Headquarters Daily report OCTOBER 17, 1994 *************************************************************************** REPORT NEGATIVE NO INPUT ATTACHED INPUT RECEIVED RECEIVED HEADQUARTERS X REGION I X REGION II X REGION III X REGION IV X *************************************************************************** PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION I OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. MR Number: 1-94-0113 Vermont Yankee 1 Date: 10/17/94 Vernon,Vermont SRI PC Dockets: 50-271 BWR/GE-4 Subject: PLANT STARTUP FOLLOWING PLANT SHUTDOWN, DECLARATION OF AN UNUSUAL EVENT AND ISOLATION OF SERVICE WATER LEAK Reportable Event Number: 27903 Discussion: The licensee declared an Unusual Event at 7:37 p.m. on 10/14 when they decided to shutdown the reactor and repair a service water leak on the B Reactor Building Closed Cooling Water (RBCCW) heat exchanger. The licensee was unable to isolate the leak because of a stuck open heat exchanger discharge bypass (throttle) valve; and, as a result, both trains of service water and the alternate cooling system were declared inoperable, necessitating the shutdown. The Unusual Event was terminated at 8:25 a.m. on 10/15 after the leak was isolated by removing the affected valve and installing a blank flange and both the service water and alternate cooling water system were declared operable. A one- inch diameter, six inch long bar was found inside the valve and may have damaged the valve when operators attempted to close it. The reactor was returned to power with the B RBCCW heat exchanger out of service awaiting repairs to the drain line and service water outlet valve. The licensee responded to a moderate level of local press interest. As of 10:00 a.m., 10/17, the reactor was at 76% of rated power. Regional Action: The resident inspectors will continue to monitor licensee startup and actions required to repair the leak on the "B" RBCCW heat exchanger. Contact: Harold Eichenholz (802)257-4319 Richard Conte (610)337-5183 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION III OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Illinois Power Co. MR Number: 3-94-0184 Clinton 1 Date: 10/17/94 Clinton,Illinois SRI BY LAN Dockets: 50-461 BWR/GE-6 Subject: PLANT SHUTDOWN Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: At 12:29 a.m. CDT on October 17, 1994, the generator was taken off line in preparation for a five day maintenance outage. The two major work items are repair of the main generator exciter inboard bearing and drywell floor drain sump flow instrument. Regional Action: The resident inspectors will observe the repair efforts. Contact: B. CLAYTON (708)829-9602 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION III OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Commonwealth Edison Co. MR Number: 3-94-0185 Quad Cities 1 2 Date: / / Cordova,Illinois Dockets: 50-254,50-265 BWR/GE-3,BWR/GE-3 Subject: MANAGEMENT CHANGE Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: On October 14, 1994, Mr. Ed Kraft, Site Vice President at Quad Cities Station, announced that the following managers would be replaced: Mr. Guy Campbell, Station Manger; Mr. Larry Tucker, Technical Services Superintendent; Mr. Tom Kroll, Maintenance Superintendent; and Mr. Dave VanPelt, System Engineering Supervisor. Mr. Kraft will assume the station manager position (acting) until a replacement can be found. The Technical Services Superintendent position was eliminated. The Maintenance Superintendent and System Engineering Supervisor positions were filled temporarily until replacements can be found. Both units remain in a shutdown condition until licensee management resolves various material condition and performance issues. Regional Action: The resident inspectors continue to monitor licensee activities prior to unit start-up. Contact: P. L. HILAND (708)829-9603 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION III OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Commonwealth Edison Co. MR Number: 3-94-0186 Braidwood 2 Date: 10/17/94 Braceville,Illinois Dockets: 50-457 PWR/W-4-LP Subject: UNCOUPLED CONTROL ROD DRIVE MECHANISM FUNNEL Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: On October 14, 1994, at approximately 3:00 pm (CST), following removal of the Unit 2 vessel head for refueling, the licensee discovered that the control rod drive mechanism funnel for rod B-8 was uncoupled and resting on the upper internals. Subsequently, the licensee removed the upper internals and flooded the vessel cavity in preparation for removing the detached funnel and conducting core offload. The licensee is currently investigating the event and reviewing similar occurrences at other facilities. A similar event occurred at