Palo Verde provides the following: response:
* Has your plant ever experienced increased tritium DAC values in your fuel handling building? While we have not seen increased tritium DAC values in our fuel building, we do have very high tritium concentrations. For example, SFP tritium values between the three units range from 0.08 to 0.1 uCi/ml and RCS tritium concentrations range from 0.6 to 1.25 uCi/ml. Being in a dry climate (relative humidity today is 10%) we experience a very high evaporation rate from our SFP and thusly we release a fair amount of tritium as a result. I assume that you are early into your analysis but have you looked to see if something has changed to increase your evaporation rate or SFP tritium concentrations? Has SFP temperature increased due to higher kW fuel, heat exchanger fouling, etc.? Is Ops adding more make-up water than normal? Are there significant changes in atmospheric conditions e.g., lower than normal humidity? Also, have you change your sample analysis process in some way that shows an increase in airborne tritium that may be due to counting differences and not actual airborne activity? * What was primary contributor to the increase in tritium DAC values? Cross connection of SFP to shutdown cooling system during outages. * What instrumentation/sample methodology does your plant use to sample for atmospheric tritium? tritium bubbler * What did your organization do to mitigate airborne tritium problems in the fuel handling building? ********************************************************************** 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 Fax (623) 393-1853 Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are my own Liviu Librescu ********************************************************************** From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 7:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Powernet: Airborne tritium in fuel handling building All, Over the past few weeks, Braidwood has been experiencing higher than normal atmospheric tritium in our fuel handling building. We would like to gain some insight from the industry through the following questions: * Has your plant ever experienced increased tritium DAC values in your fuel handling building? * What was primary contributor to the increase in tritium DAC values (spent fuel pool, spent fuel pool cooling, etc.)? * What instrumentation/sample methodology does your plant use to sample for atmospheric tritium (tritium bubbler, real time monitoring, etc.)? * What did your organization do to mitigate airborne tritium problems in the fuel handling building? Thanks in advance for your response. Kristin Weibel Dosimetry Specialist Braidwood Generating Station Phone: (815) 417-2737 ************************************************** This e-mail and any of its attachments may contain Exelon Corporation proprietary information, which is privileged, confidential, or subject to copyright belonging to the Exelon Corporation family of Companies. This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or action taken in relation to the contents of and attachments to this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout. Thank You. ************************************************** --- 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.
