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33 <br />r• <br />Appendix A <br />k ' <br />`~ -~ Spent i=ue! Incidents <br />4. <br />3-_ .. <br />~' The following incident summaries supplement the discussion of spent fuel <br />risks presented in Chapter 8. These summaries provide a representative sampling <br />~~of the types and potential consequences of incidents that have occurred in the <br />~, nuclear power industry. <br />Sea! Failures <br />~. '. September 1972: An inflated seal at the transfer gate on the Point Beach Unit <br />~1 spent fuel pool deflated when its air supply failed. Nearly 1?00 gallons leaked <br />:s~ from the spent fuel pool, although no irradiated fuel assemblies were in the pool <br />at the time. <br />.r:.: <br />~; ~.;,- October 1976: An inflated seal at the inner pool gate on the Brunswick Unit <br />a;: 2 spent fuel pool deflated due to an air leak and a power failure for the air com- <br />~. ~ressor. The leakage caused the SFI' level to drop five inches. <br />~~ ' ~~ June 1980: The inflatable seal at the transfer gate on the Trojan spent fuel <br />pool was not properly inflated prior to draining the refueling cavity. The leakage <br />atcaused the SFP level to drop ten inches below the minimum level permitted by <br />,' .,.. <br />thN plant's operating license.' <br />:~-~~ May 1981: After draining the fuel transfer canal with the transfer canal door <br />`:~~'closed and the door seal inflated on the Arkansas Nuclear One Unit 2 spent fuel <br />;usu. <br />' pool, maintenance on the air system interrupted air supply to the seal. The leak- <br />age caused the SFI' level to drop seven feet until the water levels between the <br />.; .... <br />=spent fuel pool and the fuel transfer canal equalized. If the seal had leaked with <br />the-fuel transfer tube gate valve open and the Euel transfer tube blind flange <br />• removed, the spent fuel pool could have drained down to just above the top of <br />~` ~ 171 . <br />e irradiated fuel assemblies: <br />~. October 1984: The inflatable seal on the gate between the San Onofre Unit 2 <br />.spent fuel pool and the spent fuel shipping cask pit deflated following an air com- <br />~assor failure. The backup air compressor failed to start. Nearly 20,000 gallons <br />leaked from the spent fuel pool and dropped the SFP level 19-1/2 inches <br />although no irradiated fuel assemblies were in the pool at the time.' <br />~+.: •- <br />a~ December 1987: A valve in the return line to the refueling water storage tank <br />~wa~t Wolf Creek was inadvertently left open, allowing the SFi' level to drop to a <br />!~mirumum of ~? feet over the irradiated fuel assemblies during the next two days. <br />~.~he problem was not detected by the operators because the SFP level alarm was <br />~~ operable at the time.' <br />~~'.; .. <br />t65 <br />