Byron Unit 2 on October 8, 1993, with the rod B-8 funnel affected. Regional Action: The regional staff is following the licensee actions and reviewing the similarities of the Byron 1993 event. Contact: L. F. MILLER (708)829-9629 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION III OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: MR Number: 3-94-0187 Allied Signal Inc. Date: 10/16/94 Metropolis,Illinois Dockets: 04003392 License No: SUB-526 URANIUM FUEL FABRICATION Subject: YELLOWCAKE SPILL (U308) Reportable Event Number: 27907 Discussion: On October 16, 1994, at about 10:32 a.m. (CDT), the licensee reported that 1250 pounds (1 1/4 55 gallon drums) of dry uranium ore concentrate (yellow cake) spilled onto the concrete pad below a calciner at the Allied Signal Conversion plant in Metropolis, Illinois. The spill occurred when a calciner seal on the feed end failed. The release (0.38 curies total) was secured and clean up was completed by 9:15 a.m. (CDT). The licensee is still investigating the cause of the failure and the process is presently shut down. There were no equipment damages, releases to the environment, personnel exposures, personnel evacuations, personnel injuries, or fatalities. The licensee notified the NRC, Illinois State Emergency Management Agency, EPA Region V, and USCG National Response Center (who notified DOE), Local ESDA and IDNS. The Region notified NMSS. Regional Action: Region III will follow up during the next routine inspection. Contact: GARY L. SHEAR (708)829-9876 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION IV OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Arizona Public Service Co. MR Number: 4-94-0121 Palo Verde 2 Date: 10/17/94 Wintersburg,Arizona Resident Ispector Telecon Dockets: 50-529 PWR/CE80 Subject: PLANT STARTUP WITH EMERGENCY LICENSE AMENDMENT Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: On October 16, 1994, Palo Verde Unit 2 entered Mode 1 using an emergency license amendment which allowed the licensee to declare the Unit 2 Class 1E 125V DC battery banks operable with different battery capacity requirements than specified in Technical Specification (TS) 4.8.2.1.e. The amendment was necessary to allow the Unit to change modes, startup from the current midcycle outage, and operate approximately 3 1/2 months (until the fifth refueling outage, currently scheduled to begin on February 4, 1995). The license amendment was issued on October 13, 1994, following meetings with NRR and the licensee which focused on capacity degradation of the Unit 2 batteries. All three Palo Verde units use AT&T Model L-1SH round cell batteries which were guaranteed to have a minimum of 100 percent capacity at the end of 40 years. The four Unit 2 Class 1E battery banks, each with 60 cells, were installed in May 1993. On October 1, 1994, during the current Unit 2 midcycle outage for steam generator eddy current testing, the licensee conducted performance discharge capacity tests of the battery banks. The capacity discharge was conducted at a rate of 530 amps for 2 hours. A battery terminal voltage of 105 volts after 2 hours corresponds to a capacity of 100 percent. The tests revealed that the battery capacities for Battery Banks B and D were less than the 90 percent capacity required by TS 4.8.2.1.e (i.e., 89 percent and 88.3 percent, respectively) while Banks A and C were 91.6 percent and 90.6 percent, respectively. These results indicated that unexpected degradation had occurred. The licensee performed a battery capacity evaluation based on previous tests and additional testing of spare cells. The licensee concluded that the batteries degrade during the discharge/recharge cycle and that the projected capacities of the banks following the last capacity discharge test were: (1) Bank A, 78.82 percent; (2) Bank B, 82.49 percent; (3) Bank C, 76.73 percent; and (4) Bank D, 81.75 percent. The projections for battery capacity from this evaluation indicated that all four battery banks in Unit 2 were inoperable. Prior to entering Mode 4, the licensee replaced the four weakest cells in Battery Banks B and D, 11 of the weakest cells in Bank A, and 12 of the weakest cells in Bank C. These replacements will increase projected battery capacities so that there will be adequate margin above that required for safety-related loads. Projected battery capacities prior to entering Mode 4 were expected to be slightly above 85 percent for each bank, which is greater than the calculated worst-case accident load requirements for each bank. Using replaced cells from Banks A and C, the licensee will form four control groups of four cells each and test these groups at approximately 30-day intervals. This testing will be performed to provide assurance that the