ML20195C671
| ML20195C671 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pilgrim |
| Issue date: | 06/14/1988 |
| From: | Stello V NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Nickerson J AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20195C675 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8806220252 | |
| Download: ML20195C671 (8) | |
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JUN 141988 C64N Janice Nickerson, Chairwoman Kingston Nuclear Advisory Committee Briarwood Lane Kingston, Massachusetts 02364
Dear Chairwoman Nickersen:
On behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to 'your letter of January 14, 1988 to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Senator Kennedy forwarded your letter to us on March 17. 1988. iourletter contained several questions, five of which were specifically directed to the NRC. The enclosure to this letter repeats each NRC-related question followed by our answer.
I apologize for the delay in our response.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely.
Orig;icl r,1cned by 21ctpISt011Ap Victor Stello, Jr.
Executive Director for Operations
Enclosure:
Response to Questions cc:
Senator Kennedy 8806220252 880614 PDR ADOCK 05000293
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Enclosure Answers to Questions from Janice Nickerson, referred to NRC by Senator Kennedy.
Question 1 On August 2nd of 1987, when a young man named Travis Selby, who's father is the head of GLOBE SECURITY at the plant, was attempting to scramble security signals, why was nothing done or said about this situation? Please give specific details of the entire event and NRC action after the fact.
Answer The NRC Region _I office became aware of this matter in early September 1987 by way of an allegation. The allegation was entered into the Region I Allegation Tracking System and was discussed at the Allegation Panel Meeting on September 18, 1987. Members of the l
panel decided to detemine if Boston Edison Company (BECo) was aware l
of the situation and what conclusions had been reached, if any.
This was done during an ongoing security inspection (Inspection No. 87-44, September 15-18,1987) and a briefing, including a i
description of the event, was provided to the NRC inspector. Addi-I tionally, the inspector was told that the matter would be included in an ongoing BECo corporate investigation of another trespass incident that resulted in the arrest of four other male youths. That information was provided to the Region I Allegation Panel in a meeting on September 29, 1987. The panel decided to address the matter, as well as some peripherally-related questions, during a scheduled meeting with BECo the following day. This discussion was held and BECo comitted to address the related questions in its investigation and make the investigation results available during a Region I inspection.
A description of the event, based on the reviews conducted to date is given below.
The situation that occurred on August 2, 1987, which involved the son of Martin Selby, a former Chief of Security for Globe Security Services at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (PNPS), did rot include an attempt "to scramble security signals" at PNPS. The facts of the situation indicate that Travis Selby and two other male youths were observed in a parked car by a guard (Yankee Detective Agency) hired by BECo to monitor the Shorefront Park a ea, which is adjacent to PNPS and on property owned by BECo and open to the public during the sumer season for recreational activities.
The guard notified a PNPS security patrol (Globe Security) when he noticed one of the youths gesturing toward the plant and pointing a hand-held object out of the window of the car.
When the security patrols reached the car, the youths were questioned and Travis Selby identified himself.
He stated that he was showing his friends where his father worked and some of the different areas of the plant.
The hand-held object was determined to be a radar detector that signals when in proximity to some of the security equipment used at PNPS. The youths were peacefully escorted to the main road and left the area. Both the guard and the PNPS security patrol prepared internal reports describing the event.
4 Enclosure During a routine review of security reports on the following day, a BECo security supervisor discussed the incident with Martin Selby, Mr. Selby said that he would discuss the matter with his son.
The BEco security supervisor did not consider the matter to be significant and determined that it did not require reportino to the NRC.
The BECo investigation results were reviewed during Region I Inspection No. 50-293/88-06 (January 25-28,1988). The inspector found that the investigation did not surface any NRC regulatory concerns and that the situation involved only a young man boasting to his friends. The allegation was considered closed by the NRC on the basis that there were no regulatory concerns identified.
Question 2 During July and August of 1987 shrubs were removed from various locations on Edison property, including the switchyard and adminis-tration bldg. How may shrubs? What trucks renoved them? At who's direction? Where were they taken for disposal? Were any replanted on any other property? How many and what amount of contamination was reported at the time of the incident? What amount was found contaminated after the NRC was informed of the incident? Why did I not receive a full report from this area as I was repeatedly told I would, by resident inspector Jeffrey Lyash? Please give Al.L specific details.
Answer This item was inspected and documented 'n NRC Region I Inspection Report No. 50-293/87-57, dated March 11, 1988 (see Report pages 12 anc 13).
You were provided a copy of the Inspection Report and were also sent a followup letter on this item.
The followup letter was dated April 14, 1988, and an additional copy of Inspection Report 87-57 was attached.
No further action on this matter is planned by the NRC.
Question 3 How many cows were found to Lave contaminated milk at Plymouth County Farm in the period 1977-00? How were these animals destroyed, where are the carcasses? Was any meat, organs or milk consumed by any population of the state of Massachusetts. Was any milk distributed to any of the public schools in the area.
Answer The NRC staff does not inspect (or monitor) th2 animal census and distribution of carcasses, meat, organs, and milk. The licensee is required to monitor radioactivity in milk samples. The licensee analyzes Monitoring Program (ERMP)ples as part of its Environmental Radiationand radioactivity in milk sam NRC for review.
