Radiation Monitoring Log 2002-2003

REUTER STOKES (GAMMA) ELEVATIONS at THREE MILE ISLAND:

Ms. Debbie Davenport monitors Reuter-Stokes readings 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 365 days-a-year. Simply put, without Debbie Davenport, the community would not have real-time, gamma monitoring at Three Mile Island!

Ralph DiSantis replaced Dave Carl as the point of contact for Reuter-Stokes. Mr. Carl retired from AmerGen. Earlier in the year, Tim Bradley a veteran of TMI Health Physics and the Reuter-Stokes troubleshooter, also retired.

Please note that Jim Byrne (GPU Nuclear/First Energy) and Pat Donachie (Consultant) have supplied advice and guidance as has Rodger Granlund (EFMR).

July 4, 2002: "...out from 4:00 to 6:00 pm." Debbie Davenport (Debbie Davenport).

July 9, 2002: "Reuter Stokes has been elevated just about by five micro-rems...not big elevations...Possibly it could have been from smoke coming down from Quebec. Called the NRC and they said no things going on[at] the plant right now ...Been about four days now...Reuter Stokes it has been off off and on and Crawford Station(#16, nw)...came on steadily...All the other stations up as well..." (Debbie Davenport = DD).

July 12, 2002: "Went down for a while...But up a little..." (DD)

August 1, 2002: "Elevation at North Gate at 12:10 pm". (DD) "They don't know why it went up" DD on AG's response). Previous to August 1, "Reading was about normal for a month..." (DD)

August 6, 2002: "Falmouth-Becker (#8, se) out for some time. Work order out for Becker..." (DD)

August 14, 2002: Debbie Davenport requested weather for last couple of days due to elevations.

August 31, 2002: "Still some stations out ...Two being repaired...Still have seen slight elevations.... The NRC says nothing is going on However, there 's a slight leak in the primary system...[Exelon] couldn't find where it was coming from...[Exelon] picking up leaking in log books. Shouldn't show outside of containment...Runs into sump..." (DD)

September 8, 2002: Theft of two TLD's from the Visitors' Center which were subsequently placed at Flight 93 crash sight. AmerGen has not replaced the TLDs (AmerGen).

Reuter-Stokes undamaged, but out for one month. Other stations experienced elevations. (AG)

October 28, 2002: 11:08 am: Elevation at North Gate = "(1) Waste Shipment...(2) Source of calibration..." (AmerGen = AG).

November 2, 2002: 11:08 am, Elevation at Middletown (#1, n) (DD). Reasons: 1) Calibration [problems]... (2) Not sure..." (AmerGen).

January 25, 2003: Reuter-Stokes out since 23.08; notified by DD on 1/27/03. Follow-up call from D.C. on 1/28/03. "Trouble call in..." (AG)

Information reporting nonstop to TMI center. (AG)

February 7, 7:09 through February 11, 15:00: Transmission out at DD's.

February 12, 2003: "Really high readings "from "3-7" (DD).

March 4, 2003, 11:09: "Spike at Middletown Station (1, n)" Unusual because this station usually records steady readings" (DD)

March 5, 2003: Middletown (1): "Trending up" (DD).

March 10-18, 2003: Reuter Stokes out all "weekend" (DD). DC confirmed system out since "Friday." Several conversations between EE/DD and AG. Back on-line on 3/20/03.

April 9, 2003: Out from 11:53 am through Midnight April 12, 2003 (DD).

System down from April 17, 2003 18:00 through April 28, 2003, 17:00. AmerGen committed to mail DD replacement data.

System down from May 13, 2003 and returned to service on May 28, 2003 (DD).

June 9, 2003: Four days of RS readings "lower" after rain out.

June 27, 2003: Crawford Station (#16; nw) elevating

June 28, 2003: RS quadrant counting Crawford (#16; nw) out. The quadrant right next to it,.i.e. Fairview Township (nw) has been "out for a week". Follow-up conversation with Dave Carl on June 30 who noted a work order had been issued.

July 2, 2003: Elevation at North Gate at 8:00 am. Transformer fire at TMI-2 at 10:40 am.

July 21, 2003: High "rain out" readings all around, especially east Visitor's Center (#5, e) and southeast as well as North Gate. These two sites recorded very high readings.

July 30-31 through August, 2003: D.D. alerted EFMR about 1:00 am on July 31, 2003. "Since 12:00 today apparently...There has been an alarm level at Fairview Township (#14, nw) at 102 millirems per hour. The system kept printing out every fifteen minutes,and then it just cut out after the 14.00 read...I don't see elevations other than at that pointy..." However, AG (Laurel Weber) believes the alarm was an anomaly due to improper installation. (DD)

August 20, 2003: "...Reuter Stokes is finally back on. However there are three stations out. The guy that repairs that, or puts in the new detectors for them, is on vacation till next week when they'll be done. As well 12:10 today there was an elevation at the North Gate. I checked on this. Laura Weber said there having shipments start on their fuel and the outage and other things...(DD)

September 17, 2003: "There was blip at something crossing there the North Gate...I assume things going out [Rad waste shipments]" (DD)

September 18, 2003: Reuter-Stokes stayed on through the big storm [Hurricane Isabelle] even . However Becker Farm is out. And now Middletown Substation (#3) and Middletown [ ] have been blinking off intermittently at times but nothing blew-out last night [September 18] as far as I could see..." (DD)

November 5, 2003: A BORIC ACID LEAK AT TMI-1 APPEARS TO BE FROM THE REACTOR PRESSURE boundary. According to a notice posted on the agency's Web site that operator Exelon filed with the NRC Nov. 4, plant personnel found a leak as they were inspecting the unit's pressurizer heater bundle (PHB) diaphragm plate during the unit's current refueling outage. According to the notice, "this degraded condition of the PHB Diaphragm Plate is indicative of a [reactor coolant system] pressure boundary leak." Exelon spokesman Dave Simon said that repairs were scheduled to be completed today and that the discovery of the leak would not extend the outage (Platts, Nuclear News).

NRC Report

The licensee provided the following pre-refuel outage information:
RCS Leak Rate = less than 0.1 gallons per minute
Activity = 0.45 microcuries/milliliter
TS [Technical Specifications] Limits: No leakage (3.1.6.4)
Secondary System Activity = less than 1E-10 microcuries/milliliter

November 7, 2003: Goldsboro continues to be out during refueling which is historically the most "sensitive" station during outages. (DD, EFMR)

The Intake was also out for "some time" but has shown elevations during the Reactor Vessel Head replacement beginning at 23:11 to .0177 millirems per hour...dropped back four hours later..."

General elevations beginning on the monitors attributed to the Reactor Vessel removal by AmerGen.

Laura Weber, AmerGen noted that the old reactor vessel was being moved somewhere on the Island, and the elevations was attributed to that activity.

November 9, 2003: Reuter-Stokes elevations "continue down by the intake" i.e., During and to be up after the Reactor Vessel Head's removal. Currently, the Head is near the Intake: "Something is still there by the Intakes". The Company has stated that it should be moved to the "south" of the Island for "processing the papers" (NRC).