TVA Nuclear’s Handling of Potentially Contaminated Liquids

Due to concerns identified during Evaluation 2020-15743, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Radiation Protection’s Organizational Effectiveness (report issued December 10, 2020), we performed an evaluation of TVA Nuclear’s handling of potentially contaminated liquids at its nuclear sites. The scope of our evaluation was limited to TVA Nuclear’s process for releasing liquids from Radiologically Controlled Areas (RCA) for unrestricted use. We determined potentially contaminated liquids were released from RCAs at each nuclear site. This occurred because all applicable analyses were not performed on some liquids prior to release. In addition, we identified opportunities for improvement related to (1) TVA Nuclear’s processes for tritium analysis prior to the release of liquids for unrestricted use and (2) documentation issues at each nuclear site, including the incomplete submittal of records, incomplete maintenance processes, and inaccurate logs.