ML20034B710
| ML20034B710 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/25/1990 |
| From: | Williams P NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) |
| To: | Joshua Wilson NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) |
| References | |
| PROJECT-672A NUDOCS 9004300233 | |
| Download: ML20034B710 (5) | |
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APR 2 51990 a
MEMORANDUM FOR: Jerry N. Wilson, Section Leader, ARGIB/DRA/RES FROM:
Peter M. Williams,'ARGIB/DRA/RES.
SUBJECT:
00E' MEETING ON FUEL AND FISSION PRODUCT TRANSPORT AT ORNL APRIL 17, 1990' DOE has. initia'ted a new policy of -inviting NRC staff members and contractors as observers to its NHTGR technology development meetingsi As observers, we were nevertheless invited to ask questions, contribute to discussions, and make notes for NRC project files.- As usual. D0E documents identified as
" applied technology" are not to be part of the staff's public record or placed in the PDR. :The meeting reviewed modeling of fuel failure and fission product:
transport mechanisms and presented details of the forthcoming fission product plateout and liftoff experiments to be performed at the COMEDIE inpile loop facility in the 35-MW Siloe. reactor at Grenoble, France. The principal DOE objective of this meeting was to review the program test plan and specifications.
prior to a facility visit to be made by-a QA team. An attendance list is attached.. Highlights were:
1.
The review of models for fuel failure and fission product transport was comprehensive and consistent with earlier descriptions by_ DOE _and its contracto c.
Additionar information and assessment of fission product ~
release by the fuel kernel hydrolysis mechanism will be shortly i,
forthcoming with the formal reporting of the HRB-17 and Petten.inpile testing programs.
2.
The utility / user requirements for occupational doses of less than 10% of 10 CFR Part 20 and for offsite accident dose limits of the EPA PAGs are DOE's determining requirements for radionuclide-control in the MHTGR.
The isotopes dominating the establishment of the offsite source term were stated as 1-131, Cs-137, and SR-90.
3.
The principal objectives of the COMEDIE experiments are to better quantify and confirm current estimates of plateout and liftoff mechanisms.
COMEDIE will perform liftoff experiments with shear ratios of 0;5, 1.1, 2, and 3 under three conditions; dry, with the addition'of dust, and with the addition of moisture. Design methods are to be validated within a factor of 10. The liftoff experiments are preceded by deposition of fission products on the inside of metal tube bundles. ' The fission products are generated from fuel particles with intentionally fractured coatings located upstream in a " compact matrix" and graphite body simulating the fuel-graphite I
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2 interfaces of the MHTGR. The loop is scheduled for a test run without fission products in late sumer 1990. A final report for all tests is scheduled for issuance in June 1994.
Reference MHTGR design methods will be used to predict loop perf ormance prior to each test.
4a In addition'to investigating plateout and liftoff mechanisms, COMEDIE offers measurement of fission product transport phenomena at full reactor pressure and full flow rates and includes large water ingress effects.
Hydrolysis effects are also being measured under lesser pressure and flow conditions in inpile capsule experiments. Other data to be gathered with COMEDIE are concentration profiles in graphite of Cs-137, Cs-134, and SR-90, partition coefficients between the fuel compact matrix and graphite, and graphite corrosion profiles.
50 COMEDIE alone will not be a definitive investigation of plateout liftoff, and washoff. Com)1ementary experiments will be performed in the DABLE loop at MIT, whici will investigate details of iodine transport, and in a bench scale apparatus at ORNL, which will perform adsorption / desorption studies for iodine and cesium. Also, a fission product transport loop has been operating for many years in Japan. ORNL stated it plans to investigate acquiring Japanese data in sufficient detail to make useful comparisons with data developing for the MHTGR program.
6.
The NPR and civilian MHTGRs have generic international programs for many aspects of fuel design and fission product transport although each program has its own priorities and schedule, with the NPR schedule in advance of the civilian program. Written agreements have been developed by DOE's NE and DP assistat: secretaries. The COMEDIE program is under 4
NE auspices. The MHTGR Licensing Plan is expected to make clear the generic topics of research. Updates of the Regulatory Technology -
'i Development Plan are also expected to describe the division of generic research.
7.
COMEDIE is a major DOE research investment cnd the first research of the gas reactor program to be performed in a foreign country under QA procedures to be adapted from ANSI /ASME NQA-1. The NRC staff has not been requested at this time to review or participate in this adaptation, although such a request could be included in the Licensing Plan. A QA program for research, whether or not it is reviewed, is judged consistent with the statements of Section 5.4.3, " Foreign Information and Data" of NUREG-1226 " Development and Utilization of the NRC Policy Statement on the Regulation of Advanced Nuclear Power Plants" (May 1988).
8.
The format of inviting the RES staff and contractors to a detailed DOE i I 4
APR 2 61993 technical meeting worked well in the present instance and can be an efficient means of information transfer. However, it is recomanded that such a format not be used where discussions involve aspects of licensing criteria or management decisions.
l Peter M. Williams Division of Regulatory Applications Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research i
Enclosure:
l Attendance List Distribution: {DOEMEETING]
subj-circ-chron ESBeckjord CMiller, NRR TPSpeis WTravers, NRR CJHeltames CMcCracken, NRR BMMorris SWeiss, NRR FACostanzi SBall, ORNL TKing PKroege'r, BNL CEAder RMills, PDC 0 EThrom SRosen, DOE RJohnson JKendall, GCRA.._..
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n Date: 4/25/90 4/g/90 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY l
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technical meeting worked well in the present instance and can be an efficient means of infornation transfer. However, it is recomended that such a format not be used where discussions involve aspects of licensing criteria or managenent decisions.
1 Peter M. Willians i
Division of Regulatory Applications Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Enclosure:
Attendance List
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Distribution: [DOEMEETING)
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subj-circ-chron
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t ESBeckjord CMiller TPSpeis WTravers, NRR CJHeltemes CMcCracken, NRR
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BMMorris SWeiss, NRR i
FACostanzi SBall, ORNL TKing PKroege', BNL j r
CEAder RMills, PDC 0 i
EThrom SRosen. DOE RJohnson JKendall, GCRA 0Gormley NUDOCS PROJECT 672 BHardin PDR MColagrossi
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AHsia NRR
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1Murley, NRR i.
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)ffe: ARGIB:DRA ARGIB:DRA hme:
PWi_1jiams:rg JWilson
) ate: 4/25/90 4/ /90 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY
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.N ATTENDEES i
COMEDIE REVIEW MEETING April 17 & 18,1990 NAME ORGANIZATION TELEPHONE R. R. Mills PDC 0 619-455-4294 Peter G. Kroeger BNL 516-282-2610 i
Peter M. Williams NRC 301-492-3736 i
J. H. Straub Consultant 509-547-8336 R. R. Hobbins INEL 208-526-9545 R. L. Ritzman EPRI 415-855-2944 i
T. Beresovski Consultant 212-496-7085 t'
Syd Ball ORNL 615-574-0415 Gayle Cadwallader General Atomics 619-455-3309 David Hanson General Atomics 619-455-2722 t
Jerry Martin MIT 617-253-0945 R. F. Turner General Atomics 619-455-2306 R. P. Wichner ORNL 615-526-6863 i
M. J. Kania ORNL 618-576-4886 W. P. Barthold ORNL 615-576-6740 i
H. Jones ORNL 615-574-6092 t
O. M. Stansfield ORNL 615-576-2211 M. L. Gildner ORNL 615-576-5476 T. L. Reuther ORNL 202-863-5066 l
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