What does your site do to release fire extinguishers from RCA so that they may be recharged.
The failure was most likely the identification of K-40. Many dry chemical fire extinguishers use potassium bicarbonate (aka Purple-K) or potassium chloride (Super-K). When you discharged the fire extinguisher you removed the NORM (at least below the alarm threshold). Also, on rare occasions, some fire extinguisher horns (nozzle) are made of composite materials that can also contain NORM. At Palo Verde, we perform a loose and fixed contamination survey on fire extinguishers prior to release for recharge/maintenance. Since the extinguisher is sealed and typically pressurized you can assume that any contamination present is external. I recommend that you baseline your extinguishers using an MCA. Separate the horn from the fire extinguisher and count each one. Seth. ********************************************************************** Seth J. Kanter, CHP, RRPT Sr. Health Physicist Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Mail Sta. 7397 5801 S. Wintersburg Rd. Tonopah, AZ 85354 Phone (623) 393-3130 Cell (602) 376-7131 or (602) 402-5764 Fax (623) 393-1853 Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are my own Liviu Librescu ********************************************************************** From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barber, Jerry Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 7:52 AM To: '[email protected]' Cc: Hall, Steven Subject: Powernet: Fire Extinguishers Robinson Nuclear Plant would like to know: What does your site do to release fire extinguishers from RCA so that they may be recharged. We recently went from a SAM-9 to a CRONOS at RCA boundary. Prior to the CRONOS we had to frisk these out to release, but now that we have the CRONOS the RCA fire extinguishers fit inside the CRONOS monitor so they must be released using this monitor per our procedures. We recently had a fire extinguisher that failed the CRONOS with extinguisher contents still inside but that passed the CRONOS once we completely discharged the fire extinguisher. Have other sites experienced similar problems, and if so what did your site do about it? Thanks! Jerry Barber Lead RC Specialist H.B. Robinson Nuclear Plant 843-857-1496 [email protected] --- NOTICE --- This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain confidential, privileged or proprietary information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original and any copy or printout. Unintended recipients are prohibited from making any other use of this e-mail. Although we have taken reasonable precautions to ensure no viruses are present in this e-mail, we accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this e-mail or attachments, or for any delay or errors or omissions in the contents which result from e-mail transmission.
