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Home My WebLink About20021154.tiff ?J`�Ei.Ri Reel;O s, UNITED STATES a = NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION • t REGION IV - 611 RYAN PLAZA DRIVE, SUITE 400 t* +° ARLINGTON, TEXAS 76011-8064 April 26, 2002 Mr. Warren Bergholtz, Acting Manager Idaho Operations Office U. S. Department of Energy 850 Energy Drive Idaho Falls, ID 83401-1563 SUBJECT: NRC INSPECTION REPORT 72-09/02-01 Dear Mr. Bergholtz: On April 10, 2002, the NRC completed an inspection at your Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The enclosed report presents the results of that inspection. The inspection included observation of your biennial exercise, review of the 2001 annual environmental report, changes made to your facility and programs over the past 2 years as reported in your ISFSI Update Report issued June 4, 2001, compliance with selected technical specifications, review of recent safety evaluations conducted under 10 CFR 72.48 and review of quality assurance audits conducted over the past year. No violations of NRC regulations were identified. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.qov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). Should you have any questions concerning this inspection, we will be pleased to discuss them with you. Sincerely, SAvieli54 Dwight D. Chamberlain, Director Division of Nuclear Materials Safety Docket No.: 72-09 License No.: SNM-2504 Enclosure: NRC Inspection Report 072-09/02-01 c e/iser ' Q ye4d'v 5- e `:gooG1 2002-1154 U. S. Department of Energy -2- cc w/enclosure: Mr. Mark D. Gardner TMI/FSV Facility Director Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office 850 Energy Drive Idaho Falls, ID 83401-1563 Mr. Jan Hagers TMI/FSV Licensing Project Manager Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office 850 Energy Drive Idaho Falls, ID 83401-1563 Ms. Mary J. Fisher General Manager, Nuclear Public Service Company of Colorado P. O. Box 840 Denver, CO 80201-0840 Mr. M. H. Holmes Project Assurance Manager Public Service Company of Colorado 16805 Weld County Road 19-1/2 Platteville, CO 80651 Chairman Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, Colorado Greeley, CO 80631 Regional Representative Radiation Programs Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 1 Denver Place 999 18th Street, Suite 1300 Denver, CO 80202-2413 Director Laboratory and Radiation Services Division Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 8100 Lowry Boulevard Denver, CO 80230-6928 ENCLOSURE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION IV Docket No.: 72-09 License No.: SNM-2504 Report No.: 72-09/02-01 Licensee: U. S. Department of Energy Facility: Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) Location: 16805 Weld County Road 19-1/2 Platteville, Colorado 80651 Date: April 10, 2002 Inspector: J. Vincent Everett, Senior Health Physicist Rebecca Karas, Project Manager, SFPO Accompanied by: D. Blair Spitzberg, Ph.D., Chief Fuel Cycle and Decommissioning Branch Approved by: D. Blair Spitzberg, Ph.D., Chief Fuel Cycle and Decommissioning Branch ADAMS Entry: IR07200009-02-01; on 4/10/02;Department of Energy, Fort St. Vrain ISFSI. ISFSI Report. No violations. -2- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fort St. Vrain ISFSI NRC Inspection Report 72-09/02-01 The annual inspection of the Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) was completed to verify compliance with selected technical specifications and the facility license. The Department of Energy (DOE) is the licensee for the facility. The facility was being maintained by Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC as the management and operations contractor for the DOE-Idaho Operations Office. The spent fuel was being stored safely and the facility had been properly maintained. Operation of an ISFSI (60855) • The licensee was conducting operations at the Fort St. Vrain ISFSI in compliance with their license and technical specifications. The facility was being maintained in good physical condition (Section 1). • The licensee's 2001 radiological environmental report was reviewed. Data submitted by the licensee demonstrated that radiation levels around the facility for 2001 were consistent with measurements taken over the past 5 years. Tritium sampling of the chimneys found no indication of tritium levels above background (Section 1). • The biennial exercise was conducted involving a security threat and injured person. The scenario provided sufficient challenges to adequately test the licensee's ability to respond to emergencies. The local hospital participated and tested their procedures for the receipt