IR 05000097/1985001
| ML20138D210 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 05000157, 05000097 |
| Issue date: | 09/18/1985 |
| From: | Mccabe E, Meyer G NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20138D133 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-097-85-01, 50-157-85-01, 50-157-85-1, 50-97-85-1, NUDOCS 8510230213 | |
| Download: ML20138D210 (8) | |
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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REGION I '
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Report Nos.: 50-157/85-01; 50-97/85-01 !
r i Docket Nos.: 50-157; 50-97 i
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License Nos.: R-80; R-89 Category: G; H '
$ Licensee: Cornell University t Ithaca, New York 14853 l
Facility: Ward Laboratory of Nuclear Engineering ;
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Location: Ithaca, New York i
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! Dates: April 22-24, 1985 i
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Inspector: .
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Ik j/G.W.Meyer,PrpjectEngineer Date i
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Approved by: d3be #1-c0e44 1 lt018r r E. C. McCabe, Chief, Reactor Projects Secticn 3B Date l
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Inspection Summary: Inspection on April 22-24, 1985 (Report Nos. 50-157/85-01; 50-97/85-01)
Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced safety inspection by a region-based inspec- [
tor (16 hours1.851852e-4 days <br />0.00444 hours <br />2.645503e-5 weeks <br />6.088e-6 months <br />) of the operation and records of the TRIGA and ZPR reactor j Results: The inspector identified problems with the timeliness of licensed opera- [
tor requalification testing (violation), annual emergency drill (unresolved item), !
and annual operations audit (unresolved item). Also, compliance with the required channel check for fuel element temperature was not documented (unresolved item). l s
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DETAILS l 1. Introduction TRIG The Cornell TRIGA reactor operates under NRC Facility License R-80,
, Docket 50-15 The TRIGA reactor license was renewed and amended on November
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9, 1983, to' permit operation at an upgraded steady state power of 500 kilo-2 watt The fuel is stainless steel clad U-Zr hydrid The TRIGA reactor i- operates approximately 1000 hours0.0116 days <br />0.278 hours <br />0.00165 weeks <br />3.805e-4 months <br /> per year at an average power of 100 kilo-watts.
I ZP The Cornell Zero Power Reactor (ZPR) operates under NRC Facility License i
R-89, Docket 50-97. The ZPR is licensed to operate at 100 watts steady state power. The fuel is aluminum-clad uranium dioxide. The ZPR operates about 40 hours4.62963e-4 days <br />0.0111 hours <br />6.613757e-5 weeks <br />1.522e-5 months <br /> per year at an average power of 1 wat !
! 2. Persons Contacted j D. Clark Director, Ward Laboratory H. Aderhold Reactor Supervisor P. Craven Senior Electric Technician; Chief Responsible Person, TRIGA l
l The inspector summarized the inspection results with Dr. Clark and Mr. Aderhold i following the inspection on April 24, 198 I
! 3. Previous Inspection Items (Closed) Violation (157/77-01-01): Failure to analyze liquid radioactive waste samples prior to discharge. On twelve occasions in 1977, discharges
, were made from the liquid radioactive waste holdup tank into the sanitary sewer system prior to analysis of samples. In a letter dated October 21,
, 1977, Cornell University stated that action had been taken to achieve compli-l ance and that the p rchase of a liquid scintillation counter (to be operable later in the year) ',ould substantially improve turnaround time and accuracy for liquid waste sample The inspector found that the liquid scintillation counter has been in use since December 8, 1977. Operation of the counter.and maintenance of associ-ated records are the responsibility of the Radiation Safety Officer, who is organizationally separated from the Ward Laborator The inspector reviewed the calibration of the counter to verify it was within the proper frequency and inspected the condition of counter. The inspector reviewed discharge records for the years 1978 through 1984 to verify compliance. The reactor operator noted that the volume of discharges have been greatly reduced as the I condensate from the air conditioning system, the largest cource of liquid waste, is now processed and used in the reactor pool. T:ns item is closed.
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(Closed) Unresolved Item (157/77-01-02): Lack of coordination or contact with
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State of New York concerning emergency response. The inspector reviewed the Emergency Plan for Ward Laboratory of Nuclear Engineering, Revision 2, which l was approved by the NRC on August 15, 1984 and was fully implemented on De-l cember 12, 1984. The plan provides specific instructions and references for contacting the State of New York. This item is closed.
(Closed) Followup Item (157/79-SC-07; 97/79-SC-07): IE Circular 79-09: Self-contained breathing apparatus problems. IE Circular 79-09, dated June 22, 1979, informed licensees of regulator diaphragm failures in Scott Air Pak II/ IIA and Pressur-Pak II/ IIA self-contained breathing apparatus, and re-
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quested licensees examine existing' equipment and periodically inspect i At Cornell, self contained breathing apparatus is maintained by the Office of Life Safety Services. A representative of this office stated that none of the affected' apparatus was being used at Cornell. The inspector confirmed that the Ward Laboratory had none of the affected apparatus. This item is close ,
(Closed) Unresolved Item (157/79-02-02): Requalification training of licensed J operators not curren Problems were experienced due to operators on.sabba-
tical leave, but the licensee committed to adhere to annual test schedul .
