ML19318F216
| ML19318F216 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Zion File:ZionSolutions icon.png |
| Issue date: | 03/25/2020 |
| From: | Louise Lund NRC/RES/DE |
| To: | Anna Bradford Division of Operating Reactor Licensing |
| Eric Focht | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19318F213 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML19318F216 (3) | |
Text
March 25, 2020 MEMORANDUM TO:
Anna Bradford, Director Division of New and Renewed Licenses Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM:
Louise Lund, Director /RA Jeremy Bowen for/
Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
SUBJECT:
REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY TECHNICAL LETTER REPORT ON ADDRESSING UNCERTAINTIES IN SUPERBADGER MEASUREMENTS AT THE ZION NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (ZNPP) SPENT FUEL POOL ON DECEMBER 5-8, 2014 -
REVISION 1
REFERENCES:
Memorandum to Brian Sheron from Eric Leeds, USER-NEED REQUEST TO DEVELOP THE TECHNICAL BASES FOR THE EVALUATION OF NEUTRON ABSORBING MATERIALS IN SPENT FUEL POOLS, March 20, 2013 (Agencywide Document Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML13053A171)
Memorandum to Eric Leeds from Brian Sheron, RESPONSE TO USER NEED REQUEST NRR-2013-005, REQUEST TO DEVELOP THE TECHNICAL BASES FOR THE EVALUATION OF NEUTRON ABSORBING MATERIALS IN SPENT FUEL POOLS, AND CLOSEOUT OF USER NEED REQUEST NRR-2010-15, REQUEST TO DEVELOP THE TECHNICAL BASES FOR THE EVALUATION OF NEUTRON ABSORBING MATERIALS IN SPENT FUEL POOLS, June 24, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13151A071)
I am forwarding for your review the technical letter report (TLR) by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) entitled, Addressing Uncertainties in SuperBADGER Measurements at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) Spent Fuel Pool on December 5-8, 2014 - Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19318F214). ORNL performed the work reported in the TLR in support of the referenced user need request (UNR) NRR-2013-005. The purpose of this TLR is to provide the final report on the ORNL effort to assess BADGER boron-10 areal density measurement uncertainty. This TLR fulfills the milestone for Task 1.1b of UNR NRR-2013-005.
The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) requests the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) to complete its review of the TLR within six weeks from the date of this memorandum. Upon completion of the review, RES will make the enclosed report publicly available.
CONTACT: Eric Focht RES/DE/CMB 301-415-2094
A. Bradford The enclosed TLR by ORNL updates previous efforts by ORNL to assess BADGER boron-10 areal density measurement uncertainty. ORNL did not have access to the BADGER system or any of its supporting documentation when they performed their initial assessment, which made it challenging to determine measurement uncertainty quantitatively. The results of ORNLs initial assessment were published in a TLR titled, Initial Assessment of Uncertainties Associated with BADGER Methodology, in March 2015 (ADAMS accession number ML12254A064). Based on engineering judgement, ORNL reported that the measurement uncertainty could potentially exceed 40%.
Subsequent to the publication of the 2015 ORNL TLR, BADGER received several upgrades to the hardware to help improve its performance. Through an addendum to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the NRC and EPRI conducted a cooperative research project to assess the newly improved BADGER system. The Zion Plant spent fuel pool was being decommissioned which provided a unique opportunity to perform in-pool (or in situ) BADGER measurements on the Boral neutron absorbing panels and then remove the panels for confirmatory testing. This revision to the ORNL report is a summary of observations of the BADGER system while in use during the Zion measurement campaign, a re-assessment of the sources of uncertainty identified in the initial assessment and an analysis of the BADGER data.
While a bottom up total measurement uncertainty assessment was not possible due to the need for unavailable system performance data, ORNL was able to perform a top down uncertainty analysis of key attributes using the results of the BADGER measurements performed on the Boral panels from Zion. The analysis performed by ORNL determined that the uncertainty postulated for several of the factors identified in the initial assessment are lower than originally estimated and that NETCOs algorithms appear to calculate boron-10 areal density and propagate the uncertainties associated with BADGER measurement data correctly.
This research is the result of extensive collaboration between NRR and RES staff. We are particularly grateful to Alexander Chereskin and Matthew Yoder for their technical and programmatic contributions. If you have questions or comments, please contact Eric Focht at (301) 415-2094.
RES has established an online quality survey to collect feedback from user offices on the usefulness of RES products and services. This survey can be found online at the hyperlink:
https://drupal.nrc.gov/res/quality-survey. I would appreciate the responsible manager complete this survey within 10 working days following the review of the enclosed report.
Enclosure:
Addressing Uncertainties in SuperBADGER Measurements at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) Spent Fuel Pool on December 5-8, 2014 - Revision 1
A. Bradford
SUBJECT:
REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY TECHNICAL LETTER REPORT ON ADDRESSING UNCERTAINTIES IN SUPERBADGER MEASUREMENTS AT THE ZION NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (ZNPP) SPENT FUEL POOL ON DECEMBER 5-8, 2014 - REVISION 1 DISTRIBUTION:
S. Bloom, NRR M. Yoder, NRR A. Chereskin, NRR E. Focht, RES I. Frankl, RES ADAMS Package Accession No.: Pkg: ML19318F213, Memo: ML19318F216 OFFICE RES/DE/CMB BC:RES/DE/CMB D:RES/DE NAME E. Focht I. Frankl J. Bowen for L. Lund DATE 3/25/2020 3/25/2020 3/25/2020 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY