ML031970444
| ML031970444 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Utah |
| Issue date: | 07/07/2003 |
| From: | Slaughter D Univ of Utah |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML031970444 (8) | |
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Center JBor Excellence in Nuckar Technology, Engineering, and Research 7 July 2003 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, D.C. 20555 To whom it may concern:
Enclosed is the annual operating report for the University of Utah TRIGA Nuclear Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket number 50-407, for the period of 1 July 2002 through 30 June 2003.
This report fulfills the requirements of the TRIGA technical specifications (iTS) 6.10(5).
If there are any further questions or concerns regarding this report, please contact me at (801) 581-8499 Respectfully, David M. Slaughter Reactor Administrator P a0
A-4 The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor Annual Operating Report for the period 1 July 2002 through 30 June 2003 A. NARRATIVE.
- 1. Operating Experience.
The University of Utah Center for Excellence in Nuclear Technology, Engineering, and Research (CENTER) TRIGA Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, was critical 45.666 hours0.00771 days <br />0.185 hours <br />0.0011 weeks <br />2.53413e-4 months <br /> and generated 1343.827 kilowatt-hours of thermal energy during this reporting year. The reactor was used for educational demonstrations, laboratory experiments, systems tests, power measurements and sample irradiations.
- 2. Changes in Facility Design.
The documents supporting a forthcoming application to upgrade licensed power from 100 kW to 1.1 MW, are being internally reviewed before submission to the NRC. No facilities changes have occurred.
- 3. Surveillance Tests.
Documentation of all surveillance activities is retained and stored by the facility.
- a. Control Rod Worth Table 1.
Summary of control rod worth, SDM, and ER Core Configuration #24 #24 Date 820/02 2/20/03 Worth ($) Worth ($)
Safety Rod 2.15 2.23 Shim Rod 1.44 1.50 Regulating Rod 0.27 0.28 Excess Reactivity 0.74 0.79 Shutdown Margin 0.97 0.99
- b. Control Rod Inspection.
The Biennial Control Rod Inspection was performed during December 2001.
The control rods were sequentially removed from the reactor core for visual inspection. Each control rod was found to be in good condition with no noticeable deterioration or corrosion having occurred since the last inspection.
Rod drop times were measured on 8/20/02, and 2/20/03. All rod drop times
were less than 1.0 seconds.
- c. Reactor Power Level Instrumentation.
Calorimetric power calibrations were performed on 8/30/02, and 2/08/03 with the following results:
Date Measured % Power Calculated Power Level 8/30/02 89.4 kW 82.1 kW*
2108/03 89.5 kW 96.7 kW*
- Power channels were calibrated d Fuel Inspection The Biennial Fuel Inspection was performed during December 2001. Each fuel element was visually inspected while keeping it submerged for shielding. No deterioration or excessive corrosion of in-core fuel elements was observed since the previous inspection. Pool water is sampled and analyzed periodically for evidence of fission product activity indicative of defective or deteriorating fuel. Analyses of pool water following full-power reactor operations lasting several hours have not shown any indication of fission product leakage.
- e. Fuel Temperature Calibration.
Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/21/02 and 2/21/03. The circuits were calibrated to less than a 21C error over the range 200 C to 400 0C.
f Reactor Safety Committee Audits.
Four Audits were completed during this period.
Table 2.
Audit Summary Audit Period auditor Operation and I Jan 2002 to 30 June 2002 Jim Byrne Maintenance Radiation Safety and 1 Jan 2002 to 30 June 2002 Karen Langley ALARA_
Operation and I July 2002 to 31 Dec 2002 Rian Smith Maintenance Radiation Safety and 1 July 2002 to 31 Dec 2002 Rian Smith ALARA__ _ _ I No significant deviations from normal operating practices were identified by these audits.
- g. Environmental Surveys.
Six environmental monitors are located in areas surrounding the CENTER.
Rian B. Smith reported to the RSC a maximum exposure of 50 millirem per quarter to an environmental dosimeter located at building #80. Table 3 contains the average dose recorded for three prior years.
Table 3.
Summary of environmental monitoring Year Average quarterly readings for the 6 environmental monitors (mrem) 2002 34.04 2001 26.5 2000 34.8 B. ENERGY OUT`PUT.
The reactor was critical for 45.666 hours0.00771 days <br />0.185 hours <br />0.0011 weeks <br />2.53413e-4 months <br /> and produced 0.056 megawatt days (1343.827 kilowatt-hours) of energy during this reporting period. Since initial criticality, the reactor has been operated for a total of 3147.873 hours0.0101 days <br />0.243 hours <br />0.00144 weeks <br />3.321765e-4 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 8.213 megawatt-days (197118.274 kilowatt-hours).
C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS:
Three inadvertent scrams occurred during this period. There were no emergency shutdowns. Summary of the inadvertent scrams are in Table 4.
Table 4.
S__ _ ary of Inadvertent SCRAMS Date Run Type Cause Action Number 11/8/02 1445 Percent Feed back from pool light Relocated pool light power circuit power, restart 12/30/02 1450 Linear Voltage fluctuation due to None restart.