As discussed in Section 8, Requalification Training, this area did not comply I
with requirements. Accordingly, a violation is being issued, and corrective
' actions will be tracked under the item number of the violation. Therefore, for administrative reasons, this item is close '
(Closed) Unresolved Item (157/79-02-04): Calibration of portable radiation j survey instruments. An inspector had noted that the annual calibration of some portable radiation survey instruments had not occurred in 1979. During
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- a tour the inspector selected a portable radiation instrument, Thyrack II No.
i 533, and confirmed via records review that it had been calibrated during the summer in each.of the previous five years. The inspector's review of cali-l bration records for portable radiation instruments showed that the instruments were being calibrated annually. This item is close j i
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(0 pen) Violation (157/83-01-01): Review and audi The licensee had not met the Technical Specification required annual audit of operations or the re-quired Ward Laboratory Safety Committee meeting frequency of four per year.
i A Cornell University letter dated May 18, 1983 provided corrective actions including an improved scheduling syste <
The inspector reviewed the minutes of the Ward Laboratory Safety Committee for 1983 and 1984. The Technical Specification requirement for committee meeting frequency has been revised to three per year, and the committee met this requirement in both 1983 and 198 Concerning annual audits of operation of the reactors, the inspector found .
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that inadequate corrective action had occurred. An audit had been performed on April 4, 1983 in re.sponse to the violation issued following the NRC in-i !
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! spection on March 21-23, 1983. No additional audit was performed until the afternoon of the inspector's arrival, April 22, 198 The inspector reviewed this audit and found it to be a cursory review with no substantive findings.
l In discussions with the inspector, the licensee representative noted that due to the small staff associated with the reactors, it was difficult to get an
auditor that was knowledgeable of the reactors yet independent of the opera-
! tions. The inspector noted that at least two other universities within New York State had TRIGA facilities and that personnel associated with these uni- .
i versities would be knowledgeable, yet independent. On April 24, 1985, the !
Reactor Supervisor stated that an informal agreement had been reached with l personnel from another university to reciprocate annual reactor audit This j
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violation remains open pending licensee action to formalize and implement a program of reciprocating annual audits or other appropriate licensee action 7 to effectively meet their annual audit requiremen . Facility Tour
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! The inspector toured the TRIGA reactor and the Zero Power. Reactor (ZPR) ;
facilities located in the licensee's Ward Laboratory of Nuclear Engineering with a licensee representative after the ent'ance r interview. The housekeeping i
, .of the facilities was satisfactor The inspector observed that the required I
notices were poste ; Facility Operations i t
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! The TRIGA nuclear reactor and the ZPR are used in the licensee's Nuclear ;
! Science and Engineering Program for graduate research, undergraduate course work for credit in the student's major field of study, experiments for neutron activation analyses, and neutron detector testing. The reactors are normally *
operated only on the day shift during the five day work week.
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On April 23, 1985, the inspector observed the startup and shutdown o' the ;
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TRIGA reactor under TRIGA Reactor Daily Startup Checklist No. 356 The startup was initiated at 1:33 p.m., and the shutdown was completed at 4:00 ! The. inspector reviewed the checklist and compared the checklist entries l
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to the Technical Specification requirements. The inspector judged the opera-tor to be experienced and very knowledgeable of TRIGA equipment and operation During the TRIGA operation the inspector noted a problem in the documentation
of the fuel element temperature channel check. The fuel element temperature i measuring channel is one of the main reactor safety system channels, and the i only parameter for which there is a safety limi Technical Specifications .
4.3.(1) and (2) require a daily channel test (i.e., observation of channel 6 trip following introduction of an increasing input signal) and a daily channel !
check (i.e., observation of normal channel response), respectively. During !
