ML100490399

Transmittal of 2009 Annual Report for the Dow Triga Research Nuclear Reactor

ML100490399
Person / Time
Site:	Dow Chemical Company
Issue date:	01/25/2010
From:	Krahenbuhl M Dow Chemical Co
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML100490399 (4)

Text

me The Dow Chemical Company Midland, Michigan 48667 January 25,2010 Document Control Desk United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington D.C., 20555

Dear Sir,

Enclosed is the annual report for The Dow TRIGA Research Nuclear Reactor, Docket No. 50-264. If you have any questions, please contact me at (989) 638-6932.

Melinda P. Krahenbuhl Facility Director Dow TRIGA Research Reactor Enclosure CC: Geoff Wertz, USNRC Sandeep Dhingra, 1897

'rah6nbuhl, Melinda, 1602 Siaka Yusuf, 1602 Bryan Haskins, 1602 James Weldy, 1803 Jay Romick, 1707 Michael Buchmann, 1702

DOW TRIGA RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT - 2009 The annual peer review audit was conducted by Kevin Herminghuysen of The Ohio State University on November 1 6 th and 17th, 2009. The audit reviewed all aspects of the Dow TRIGA nuclear reactor facility programs. The audit indicated that the reactor is in compliance with regulatory requirements of license, technical specifications, federal and state regulations. The U.S. NRC inspects the Dow TRIGA nuclear reactor annually with the two inspections completed in 2009. Findings and recommendations of these audits are taken under advisement and implemented if found to be practical, safe and within the license obligations.

The normal in-house audits of the radiation protection program, safety and housekeeping, and records were also performed. Findings and recommendations of this internal audit were taken under advisement and implemented if found to be practical.

There were no significant changes to the facility during 2009.

A. Staff, Licenses, and Training There were no changes to the operational staff in 2009.

M.P. Krahenbuhl Facility Director S. 0. Yusuf Reactor Supervisor B. D. Haskins Assistant Reactor Supervisor Licenses are current. Dr. Krahenbuhl received her Senior Reactor Operator's license in October 2008. Dr. Yusuf renewed his Senior Reactor Operator's license in 2006. Mr. Haskins received his Senior Reactor Operator's license in 2006.

The current two-year re-qualification program ended in the 4th quarter of 2009. All operators are up-to-date in their quarterly re-qualification participations, including operating experience, participation in emergency preparedness drills, Reactor Operation Committee meetings, operating examinations, and the annual fuel inventory.

Operation of the reactor is an important part of the training program, since this reactor is operated on an as-needed basis, which results in numerous operations each involving reactivity manipulations, use of the control console, placement and retrieval of samples and handling of radioactive materials. The reactor was operated for a total of 446 hours0.00516 days <br />0.124 hours <br />7.374339e-4 weeks <br />1.69703e-4 months <br /> during 2009.

Furthermore, each licensee performed at least 1/3 of the daily checkout procedures, during the time that their license was active and at least three monthly checkout procedures.

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DOW TRIGA RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT - 2009 The Reactor Operations Committee is currently composed of the following staff members:

S. Dhingra Chair

.,M. P. Krahenbuhl . Facility Director .

S. 0. Yusuf Reactor Supervisor J. R. Weldy Radiation Safety Officer J. D. Romick Senior Analytical Specialist M. E. Buchmann Senior R&D Leader Dr. Dhingra is the R&D Director, Analytical Sciences. Dr. Krahenbuhl and Dr. Yusuf are the reactor operation staff members of the ROC. Mr. Weldy is the DowMidland location Radiation Safety Officer as well as the TRIGA Radiation Safety Officer and reports through the Dow Environmental, Health and Safety department. Dr. Romick reports through the Emulsion polymer Business with the Specialty Chemicals and Plastics portfolio and Mr. M. E. Buchmann reports through the Research and Engineering Services Capability. Mr. Jerry Cassiday, an ROC guest, continues as the Health Physics Technician for the Midland Area and assists in support of the reactor facility. Other non-voting members are Bryan Haskins- Assistant Reactor Supervisor and Paul O'Conner, Technical Leader, Analytical Sciences.

B. Reactor Operating Experience The reactor was operated for 1.9 Megawatt-days during 2009 for a:total of 446 hours0.00516 days <br />0.124 hours <br />7.374339e-4 weeks <br />1.69703e-4 months <br />. The main purpose of operations at the Dow facility isto-perform neutron activation analysis. About 9130 samples were irradiated in 2009.

C. Major Changes There were no major changes to the facility in 2009 and there were no changes to the facility procedures.

D. Unscheduled Shutdowns There were 14 unscheduled shutdowns (scrams) during 2009. Most of these were due to losses of computer function. The most common malfunction is still with the DIS064 device which processes the digital signals into the DAC computer. The vendor continues to work on a solution to this situation.

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DOW TRIGA RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT - 2009 E. Major Preventive and Corrective Maintenance of Safety' Significance There was no maintenance, which had safety significance performed during 2009.:However, there were 15 preventive and corrective maintenance itemc"completed. Three of these'iire replacement of water purification cartridge and four were onthe NM 1000 safety channel. One maintenance item on the SR1 closed-loop cooling system was preformed. Two itemswere related to the Shim rod. Two items were related to the CAM. In addition, the conductivity meter was moved to a new location, the RSR shear pin was replaced and the connection to the high resolution monitor was tightened.

F. - Radioactive Effluents . - - *. -

The only radioactive material normally released to the environment from the facility is argon-4 1, which is produced from activation of the natural argon dissolved in the pool water and subsequently escapes from the pool into the reactor room and from there to the outside of the building, and from the natural argon present in the air used to transport samples from a laboratory into a terminus in the core of the reactor.

G. Radiation Exposures Radiation exposures received by facility personnel and visitors are monitored using film badges and thermoluminescent detectors. No :persons: have received exposures approaching 25% of

,those allowed or recommended in 10CFR20.

M. P. Krahenbuhl Facility Director Dow TRIGA Research Reactor 25 January 2010

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