Power construction in the building 1/27/03 1452 Linear Range on Contact switch None restart I______
__power D. MAJOR MAINTENNANCE.
- Ventilation system
E. CHANGES, TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.59.
As of the end of the reporting period, the current membership of the Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) as designated by the Licensee is as follows:
James M. Byrne, Chair David M. Slaughter, Reactor Administrator Karen Langely, RSO of University of Utah Melinda P. Krahenbuhl, Reactor Supervisor Gary M. Sandquist, Secretary Deter Gehnmlich James Thompson Rian B. Smith The RSC has reviewed and approved several CENTER procedures that were modified to update and correct perceived deficiencies. The CENTER staff continues to review and update facility documentation to assure compliance with all applicable regulations.
F. RADTOACTIVE EFFLUENTS.
1.Liquid Waste - Total Activity Released: none 2 Gaseous Waste - Total Estimated Activity Released: 16.731 ItCi.
The TRIGA Reactor was operated for 45.666 hours0.00771 days <br />0.185 hours <br />0.0011 weeks <br />2.53413e-4 months <br /> at power levels up to approximately 90 kW. At this power level argon-41 production is substantially below MPC values for unrestricted areas. The minimum detectable concentration of Ar-41 for the stack monitor has been found to be one-third of 10 CFR 20 appendix B limits for release to unrestricted areas.
The average annual calculated concentration of Ar-41 generated during operations is estimated at 7.445E-1 lttCi/ml approximately 0.002 % of the DAC for this radionuclide. The total amount of Ar-41 released was estimated at 16.731 1iCi. No phosphorus-32 was released from CENTER during this period. The total amount of all gaseous radioactivity released was estimated at 16.731 ttCi. A monthly summary of gaseous releases is given in Table 5.
Table 5.
S of Monthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent Month Ar-41 (pCi) Estimated Release Total (ttCi)
P-32 and all others July 0.003 0 0.003 August 0.168 0 0.168 September 5.484 0 5.484 October 0.667 0 0.667 November 5.575 0 5.575 December 0.917 0 0.917 January 0.066 0 0.066 February 3360 0 3.360 March 0.001 0 0.001 April 0.491 0 0.491 May 0.000 0 0.000 June 0.000 0 0.000 Total Activity of gaseous effluent: 16.731 tLCi
- 3. Solid Waste - Total Activity: None No solid waste material was sent to the Radiological Health Department for disposal during the period of 1 July 2002 through 30 June 2003.
G. RADIATION EXPOSURES.
Personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional basis have been issued a OSL dosimeter by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department. The duty category and monitoring period of personnel are summarized in Table 6.
Table 6.
S of Monitored Personnel Name Monitoring Period Duty Category David M. Slaughter 7/1102-6130103 regular Gary M. Sandquist 7/l/02-6/30/03 l reguar Melinda Krahenbuhl 7/11/02-6/30/03 regular Dong-ok Choe 7/l/02-6/30/03 Alar Justin L. Wilde 7/1/02-6/30/03 regular Brenda Shelkey 7/1/02-6/30/03 regular Heidi A.Walk 7/1/02-6/30/03 Regular/terminated Michael LeBaron 7/1/02 Terminated Dimitre Assenov 7/l/02-6/30/03 jar John D. Bess 7/1/02-6/30/03 regular Jennifer L. Killpack 7/1/02 Terminated Ward Chapman 7/1/02-6/30/03 regular James R. Parry 7/1/02-6/30/03 regular Measured Doses 5/1/02-4/30/03 Doses <10 mrem average; 4 mrem highest measured
- Dosimetry is on a bimonthly rotation May 2003 will be included in next years annual report.
Dose Equivalent Limit Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem/year (1250/quarter).
Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge a 10 mrem.
Five hundred and thirty-five individuals visited the reactor facility during the period 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003. None of the visitors received a measurable dose. A summary of whole body exposures to CENTER personnel is presented in Table 7.
Table 7.
Summary of Whole Body Exposures Estimated whole body exposure range Number of individuals in each range:
(rem):
No Measurable Dose (Less than 0.10) 13 0.10 to 0.25 0 0.25 to 0.50 0 0.50 to 0.75 0 0.75 to 1.00 0 1.00 to 2.00 0 2.00 to 3.00 0 3.00 to 4.00 0 4.00 to 5.00 0 Greater than 5 rem 0 H. LABORATORY SURVEYS Monthly surveys of the facility were conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department during the reporting period. The surveys have not indicated any unusual radiation levels over previous years. Records of surveys are retained by the facility.
I. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES Environmental monitoring conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department indicated no unusual dose rates in the areas surrounding the Merrill Engineering Building, which houses the reactor facility.
z Date: 4 sz 2 S Prepared by:
Submitted by:
Supervisor Date: 9t/,O 3 Approved by: w\ LL _
Reactor Administrator Date: 7 //Y
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