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-98-70 June 15, 1998

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

Neil A. Sheehan (610/337-5331)

NRC SCHEDULES MEETING WITH OPERATOR OF CALVERT CLIFFS PLANT

TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATIONS INVOLVING RADIOLOGICAL CONTROLS

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission predecisional

enforcement conference to discuss apparent violations of agency

requirements at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant will be

held on Thursday, June 18. The apparent infractions involve

radiological control problems at the two-reactor Lusby, Md.,

facility, which is operated by Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E)

Company.

Scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., the meeting between NRC

staff and representatives of BG&E will take place in the Public

Meeting Room at the NRC Region I office in King of Prussia, Pa.

It will be open to the public for observation.

The purpose of the conference is to discuss the

apparent violations, with the company given an opportunity to

offer a response and provide details of any corrective actions

it may have taken. The information presented will be

considered by the NRC in determining the appropriate

enforcement action.

A special radiological safety inspection was conducted

by the NRC at Calvert Cliffs from April 20 to 24, May 11 to 14

and on May 19 and 20. That inspection was the result of an

event on the morning of April 9 in which at least six workers

entered the Unit 1 reactor cavity -- an area above the reactor

vessel -- without wearing the required alarming radiation

monitors. Four of those workers subsequently entered a highradiation area surrounding the reactor vessel that was

exhibiting dose rates 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

from both manmade and natural sources each year.)

Later that same morning, another worker entered the

same area. While the worker was wearing radiation monitors,

the alarms on the devices had been incorrectly set. Even after
three of his five monitors alarmed, the worker was allowed to

continue to work in the area. Consequently, the worker received

an unplanned exposure to radiation. However, regulatory limits

were not exceeded.

The apparent violations include: a failure by

radiation protection technicians to properly determine the

allowable stay time in the high-radiation area; a failure to

provide prescribed radiation monitors to workers; a failure to

properly set alarms on radiation monitors; a failure to record

radiation monitor data; a failure to instruct personnel to exit

an area upon encountering unexpected alarms and radiological

conditions; and a failure to properly monitor radiation dose,

dose rate and stay time.

Also to be discussed during the conference will be

BG&E’s response to an NRC Confirmatory Action Letter issued on

April 29. That letter confirmed improvements the utility

agreed to make to its radiological controls program in the wake

of recent problems at Calvert Cliffs. One of those

improvements included the hiring of an independent assessor to

review the quality and performance on ongoing radiological

control activities. The findings of that assessment effort are

due to the NRC by June 26.

No decision regarding enforcement will be made at the

meeting. A decision on what, if any, type of enforcement

action is appropriate is usually issued several weeks after the

conference.

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