ML17251A821

Responds to Violations Noted in Insp Rept 50-244/86-15 on 860811-15.Failure to List Fe-55 on Shipping Manifests Severity Level V or Inspector Followup Item.Finding Re Lack of QC Insp Procedure for 10CFR61.65 Invalid

ML17251A821
Person / Time
Site:	Ginna
Issue date:	10/08/1986
From:	KOBER R W ROCHESTER GAS & ELECTRIC CORP.
To:	MURLEY T E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
References
NUDOCS 8610210084
Download: ML17251A821 (10)

See also: IR 05000244/1986015

Text

j.TOILSlsJCROCHESTER

GASANDELECTRICCORPORATION

~89EASTAVENUE,ROCHESTER,

N.Y.14649-0001

TCLC><ONE

A~cicoocv<e5462700October8,1986Dr.ThomasE.Murley,RegionalAdministrator

U.S.NuclearRegulatory

Commission

RegionI631ParkAvenueKingofPrussia,Pennsylvania

19406Subject:I&EInspection

ReportNo.86-15NoticeofViolations

R.E.GinnaNuclearPowerPlantDocketNo.50-244DearDr.Murley:Inspection

Report86-15,whichcoveredradioactive

wasteshipments

fromGinnastatedinpart:"Asaresultoftheinspection

conducted

onAugust11-15,1986,andinaccordance

withtheNRCEnforcement

Policy(10CFR2,AppendixC),thefollowing

violations

wereidentified:

A.B.10CFR20.311(b),

"Transfer

forDisposalandManifests",

requires,

inpart,thatthemanifestaccompanying

radio-activewasteshipments

indicateascompletely

aspracticable

theradionuclide

identityandquantity,

andthetotal.radioactivity

oftheshipment.

49CFR172.203(d),

"Additional

Description

Requirements",

alsorequiresthatthenameofeachradionuclide

intheradioactive

materialmustbeincludedontheshippingpapers."Contrarytotheabove,duringtheperiodJanuary,1983-June,

1985,thelicenseefailedtoidentifytheradionuclide

Iron-55,itsactivity,

andbytheomissionofIron-55,thetotalradioactivity

onthemanifests

fortheradioactive

wasteshipments

madeduringthestatedperiod.Technical Specification 6.8,"Procedures,"

requiresthatprocedures

beestablished,

implemented,

andmaintain-

ed.Procedure

No.A-1001,"Inspection

andSurveillance

Activities,"developed

pursuanttotheabove,requires,

in

~k~lei/t

Page2of5part,thatqualityrequirements

obtainedfromregulatory

requirements

shallbeincludedinQualityControlInspection

procedures.

10CFR20.311(d)(3),

TransferforDisposalandMani-fests,"requiresthelicenseetoconductaqualitycontrolprogramtoassurecompliance

with10CFR61.56,"WasteCharacteristics."

Contrarytotheabove,theregulatory

requirements

requiredby10CFR61.56arenotincludedinanyQualityControlInspection

procedures.

AQualityControlInspection

procedure

hasnotbeendeveloped,

andimplemented,

forthedewatering

processtoassurecompliance

with10CFR61.56."RG&E'sresponsetothesefindingsispresented

below.RG&EagreeswithfindingAasstatedinthatwedidnotincludeIron-55onourshippingmanifests.

Inearly1985,webecameawarethatIron-55wasbeingdiscovered

inwasteshipments

fromotherutilities.

Aninvestigation

ofouranalytical

resultsfromoureffluentmonitoring

programalongwithconfirming

analysisfromScienceApplications

Inc.(SAI),whoperformed

theanalysisrequiredby10CFR61for,Ginna,indicated

Iron-55wasindeedpresentinnp'to~7-8.inourwastestreams.Fromthatpointintime,webeganincluding

thisisotopeonourshippingmanifests.

