Headquarters Daily Report JANUARY 09, 1997 *************************************************************************** REPORT NEGATIVE NO INPUT ATTACHED INPUT RECEIVED RECEIVED HEADQUARTERS û REGION I û REGION II û REGION III û REGION IV û PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - REGION II JANUARY 9, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Ardamin & Associates MR Number: 2-97-0004 Agreement State Notification Date: 01/09/97 West Palm Beach,Florida License No: 972-8 Subject: STOLEN GAUGE RECOVERED Reportable Event Number: 31555 Discussion: The Florida Office of Radiation Control notified Region II that the Licensee's Troxler gauge that was reported stolen on January 8, 1997 had been found and the device was returned to the Licensee. The device was reported to be undamaged; however, the Licensee will evaluate the condition and operation of the device. The State will review the circumstances surrounding the incident and the corrective actions taken by the Licensee. Contact: R.Woodruff (404)331-5545 _ REGION II MORNING REPORT PAGE 2 JANUARY 9, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: MR Number: 2-97-0005 White Salvage Company Date: 01/09/97 Ripley,Tennessee License No: None Subject: CONTAMINATED ALUMINUM SCRAP METAL Discussion: The Tennessee Division of Radiological Health (DRH) notified Region II on Monday, January 6, 1997 that a shipment of aluminum scrap metal had been rejected by the Southern Can Company located in Memphis, TN, and the shipment was being returned to the origin, White Salvage Company. On Tuesday, January 7, 1997, DRH performed surveys at the Salvage Company and determined that the contamination was confined to 14 small aluminum ingots, 3 barrels of slag type material, and some residual material inside the "kettle" type furnace used for melting the scrap metal. The maximum radiation levels were determined to be 5 millirem per hour at the surface of one ingot, and the contamination was found to be spotted on the surface of the ingots, rather than a uniform mixture within the materials. Only two persons were identified as having worked during the melting operation, and the State related that no contamination was found on the individuals or the clothing worn during the melt. The DRH performed additional surveys with a portable multichannel analyzer on Wednesday, January 8, 1997 and determined that the isotope was americium-241, and samples of material were sent to their laboratory for further evaluation. DRH has required the facility to secure the contaminated materials and restrict the use of the "kettle" furnace. DRH is continuing their evaluation of the incident and working with the salvage company to identify the source of the americium. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the US EPA, Region-IV Office were notified of the incident on Monday, January 6, 1997. Regional Action: The Region is following the event and has offered assistance to the State of Tennessee if needed. Contact: R. Woodruff (404)331-5545 _ REGION III MORNING REPORT PAGE 3 JANUARY 9, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. MR Number: 3-97-0002 Perry 1 Date: 01/07/97 Perry,Ohio SRI VIA PC Dockets: 50-440 BWR/GE-6 Subject: REACTOR SCRAM WITH RAPID COOLDOWN Discussion: At 5:34 a.m. (EST) on January 7, 1996, plant automatically scrammed from full power. The resident inspectors responded to the site to monitor transient recovery. The low reactor water level scram resulted from a loss of feedwater control caused by a non-licensed operator error during BOP inverter switching operations. All feedwater was lost and level was recovered by HPCS and RCIC after it decreased to about 83 inches above top of active fuel. All safety equipment functioned as expected during the transient. RWCU isolated and both reactor recirculation pumps tripped so there was only natural circulation mixing in the reactor. Cold water collected in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel as a result of HPCS and RCIC injection as well as from the control rod drive (CRD) system flow (200 gpm). In the first hour of the transient temperature dropped to about 230 degrees F from about 540 degrees F in the lower vessel head as measured by a temperature indicator mounted on the outside of the vessel. A major contributor to the rapid cool down appeared to be the two hour delay in resetting the SCRAM and thus securing the CRD flow. The cooldown continued at a lower rate until vessel bottom head temperature stabilized at about 110 degrees F. The stratification was more pronounced then expected and the operators were not aware of the problem until the STA noticed the recirculation loop temperature dropping at about 7:50 a.m. RWCU flow was restored at about 11:30 a.m., which slowly warmed the lower regions of the reactor. General Electric concluded that the cooling transient was enveloped by an accident analysis although the cooling transient was more severe than predicted by pervious analysis. The licensee took the plant to Mode 2 at 3:57 a.m. on January 9 in preparation for plant restart. Regional Action: Regional management discussed event with the licensee and a DRS inspector responded to the site to review the licensee's engineering evaluations. Contact: J. M. JACOBSON (630)829-9736 _