ML11216A033

University of Utah, Submittal of Annual Operating Report for the Period July 1 2010 Through June 30 2011

ML11216A033
Person / Time
Site:	University of Utah
Issue date:	07/26/2011
From:	Jevremovic T Univ of Utah
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML11216A033 (11)

Text

THEU UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Utah Nuclear Engineering Program 50 S. Central Campus Drive, Suite 2298 Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 801-581-4188 Fax 801-585-5477 26 July, 2011 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, D.C. 20555 To whom it may concern:

Enclosed please find 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 2010 through 30 June 2011. This report fulfills the requirements of the TRIGA Technical Specifications 6.10(5).

If there are any further questions or concerns regarding this report, please contact me at (801) 587-9696.

Tatjana Jevremovic, Ph.D.

Director

ý-(Pe -J

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor (UUTR)

Annual Operating Report for the period 1 July 2010 through 30 June 2011 Dr. Dong-OK Choe, UUTR Supervisor Dr. Tatjana Jevremovic, UNEP & UUTR Director Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 1

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 A. NARRATIVE

1. Operating Experience The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor (UUTR), License No. R-126, Docket No, 50-407, was critical for 115.947 hours0.011 days <br />0.263 hours <br />0.00157 weeks <br />3.603335e-4 months <br /> and generated 4619.573 kilowatt-hours of thermal energy during this reporting year. The reactor was used for educational demonstrations and training, laboratory experiments, reactor systems tests, reactor power measurements and samples irradiations.

2. Changes in Facility Design No changes in facility design took place. However, the facility and associated laboratories were upgraded. The upgrade included cleaning of the space, painting and modernizing the space of the control room and the students' prep-room by replacing the old and used furniture.

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

1. 24-B

1. 24-B Configuration 8/13/10 2/18/11 Date Worth ($)

Worth ($)

Safety Rod 2.293 2.232 Shim Rod 1.543 1.543 Regulating Rod 0.290 0.283 Excess Reactivity 0.884 0.845 Shutdown Margin 0.949 0.781

b. Control Rod Inspection The biennial control rod inspection was performed during December of 2009. In this reporting year, the control rods were sequentially removed from the reactor core for visual inspection. Each control rod was found to Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 2

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 be in a good condition with no noticeable deterioration or corrosion.

Rod drop times were measured on 8/13/10, and 2/18/11. All rod drop times were less than 1.0 second.

c. Reactor Power Level Instrumentation Calorimetric power calibrations were performed on 8/20/10, and 2/25/11 with the results shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Summary of calorimetric power calibration Date Measured %

Calculated Power Level Power 8/20/10 90.9 87.32 2/25/11 90.6 92.53

d. Fuel Inspection The biennial fuel inspection was performed during December of 2009. In this reporting year, each fuel element was visually inspected while keeping it submerged for shielding. No deterioration or excessive corrosion of in-core fuel elements was observed. 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. B-1 stainless steel fuel element was replaced with R6-6 stainless steel element because B-1 element developed a bent end-pin. B-1 element was moved to R6-1 location.

e. Fuel Temperature Calibration Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/18/10 and 2/18/11. The circuits were calibrated to less than a 2°C error over the range from 20'C to 400'C. The replacement of B-1 did not affect the fuel temperature in the UUTR core.

f. Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) Audits Four RSC audits were completed during this reporting period. The data are shown in Table 3. No significant deviations from normal operating practices were identified by these audits.

Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 3

UUTR Annual Report I July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Table 3. Audit summary Audit Period Auditor Operation and 1 Jan. 2011 to 30 Jun. 2011 James R.

Maintenance Parry/INL Radiation Safety and 1 Jan. 2011 to 30 Jun. 2011 James R. Parry/INL ALARA Operation and 1 Jul. 2010 to 31 Dec. 2010 James R. Parry/INL Maintenance Radiation Safety and 1 Jul. 2010 to 31 Dec. 2010 James R. Parry/INL ALARA

g. Environmental Surveys Six environmental monitors are located in the areas surrounding the UUTR. James R. Parry of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) reported to the RSC a maximum exposure of 50 mrem per quarter to an environmental dosimeter located in the building #80. Table 4 shows the average dose recorded in last five years.

Table 4. Summary of environmental monitoring around the UUTR Year Average quarterly readings for the 6 environmental monitors (mrem) 2010 36.00 2009 34.56 2008 39.26 2007 37.94 2006 36.74 B. ENERGY OUTPUT The UUTR reactor was critical for 115.947 hours0.011 days <br />0.263 hours <br />0.00157 weeks <br />3.603335e-4 months <br /> and produced 0.192 megawatt-days (4,619.573 kilowatt.hours) of energy during this reporting period. Since initial criticality, the reactor has been operated for a total of 3,563.059 hours6.828704e-4 days <br />0.0164 hours <br />9.755291e-5 weeks <br />2.24495e-5 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 8.827 megawatt-days (211,840.225 kilowatt.hours).

C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS:

There were seven inadvertent SCRAMs occurred during this period:

7/07/2010, 9/10/2010, 12/17/2010, 3/04/2011 (2), and 3/18/2011 (2) because of feedback from the reactor power select switch and mechanical Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 4

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 errors from the pool water scram switch. There were no emergency shutdowns. Summary of the inadvertent scrams is given in Table 5.