"TheLowLevelWasteLicensing

BranchTechnical

PositiononRadioactive

WasteClassification"

issuedonMayll,1983,statesthatfor10CFR20.311requirements,

significant

quanti-tiesisdefinedasgreaterthan7uCi/cc.TheIron-55wasonly5.8uCi/ccfortheshimentinuestionandinanyofourshipments

since1985,wehavenotexceededtsvalue.Adefinition

of49CFR172.203wasprovidedtousbytheinspector

duringinspection

86-15intheformofaletterfromThomasJ.Charlton,

Chief,Standards

Division,

OfficeofHazardous

Materials

Regulation,

Materials

Transportation

BureauoftheU.S.Dept.ofTransportation,

toMr.PeterT.TuiteofWasteManagement

GroupInc..Thisclarification

definesthecutoffpointforlistingradionuclides

ontheshippingmanifestandindicates

"anyradionuclide

whoseactivitycomprises

lessthan14ofthetotalactivitywithinthepackagemaybeomitted"fromtheshippingmanifest.

SinceJuly,1985,.wehavebeenincompliance

withthisinterpretation.

SAIwhoperformsbothourwastestreamandenvironmental

analysishasconfirmed

ourcompliance

withthisposition.

1

EPage3of5RG6Ebelievesthatanoticeofviolation

shouldnotbeissuedfortheinspection

reportfindingbecauseoftheNRCpolicytoencourage

andsupportlicenseeinitiatives

forself-identification

andcorrection

ofproblems.

10CFR2,AppendixCnotesthatNRCgenerally

willnotissueanoticeofviolation

forafindingthatmeetsallofthefollowing

tests:(1)"Itwasidentified

bythelicensee".

Weidentified

themanifestomissioninJuly,1985.(2)"ItfitsseveritylevelIVorV".Inyourreport,youhaveidentified

thisasalevelIVviolation.

(3)"Itwasreportedifrequired".

Wedonotbelievethiswasreportable

sincethewasteclassification

wouldnotchangebecausetheotherisotopeswhicharefoundinourwastestreamhavemuchgreaterbiological

significance

andtherefore

determine

theclassification.

Infact,10CFR61doesnotrequireanalysisforIron-55,sinceitwasdeemedtobeoflesssignificant

concerntothepublic.(4)"Itwasorwillbecorrected,

including

measurestopreventrecurrence

withinareasonable

time".Thiswascorrected

inmid-1985andweperiodically

checkwiththecontractor

performing

ourwastestreamanalysistoensuretherearenootherisotopeswhichwouldexceed1%ofthetotalactivityandthusneedtobeincorporated

ontheshippingmanifest.

(5)"Itwasnotaviolation

thatcouldreasonably

beexpectedtohavebeenprevented

bythelicensee'correct'ive

actionforapreviousviolation".

Therewasnopreviousviolation

whichwouldhaveledustocorrectthisdeficiency

sooner.Ifthenoticeofviolation

doesstand,itwouldseemthatthecriteriastatedin10CFRPart2,Supplement

V,wouldplacethisviolation

theseveritylevelVratherthanIV.Forthistobeconsidered

alevelIVviolation,

oneofthefollowing

criteriawouldhavetobemet:2~"Packageselection

orpreparation

requirements

whichdonotresultinapackageintegrity

orsurfacecontamination

orexternalradiation

levelsinexcessofNRCrequirements.

Otherviolations

thathavemorethanminorsafetyorenvironmental

significance."

Criteria(1)obviously

doesnotapply.Criteria(2)alsodoesnotseemtoapply.Fortheretohavebeenanysafety

Page4of5significance,

thisincidentwouldhavetoleadtoimpropercategorizing

orlabeling.