The ERMP covers not only milk samples but other environmental media such as air, water, shellfish, fish, lobster, sediment, cranberries, beef forage, vegetation, and direct radiation.
The NPC staff performs routine inspections of the EPMP to ensure the licensee is conforming to the regulatory requirements.
A= a result of your question, the NRC ctaff reviewed again BEco's annual reports for years 1977 through 1980. Milk is a very important medium to monitor for many radioisotopes because it manifests the biological accumulation of the food chain steps in its production.
Milk also is potentially the most significant source of iodine to the thyroid of an infant or child consuming it.
Enclosure Radioactive iodine (Iodine-131) activities in Plymouth County Fann milk samples were evaluated. As the result of a Chinese nuclear weapons test in late September 1977, lodine-131 was present in milk above background levels for a short period of time after the test. The levels were such that, if an infant were to consune this nilk for a full year, the infant would receive less than 10 mrem per year to the most restrictive organ (infant thyroid). This would be about 15 times lower than the dose permitted by Federal regulations.
The analytical results of Iodine-131 for 1978,1979, and 1980 were lower than typical milk background levels.
Question 4 Please indicate at whose direction was Pilgrim closed April 12, 1986. Was anything ever put in writing by the NRC prior to the outage that would have indicated that the NRC knew of the problems with R.H.R. Valves, the Main Steam Isolation Valves, or the stand-by gas treatment systen? If so when?
If known by the NRC why was Edison on line with these serious problems in existence?
Answer BECo voluntarily shut down the Pilgrim facility on April 12, 1986, in response to NRC technical concerns. These concerns included spurious isolations of the main steam isolation valves (MSIVs) and leakage of coolant from the reactor vessel into the residual heat removal (RHR) system.
The MSIV closures were spurious and occurred on March 22, April 4, and April 12, 1986, and are documented in NRC Inspection Report hos.
50-293/86-07, dated June 19, 1986, and 50-293/86-17, dated May 16, 1986.
Slight leakage of reactor coolant into the RHR system was noted in January, 1986. Corrective action was taken and closure of this item is documented in Inspection Report No. 50-293/86-01, dated March 13, 1986. The unexpected recurrence of this problem in April, 1986 contributed to BEco's decision to shut Pilgrim down.
This second occurrence of leakage into the RHR system is documented in NRC Inspection Report No. 50-293/86-17, dated May 16, 1986.
Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) 86-10 documented an agreement between the NRC and BECo in which both of these technical issues would be resolved to the NRC's satisfaction before Pilgrim would be allowed to restart. The RHR valve leakage issue has been adequately addressed and closure of this item is documented in NRC Inspection Report No. 50-293/87-42.
BEco has completed its evaluation of the MSIV issue, and the NRC staff will conduct a review of BECO's actions before makino any restart recommendation.
Single failure issues involving the standby gas treatment system l
(SBGTS) were identified after the plant was shut down. These defi-ciencies have been subsequently corrected, and the NRC inspections in this area are complete. Documentation of the licensee's corrective actions and NRC inspection activities are available in NRC Inspection Report Nos. 50-293/87-33, 50-293/87-37, 50-293/87-45, 50-293/88-07, and 50-293/88-12. All of the aforementioned reports are available in the local public document room in the Plymouth Public Library,11 North Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360.
. Enclosure Question 5 Please state specifically in regards to incident which ha3pened January 1,1985 at Pilorim involving the shutdown, what tie root cause of the shutdown was, and how did the plastic get into the SLCS storaae tank and test tank.
If there is any information regarding this incident that has not been made available to ;he public through the local P.D.R. pleasa include specifics of all documents.
Answer At 3:00 a.m. on January 1, 1985, a reactor shutdown commenced as a result of debris observed floating in the standby liquid control (SBLC) system storage tank. The SBLC system was declared inoperable; thus, in accordance with the Pilgrim Technical Specifications, the plant was shut down.
Details of this event are described in NRC Inspectinn Report No. 50-293/85-01 and Licensee Event Report (LER)
No. 50-293/85-01. The information on this item is in the local public document room.
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DUE: 05/TS/88 EDO CONTROL: 003650 DOC DT: 03/17/88 SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY FINAL REPLY:
TO:
JOSEPH FOUCHARD FOR SIGNATURE OF:
GREEN SECY NO: 88-363 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DECC:
ROUTING:
ENCLOSES LETTER FROM JANICE NICKERSON CONCERNING RUSSELL -
PILGRIM MURRAY DATE: 04/29/88 ASSIGNED TO: NRR CONTACT: MURLEY SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OR REMARKS:
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL TICKET PAPER NUMBER:
CRC-88-0363 LOGGING DATE: Apr 28 88 ACTION OFFICE:
EDO AUTHOR:
E. Kennedy--Const Ref AFFILIATION:
U.S.
SENATE LETTER DATE:
Mar 17 88 FILE CODE: ID&R-5 Pilgrim
SUBJECT:
Questions-from January 7 hearing on Pilgrim
-ACTION:
Direct Reply
-DISTRIBUTION:
OCA to Ack SPECIAL HANDLING: None NOTES:
Janice Nickerson DATE DUE:-
May 16 88
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SIGNATURE:
DATE SIGNED:
AFFILIATION:
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