IR 05000160/1999203

Insp Rept 50-160/99-203 on 990119-21.No Violations Noted. Major Areas Inspected:Organization & Staffing & Proposed Decommissioning Activities

ML20211J430
Person / Time
Site:	Neely Research Reactor
Issue date:	08/30/1999
From:	NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
To:
Shared Package
ML20211J420	List: IR 05000160/1999203 ML20211J418
References
50-160-99-203, NUDOCS 9909030140
Download: ML20211J430 (9)

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, U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION

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Docket No: 50-160 License No: R 97 -

Report No: 50-160/99-203 Licensee: Georgia Institute of Technology Facility: Georgia Institute of Technology Research Reactor (GTRR)

Location: 900 Atlantic Drive Atlanta, GA 30332 Dates: August 10 & 11,1999 Inspector: C. H. Bassett, Non-Power Reactor (NPR) Inspector Approved by: Ledyard B. Marsh, Chief Events Aasessment, Generic Communications and Non-Power Reactors Branch Division o) Regulatory improvement Programs Office of Neclear Reactor Regulation 9909030140 990830 PDR ADOCK 05000160 0 PDR ,

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, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

. The primary focus of this routine, announced inspection was the on-site review of selected programs of this Class lll non-power reactor including licensee and contractor organization and i proposed decommissioning activitie ORGANIZATION AND STAFFING The licensee's organization is in compliance with the requirements specified in the Technical Specifications and the Decommissioning Pla e The staffing level is acceptable for current activitie PROPOSED DECOMMISSIONING ACTIVITIES e The Decommissioning Contractor is acceptably following the schedule and plans on using ;

sufficient personnel to complete the job by the middle of next yea l l

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i REPORT DETAILS

Summarv of Plant Status The licensee previously operated a five-megawatt thermal (5MWt), heavy water moderated and cooled research reactor. The reactor was shut down on November 17,1995, in preparation for removing the fuel before the Olympic Games began in the summer of 1996. All reactor fuel was removed during the first two months of 1996 and no new fuel has been received by the facility since that time. The reactor has remained shut down and has not been operated since November 1995.~ The licensee applied for a Possession Only License (POL) on August 7,1997,

'following a decision to decommission the reactor. The NRC issued Amendment Number (No.)

12 to the facility license (Facility License No.- R-97) on April 2,1998, rescinding authority to operate the reactor while authorizing only its possession. Subsequently the licensee submitted a decommissioning plan in letters dated July 1,1998 and February 8, and May 28,199 Following a review, the NRC issued Amendment No.14 to Facility License No. R-97 on July 22,1999, authorizing decommissioning of the GTRR pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(b).

' Organization and Staffing (40755)

a.' Inspection Scope The inspector reviewed the following regarding the licensee's organization and staffing to

. ensure that the requirements of Sections 5.1.a and 5.1.b of the Technical Specification (TS) and Section 2.4 of the Decommissioning Plan (DP) were met: the licensee and contractor organizational structure, e management responsibilities, and e current staffing of the GTR Observations and Findinas Through discussions with licensee representatives and contractor personnel, the inspector determined that management responsibilities and the organization at the facility met the requirements specified in the TS and the DP. The inspector determined that the Director

-. of the Neely Nuclear Research Center (NNRC) retained overall responsibility for direction

- of the decommissioning of the facility and the Radiation Safety Officer advised the Director and the Technical Safety Review Committee (TSRC) in matters pertaining to radiological safety. An Executive Engineer has been hired and will serve as the decommissioning consultant for the licensee providing overall contractual direction to the decommissioning contracto Roles and responsibilities of the Decommissioning Contractor (DC) were also discusse The DC will have the responsibility of performing engineering, decommissioning work, waste packaging and disposal, and completing the final release surve The inspector determined that the current staffing was adequate to support the activities being conducted at the facilit Conclusions

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The licensee's organization is in compliance with the requirements specified in the Technical Specifications and the Decommissioning Plan and the staffing level is acceptable for current activitie :.

