ML072750351

Annual Report for the Ohio State University Research Reactor for Fy 2006/2007

ML072750351
Person / Time
Site:	Ohio State University
Issue date:	09/25/2007
From:	Blue T Ohio State University
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML072750351 (11)

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The Ohio State University 1298 Kinnear Road Columbus, OH 43212 Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Phone 614-688-8220 UNIVERSITY Fax 614-292-2209 September 25, 2007 Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission One White Flint North 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-2738

SUBJECT:

Annual Report for The Ohio State University Research Reactor, License R-75, Docket 50-150 Please find enclosed the annual report for The Ohio State University Research Reactor, Docket No. 50-150. This report is being submitted as required by our Technical Specifications, Section 6.6.1. If you have questions on the content of this report, please contact Mr. Andrew Kauffman, Associate Director of the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, at 614-688-8220.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on 25-Sep-2007.

Sincerely, Thomas Blue, Director OSU Nuclear Reactor Lab The Ohio State University (License R-75, Docket 50-150) c: W.A. "Bud" Baeslack III, Dean, OSU College of Engineering Dan Hughes, USNRC A. Kauffman, OSURR 402o

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY 2006/2007 SEPTEMBER 2007 OSURR Annual Report Page 1 of 10 Sep 2007

Introduction As stated in The Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR) Technical Specifications, Section 6.6.1 Operating Reports, an annual report shall be made to the NRC by September 30 of each year. This report is to include the following seven sections.

1. A narrative summary of operating experience (including experiments performed) and of changes in facility design, performance characteristics, and operating procedures related to reactor safety occurring during the reporting period.

2. A tabulation showing the energy generated by the reactor (in kilowatt hours) and the number of hours the reactor was in use.

3. The results of safety-related maintenance and inspection. The reasons for corrective maintenance of safety-related items shall be included.

4. A table of unscheduled shutdowns and inadvertent scrams, including their reasons and the corrective actions taken.

5. A summary of changes to the facility or procedures, which affect reactor safety and performance of tests or experiments carried out under the conditions of sections 50.59 of 10CRF50.

6. A summary of the nature and amount of radioactive gaseous, liquids, and solid effluents released or discharged to the environs beyond the effective control of the licensee as measured or calculated at or prior to the point of such release or discharge.

7. A summary of radiation exposures received by facility personnel and visitors, including the dates and times of significant exposures.

These seven sections are discussed below. These are all for the period July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007, except as noted for exposure records.

1. Summary of Operating Experience and Changes 1.A. Experiments Performed The staff of The OSU Research Reactor is generally involved in four types of experiments at the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. Included are introductions to nuclear research, neutron activation analysis, material irradiations, and classes that measure various reactor parameters. Typically when we introduce students, faculty or other experimenters to nuclear research, we do the following:

a. Discuss nuclear reactions and radiological safety.

b. Operate the reactor at 10kW-100kW

c. Have the individuals observe control room operations.

d. Complete a tour and demonstrate irradiation techniques.

OSURR Annual Report Page 2 of 10 Sep 2007

Neutron activation analysis experiments are routinely completed for students ranging from high school to graduate school. The facilities normally utilized are the "rabbit"'(pneumatic tube) and the "CIF" (Central Irradiation Facility). Much of the NAA work is geological samples.

Material irradiations, other than for NAA, are in four basic areas: isotope production; detector, electronic component and fiber optic testing; boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT); and irradiation of biological samples. Isotope production has been done often for medical research. Detector and electronic component testing is done routinely. This testing is usually completed in the thermal column, or one of the beam ports, while fission chamber testing is in the Central Irradiation Facility. The reactor thermal column is also utilized for other BNCT studies. Typically it is the location for cell samples to determine their boron content.

Various nuclear engineering or physics classes throughout Ohio utilize the reactor for the following basic experiments:

a. Approach to critical (using banked control rods rather than fuel loading).

b. Control rod calibration by rod drop, positive period, and subcritical multiplication.

c. Measurement of the reactor transfer function by noise analysis.

d. Temperature coefficient measurements.

e. Radiological surveys.

The reactor utilization for July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 is summarized in the following reports.

Funding for colleges and universities that utilize the OSU Research Reactor is provided in part by the DOE-funded Reactor Sharing Program. Please note that the utilization hours listed below only reflect actual reactor operating time. The list does not include hours spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization.

OSURR Annual Report Page 3 of 10 Sep 2007

The Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Lab Reactor Utilization Report:

July 1 - December 31, 2006 User (Affiliation) Description Hours1 Blue (OSU) BNCT 5.6 Blue (OSU) Diodes 5.3 Blue (OSU) SiC detectors 7.8 GE Reuter-Stokes Fission chamber testing 73.7 Gray (AFIT) Electronics damage 7.5 Lepper (NDSU) NAA of geology samples 1.4 NRL Requal / Core loading / Calibrations 20.3 Pfizer Samarium Production 13.3 Shoaf (Purdue) Cross Section Study 2.0 Glover (UC) Material Irradiation 10.5 Kramer (UDRI) Damage study 1.5 Wray (Shelly H.S.) NAA of soil samples 2.5 Various (including NE 505) Tours 33.5 Fluke Biomedical Ar-41 production 1.3 Total: 186.2 Notes:

1. The utilization hours listed above reflect actual reactor operating time. The list does not include hours spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization (pre-start and post-shutdown checkout, experiment setup, etc.).

OSURR Annual Report Page 4 of 10 Sep 2007

The Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Lab Reactor Utilization Report:

January 1 - June 30, 2007 User (Affiliation) Description Hours 1 Luna Innovations Optical sensor evaluation 115.3 OSU NE Classes and labs (NE 505, 742, 744) 33.0 Kennedy (OSU) Flux-wire activation 0.8 Blue (OSU) BNCT 5 Blue (OSU) SiC detectors 0 GE Reuter-Stokes Fission chamber testing 57.7 AFIT Electronics damage labs and projects 12.3 Lepper (NDSU) NAA of geology samples 4.0 NRL Oscillator testing 1.1 Pfizer Samarium Production 2.4 (Shoaf) Purdue Cross Section Study 5.9 Purdue BNCT 2.5 Glover (UC) Material Irradiation 10.0 Hovde (SW Sciences) Damage study 3.7 Schaeffer Fullerenes irradiation 1.3 Various Tours(excluding NE 505) 56.2 Larue (OSU) NAA of milk 0.4 Jaeger (Miami U.) Source production 1.2 Fluke Biomedical Ar-41 production 0.7 Total: 313.5 Notes:

1. The utilization hours listed above reflect actual reactor operating time. The list does not include hours spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization (pre-start and post-shutdown checkout, experiment setup, etc.).

OSURR Annual Report Page 5 of 10 Sep 2007

1.B. Changes in Facility Design There were no facility design changes that required a change to the Technical Specifications. 10CFR50.59 changes are described in Section 5.A of this report.

1.C. Changes in Performance Characteristics There have been no changes in performance characteristics related to reactor safety in the last year.

I.D. Changes in Operating Procedures There were no changes in operating procedures related to reactor safety in the last year.

10CFR50.59 changes are described in Section 5.B of this report.

2. Energy Generated and Hours of Use Kilowatt-Hours of Operation: 72264.9 Hours of Utilization: 499.7

3. Safety Related Maintenance None

4. Unscheduled Shutdowns From July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 there were 14 unplanned shutdowns. These are summarized below.

Reason Corrective Action Period Safety scram from noise on log (11) Adjusted log compensating channel voltage High Power / Low Flow scram from (1) Operator reminded to turn pumps not on when reactor power pumps on prior to 120 kW reached 120 kW Low counts on startup channel due to (1) Increased current to control-rod a shim safety rod dropping electromagnet Pool water level scram caused by pool (1) Exercise even greater care ripples while moving dry tube when moving dry tube OSURR Annual Report Page 6 of 10 Sep 2007

5. Changes in Facility and Procedures in Accordance with 10CFR50.59 5.A. Facility Modifications During the period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, four OSURR Modification Requests were completed by the reactor staff:

a) Replacement of the pump system in the secondary cooling loop b) Replacement of the check-source drive for the effluent monitoring system c) Replacement of the Safety Indicating Panel d) Replacement of the Effluent Monitor Strip Chart Recorder 5.B. Procedure changes The following is a list of procedure changes made under 10CFR50.59 from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 in accordance with Administrative Procedure AP-05, entitled Format for Writing, Revising, and Approving Procedures.

