NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 801 Warrenville Road

 Lisle IL 60532

 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov 

No. III-03-001 January 7, 2003

CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov

Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 

NRC STAFF ISSUES INSPECTION REPORTS ON RADIATION EXPOSURES AND

RELEASE OF RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES FROM DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued reports for two special inspections into

work on steam generators at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant in February of last year that led to

elevated worker radiation exposures and offsite radioactive contamination. The plant, operated by

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, is located at Oak Harbor, Ohio.

On February 20 several contract workers were exposed to unexpected radiation levels while

performing work on the steam generators and were contaminated both internally and externally with

radioactive material. The workers underwent decontamination procedures before they were allowed to

leave the plant site.

Four of the contract workers were subsequently found to have minor radioactive contamination

on their clothing when they reported for work at nuclear power plants in South Carolina and Texas. 

Utility radiation specialists surveyed the temporary housing used by the workers and other associated

places and found tiny radioactive particles at several locations in Ohio, Virginia, and South Carolina.

On April 17 the NRC began a special inspection into the offsite contamination. A second

special inspection was initiated in September after test results showed that one of the workers had

received a potentially significant radiation exposure while working on the steam generators. The NRC

inspectors determined that the worker had not received a radiation dose in excess of NRC limits,

however, based on evaluations performed by the utility and an independent dose assessment by an

NRC contractor.

Under its safety significance determination process, NRC officials classify inspection findings

at nuclear power plants as being one of four colors which delineate increasing levels of safety

significance, beginning with "green" and progressing to "white," "yellow" or "red." 

Two of the findings from the inspections are preliminarily considered to be “white,” meaning

low to moderate safety significance, and a third finding was found to be green, meaning “very low

safety significance.” Violations of NRC requirements were associated with all three findings.

The inspection of the worker radiation exposures found two findings with a preliminary

evaluation of “white,” indicating low to moderate safety significance:
 The utility failed to conduct adequate evaluations of the radiological work conditions

prior to the steam generator work.

 The utility failed to make suitable measurements of radioactive material in the work

area and to adequately monitor the intake of radioactive material by the workers.

The NRC’s preliminary assessment is that these are “white” findings because the failure to

perform evaluations of the work conditions resulted in a “substantial potential” for radiation exposures

in excess of NRC limits and the inadequate measurements compromised the ability to accurately assess

the radiation dose received by the workers.

The inspection which focused on the offsite radioactive contamination resulted in one “green”

finding, meaning that it was of very low safety significance:

 Inadequate radiation surveys of the workers resulted in the uncontrolled release from the

plant of low levels of radioactive material on their clothing. The low level of

radioactivity involved was found to present little potential health risk to the workers or

the general public.

The reports note that the utility has adopted corrective actions for these violations which should

preclude similar violations in the future. The utility’s radiation protection program, including its

corrective actions, will be covered by NRC inspections prior to a decision by the agency on restart of

the Davis-Besse facility.

FirstEnergy has the opportunity to request a Regulatory Conference to discuss the NRC’s safety

assessment of the violations or, as an alternative, to provide written comments within 30 days. A

regulatory conference, if scheduled, will be listed on the NRC public meeting listing, accessible from

the main NRC web page: http://www.nrc.gov.

After its evaluation of information presented at a Regulatory Conference or submitted in

writing, the NRC will issue its final safety significance determination. The NRC’s final determination

of the safety significance will be available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement/current.html

The inspection reports, issued January 6, will be available on the NRC web site and from the

Region III Office of Public Affairs. Although the findings are not related to the utility’s ongoing

activities related to damage to its reactor vessel head, the reports will be posted to the Davis-Besse web

page - select ‘Davis-Besse’ from the key topics list on the NRC web page and then go to the ‘news and

correspondence’ link.

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