the TRIGA startup, the inspector observed the channel test of the fuel element ;
temperature channel and its logging in the checklis Also, the inspector observed the operator perform numerous channel checks of the fuel element temperatur However, there was no documentation of the checks or logging i
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of any fuel element temperatures to confirm thi The inspector informed the licensee that to properly comply with the Technical Specification, the channel check of the fuel element temperature must be documented. The licensee stated that the rubber stamp used to format operating log entries was being evaluated and that an entry for fuel element temperature would be evaluated for inclu-sion on the stamp. The inspector stated that such an entry would meet the
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requirements. This item (157/85-01-01) is unresolved pending licensee action to document the daily channel check of the fuel element temperature channe . Loos, Procedures, and Records The inspector reviewed a sample of logs and records associated with the ZPR and TRIGA. The specific items reviewed are listed in Attachment A, and are associated with operating records, surveillance tests, procedures, maintenance work records, and experiments. With the exception of the TRIGA fuel element temperature channel check discussed in Section 5 above, the inspector identi-fied no problem . Review and Audit The inspector reviewed the minutes of the Ward Laboratory Safety Committee from 1983 and 1984, emphasizing committee composition, frequency, and required topics. The three meetings in each year meets the revised Technical Specifi-cation requiremen Followup on the previous violations for meeting frequency ana' operational audits are discussed in Section The licensee continues to have problems meeting the requirement for an annual operations audi . Requalification Training Four individuals hold senior reactor operator (SRO) licenses at the facilit Two individuals hold an SRO license on both the ZPR and the TRIGA reactors, while the two remaining operators hold a single SRO license, one on TRIGA, the other on ZPR. The licensee noted that 16 years is the minimum that any of the four licensed individuals have held their license, while the remaining individuals have greater than 20 years each of licensed experience at Cornell University. The inspector reviewed the SR0 license certificates and reviewed the ZPR and TRIGA operating logs to confirm that the licensed individuals periodically perform reactor manipulation The Requalification Program for Licensed Operators, dated August 23, 1974, is administered by the Reactor Supervisor, holder of licenses on both facili-tie Accordingly, he prepares and corrects the annual written tes The inspector found that only one of the remaining three licensed operators met the requirement for being tested annually. The remaining double licensed operator had passed tests on February 28, 1982 and April 22 1985 (following the inspector's arrival), while the TRIGA licensed operator had last passed a test on December 20, 1983. These test frequencies exceed the required an-( nual frequency and represent a violation (157/85-01-02).
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9. Emergency Planning The Emergency Plan for Ward Laboratory of Nuclear Engineering, Cornell Uni-versity was approved by the NRC on August 15, 1984. In the plan the licensee commits to perform an annual emergency drill and to conduct periodic trainin The inspector discussed the general actions prescribed in the plan with the operating personnel and found them to be knowledgeable of their responsibili-tie The inspector reviewed the written critique of the most recent emergency drill (December 15, 1983). The critique was thorough and contained detailed com-ments on nine topics including, "(6) We need more drills, especially unan-nounced." The inspector noted that the absence of an emergency drill in the ensuring sixteen months did not appear to meet their commitment (Section 1 of the Plan) for an annual drill, and it was not in keeping with the cri-tique's comment to perform more drills. Based on the plan's approval less than a year ago, the licensee's lack of an annual drill is Unresolved Item (157/85-01-03).
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ATTACHMENT A LOGS, PROCEDURES, AND RECORDS REVIEWED ZPR
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Daily Checkout Schedule No. 188, 4/11/85
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Startup Checklists No.1 and 2, 4/11/85
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Shutdown Checklist, 4/11/85
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Channel calibration for moderator temperature
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Channel test of ' neutron flux trip
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Channel test of moderator temperature
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Control rod drop measurements; 6/29/84, 11/6/84, 3/15/85
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Water chemistry and radionucleides, 11/12/84 TRIGA Procedures:
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Routine Reactor Startup, 7/24/72
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Routine Reactor Simtdown, 7/24/72 j --
Reactor' Pool Water Cooling System, 8/19/77
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Inspection of Fuel. Elements, 8/18/76 j --
Calibration of Radiation Monitoring Equipment, 8/18/76 Operating Log 30, 3/25/85 - 4/23/85 l Experiments:
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305, Activation of orchard leaves, 2/28/84 i --
306, Activation of-K42 and Na24, 5/16/84
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Design Changes:
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Modification of thermal column, 1/5/84 l
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Installation 'of neutron collimator in thermal column, 3/7/84 l Core Loading Reports:
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109, 8/29/77
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110, 2/16/84-
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- Fuel Inspection Reports
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20, 3/8/82
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21, 1/17/83.
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22, 2/16/84 i
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23, 1/15/85 Control Rod Inspections, 6/8/81, 7/7/82, 6/21/83, 7/12/84
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Attachment A 2 Surveillance Tests:
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Fuel element temperature calibration; 6/13/84, 12/18/84, 4/4/85
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For reactor operation on 4/11/85, 4/18/85, 4/19/85, and 4/23/85, confirmed i daily:
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Power level channel check
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Pool water level
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Pool water temperature Daily Startup Checklist No. 3566, 4/23/85 Maintenance Records:
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Power supply tube replacement, 2/21/85
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Recirculation pump seal repair, 2/5/85 Calibrations: I
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Stack monitor; 1982, 1983, 1984
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Air particulate monitor; 1982, 1983, 1984
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Gamma monitor; 1982, 1983,.1984 *
Monthly Radiation Surveys; 10/15/84, 11/13/84,-1/3/85, 2/4/85
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