Procedure Procedure Revision Number Title Date AP-02 General Rules 7/20/06 AP-07 Review of Procedures 9/25/06 OM-01 Reactor Power Changes 11/20/06 OM-08 Reactor Logbook Records 5/8/07 OM-15 Process System Checks 1/5/07 RS-08 NRL Smear Survey 11/20/06 RS-09 Area Radiation Surveys 9/26/06 RS-1 1 Routine Shipment of Radioactive Materials 8/17/06 IM-03 OSURR Pre-Start Checkout 5/8/07 IM-04 OSURR Post-Shutdown Checkout 5/8/07 EP-02 Handling Precautions for Non-Rad. Hazardous Materials 11/9/06 SP-01 Authorized Access to the NRL 11/6/06 SP-02 Security Call List 11/6/06

6. Radioactive Effluents 6.A. Gaseous Effluent The only effluent measured is the release of Ar-41. For the period July 1 - Dec. 31, 2006, Ar-41 releases measured 0.52 % of the annual average concentration limit. From Jan. 1 -

June 30, 2007, releases measured 1.14% of the annual average concentration limit.

In accordance with the requirements of 1 OCFR20. 1101 (d), the COMPLY code was run using the total Ar-41 release for the period July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007 of 128 mCi. Using level 2 in the code, the effective dose equivalent rate at the facility fence was computed to be 0.09 mrem/yr. This is well below the 10 mrem/yr constraint specified in the regulation.

OSURR Annual Report Page 7 of 10 Sep 2007

6.B. Liquid Releases Hot sink releases are recorded and reported through the OSU Office of Radiation Safety.

One release was made to the sanitary sewer system during the period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. It included the following:

Co-60 53.08 uCi Cs-137 6.20 uCi Ba-1 33 0.50 uCi Mn-54 0.33 uCi Co-57 0.09 -uCi 6.C. Solid Releases No releases of solid radioactive material were made to the uncontrolled environment.

7. Radiation Exposures Since the firm that maintains records for The Ohio State University keeps a year to date record, it is easier to report this by the nearest completed calendar year. Therefore film badge exposures in this report are for the period January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006.

Seven individuals were monitored as radiation workers for the entire year or a major part of it. These are tabulated below. They are consistent with the ALARA policy for The Ohio State University and represent a fraction of allowed limits. All doses are in mrem.

Individual DDE LDE SDE, WB SDE, ME Visitors 0 0 0 N/A 1 0 1 1 N/A 2 88 162 283 550 3 64 86 116 140 4 16 20 31 50 5 0 0 3 N/A 6 42 128 236 210 7 24 30 48 30 8 1 1 1 N/A OSURR Annual Report Page 8 of 10 Sep 2007

COMPLY: V1.6. 9/21/2007 10:04 40 CFR Part 61 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE CLEAN AIR ACT LIMITS FOR RADIONUCLIDE EMISSIONS FROM THE COMPLY CODE - Vl.6.

Prepared by:

The Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Lab 1298 Kinnear Road Andrew Kauffman 614-688-8220 Prepared for:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Radiation and Indoor Air Washington, DC 20460 OSURR Annual Report Page 9 of 10 Sep 2007

COMPLY: Vl.6. 9/21/2007 10:04 NRL 2007 SCREENING LEVEL 2 DATA ENTERED:

Release.Rate Nuclide (curies/YEAR)

AR-41 1.280E-01 Release height 10 meters.

Building height 11 meters.

The source and receptor are not on the same building.

Distance from the source to the receptor is 15 meters.

Building width 25 meters.

Default mean wind speed used (2.0 m/sec).

NOTES:

Input parameters outside the "normal" range:

None.

RESULTS:

Effective dose equivalent: 8.8E-02 mrem/yr.

Comply at level 2.

This facility is in COMPLIANCE.

It may or may not be EXEMPT from reporting to the EPA.

You may contact your regional EPA office for more information.

• • • • END OF COMPLIANCE REPORT

• OSURR Annual Report Page 10 of 10 Sep 2007