ML030300352

Submittal of the Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey Triga

ML030300352
Person / Time
Site:	U.S. Geological Survey
Issue date:	01/22/2003
From:	Timothy Debey US Dept of Interior, Geological Survey (USGS)
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML030300352 (6)

Text

' United StatesS. GEOLOGICAL DepartmentSURVEY of the Interior

.*tU.

Box 25046 M.S. ?7Z1L Denver Federal Center 4 -y Denver, Colorado 80225 IN REPL Y REER TO January 22, 2003 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk

-Washington DC 20555 -

Dear NRC staff:

The attached annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey TRIGA non-power reactor facility is submitted in accordance with license conditions.

The facility docket number is 50-274.

Sincerely, Timothy M. DeBey Reactor Supervisor Enclosure Copy to:

Al Adams. MS O-11-D-19 B

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TRIGA REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT JANUARY 1, 2002 - DECEMBER 31, 2002 NRC LICENSE NO. R-1 13 - DOCKET NO. 50-274 I. Personnel Changes: No personnel changes occurred in CY 2002.

I1. Operating Experience The Geological Survey TRIGA Reactor (GSTR) was in normal operation for the year 2002. No major facility changes were made during the year.

A synopsis of irradiations performed during the year is given below, listed by the organization submitting the samples to the reactor staff:

Organization Number of Samples Geologic Division - INAA 1391 Geologic Division - Geochronology 1569 Non-USGS affiliated 736 Total 3696 A Thermal power calibrations were performed in February, May and November and minor adjustments were made.

B. One new Class II experiment (bromine tracer production) was approved during this period.

C. During the report period, 183 daily checklists and 12 monthly checklists were completed in compliance with technical specifications requirements for surveillance of the reactor facility.

D. Tours were provided to individuals and groups during the year for a total visitor count of approximately 380.

E. Two fuel movements were performed during the year for the purposes of increasing reactivity and performing the 60-month fuel element inspection.

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Ill. Tabulation of Energy Generated MWH operated Critical hours Pulses Jan 55.399 57.750 0 Feb 52.351 56.683 0 Mar 105.503 111.467 0 Apr 58.033 59.133 0 May 55.430 56.767 0 June 81.033 82.417 0 July 88.032 100.133 0 Aug 46.688 48.900 0 Sept 79.751 81.217 0 Oct 54.665 56.833 0 Nov 45.717 47.233 0 Dec 99.129 101.633 0 Totals 821.731 860.167 0 IV. Unscheduled Shutdowns Number Date Cause 988 3/6/02 Manual scram due to building evacuation alarm 989 5/10/02 NPP 1000 high power scram due to console computer being "locked up".

990 6/5/02 Manual scram due to insufficient underpressure in reactor room (loss of power to exhaust fan) 991 12/5/02 NPP high power scram during square wave operations for training 992 12/5102 NPP high power scram during square wave operations for training V. Major Maintenance Operations The primary coolant ion exchange resin was replaced on 4/16/02.

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The cooling tower was refurbished in August. This included regalvanizing of the interior, conformal coating of the interior, replacement of the fill, cleaning of the spray nozzles, replacement of the fan shaft and bearings, and replacement of 50%

of the drift eliminators. Subsequent operations have shown that the cooling efficiency of the cooling tower has increased by about 25%.

Several hardware improvements were made to the facility security system during the fall. These were reviewed and approved by the Reactor Operations Committee and then detailed in a revision of the security plan that was submitted to the NRC on 12/19/02.

Vi. S...... of 10 CFR 50.59 chanaes Summarv II .. .. . . .. . I No 50.59 changes were made during this year.

VII. Radioactivity Releases A. Listed below are the total amounts of radioactive gaseous effluent released to the environment beyond the effective control of the reactor facility.

Table 1. Gaseous Effluents Released to the Environment Month Argon-41 License Tritium (HTO) 10CFR20 Allowable Allowable (curies) (Ci) (R-113) (mCi) * (mCi)

January 0.180 5.833 0.114 124 February 0.166 5.833 0.065 124 March 0.401 5.833 0.160 124 April 0.166 5.833 0.091 124 May 0.185 5.833 0.129 124 June 0.157 5.833 0.155 124

-Jul-y 0.374 5.833 0.138 124 August 0.069 5.833 0.079 124 September 0.212 5.833 0.079 124 October 0.169 5.833 0.054 124 November 0.176 5.833 0.094 124 December 0.187 5.833 0.121 124 Total 2.442 70.00 1.279 1488

% of Allowable 3.49% - 0.09%

• Note: The tritium concentrations are estimates based on the amount of water lost by evaporation from the reactor multiplied by the concentration of tritium as HTO. Tritium sample analyses are being performed by Hazen Research.