Thiswasnotthecase.Iron-55hasbeenidentified

bytheNRCin10CFR61tobeaninsignificant

environmental

concern,sinceitisnotarequiredanalysisisotope.Iron-55presentsasignificantly

smallerradiotoxicity

problemthanCo-60,makingitaminorenvironmental

problem.Therefore,

whileIron-55wasnotlisteduntilmid-1985aspartoftheisotopiclibrary,wefeelthatthisdidnotpresentasignificant

problemandshouldbenomorethanaseveritylevelVviolation

orthefindingshouldbenotedonlyasainspector

followitem.RG&EdoesnotagreethatfindingBisvalidforthefollowing

reasons:2~QualityControlpersonnel

involvedinradioactive

wasteshipments

arequalified

toperformQCactivities

bythecompletion

ofthesametrainingcoursesprovidedtotheHealthPhysicspersonnel,

responsible

fortheactualshipment.

QCInspectors

arefamiliarwithallrequirements

forshippingradioactive

waste.ANSIN-18.7,indicates

thatprocedures

shouldbewritteninamannercommensurate

withthequalifications

ofthe.personnel

performing

theprocedure.

Theprocedures

usedtoperformthesetasksprovideadequateguidanceforqualified

personnel

toperformthesetaskscompetently.

Thereferenced

QualityControlInspection

Procedure

intheinspection

reportwasQCIP-21.2,

ShippingPackageHN-100Series2)2Ag3gand3AInspection

forShipmentg.ThisQCIPisusedtoverifyproperhandlingofthecaskduringtheloadingandunloading

ofthecaskfromthetransport

truck.Radioactive

Discharge

procedure

RD-10.12,

Handling,

LoadingandUnloading

oftheHittmanNuclearHN~OTransport

CaskSeries3,istheprocedure

usedtocontroltheactualloadingofthecaskwithradioactive

waste.Thequalitycontrolinvolvement

intheimplementation

ofthisprocedure

isvia"surveillance"

oftheprocedure

andprocesses.

Procedure

RD-10.12requiresnotification

ofQCforassignment

ofinspection

personnel

priortostartingthejobaswellasQCattendance

atameetingpriortostartingthejobandaverification

byQCofaproperCertificate

ofCompliance

forthecasktobeusedpriortostartingthejob.Theprocedure

alsorequiresaQCreviewatthecompletion

ofthejob.Basedontheseitems,QCisinvolvedandperformssurveillance

fromthebeginning

totheendofthejob.WefeelthisisadequateQCinvolvement

intheimplementation

ofRD-10.12andnochangestoQCIP-21.2

oranyotherQCIPassociated

withradioactive

3~Page5of5wasteshipments

iswarranted.

WhileitistruethatGinnaAdministrative

Procedure

A-1001,"Inspection

andSurveillance

Activities"

requiresinpartthatqualityrequirements

obtainedfromregulatory

requirements

shallbeincludedinQualityControlInspection

Procedures,

(QCIP'),italsostatesthatthesequalityrequirements

areobtainedfromprocedures,

drawings,

specifications,

codesandstandards.

Animportant

processinpreparing

radioactive

wasteshipments

isdewatering

theshippingcontainer.

TheHittmanCaskprocedure

~HN-100Series3whichwasusedfortheshipmentinspected,

assuresadequatefinaldewatering

byrunningthedewatering

pumpfora1hourtimeperiod.TheHittmanprocessofusingthe"runtime"ofapumpasthemethodforremovingwaterwasselectedbasedonaseriesofqualification

testsrunbyHittman.Asstatedabove,sinceQCsurveil-lanceisusedtoverify-properimplementation

oftheRDprocedure,

QCSurveillance

Report85-0577waswrittenwhichindicated

andverifiedthatthepumpwasrunforl-l/2hoursduringthefinaldewatering

process.Insummary,RG&Edoesnotfeeltheviolation

isjustified

andrequeststhattheviolation

beremovedfromtherecord.Vtrulyyours,RoerW.KoberSubscribed

andsworntomeonthis8thdaofctoer,1986.LYNNLHAUCKNotaryPuQcintheStstrroINeerYoritMONROECOUNIYComission

ExpiresNov.30,19'