Table 5. Summary of Inadvertent SCRAMS Date Run Type Cause Action Number 7/07/10 1687 Pool Pool water scram switch-Reset pool water Feedback from the pool water water scram switch scram 9/10/10 1695 Pool Pool water scram switch-Reset pool water Feedback from the pool water water scram switch scram 12/17/10 1699 Linear Static from power N/A power indicator switch 3/04/11 1723 Pool Pool water scram switch-Reset pool water Feedback from the pool water water scram switch scram 3/04/11 1723 Linear High voltage pass through N/A power the linear channel 3/18/11 1726 Pool Pool water scram switch-Reset pool water Feedback from the pool water water scram switch scram 3/18/11 1727 Pool Pool water scram switch-Reset pool water Feedback from the pool water water scram switch scram D. MAJOR MAINTENANCE None.

E. CHANGES, TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.59 None.

F. REACTOR SAFETY COMMITTEE As of the end of the reporting period, the current members of the RSC as designated by the Licensee are as follows:

James M. Byrne, Chair Tatjana Jevremovic, Director UNEP and UUTR Karen Langely, RSO of University of Utah Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 5

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Dongok Choe, Reactor Supervisor Gary M. Sandquist Robert j. Huber James Thompson James R. Parry Paul Tikalsky Alireza Haghighat Rian B. Smith The UNEP staff continues to review and update facility documentation to assure compliance with all applicable regulations.

G. RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS

1. Liquid Waste Total activity released: none

2. Gaseous Waste Total estimated activity released: 57.513 [Ci.

The UUTR was operated for 115.947 hours0.011 days <br />0.263 hours <br />0.00157 weeks <br />3.603335e-4 months <br /> at power levels up to approximately 90 kW. At this power level Ar-41 production is substantially below MPC values for unrestricted areas. The minimum detectable concentration of Ar-41 from the CAM system for the stack monitor has been found to be less than two-third of 10 CFR 20 appendix B limits for release to unrestricted areas. The average annual calculated concentration of Ar-41 generated during operation is estimated to be 2.559x10-1'0 FCi/ml that is approximately 0.008 % of the DAC. The total amount of Ar-41 released was estimated to be 57.513 [Ci. No phosphorus-32 was released from the UUTR and associated facilities during this period. The total amount of all gaseous radioactivity released was estimated to be 57.513[tCi. A monthly summary of gaseous releases is given in Table 6. Total activity of gaseous effluent was therefore 57.513 1.tCi.

Table 6. Summary of Monthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent Month Ar-41 (ýtCi)

Ar-41 (ýtCi/ml)

Estimated Release

% of DAC P-32 and all others Jul. 10 1.750 7.789x10-12 0

0.000 Aug. 10 6.705 2.983x10-11 0

0.001 Sept. 10 5.081 2.261x10-11 0

0.001 Oct. 10 0.027 1.212x10'- 3 0

0.000 Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 6

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Nov. 10 0.448 1.991x10-12 0

0.000 Dec. 10 1.548 6.889x10-12 0

0.000 Jan. 11 7.366 3.278x10-11 0

0.001 Feb. 11 4.846 2.156x10- 11 0

0.001 Mar. 11 6.015 2.677x10-11 0

0.001 Apr. 11 2.321 1.033x10-"

0 0.000 May, 11 11.637 5.178x10-' 1 0

0.002 Jun. 11 9.769 4.347x10-11 0

0.001 Total 57.513 2.559x10-1 0 0

0.008

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 2010 through 30 June 2011.

H. PERSONNEL RADIATION EXPOSURES UNEP Personnel The University of Utah Radiological Health Department has issued to all personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional basis an OSL dosimeter. The duty category and monitoring period of personnel are summarized in Table 7. A summary of the whole body exposures to the UNEP personnel is presented in Table 8.

Measured Doses 7/1/10-6/30/11 Doses: <5 mrem average; 5 mrem highest measured Dose Equivalent Limit Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem/year (1250/quarter).

Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge = 10 mrem.

Visitors Five hundred and thirty (530) individuals visited the reactor facility during the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. None of the visitors received a measurable dose.

Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 7

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Table 7. Summary of Monitored Personnel Name Monitoring Period Duty Category Dong-ok Choe 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Douglas Crawford 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Jorge Navarro 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Kingston J. Micha 07/01/09-12/31/11 Regular/Terminated Benjamin Marble 07/01/10-12/31/11 Regular/Terminated Jesse Reeves 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Jensen Mathew 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Troy Bowden 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Tatjana Jevremovic 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Nader Satvat 06/01/10-1/31/11 Regular/Terminated Todd Sherman 07/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Voyles Andrew 10/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Haori Yang 02/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Levinthal Joseph 03/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Schwerdt lan 03/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Dances Christopher 11/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Kriss Eric 10/01/10-6/30/11 Regular/Terminated Ortiz R. Luis 04/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Rapich Jason 11/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Burnham Steven 03/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Telenko Daniel 03/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Babitz Philip 10/01/10-6/30/11 Regular Avdo Cutic 02/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Jennifer Gibson 03/01/11-6/30/11 Regular Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 8

qQ UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Table 8. Summary of whole body exposures to the UNEP personnel Estimated whole body exposure Number of individuals in range (rem) each range No Measurable Dose (Less than 0.10) 24 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

I. 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.

J. 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 UUTR reactor facility.

Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 9

I.° UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2010 - 30 Jun 2011 Prepared by:

Submitted by:

Approved by:

D n SpokvChoe Reactor Supervisor Uongeok Choe Reactor Supervisor Lanevremovic Ta r

Director Date: 7/26/2011 Date: 7/26/2011 Date: 7/26/2011 Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 10