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' . ' Decommisaloning Activitiaa (40756) lnspection Scoce -

-In order to verify that the licensee's DC was knowledgeable of and planning on completing the Decommissioning Schedule outlined in the DP, the inspector reviewed: DC schedule and' plans,

? .e , projected staffing for decommissioning of the GTRR, and e- . resources to be committed to the work.- Observations and Findings DC personnel presented their general schedule for completion of the decommissioning

. project. A specific / final schedule could not be presented because a Notice to Proceed

_ (with the decommissioning activities) had not yet been issued to the DC by the State of GeorgiaL The schedule presented by the DC generally followed the one that had been outlined in the DP. ' It was noted that the schedule that the DC wants to follow will be even more ambitious than the one in the DP in that the decommissioning is scheduled to be completed more quickly than outlined in the DP.- As decommissioning activities get underway, more personnel will be brought to the site for completion of the assigned wor By using more personnel the DC plans on completing the decommissioning quickly and efficientl Other issues such as handling changes to the DP, the final release survey, and license

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term'instion were also discusse The Executive Engineer for the project took minutes of the meetings held during this

> inspection. Copies of the minutes are included as Attachments A and B to this inspection

- report, ' Conclusions

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The Decomm'issioning Contractor is generally following the schedule and plans on using sufficient personnel to complete the job by the middle of next yea L 3.~ Exit Meeting Summary The' inspection scope' and results were summarized on August 10 and 11,1999, with licensee representatives. NRC personnel discussed the findings for the areas reviewe )

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The licensee did not identify any of the materials provided during the inspection as J

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. PARTIAL LIST OF PERSONS CONTACTED

Licensee Personnel -

N. Hertel, Director, Neely Nuclear Research Center -

l R. Ice,' Manager, Office of Radiation Safety- i

' E, Jawdeh, Health Physicist j

- W. Miller, Project Manager j

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Contractor Personnel

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~J. Bell, Project Manager - Energy and Nuc%ar, IT Corporation R. Eby, Executive Engineer, (Vice President Energy, Environment, and Systems) CH2M HILL G. Kalinauskas, Senior Project Engineer, IT Corporation -

J. Mathis, Project Manager, Parallax Accompanying Personnel ,

T. Koshy, Senior Reactor' Systems Engineer, Events Assessment, Generic' Communications and Non-Power Reactors Branch (REXB), Division of Regulatory improvement Programs (DRIP), Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)

J. Lyons, Deputy Branch Chief, REXB, DRIP, NRR L. Marsh, Branch Chief, REXB, DRIP, NRR .-

M. Mendonca, Senior Project Manager, REXB, DRIP, NRR INSPECTION PROCEDURE USED i IP 40755 Class ill Non-Power Reactors j l

ITEMS OPENED. CLOSED. AND DISCUSSED Opened None Closed None

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, LIST OF ACRONYMS USED CFR' Code of Federal Regulations DC Decommissioning Contractor DP Decommissioning Plan DRIP ' Division of Regulatory improvement Programs GTRR Georgia Institute of Technology Research Reactor MWt _ Megawatt thermal NNRC Neely Nuclear Research Center No, Number NPR Non-Power Reactor NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRR Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation POL Possession Only License REXB Events Assessment, Generic Communications and Non-Power Reactors Branch -

TS Technical Specifications TSRC Technical Safety Review Committee i

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? Attachment A Meeting Minutes with NRC August 10,1999 On August 10,1999, Marvin Me' ndonca and'Craig Bassett of the NRC held an introductory meeting with Rod Ice, Nolan Hertel, and Bill Miller (Georgia Tech); Jeff Bell and Gede Kalinauskas (IT); Bob Eby (CH2M HILL); and Johnny Mathis (Parallax). Mendonca is the NRC Project Manager for the Georgia Tech Research Reactor Decommissioning Project and Craig Bassett will be the inspector. The intent of the meeting was to meet CH2M HILL and IT representatives and to better understand the schedule so the NRC could make appropriate plans. Mendonca also mentioned that his bosses, Tad Marsh and James Lyons, from NRC Headquarters would be in Atlanta on the following day, August 11, and would like to come and see the facility (see notes below).

Roles and responsibilities were discussed and IT presented their general schedule. NRC understood that a specific schedule could not be presented because IT had yet to receive their Notice to Proceed (NTP) (which they received on August 11,1999).