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B. One 55-gallon drum of low-level radioactive solid waste was shipped for burial in Washington State during the year.

Note: The principal radioactive waste generated at the reactor facility is the demineralizer resin. Used resin with small quantities of rinse water was de-watered by evaporation and placed in a 55-gallon drum.

VIII. Radiation Monitorinq Our program to monitor and control radiation exposures included the four major elements below during the operating year.

1. Fifteen gamma-sensitive area monitors are located throughout the Nuclear Science Building. A remote readout panel is located in the reactor health physics office. High alarm set points range from 2 mR/hr to 50 mR/hr. High level alarms are very infrequent and due to sample movements.

2. One Continuous Air Monitor (CAM) samples the air in the reactor bay. An equilibrium concentration of about 1 x 10-8 jLCi/ml present for two minutes will result in an increase of 400 cpm above background. There are two alarm setpoints. A low-level alarm is set at 3000 cpm and the high level alarm is set at 10000 cpm.

Reactor bay air is sampled during all reactor operations. The fixed particulate air filter is changed each week and counted on a HPGE gamma spectrometer counting system. The charcoal filter, fitted behind the air filter, is also changed and counted weekly. In all instances, sample data were less than airborne concentration values (10 CFR Part 20, Appendix B, Table 2) for all particulate radioisotopes produced by the reactor.

3. Contamination wipe surveys and radiation surveys with portable survey instruments are performed at least once a month. All portable instruments are calibrated with a 3-Curie (initial activity) Cs-137 source traceable to NBS, and wipes are counted on a Gamma Products G5000 low level counting system. Six contaminated areas were noted during routine wipe surveys with contamination above 30 pCi/1 00 cm 2 beta. The two highest had beta activity of 110 and 52 pCi/100 cm 2 . Soap and water were used to remove the contamination. All other areas were less than 30 pCi/100 cm 2 beta and 15 pCi/1 00 cm 2 alpha The roof area over the reactor tank is roped off and posted as a radiation area (averaging 2.5 mR/hr) during 1 MW operations.

4. LiF TLD dosimeters were used at four outdoor environmental stations.

Reactor facility visitors are issued self-reading dosimeters. Reactor staff personnel are issued albedo neutron badges.

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Table 2. Personnel Monitoring Results (1211/01 - 11130102)

Deep Dose Shallow Dose Equivalent Equivalent Name Whole Body (Rem) Whole Body (Rem) Extremity (Rem)

Aakhus-Witt A. 0.000 0.000 0.098 DeBey, T 0.037 0.053 0.084 Heifer, P 0.023 0.023 0.083 Liles, D 0.014 0.014 0.000 Perryman, R 0.173 0.195 0.411 Note: December's personnel dosimetry results are not available at this time.

Reactor visitors and occasional experimenters wore pocket dosimeters that-resulted in no individual reading that was greater than three (3) mrem.

Thhle 3. Environmental Dose Results Location Dose Dose Dose Dose Total Jan-Mar Apr-June July-Sept. Oct.- Dec.

(RAg) (RAD) (RAD) (RAD) (RAD)

Exhaust 0.0031 0.0029 0.0079 0.0023 0.0162 Stack Cooling 0.0097 0.0023 0.0000 0.0000 0.012 Tower Fence West Vehicle 0.0095 0.0048 0.005 0.004 0.0233 Gate West Room 0.0068 0.0078 0.0000 0.0000 0.0146 151 Gate Southwest 0.0034 0.0042 0.0029 0.0000 0.0105 Light Pole Control 0.022 0.0267 0.0253 0.0316 0.1057 (background) I Q,-, ,+*,a+ n nnnn V.VVV*

n nAnn nv.vvv*nnnn n nnf4. 1 ilVV 0045

• V I Nhi U

I ___ __ __ I _ __ _

Note: Above totals have the background subtracted (see control). Control is average of three.

X. Environmental Monitoringi There have been no uncontrolled radioactivity releases from the reactor to the present date. Thus, the data on file from past years to the present are considered to be background information.

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