IR 05000150/1980001
| ML19309D488 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Ohio State University |
| Issue date: | 02/28/1980 |
| From: | Fisher W, Paul R, Schumacher M NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19309D479 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-150-80-01, 50-150-80-1, NUDOCS 8004100377 | |
| Download: ML19309D488 (7) | |
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT
REGION III
Report No. 50-150/80-01 Docket No. 50-150 License No. R-75 Licensee: Ohio State University 2070 Neal Avenue Columbus, O!! 43210 Facility Name:
Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Inspection At: Nuclear Reactor Site, Columbus, Oli Inspection Cor i ted;. February 6-7, 1980 bu
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Approved by:
W.L.F1 sher,CYef b~ed;> w r % Q / 9 F C Fuel Facility Projects and V
Radiation Support Section Inspection Summary Inspection on February 6-7, 1980 (Report No.50-150/80-01)
Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection of radwaste management and radiation protection programs, including:
qualifications; audits; training; radiation protection procedures; instruments and equipment; exposure control; posting, labeling, and control; surveys; notifications and reports; effluent releases; records and reports of effluents; effluent control instrumentation; solid radwaste; and IE Bulletin 79-19 and Radio-active Material shipping. The inspection involved 27 inspector-hours on site by two NRC inspectors.
Results: No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
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DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted
- B. Hajek, Associate Director, Nuclear Reactor Laboratory R. Myser, Reactor Manager
- Attended the exit interview.
The inspectors also interviewed other personnel, including licensed reactor operators.
2.
General This inspection, which began at 8:40 a.m. on February 6, 1980, was conducted to examine the routine radiation protection and radwaste management programs. An initial tour of the facility made at about 9:30 a.m. included an area survey made by the inspectors using a li-censee owned survey meter. The inspectors also made a smear survey of isotope work areas, including bench tops, floors, and inside the rabbit facility. No contamination was detected and radiation levels in occupied areas were background except for approximately ImR/hr at the top of the central i.~ adiation facility (CIV). A neutron survey at very low power (approximately 1 watt) made at the end of the in-spection revealed no detectable neutron flux at closed beam ports or around the door to the thermal column. Licensee posting and labeling met regulatory requirements.
3.
Previously Identified Inspection Items (Closed) Unresolved Item (150/79-01): Discontinuance of Monthly Air Sampling Program. This program was stopped in May 1978 because no evidence of positive airborn; activity had ever been observed. The program was resumed in January 1979 and remains in effect.
4.
Organization The Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (NRL) staff consists of the Associate Director and the Operations Manager, both Senior Reactor Operators (SRO), two part-time SR0's, two part-time Reactor Operators (RO), two operator trainees, and one part-time secretary.
f Also housed temporarily in the reactor building are eight members of a new organization, Nuclear. Services and Training Laboratory (NSTL),
a spinoff of NRL. NSTL is not connected with operation of the reactor, although its Director is also the Associate Director of NRL.
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Reponsibility for radiation protection surveillance is shared between
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NRL and the Office of Radiological Health and Safety (0RHS) of the university. ORHS personnel performs monthly direct radiation and contamination surveys, analysis of pool water samples, and handling of radwaste under the university broad license, and are available to
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provide additional health physics expertise, if needed.
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No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
5.
Audits Records of two audits by the Audit Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Operations (ACRO) were reviewed. These covered reactor operations for the periods June 1978 through November 1978 and December 1978 through June 1979. The audit report for the last half of 1979 was not available at the time of this inspection.
No significant safety findings were made by the audits.
Minutes of quarterly ACR0 meetings in 1979 were reviewed. No significant problems were noted.
No items of noncumpliance or deviations were identified.
6.
Training Full-time NRL staf f members and experimenters are trained pursuant to 10CFR19.12 by either the Associate Director or the Reactor Manager.
The training for experimenters is outlined in Procedure H-15 of the licensee's Procedure Manual.
In addition to this training, informal training is given to researchers commensurate with their particular experiment.
Because of some concerns expressed by the inspector during the last inspection, the licensee has modified procedure H-15 by expanding the requirement covering the training concerning health protection problems associated with exposure to radiation.
There is no specific requirement for experimenters to survey their hands, clothing, and shoes during or after the experiment, nor are such surveys emphasized in training. The NRL Associate Director stated that use of available instruments for such surveys would be stressed in experimenter training and that Procedure H-15 would be modified accordingly.
A copy of Regulatory Guide 8.3, " Instruction Concerning Prenatal Radiation Exposure," is given to each female staff member and each experimenter.
Training records of NRL staff members and experimenters were re-viewed; no problems were noted.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
7.
Radiation Protection Procedures l
l The NRL Procedures Manual contains thirteen radiation protection
procedures.
In addition to the training procedure (H-15) discussed l
in Paragraph 6, procedures covering sampling reactor pool water for
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activity (H-5), smear surveys (H-8), calibration of ARMS (H-6), and the gaseous ef fluent monitor (H-3) were reviewed. No problems were noted in the implementation of these procedures.
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No items of noncompliance were identified.
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8.
Instruments and Equipment
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The licensee has portable survey instruments capable of measuring
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beta-gamma and neutron dose equivalent rates, as required by Technical
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Speci fication S.9.
Instruments on hand bore current calibration stickers. Calibration records for portable instruments and area radiation monitors (ARM's) indicated no discrepancies.
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" Reactor Prestartup Checkout Sheets" for January 1980 confirmed the daily " front panel calibration" of ARM's as required by Technical
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Specification 9.l(d).
The annual calibration of the gaseous ef fluent monitor required by j
Procedure 11-3 was done in March 1979. No problems were noted.
The log book for the GM counter used for smear counting showed opera-tional checks before each use and a plateau check in March 1979.