and handling of a contaminated patient. One open item was identified for follow-up by the NRC related to the use of the ambulance for transporting a contaminated patient (Section 1). • The licensee had conducted several quality assurance audits covering a wide range of issues. Overall, the Quality Assurance (QA) audits and surveillances found that the programs were being implemented effectively at the Fort St. Vrain facility (Section 1). Design Control of ISFSI Components (60851) • Twenty-two changes had been made to the facility or procedures during the past 12 months that required review to determine if a safety evaluation, as specified in 10 CFR 72.48, was required. None of the changes were found to require a safety evaluation (Section 2). -3- Report Details Summary of Facility Status The Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) is a modular vault dry storage design developed by the Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation. The facility provided storage for the spent fuel from the decommissioned Fort St. Vrain high temperature gas cooled reactor. There were 244 fuel storage containers loaded with fuel at the Fort St. Vrain ISFSI. The Department of Energy (DOE) is the licensee for the Fort St. Vrain facility. The DOE Idaho Operations Office is the responsible office that manages the facility. Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LCC (BBWI) was the assigned management and operations (M&O) contractor responsible for day-to-day activities at the facility. Several upgrade activities related to security had been completed since the last annual inspection. A discussion of these upgrades will not be included in this inspection report, although the inspectors were briefed and observed the physical changes to the facility. 1 Operation of an ISFSI (60855) 1.1 Inspection Scope The annual inspection of the Fort St. Vrain facility was completed to verify compliance with the facility license and selected technical specifications. A tour of the facility was conducted to observe the condition of the building. The biennial exercise was observed. 1.2 Observations and Findings A tour of the facility was conducted. The facility was being maintained in good physical condition. Several facility modifications had been made to enhance security. Technical Specification 3.1.1, "Cooling Inlet and Outlet," required the licensee to perform a weekly visual inspection of the cooling inlet and outlet screens on the Fort St. Vrain facility. The licensee was requested to provide the weekly records for surveillances conducted during the periods of July 1-15 and December 15-30, 2001, and February 1-15, 2002. Weekly surveillances were recorded in procedure TPR-5593, "Visual Inspection of FSV ISFSI Cooling Inlets and Outlets/Tornado Clamp Verification," Revision 7. Copies of procedure TPR-5593 were provided for the dates of July 3, July 11, December 19, and December 26, 2001, and February 6 and February 13, 2002. All records documented the required weekly surveillances of the cooling inlet and outlet screens had been completed. No blockage was noted during the surveillances. The licensee is required by Technical Specification 5.5.4.c to submit to the NRC within 60 days after January 1 of each year an annual radiological environmental monitoring report. For 2001, the licensee submitted their report on February 27, 2002. The report provided the environmental thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) data and the results of the tritium monitoring program. Twenty TLDs were located around the 100 meter -4- perimeter fence of the Fort St. Vrain facility to monitor direct and scattered radiation from the spent fuel stored at the facility. An additional seven TLDs were located inside the facility. The mean daily exposure rate measured on the TLDs located on the 100 meter fence for 2001 was 0.38 ±0.04 mrem/day. This is consistent with the 5-year average of 0.39 ±0.05 mrem/day. The TLDs located inside the facility on the charge face and in the security center measured 0.38 ±0.05 mrem/day. This was also consistent with the 5-year average for these locations of 0.40±0.06 mrem/day. Tritium sampling was performed on a quarterly basis at four locations inside the ISFSI. On an annual basis, all six chimneys are sampled. Results of this sampling found no unexpected tritium levels above what would be expected as normal background levels. Typically readings were around 1O12 N.Ci/cc. During July and October 2001, water was observed in the vault drain system. This water was attributed to rainwater runoff. Samples were taken and analyzed for tritium. Results indicated the presence of tritium in the October