degradation mechanism is primarily related to discharge/recharge cycling of the batteries (in lieu of aging) and to demonstrate that the batteries in the unit are capable of meeting the design duty cycle. After each test, an evaluation of the performance of each group will be performed and, if acceptance criteria are not met, the licensee will enter the action statement for TS 3.8.2.1 and will take appropriate actions. In addition to the control testing, the licensee has committed to perform additional monitoring and measurements on the installed battery trains. The monitoring and measurements will be performed every other week for all cells, on a staggered basis between trains, and specific limits and required actions were established for the measurements. The licensee also committed to additional controls and limitations on maintenance on important electric distribution systems. The licensee continues to work with AT&T to determine the root cause of the battery degradation. Units 1 and 3 are operating at 98 percent and 100 percent, respectively. The Unit 1 and 3 batteries have not exhibited degraded capacity during testing. Regional Action: Regional personnel and the resident inspectors participated in telephone conversations with NRR to describe the test results from Unit 2. Regional personnel participated, via telephone, in meetings between NRR and the licensee. The resident inspectors will follow the licensee's tests of control groups and the monitoring of the installed battery banks. Contact: H. Wong (510)975-0296 A. MacDougall (602)386-3638 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION IV OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Entergy Operations, Inc. MR Number: 4-94-0122 Waterford 3 Date: 10/17/94 Killona,Louisiana Senior Resident Inspector Dockets: 50-382 PWR/CE Subject: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: On October 14, the licensee announced that Mr. Allen S. Lockhart, who was previously the Quality Assurance Manager, was rotated to the position of Senior Oversight Specialist reporting to the Director of Central Licensing at Echelon, the headquarters of Entergy. The position of Quality Assurance Manager will be filled by Mr. Greg G. Davie, who was previously the Operational Experience Engineering Manager. In addition, Mr. Robert E. Allen, the previous Security and General Support Manager, will become the new Operational Experience Engineering Manager. The licensee stated that the organizational changes would become effective Monday, October 17. Regional Action: This morning report is being submitted for information only. Contact: C. A. VanDenburgh (817)860-8161 PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION IV OCTOBER 17, 1994 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Pacific Gas & Electric Co. MR Number: 4-94-0123 Diablo Canyon 1 2 Date: 10/16/94 Avila Beach,California RESIDENT INSPECTOR Dockets: 50-275,50-323 PWR/W-4-LP,PWR/W-4-LP Subject: ALTERCATION AND MEDICAL EMERGENCY Reportable Event Number: N/A Discussion: On Sunday October 16, 1994, an altercation occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. PDT between two contract employees within the protected area at Diablo Canyon. The two individuals were working in an area adjacent to the discharge structure gates. During an argument one of the individuals apparently struck the other in the head with a piece of lumber (a wood 2x4). The individual who was struck reported to the onsite medical facility and was then driven to a local hospital for treatment. Security advised the Sheriff's office who responded and arrested the second individual. The licensee has terminated site access for the individual who allegedly assaulted the other worker. The licensee's initial assessment of the situation is that no drugs or alcohol were involved. The licensee is investigating the incident. In a separate incident on October 16, 1994, at approximately 2:30 p.m. PDT, a PG&E temporary additional employee working in the Unit 2 containment, removing nozzle dams in SG 2-4, was initially thought to be overcome by heat stress. The individual was evacuated from containment and was taken to the onsite medical facility where protective clothing was removed and a whole body frisk was performed. The worker was then taken to an offsite medical facility in an ambulance and was treated and later released. The licensee is evaluating this occurrence since symptoms normally associated with heat stress were not present. Regional Action: The residents are following the licensee's actions and will keep the Region advised of any further developments. No press interest has been shown at this time. Contact: G. Johnston (510)975-0304 M. Tschiltz (805)595-2354 D. Corporandy (510)975-0319