ML19254B110
| ML19254B110 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 07/27/1979 |
| From: | Read J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Mattson R Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909240312 | |
| Download: ML19254B110 (3) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES 8
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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- E WASHINGTON. D. C. 20555 8
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El 2 71979 MEMORANDUM FOR: M Mattson, Director of Division of Systems Safety THRU:
R. W. Houston, Chief, Accident Analysis Branch, DSE FROM:
J. Read, Accident Analysis Branch, DSE
SUBJECT:
RADI0 CHEMISTRY LABORATORIES AT NUCLEAR SITES We should consider developing standards for the location, equipment, and staffing of radiochemical laboratories at nuclear facilities. Radiochemical diagnostics have the potential of being a powerful tool in both routine and emergency situations, but the facilities to perform radioassays on site are not generally well-planned to provide adequate support. At TMI-2, emergency response personnel were forced to rely upon radiochemical facilities located at national laboratories located hundreds of miles away.
Attached is a discussion of several items of importance in consideration of possible standards for site radiochemical capability.
M Accident Analysis Branch Division of Site Safety and Environmental Analysis
Enclosure:
As Stated cc:
D. Muller W. E. Kreger T. Murphy J. Collins R. Bangart L. Hulman 3h, 7909240
RADI0 CHEMISTRY LABORATORIES AT NUCLEAR FACILITIES 1.
Location It is a common practice in university and. national laboratories to arrange for maximum separation of the radioactive source, radiochem-istry laboratory, and counting room. Radio assay is performed in a separate building somewhat removed from the accelerator or reactor, and within that separate building the laboratory and counting room are separated as much as is practical.-
4 While such separation is intended to reduce background and minimize potential for contamination, it is of much greater signific.ance in response to an accident. The laboratory and counting room should not be located in the plant proper, where low-level contamination is quite likely to be in excess of that of environmental samples. The labora-tory and counting room should be well separated from sampling activi-ties and other high-level sources, and should not be involved in the quality control functions of the steam plant. The convenience of being
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close to routine sampling points is an inadequate benefit to justify the risk of contamination and loss of function.
2.
Equipment f
Ge(Li) detectors with multi-channel analyzers are popular instruments for obtaining rapid and approximate estimates of complex mixtures of gamma activities. For accuracy and generality, however, they are not adequate substitutes for alpha and beta counters combined with gas and liquid phase radio-chemical separations. Most liquid waste management decisions and LER appear to be based upon gross gamma counting, i.e.,
in terms of curies of gmana emitters, without regard for species or chemical form.
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It would be preferrable to develop lists of radio-isotopes with minimum detectable amounts for each, such that radio-assay capabilities could be designed to permit meeting those standards.
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3.
Personnel To set up and maintain a radio-assay facility requires considerable expertise. Without formal training and a vigorous routine of calibra-tion and proof-of-sampling tests, the numbers produced by the facility should be held suspect. A perusal of'the membership roster of the Nuclear Chemistry and Technology Division of the American Chemical Society reveals only one entry for one licensee, Commonwealth Edison.
An examination of the resumes attached to chapter 13 of three recent FSAR's did not find a single radio-chemist, and formal training was limited to vendor-run couries.
Since releases during routine and emergency conditions constitute the prime reason for regulating the nuclear industry, it might be argued that the measurement and study of radio-istopic effluents and inventor-les are of sufficient importance to be at the state of the art.
If this argument is accepted, then the facilit'iy radio-chemist should be a licensed professional.
4.
Organization Site radio-chemical analysis appears to be viewed as a service analogous to feedwater and fuel quality control at a fossil plant.
It should,.
however, be continually engaged in detecting and diagnosing leakage of the giga-curie-scale inventory, an activity not related to, and occasion-ally inconsistant with, the operation of the plant for generation of electricity.
In appreciation of the corporate risk attending any leak-age, site radiochemical personnel should report to the utility manage-ment rather than the plant operating management.
992 361
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