ML20148F248
| ML20148F248 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Yankee Rowe |
| Issue date: | 08/07/1974 |
| From: | Bores R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Stohr J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20148F240 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8011040729 | |
| Download: ML20148F248 (3) | |
See also: IR 05000029/1974008
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AUG 7
1974
J. P. Stohr, Environmental and Special Programs Section'
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Directorate of Regulatory Operations, Region I
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INSPECTOR'S EVALUATION
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INSPECTION REPORT : 0. 50-29/74-08
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YANKEE NUCLEAR P0,'JER STATION
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This inspection' revealed that Yankee Rowe has been conducting some
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radiological monitoring of the environs'for the past number of years
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and since January 1974 had essentially followed the radiological pro-
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gram in its Proposed Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS).
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Unfortunately, in the nonradiological area almost nothing is being
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done.
That is, the plant has not been monitoring the chemical releases
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from the plant and has done little in the line of impingement and entrain-
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ment studies. The licensee had. Aquatic, Inc. perform some temperature
studies on the river and review fish catches by fishermen in preparation
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for.the upcccing hearing for a discharge permit.
The licensee appears
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to be willing to wait to see what requirements are going to be imposed
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in this area and then try to implement'them.
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The Nuclear Services group, Westboro, appears to be well involved with
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the environmental programs at-each of the Yankee Plants.
They have
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made a number of recommendations for Yankee Rowe, although the plant
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has not yet acted on them.
Specifically, Westboro rece= ended that
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(1) Rowe stop bringing environmental samples into the plant to
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count alpha and beta prior to having Teledyne analyze them.
This
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practice was still being done.
The plant H.P. said that if the samples
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.wcre subsequently lost prior to Teledyne's analysis, at least the
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preliminary data would be available.
The H.P. has been trying to get
additional equipment to be used only for these analyses, but was un-
successful in getting mon 2y to do this so far.
(2) Uestboro had recc= ended
that additicnal instrumentation to measure wind speed and wind direction
be added to the mec. tower at the 140 foot 1cyc1 and that a data reduc-
tion system be installed to handle the met. data at YNPS.
These recem-
mendations were made ebevt 6 months ago and have not yet been acted on
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by the plant.
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In the radiological area YNPS has a number of good practices worth noting
here.
(1) Yankee Rowe has gone to a 2-inch deep charcoal cartridge for
increased organic iodine co11cetion efficiency and is having the collection
efficiencies verified on each batch of charcoal.
(2) Ya: Wee has been
co11ceting suf ficient =edia from each location such that a portion cf it
can be stored on site (if not perishibic) for future use, reference
or replacement if the sample is lost before analysis.
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Yankee does have some tend'ency to accept radiological results from-
Teledyne at face value.
A number of apparent anonalies ucre pointed-
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out.by the inspector'during the inspection.
A few are listed below
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as exampics:
(1) Bi-214 uns reported in river water sanples from
ond location in successive months as 270 picocuries/1 and 510 pico-
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curies /1, respectively, and yet the gross alpha activity was reported
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as less'than 0.5'picoeuries/1.
(31-214 and two of its short-lived
daughter products are alpha emitters.)
(2) Ra-226 was reported in
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vegetation at levcis greater than the K-40, yet the gross ' alpha
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activity. reported was approximately 1/30 of the reported Ra-226
activitites.
(3) Air particulates activity concentrations at the
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control station (13 miles away) were on occasion higher than the
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concentrations measured in the plant vent stack.
(4)'Sr-90 in
maple syrup was reported as 0.41 picoeuries/ml. While I have no
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evidence otherwise, this level appears very high.
(Cs-137 levels
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were reported as 0.1 picoeuries per liter and K-40 at 2.4 pico-
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curies per liter.)
If'the Sr-90 numbers are valid, maple syrup
could be a major pathway for population exposure.
(5) Several
of the MDA's quoted by Teledyne appear'very low for the techniques
used. For example, 1-131 in milk had a quoted MDA of 0.5 picoeuries/1.
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Yet the contractor uses only a 200 minute beta count time and a
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2-liter sample.
Regulatory Guide 4.3 uses 1000 minute counts and a
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4-liter sample in its example of how to meet the 0.5 2 25% level.
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Following are recomendations that should be forwarded for action:
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(1) Cet Technicial Specifications for Yankee Rowe.
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(2) With respect to the Proposed Technical Specifications and FSAR.
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(a) There are several inconsistencies as to how airborne iodine is
to be analyzed. This should be clarified.
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(b) Sr-89 .tnalyses should be performed on each of the media requiring
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Sr-90 analyses. The media effccted included:
air particulates,
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water, maple syrup, soil sediments, vegetation (terrestrial and
aquatic), milk and fish.
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(c) The frequency of gross alpha analyses should be locked in, rather
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than the present case of "uhen present in the release." The latter
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often leads to confusion bet'.'cen the licensee and contractor as to
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what is required.
It vould be batter to state a mininum frequency,
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if gross alpha analyses are desired.
(d) The licensee currently campics soil and vel;ctation at eight locations
triannually and river sedimeats at nine locations triannually.
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-Since soil and
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of environ = cat
.vity, I would suggest that both the frequer.cy of
sampling and *
, ber of locations could be reduced, if the licensec
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desired to i*
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R.'J. Borcs
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Radiation'Fpecialist
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