Re: Drill Scenario Comment: A Rebuttal

[LIPTONW@detroitedison.com]

You wrote: 
 
Ernie is totally incorrect; two workers at the Trojan Nuclear Plant WERE NOT 
KILLED at the Trojan Nuclear Plant during a refueling outage.  However, two 
workers received an acute external exposure during a fuel transfer 
operation, but the doses were at least an order of magnitude below the 
LD50/30 for acute exposure.  Among the contributing causes of the accident, 
which was investigated by both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the 
State of Oregon, were design flaws, instrument failure, and improper 
procedures. 
 
Ron Kathren, CHP 
 
 
  At 03:29 PM 1/12/98 -0600, Egoitein wrote: 
>Two workers were killed during a refueling outage at the Trojan nuclear plant 
>many years ago.   They were inside the containment near the fuel transfer tube 
>where spent fuel is moved from the refueling cavity to the spent fuel pool.  I 
>wonder about the validity of your calculations.   Ernie 
> 
> 
For those who would like more information on the Trojan incident, it is 
documented in NRC, IE Bulletin 78-08, "Radiation Levels From Fuel Element 
Transfer Tubes".  The reported whole body doses are 27.3 and 17.1 rems.  There 
is a similar potential for acute exposures in BWR's in the upper containment 
during fuel transfers, if a fuel bundle were dropped into the bellows area.  
BWR's generally have administrative controls which exclude personnel from the 
upper containment during fuel transfer operations.  The recent failure to 
follow such administrative controls resulted in a violation at Clinton.  (see 
NRC Radiation Protection and Chemistry Inspection Report No. 
50-461/96012(DRS), dated February 27, 1997).  Another potential for lethal 
exposures is during diving operations in the spent fuel pool. I've seen three 
documented events where there was the potential for such exposure in U.S. 
plants (see:  (1) IE Inforamtion Notice 82-31 (Indian Point 2), IE Information 
Notice 84-61 (Palisades), and NRC Information Notice 97-68 (Calvert Cliffs)).  
I feel that the potential for lethal exposures is an issue which needs a lot 
more attention.  These are real, not hypothetical risks. As you can see from 
the 1997 NRC Notice and the 1997 Clinton inspection report, these events seem 
to keep happening. If we don't stop them, sooner or later our luck will run 
out.  I hate to think of the public relations fallout if someone were actually 
injured or killed by radiation exposure. 
 
The opinions expressed are strictly mine. 
It's not about dose, it's about trust. 
 
Bill Lipton 
liptonw@detroitedison.com