[NukeNet] Maker of fuel rod storage casks cited (NUHOMS cask system)

[MJ]

http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17021735&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6
08/07/2006 
Maker of fuel rod storage casks cited  
Evan Brandt , ebrandt at pottsmerc.com  

LIMERICK -- The maker of the casks that will hold spent fuel from the
Limerick Nuclear Generating Station was cited last month for violating a
manufacturing procedure. 

During June inspections at two manufacturing locations in Japan, Kobe
Steel Ltd. and Hitachi Zosen Mechanical Corp., inspectors for the Nuclear
Regulatory Agency found a violation -- the failure to adequately measure
the thickness of casks being manufactured there.

The casks in question are not those destined for Limerick, said NRC
spokesman Neil Sheehan. "They haven’t even started working on the Limerick
casks yet," he said.

The two Japanese manufacturers have been contracted by Columbia, Md.-based
Transnuclear Inc., a subsidiary of the French company Areva, to build the
casks. Transnuclear holds the license from the NRC for its NUHOMS cask
system, which is the one that will be used at Limerick.

Sheehan said the violation is a "level four violation," the lowest issued
by the NRC. There are no fines involved as of yet.

In a July 10 letter to Transnuclear President and CEO Tara Neider, NRC
official Robert J. Lewis wrote that the company must respond to the
violation and the response would be used "to determine whether further
enforcement action is necessary."

Neider said Friday the violation notice "had no impact on product
quality."

She said other than the paperwork issue for which the violation was
received, "the NRC lead auditor said we were otherwise in compliance with
NRC regulations and the quality of the construction is excellent."

Beth Rapczynski, spokeswoman for Exelon, e-mailed the following statement
after The Mercury forwarded a copy of the NRC notice to their offices
Tuesday: "We were aware that Transnuclear was putting corrective actions
into their processes surrounding the testing of thickness of steel, but we
were not aware on Tuesday that it was going to be considered a notice of
violation.

"That is because a notice of violation is between Transnuclear (the
licensee) and the NRC (the regulator. Transnuclear has fully briefed us on
this issue and we are confident they are making the changes and
improvements necessary to deliver us a quality, safe product," Rapczynski
wrote.

Despite these reassurances, David Kane, chairman of the Limerick Board of
Supervisors, called the news of the violation "troubling."

"Any time there is a violation with anything that has to do with those
casks, it is a major concern to Limerick Township," Kane said.

"We intend to contact NRC and Exelon and ask for a full explanation," he
said. "We need to be sure there aren’t any more mistakes and that the rest
of this project is mistake-free."

The thickness of the casks is important because it is the first shield
against the radiation and 400-degree heat the spent fuel will generate for
years. The steel casks will rest inside a pre-cast concrete housing, the
inside of which will be air-cooled through vents in the concrete.

Sheehan said the violation notice does not necessarily mean that the
thickness inspection did not take place, only that it was not property
documented as NRC rules require.

Neider said the thickness inspections were done and were documented. "It
was just that the documentation that was done was inconsistent with what
they are supposed to write down."

She said "corrective measures" have already taken place at the Hitachi
Zosen Mechanical Corp. yard where the violation occurred. She said that
yard will play a part in the construction of the Limerick casks. 

"They do good work for us there," said Neider.

The NRC inspection report notes that while construction on the casks for
Limerick has not yet begun, "planning and material procurement is under
way."

The same is true of the "transfer cask" which will be used over and over
to transfer the radioactive spent fuel from the 45-foot pool of water in
which it now rests to the "dry casks," to be located outside the reactor
building.

The approval to build the concrete pad on which those outdoor casks will
rest was issued July 27 by the Limerick Board of Supervisors.

The approval was not an endorsement of the project, Kane has insisted
several times. It was merely a land development approval which the board
could not deny, due to the fact that Exelon Nuclear, the company that owns
and operates the plant, had met all the legal requirements, he said.

Some residents and a local environmental advocacy group have pushed for
further precautions to be taken, particularly against a terrorist attack,
but the NRC has made no change in its regulations.

Exelon maintains it will follow NRC regulations.  


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"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with 
innocent blood": Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War, 1948


Molly Johnson 
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA  93451
Cell: 805 296-0524

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