Daily efficiencies, obtained with a chlorine-36 source, showed varia-tions of about 20% with no discernible pattern. A series of-50 one-minute counts by the inspectors showed a slow, nonrandom varia-tion suggesting two separate distributions with means differing by I
about 40%. A series of one-minute runs to check timer error and a l
check of operating voltage failed to explain the anomaly. There was no evidence that smear counting results were significantly affected.
(Paragraph 12)
It was also observed that the 10,000 channel of the count register
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was inoperative so that manual tracking of the transfers from the
1000 channel was necessary. Licensee personnel were aware of this i
problem and compensated for it.
There was no evidence that smear counting results were significantly affected, but the two problems
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together could seriously compromise the licensee's performance, if=
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serious contamination levels are encountered.
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The need for resolving problems with this counter was discussed at j
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No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
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Exposure Control
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External
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Beta, gamma, neutron,and criticality dosimeters are worn routinely by all regular NRL staff members. Some experimenters and students
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i who work in the area are issued beta, gamma, and criticality dosimeters,-but no neutron dosimeter.
Self-reading pocket
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dosimeters and ring badges are available for jobs in which I
higher radiation exposures would be expected (e.g.
. fuel in-spection). Film badge records reviewed for.the period January.
through November 1979 indicated all whole body exposures were minimal. Whole body.and extremity dosimeter results for certain experiments were not at the NRL during the inspection.
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The results of these dosimeter records, which were obtained from the University RSO by telephone, indicated minimal extremity exposure and 50 mrem as the highest whole body exposure.
Forms NRC-4 are not kept by the NRL.
b.
Internal The licensee has no routine bioassay program and relies on the monthly air samples to comply with the requirements of 10 CFR
.0.103(a).
Air sample records for January 1979 through December
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1979 reviewed by the inspector were negative. No positive air samples have ever been observed, according to the licensee.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
10.
Posting and Labeling During facility tours, the inspectors reviewed the licensee's compliance with posting and labeling requirements of 10 CFR 20.
No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
11.
Materials Most radioactive material received at the NRL is covered under the University's broad license (34-00293-02). The licensee occasionally irradiates samples which are taken from the NRL to laboratories on the University campus or are shipped from the campus. When material leaves the NRL, the licensee form " Radioactive Material Produced for Shipment" must be completed.
Information contained on the form includes the isotope shipped, the amount, the Transport Group, and the survey results. The inspectors reviewed the completed forms for CY 1979 and noted that there were two instances of removing material from the NRL. No activity above one millicurie was noted to have been shipped from the University.
No items of noncompliance were identified.
12.
Surveys The NRL staff performs direct rndiation surveys of the area after each day of reactor operation, or weekly if the reactor has not operated.
Smear samples are taken weekly and monthly air samples are taken at a fixed location.
In addition, ORHS makes weekly direct
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l radiation and contamination surveys. Review of their records for the period February 1979 through January 1980 revealed no problems. All smears and air samples were negative. Radiation surveys were generally less than ImR/hr. The records indicated that neutron surveys had not
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been made during the period examined.
Licensee representatives i
stated that no significant neutron levels had been observed in the j
past, but agreed to make such surveys at least annually and to update l
knowledge of neutron dose equivalent rates during infrequent experi-l-5-
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ments at the beam ports. The shielded beam port cubicle is not occupied during reactor operation; experiments are loaded and un-loaded when the reactor is shutdown. The licensee also agreed to take air samples adjacent to the rabbit tube during use.
The inspectors made direct radiation and contamination surveys (Paragraph 2) throughout the facility and observed no problems.
Because of operating anomalies observed with the licensee's smear counter, smears were taken to NRC Region III for counting. The onsite finding of no detectable contamination was confirmed.
No items of noncompliance of deviations were identified.
13.
Radwaste Management There were no liquid effluents between January 1979 and the date of the inspection.
Licensee records indicated an airborne release (argon-41) during the first half of CY 1979 of about 2 millicuries, based on 232 kilowatt-hours of reactor operation. Assuming this release rate for the entire year implies an average release of about 1% of that permitted by 10 CFR 20 for unrestricted areas.
Solid waste disposal is handled by ORHS under the University broad license. ORUS provides a designated waste container, which is picked up when full and packaged together with other university wastes for shipment offsite. The container, currently at NRL, has been in place since about December 1978, according to the disposal log. The in-spectors' survey of the container indicated levels not appreciably different from background. An ORHS representative stated that such is typical for the picocurie quantities involved.
The licensee's response to IE Bulletin 79-19 will be reviewed during a future in-spection of the University broad license.
No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
14.
Radioactive Material Shipping The licensee has not submitted their quality assurance program (10 CFR 71.51) in that they have not shipped fuel and are not planning to ship fuel in the near future. The inspectors informed the licensee that before any shipment of spent fuel they must submit a QA plan in accordance with 10 CFR 71.51.
No items of noncomplian:e or deviations were identified.
15. Notifications and Reports
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t Review of records and discussion with licensee representatives in-dicated no problems regarding compliance with NRC reporting require-j ments.
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16.
Exit Interview The inspection findings were discussed with Mr. Hajek at the con-clusion of the inspection on February 7, 1980.
The licensee agreed to:
a.
Revise the training program for experimenters to stress instrument surveys during and after work with activated sources.
(Paragraph 6)
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Determine dose equivalent rates present during beam port ex-periments and to perform annual neutron leakage surveys at power.
(Paragraph 12)
c.
Resolve smear counter problems observed during this inspection.
(Paragraph 8)
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d.
Take some of the monthly air samples near the exit port of the
rabbit during sample removal.
(Paragraph 12)
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