United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406

Fax: 610/337-5241

Internet: dps@nrc.gov or nas@nrc.gov

I-98-103 September 3, 1998

Contact: Diane Screnci (610/337-5330) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan (610/337-5331)

NRC PROPOSES $55,000 CIVIL PENALTY AGAINST BGE COMPANY

FOR RADIOLOGICAL CONTROLS VIOLATIONS AT CALVERT CLIFFS PLANT

A $55,000 fine has been proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission against the operator of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power

plant for violations of agency requirements involving radiological

controls.

Three violations were identified during an NRC special

radiological safety inspection conducted in April and May, and they

were the subject of a predecisional enforcement conference held on

June 18 between NRC staff and representatives of Baltimore Gas and

Electric (BGE) Company. BGE owns and runs the two-reactor facility,

located on the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Md.

The infractions are associated with two events on April 9 in

which plant radiation safety personnel failed to follow radiological

control procedures for the control and monitoring of workers

performing tasks in high-radiation areas. The violations included a

failure to ensure workers were wearing alarming radiation detectors

when entering a high-radiation area; a failure to halt work when

unexpected alarms and radiological conditions were encountered; and a

failure to correctly calculate stay times for employees entering highradiation areas, resulting in non-conservative estimates of the time

available to do work there.

In the first instance early that day, six workers entered

the Unit 1 reactor cavity, an area above the reactor vessel, to

prepare to remove insulation and to ready nuclear instrumentation

detectors for replacement. Four of those workers subsequently entered

an area adjacent to the reactor vessel called the annulus, a highradiation area exhibiting radiation levels ranging from 2,000

millirems per hour to 6,000 millirems per hour. (For comparative

purposes, the average American is exposed to about 360 millirems of

radiation in a year from both manmade and natural sources.)

However, the individuals were not wearing alarming dosimetry

as required by their special work permit. Radiation safety personnel

were required to physically verify that the workers were wearing

required radiation monitoring equipment before they entered the high

radiation area, but that did not occur.

Although the workers were not monitored properly, subsequent
reviews found that their exposures to radiation did not exceed

regulatory limits.

Later that same morning, an instrumentation and controls

technician entered the annulus for approximately 9 minutes to relatch

a detector well. The technician was wearing multiple detectors on his

body to properly monitor radiation levels. While this worker was

wearing the required monitors, the alarms on the three of the five

devices in use had been incorrectly set. Even after the three

incorrectly set monitors alarmed, the individual was allowed to

continue to work in the area.

Consequently, the technician received an unplanned exposure

to radiation -- approximately 760 millirems to his left thigh, which

was in excess of the special work permit dose limit of 600 millirems.

But, as in the other instance, regulatory limits were not exceeded.

“The NRC is particularly concerned that these failures

occurred despite the improvements that you had made to your

radiological protection program following a serious event in April

1997, in which you failed to implement appropriate radiological

controls during diving operations in the Unit 2 spent fuel pool,” NRC

Region I Administrator Hubert J. Miller wrote to BGE in a letter

notifying the utility of the enforcement action. “A $176,000 civil

penalty was previously issued to you for the related violations (in

April 1997) that were categorized at Severity Level II. A Severity

Level III Notice of Violation without a civil penalty was also issued

for your failure to establish adequate controls for airborne

radioactivity for work in the reactor cavity in May 1997.

“During the April 9, 1998, entries to the annulus,” Mr.

Miller continued, “deficiencies similar to those identified during the

1997 events were identified, including ineffective job briefings,

failure of radiation protection personnel to provide adequate

monitoring of personnel exposure and lack of management oversight.”

The administrator said the latest violations were of

“significant concern,” particularly in light of the fact that these

events, which had the potential for unnecessary exposure of workers to

radiation, could have been prevented if BGE had more effectively

addressed past problems with the radiation protection program.

Since the most recent problems occurred, BGE has bolstered

its efforts to improve radiological controls at Calvert Cliffs. The

NRC, after observing improvements, on July 9 lifted a Confirmatory

Action Letter issued to the utility in April outlining steps BGE had

agreed to take toward that end.

The violations have been classified by the NRC in the

aggregate as a Severity Level III problem. (There are four

levels of severity for NRC violations, with Level I the most

significant and Level IV the least significant.)
BGE has 30 days to pay the fine or request in writing

that all or part of the penalty be withdrawn.

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