sample of 461 ± 137 pCi/liter. This is below the Environmental Protection Agency limit for tritium in drinking water of 20,000 pCi/I specified in 40 CFR 141.16. The licensee is required by 10 CFR 72.70(c)(6) to update the Final Safety Analysis Report and submit the revised pages to the NRC every 2 years from the date of issuance of the license. The license for the Fort St. Vrain facility was transferred from Public Service of Colorado to the Department of Energy (DOE) on June 4, 1999. On June 4, 2001, DOE issued a report containing a description of changes to the Final Safety Analysis Report with the revised pages attached. Numerous changes were made to the training program and the quality assurance program. Changes made to the Final Safety Analysis Report were reviewed with the licensee and found acceptable. On April 11, 2001, at 3:28 a.m., commercial power was lost to the Fort St. Vrain facility. A severe spring snow storm and high winds caused extensive damage to power lines in the area. Power was off for approximately 33 hours. The main systems affected by the loss of power were those related to security. There were no safety systems associated with the storage of the spent fuel that required power. The onsite battery back-up system activated normally and carried the load for the security system. The licensee decided to install a 5400 watt generator when it was determined that restoration of the power to the area would be delayed due to the extent of the damage. The generator was operational by 4:00 p.m. the day of the outage. The generator functioned properly and picked up the load until the offsite power was restored the following day. The biennial exercise for the Fort St. Vrain ISFSI was conducted on April 10, 2002. The exercise was observed by the NRC Inspectors. The scenario involved a security threat and an injured person. Participation included DOE's Emergency Center in Idaho Falls, Weld County Fire and Ambulance, and the North Colorado Regional Medical Center. The Weld County Sheriff's Department and K-9 unit also responded to the site. Members of the media were allowed to observe and record the drill activities for the local press. Public Relations support personnel were dispatched to the site from DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The scenario presented a timely issue and resulted in several lessons learned by the participants. The scenario included an injured person who broke his leg during the evacuation of the site. After being provided initial first aid, he was loaded into an ambulance and transported to the North Colorado -5- Regional Medical Center. According to the scenario, the individual was not contaminated during the initial participation at the site, however, in order for the hospital to practice the radiological portion of their plan, the individual was identified as contaminated when the hospital was notified. Reports from the licensee's controller at the hospital indicated that the hospital's preparedness for handling the contaminated person was very good. During the discussions with the ambulance personnel assigned to deliver the simulated contaminated person to the hospital, DOE was told that if the individual had actually been contaminated, that the ambulance would not accept the individual. This is contrary to the agreement between the ambulance service and DOE and will be a follow-up item for the licensee. Closure of this issue and actions taken by DOE to prevent recurrence of this problem will be reviewed during a future inspection. This issue will be tracked as Inspection Follow-up Item (72-09/0201-01). The licensee conducted numerous QA audits and surveillances over the past 12 months. The following were reviewed: • Surveillance Report 01-ISFSI-S-005, "Surveillance of the 5-year seal leak rate tests for FSV Fuel Storage Containers," date March 21, 2001 • Surveillance Report 01-INEEL-S-005, "Corrective Action Follow-up for 98-NSNF-AU-034-CAR-009 (Training Program),"dated May 1, 2001 • Surveillance Report 01-ISFSI-S-010, "FSV OiUGas Monitoring Program and Radioactive Environmental Monitoring Program," dated May 21, 2001 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-013, "INEEL Records Storage Facility,"dated February 21, 2002 • Audit No. 01-ISFSI-AU-011, "Implementation of the QA Program at FSV and the TMI-2 ISFSI," dated September 2001 • Audit No. 02-ISFSI-AU-001, "Implementation of Technical Specification Requirements for FSV and TMI-2 ISFSI," dated November 2001 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-006, "Implementation of Nuclear Information and Records Management Association, Inc Guidelines," dated December 4, 2001 