ML15251A207

Letter from Constance Hathaway Reactor Operating Statistics

ML15251A207
Person / Time
Site:	Rhode Island Atomic Energy Commission
Issue date:	08/28/2015
From:	Hathaway C - No Known Affiliation
To:	Patrick Boyle Document Control Desk, Division of Policy and Rulemaking
References
Download: ML15251A207 (7)

Text

August 28, 2015 Docket No. 5 0-193 Mr. Patrick Boyle, Project Manager Research and Test Reactor Licensing Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Washington, DC 20555

Dear Mr. Boyle:

This letter and the enclosures constitute the annual report required by the RTNSC Technical Specifications (Section 6.8.4). Enclosure 1 provides reactor operating statistics. Enclosure 2 provides information pertaining to unscheduled reactor shutdowns or scrams. Enclosure 3 discusses maintenance operations performed during the reporting period. Enclosure 4 describes changes to the facility carried out under the conditions of Section 50.59 of Chapter 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Lastly, Enclosure 5 summarizes the radiological controls information. if there are any questions regarding this information, please call me at 401-874-9451.

Sincerely, Constance Hathaway Health Physicist Enclosures (5)

Copy to:

Mr. Craig Bassett, USNRC Dr. John J. Breen, Chairman, NRSC Dr. Clinton Chichester, Chairman, RLALEC Dr. Nancy Breen, RIAEC Mr. Howard Chun, RIAEC Dr. Bahram Nassersharif, RIAEC Dr. Yana K. Reshetnyak, RIAIEC -- O ,()

I P

ENCLOSURE 1 REACTOR OPERATING STATISTICS' Technical Specifications Section 6.8.4.a Month Year Operating Hours Energy (MXVI) Energy (M\WD)

July 2014 45.73 52.60 2.19 August 2014  : 48.10 38.55 1.60 September 2014 30.78 40.17 1.67 October .* 2014 15.68 20.13 0.84 November' 2014 26.85 33.08 1.38 Decemiber 2014 30.18 38.72* 1.61 January' . 2015 23.70 29.73 1.24 February 2015 33.90 27.57, 1.15 Marchf*, 2015 36.05 39.87 1.66

-AprilF.,. " 2015.: 38.43 35.35 .. 1.47 ...

May:; 2015 30.90 36.53 1.52 June ' ,.

• 2015. 32.78 42.30 * , 1.76 i.

TOTALU FY2015 393.08 434.60 18.11 Total Energy Output since Initial Criticality: 65,142.92 MWbrs or 2714.29 M7Wdays.

ENCLOSURE 2 UJNSCHEfDULED SItIJTD OWNS OR S CRAMS The following is a list of the unscheduled shutdowns, or scrams that occurred during the 2014-2015 reporting period. This information is required by Technical Specification 6.8.4.b Date Run No. Logbook Page- Cause *Description 07/09/14 8890 60 78 Instrumentation Scram caused

_____________by power loss 08/04/14 8904 60 .93/94- Instrumentation. .Short Period

... "..._ and.Operator scram du~to

. *  !... .interference

, . . -  :,./ ' " -with wires ov,*r-

,' - -, . *bridge during

,.. .. ,rod adjustment.!'

..... . ......  :-. ... .Hi-flux sc* "i i ... . .. : .. . .. . . . .due to op" -

• , ., .. 5:... . . . - errdor i.*) !.

08/14/14 .891.1 60  :.01 1 ... Instrurrie'ntation .. Scram dfie*fo"

., ... ' "period spike'-:

11/10/14 8942 60 '.132/133 Meclhanical Overpower:.,

. - ... -..,. .:>, ,. - scram -duiring.

... ...... ..... ... swap5 ~fcooling -

loops during operation. Cold "water in idle' loop caused overpower 11/18/14 8945 60 36 Operator Hi Power scram during startup -

operator error 02/20/15 8975 61 10 Instrumentation Reactor Scram due to noise 02/23/15 8976 61 11 Instrumentation Short period scram due to noise 02/26/15 8979 61 14 Operator Scram due to

______________operator error 03/23/15 8988 61 23 Mechanical Scram due to power surge throughout facility 04/23/15 9006 61 43 Operator Overpower scram due to operator error 0 8/26/15 9048 61 87/8 8 Instrumentation Unscheduled shutdown due to power surge and two overpower scrams due to instrumentation issue during testing

ENCLOSURE 3 MAINTENACE OPERATIONS .,

Technical Specification 6.8.4.c requires a listing of the major maintenance operations performed in the 2014-2015 reporting period including their impact upon the safe operation o9fthe reactor and the reasons for the corrective maintenance.

As stated in last year's report, a maj or security system upgrade was made to the facility beginning in April of 2014. The system went live as of July 30m, 2014. The system has been tested several times in accordance with quarterly facility testing requirements and is working as expected.

ENCLOSURE 4 FACILITY CHANGES -i0CFR50.59 REVIIEW Technical Specification 6.8.4.d requires that We provide a listing and description of any 10 CFR 50.59' evaluations conducted during the 2014-2015 reporting period. ,"

There were no facility changes made during this period requiring a 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation.

ENCLOSURE 5-*

RADIOLOGICAL CONTROLS "

1. Environmental Surveys outside the Facility - Technical Specification 6.8.4.e Quarterly TLD 1 badges are deployed outside the reactor building in three separate locations. The general public 'does not frequent these locations and therefore occupancy factors may be used to approximate annual dose. The allowable external dose rates must be below 100 mrem per year.

The quarterly doses in units of mr* em are shown in the table below.

LOCATION ' 3 rd QTR 201'4 '4 th QTh 201'4 1 st QTR 2015 " 2 nd QTR 2015 Northeast Wall 0 33 0 " No report available

'Demineralizer " 116 "" ... '":... -.... '80 ":-: No report available

• D oor '"-.:  :" . '- . . .. . .

'Heat Exchanger. 29 *" ... ,-:.;" 0. ,

-',  :" 35  :*;:'. -,":. . No report available D oor,:.,;  : . .________...._____. __ ,__________

S.....,*:These aras are minocations wher~e-access is limited. Consequently, the general public will not

.......frequent .theseareas, and appropriate occupancy factors can be used to approximate anual dose.

S.......Assumig.that the maximum time that a. member of the general public would lbeprescent .in one of S....these locations, is 1.0 minutes per day, an. occupancy factor of 0.01 can be used to obtain 'the annual dose that would be received by a member of the general public, in any. of these- areas.

The annual dose rate at the Northeast Wall, Demineralizer and Heat Exchanger Doors is dependent on the operations schedule of the reactor. Ignoring the fact that the dose rate is not present 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> per day, and applying the occupancy factor of 0.01, the annual dose that would be receive by an individual in the demineralizer room would be 2.79 moremo. The dose received at the Heat Exchanger Door would be 0.64 torero. The annual dose received at the Northeast wall would be 0.33 mrem. The variations from quarter to quarter and from previous reports were due in part to movements of items within the reactor building during the fiscal year and varying use of the different irradiation facilities. Note that while dose reports for the second quarter of this year (2015) are not available at the time of this writing, these doses are not expected to significantly change the overall annual dose received by the general public. This expectation is based on the history of these dose values and lack of change of factors which could affect dose rates.

2. Annual Exposures Exceeding 500mrem - Technical Specification 6.8.4.f There were no personnel exposures greater than 500 mrem.

3. Radioactive Effluents - Technical Specification 6.8.4.g A. Individual gaseous effluent concentrations for each reactor operation are recorded on the Monthly Information Sheets (Form NSC-78). The concentration of radioactive materials in the 1

Thermoluminescent Dosimeter; Radiation Detection Co. reads the dosimeters at minimum oft10 mrem.

effluent released from the facility exhaust stacks shall not exceed 1E+05 times concentrations specified in 1OCiFR20, Appendix.B, Table II, when averaged over time periods permitted by 10CFR20. 2 Gamma spectroscopy of stack gas samples has shown that the principal gaseous effluent is Argon-4 1. The maximum concentration for this principle contaminant permitted under Technical Specifications is 1E-8. jiCi/cc xlE+5 = 1E-3 jgCi/cc. Concentrations released during.the year were less than 0.02 of that limit. , .. .

The total Argon-41 release during the reporting period was 6.0831E+l curies. The calculated effective dose equivalent for their release is 1.3.mrem/year (COMPLY Code): ... ;

B. Liquid effluent concentrations~released to the sewer are documented pn the Sewer Discharge" Radioassay Report (NSC-09). Each release was approved prior to discharge with its ph being within the acceptable range and with the sum of the fractions of the respective-radjoisotopes l15r month being below the discharge limit of 1. For the. reporting period, the total volume of-.;....

discharge was 3,406,870 ml. The isotopes and their relative activities discharged are given below.

,Radioisotope * "' :Totail Acfiiity Discharged (microcuries)

H3 : .. .. * ,*414 i " . . . .*

C1"4 .. : :.::- * ' *420 **.  : : *

.Cdl09 . ,... . . . .. 11.3  :. . . ,

.Pb21.4. .... 2.72 ..

Bi214 5.62 STechnical Specifications, Section 3.7.2.