Meteorological Tower problems...Poor Evacuation Programs.
Pilgrim’s meteorological tower now has become a national problem. A dead tower means a plant has an impaired radiological evacuation plan.The opaque NRC system has kept these issues hidden...This idea of becoming dependent on the national weather service gives permission for a utility to not keep their metrological towers system up to date and reliable.
SUBJECT: D. C. COOK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT 05000315/2013005; 05000316/2013005
4OA7 Licensee-Identified Violations
The following violation of very low safety significance (Green) or Severity Level IV was identified by the licensee and is a violation of NRC requirements which meets the criteria of the NRC Enforcement Policy, for being dispositioned as a NCV.
•Sub-paragraph 50.36a (a)(2) of 10 CFR Part 50, requires the licensee to submit a report to the Commission annually that specifies the quantity of each of the principal radionuclides released to unrestricted areas in liquid and in gaseous effluent during the previous 12 months, including any other information as may be required by the Commission to estimate maximum potential annual radiation doses to the public resulting from effluent releases.
The NRC Safety Guide 23 “Onsite Meteorological Programs”
states that knowledge of meteorological conditions in the vicinity of the
reactor is important in providing a basis for estimating maximum potential
annual radiation doses resulting from radioactive materials released in gaseous
effluents. The Safety Guide also described a suitable onsite meteorological
program to provide meteorological data needed to estimate potential radiation
doses to the public as a result of the routine or accidental release of
radioactive material to the atmosphere and to assess other environmental effect.
The Safety Guide states that meteorological instruments should be inspected and
serviced at a frequency which will assure at least a 90 percent data recovery
and which will minimize extended periods of instrument outage.
Contrary to sub-paragraph 50.36a (a)(2) of 10 CFR Part
50, the licensee failed to submit information required by the Commission to
estimate maximum potential annual radiation doses to the public resulting from
effluent releases. Specifically, the licensee was not able to maintain Meteorological
Tower instrumentation so that data recovery remained above 90 percent for the
calendar year 2012, information that the Commission required to estimate
maximum potential dosesto the public.
After identifying the error, the licensee took corrective
action to prevent further loss of meteorological data due to equipment failure
by troubleshooting and repairing Meteorological Tower instrumentation and
instituting additional data recovery efforts in 2013. The license’s corrective
actions were entered into the CAP as Condition Reports AR 2013-12764 and AR
2013-15116. Because the licensee identified the failure to properly recover
data, the inspectors determined that the violation met the requirements of a
licensee identified NCV.
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