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-001, "Routine ISFSI Operations," dated December 20, 2001 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-002, "ISFSI Facility Changes,"dated February 11, 2002 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-003, Maintenance Activities," dated March 11, 2002 • Surveillance Report 02-ISFSI-S-007, "Administrative Controls," dated March 21, 2002 -6- The licensee reviewed a wide range of topics as part of the QA audit and surveillance process. No significant issues were identified, however, several concerns were identified and documented for resolution. These concerns were entered into the licensee's deficiency reporting system. Overall, the QA audits and surveillances found that the programs were being implemented effectively at the Fort St. Vrain facility. 1.3 Conclusions The licensee was conducting operations at the Fort St. Vrain ISFSI in compliance with their license and technical specifications. The facility was being maintained in good physical condition. The licensee's 2001 radiological environmental report was reviewed. Data submitted by the licensee demonstrated that radiation levels around the facility for 2001 were consistent with measurements taken over the past 5 years. Tritium sampling of the chimneys found no indication of tritium levels above background. The biennial exercise was conducted involving a security threat and injured person. The scenario provided sufficient challenges to adequately test the licensee's ability to respond to emergencies. The local hospital participated and tested their procedures for the receipt and handling of a contaminated patient. One open item was identified for follow-up by the NRC related to the use of the ambulance for transporting a contaminated patient. The licensee had conducted several quality assurance audits covering a wide range of issues. Overall, the QA audits and surveillances found that the programs were being implemented effectively at the Fort St. Vrain facility. 2 Design Control of ISFSI Components (60851) 2.1 Inspection Scope Changes to the facility and procedures for the past 12 months were reviewed to determine if the licensee had properly reviewed the changes against the requirements of 10 CFR 72.48. 2.2 Observations and Findings The licensee had completed 22 changes to the facility and procedures during the past 12 months. The licensee evaluated the 22 changes against the criteria specified in 10 CFR 72.48 and found that none of the issues required safety evaluations. Selected changes were reviewed by the NRC inspectors to verify the adequacy of the screening process. Most of the safety screenings involved procedural changes. The three that did not were the addition of Jersey barriers to the site, paving of a parking lot and the power loss experienced April 2001. All screenings were found to be adequate. -7- 2.3 Conclusions Twenty-two changes had been made to the facility or procedures during the past 12 months that required review to determine if a safety evaluation, as specified in 10 CFR 72.48, was required. None of the changes were found to require a safety evaluation. 3 Exit Meeting The inspectors presented the inspection results to members of licensee management at the conclusion of the inspection on April 10, 2002. The licensee acknowledged the findings presented. The licensee did not identify as proprietary any information provided to, or reviewed by, the inspectors. ATTACHMENT PARTIAL LIST OF PERSONS CONTACTED DOE (Licensee) • M. Gardner, DOE TMI-2/Fort St. Vrain Facility Director Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC (M&O Contractor) T. Borst, Fort St. Vrain ISFSI Manager G. Horton, Exercise Director J. Kaylor, Operations Manager J. Newkirk, Fort St. Vrain Facility Safety Officer Other Contractors J. Leger, Fort St. Vrain Security Supervisor, Burns International Security Services INSPECTION PROCEDURES USED 60851 Design Control of ISFSI Components 60855 Operation of an ISFSI ITEMS OPENED, CLOSED, AND DISCUSSED Opened 72-09/0201-01 IFI Transportation Arrangements for Contaminated and Injured Persons Closed None Discussed None -2- LIST OF ACRONYMS BBWI Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC CFR Code of Federal Regulations DOE-ID Department of Energy- Idaho Operations Office FSV Fort St. Vrain ISFSI Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation M&O Management and Operations Contractor MVDS Modular Vault Dry Storage NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission pCi/I PicoCuriesAiter PSCo Public Service of Colorado SAR Safety Analysis Report SNM Special Nuclear Material TLD Thermoluminescent Dosimeter ,uCi/cc MicroCuries/cubic centimeter Hello