During the discussions, the process for handling changes were discussed. Since Georgia Tech will decommission the reactor under a license amendment, it was presented to the NRC to use the 10 CFR 50.59 process for processing changes which met the 50.59 criteria. Mendonca was in general agreement with this approach, but wanted to think about it for a few days. In a

. subsequent meeting on August 11 with NRC Branch Chief Tad Marsh, Deputy Branch Chief Jim Lyons, and Craig Bassett, the topic once again came up and there was g-ral agreement that the 50.59 process could be utilized. Dr. Ice will get a copy of Georgia Tes is procedure for processing changes under 10 CFR 50.59. CH2M HILL, with the assistance of experts from Parallax, will review the Georgia Tech procedure. The TSRC will have final review of the proces We discussed the process for finallicense termination. Agreement was reached that the project goal was to achieve unrestricted free release of the containment building and the yard, exclusive of the " barn." By achieving this goal, Georgia Tech was also seeking termination of its license with the NRC. All other radioactive activities at the NNRC will be under the guidance of the State of Georgi Because Georgia Tech has these and other ongoing rad operations in the building which require access to some of the area to be decontaminated, timely final survey, data review, and license termination by the NRC is very important to Georgia Tech. Therefore, we pledge to work closely l with the NRC and to provide them notification approximately 3 months prior to readiness for the !

NRC final survey. This should allow the NRC ample time to contract for the final surve Following the final survey, the NRC expects approximately 3-4 months to complete data review l

and terminate the licens The NRC seemed pleased with Georgia Tech's ALARA approach; i.e., setting aside a specified budget to clean areas below the unrestricted free release guideline The NRC asked about the condition of the Boralin the biological shield and how embrittled it was. This is an unknown at this tim i The NRC questioned the need to dispose of the regulating rod and drive as mixed waste as indicated in the Decommissioning Plan (DP). Georgia Tech will revie l

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The NRC stated the DP also mentioned that the plug storage vault may contain some hazardous

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l waste.. The NRC suggested we talk to NES who did the study to understand what they thought might be hazardous in that area. The Executive Engineer has the responsibility to bring this to

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resolutio Following the discussions, Dr. Ice led the team through a tour of the facilit )

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u Attachment B Meeting Minutes with NRC =

August 11,1999 On August 11,1999, NRC REXB' Branch Chief Tad Marsh, Deputy Branch Chief James Lyons, and Thomas Koshy, met with Drs. Rod Ice and Nolan Hertel (Georgia Tech) and Bob Eby ,

-(CH2M HILL) as indicated in the August 10,1999 meeting minutes. Tad Marsh and '

James Lyons are bosses of NRC Georgia Tech Decommissioning Project Manager Marvin Mendonca.! Craig Bassett of the NRC also attended the meetin < As mentioned in the meeting minutes above, we discussed using the 50.59 process for handling changes to the Decommissioning Plan. Since Georgia Tech is under a license amendment vs a Decomrnissioning Order it was the general consensus that 10 CFR 50.59 process would appl Some discussion centered around how we were keeping the public informed. We indicated our thoughts regarding meeting with the local neighborhood units (LNUs). Marsh suggested a joint public meeting with the NRC. We will work with Craig Bassett as we set up these informational meetings to invite his participation.- Marsh also offered resources of the NRC to present a meeting or seminar to students at Georgia Tech to explain the NRC's role in a project of this ,

type and to talk about a career in government service. He also expressed interest in ]

Co-operative Education type arrangements with the NRC and Georgia Tech. The NRC would ;

like to include some information about their role and Craig Bassett, the inspector, in the Georgia l Tech Project War Room. We indicated a definite willingness to accommodate this reques We discussed again the need to complete the final survey and receive the license termination as

soon after IT is complete with their decommissioning efforts since Georgia Tech needs to access the cleaned area to perform some Tech Specs required monitoring activities. Marsh indicated that under special circumstanc.es, such as these, there were avenues to request deviations from the Approved Technical Specification; however, the case for a deviation must be proven wh Marsh also suggested reviewing work at Saxon, Trojan, and other reactors for lessons learne Following the discussions, Dr. Ice led the team through a tour of the facility.

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