided in the letters referenced above, the NRC
has determined that a violation of NRC requirements occurred. The violation is cited in the
M. Anderson
- 2 -
enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice) and the circumstances surrounding it are described in
detail in the subject inspection report. As discussed, the violation is associated with operation of
the reactor for an indeterminate period of time beginning at a point after the last full fuel
inspection in 2006 up until October 15, 2010, when the facility ceased reactor operation, with a
number of fuel elements with varying degrees of cracking in the aluminum cladding.
As discussed in the subject inspection report, the actual radiological consequences of this issue
were low due to the fact that, while some elevated levels of fission products were found in the
reactors purification system, no detectable airborne releases or local or environmental
contamination were identified in or around the facility. The facility did, however, operate the
reactor using fuel with significant cracks in the cladding for an indeterminate period of time in
violation of technical specifications.. Although the actual safety consequences of this situation
were low, operating the facility with damaged fuel represents a loss of the primary fission
product barrier and the potential for release of radioactive material, in particular during accident
conditions. Therefore, this issue has been categorized in accordance with the NRC
Enforcement Policy as a Severity Level III violation.
In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of $3,500 is
considered for a Severity Level III violation. Because your facility has not been the subject of an
escalated enforcement action within the last 2 years, the NRC considered whether credit was
warranted for Corrective Action in accordance with the civil penalty assessment process in
Section 2.3.4 of the NRC Enforcement Policy. As described in the NRCs October 4, 2013,
letter, corrective actions included the following: (1) placing all the undamaged fuel into proper
storage locations inside the reactor tank; (2) fabricating specially designed canisters to contain
the damaged fuel elements; (3) placing each fuel element with cracked cladding, with the
exception of two recently identified damaged elements, into one of the specially designed
canisters; and (4) placing each of the canisters in a specially designed and fabricated storage
rack. The majority of the damaged fuel was safely placed into storage on December 13, 2012;
you indicated that you intend to maintain the remaining two damaged elements in the reactor
tank for monitoring. All of these corrective actions were completed in a timely manner and with
an appropriate focus on occupational radiation safety, and the NRC has determined that credit
is warranted for your corrective actions.
Therefore, to encourage prompt identification and prompt and comprehensive correction of
violations, and in recognition of the absence of previous escalated enforcement action, after
consultation with the Director of the Office of Enforcement, a civil penalty is not being proposed
in this case. However, significant violations in the future could result in a civil penalty.
The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reason for the violation, the actions
taken to correct the violation and prevent recurrence, and the date when full compliance was
achieved is already adequately addressed on the docket in your letters referenced above, as
well as in the subject inspection report and NRC Inspection Reports 50-228/2012-204 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML12213A001) and 50-228/2012-206 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12361A147).
Therefore, you are not required to respond to this letter unless the description therein does not
accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position. In that case, or if you choose to
provide additional information, you should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed
Notice.
M. Anderson
- 3 -
In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 2.390 of the NRCs
Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter and its enclosures will be made available electronically
for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs document system,
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC
includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at
(http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/).
Sincerely,
/RA/
Roy P. Zimmerman, Director
Office of Enforcement
Docket No. 50-228
License No. R-98
Enclosure:
cc w/encl.: See next page
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
Docket No. 50-228
cc:
Ms. Sandra Warren, General Manager
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
3455 Fostoria Way
San Ramon, CA 94583
Fred Meren, Reactor Supervisor
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
3455 Fostoria Way
San Ramon, CA 94583
California Energy Commission
1516 Ninth Street, MS-34
Sacramento, CA 95814
Radiological Health Branch
P.O. Box 997414, MS 7610
Sacramento, CA 95899-7414
Test, Research, and Training
Reactor Newsletter
University of Florida
202 Nuclear Sciences Center
Gainesville, FL 32611
M. Anderson
- 3 -
In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 2.390 of the NRCs
Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter and its enclosures will be made available electronically
for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs document system,
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC
includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at
(http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/).
Sincerely,
/RA/
Roy P. Zimmerman, Director
Office of Enforcement
Docket No. 50-228
License No. R-98
Enclosure:
cc w/encl.: See next page
DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC
PROB r/f
RidsNrrDprPrta Resource
RidsNrrDprPrtb Resource
STraiforos, NRR
CBassett, NRR
PBlechman, NRR
AAdams, NRR
RCarpenter, OE
ACCESSION NO.:ML13212A051
- concurred via e-mail NRR-106
OFFICE
NRR/DPR/PROB*
OE/EB/BC
NRR/DPR/PROB/BC
NRR/DPR/DD
NAME
CBassett
NHilton (JWray for)
GBowman
MGavrilas
RZimmerman
DATE
7/30/13
12/19/13
11/21/13
11/22/13
12/18/13
OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
Docket No. 50-228
Aerotest Radiography and Research Reactor Facility
License No. R-98
During an NRC inspection conducted on January 17 and 18, 2012, a violation of NRC
requirements was identified. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the violation is
listed below:
Technical Specification 10.2 states that the reactor shall not be operated whenever there
are significant defects in the fuel elements, control rods, or control circuitry.
Contrary to Technical Specification 10.2, from an indeterminate period of time beginning
at a point after the last full fuel inspection in 2006 up until October 15, 2010, when the
facility ceased reactor operation, the licensee operated the reactor with significant
defects in the fuel elements. Specifically, during fuel inspections conducted following
reactor shutdown, a number of fuel elements were identified as having varying degrees
of cracking in the aluminum cladding, representing a significant defect in the fuel
elements and loss of the integrity of a fission product barrier.
This is a Severity Level III violation (Section 6.1).
The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reason for the violation, the corrective
actions taken and planned to correct the violation and prevent recurrence, and the date when
full compliance was achieved is already adequately addressed on the docket in your letters
dated January 11 and August 10, 2012, and November 1, 2013, as well as in NRC Inspection
Report No. 50-228/2012-204, dated August 14, 2012, and NRC Inspection Report No. 50-
228/2012-206, dated January 7, 2013. However, you are required to submit a written statement
or explanation pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 2.201 if
the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position. In
that case, or if you choose to respond, clearly mark your response as a Reply to a Notice of
Violation, include the EA number, and send it to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, DC 20555-0001, with a copy to the Director, Office
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, within 30 days of the date of the letter transmitting this Notice of
Violation (Notice).
If you choose to respond, your response will be made available electronically for public
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs document system, which is
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Therefore, to
the extent possible, the response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or
safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction.
In accordance with 10 CFR 19.11, you are required to post this Notice within 2 working days.
Dated this 18th day of December 2013