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U. S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION REGION I DIVISION OF COMPLIANCE August 18, 1966 CO REPORT NO. 47/66-2 Title U. S. ARMY MATERIALS RESEARCH AGENCY - WATERTOWN ARSENAL LICENSE NO. R-65 ate of Visit:
August 3, 1966
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44 By a
n R. Sears, 9eactor Inspector
SUMMARY
A routine announced visit was made to the Watertown Arsenal reactor.
The reactor is being operated ten hours a day a:
2 Mw.
A satisfactory centainment lean rate test was made in March 1966.
The Safety Committee still:eviews all experiments and irradiations.
No items of noncompliance or safety problems were observed during the visit.
DETAILS I.
Scoce of Visit A visit was made to the Watertcwn Arsenal reactor of the U. S. Army Materials Research Agency at Watertown, Massachusetts, by Mr. John R. Sear s, Reactor Inspector, Region I, Division of Compliance, on August 3, 1966.
The visit included a tour of the facility, examination l
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m 2-Scoce of visit (continued) of operating and health physics records, attendance at a meeting of the Reactor Safeguards Committee, and dis-cussions with the following personnel:
i Mr. John O'Connor, Reactor Director Mr. Richard Stanton, Reactor Engineer Mr. Richard Dady, Health Physicist Mr. Joseph Vella, Maintenance Foreman Mr. Paul O'Connor, Shift Supervisor Dr. Homer Priert, Chairman, Reactor Safeguards Committee Dr. John Antal, Reactor Safeguards Committee (and others on the Committee staff)
II.
Results of Visit A.
Containment Test Records were reviewed which show that a containment leak rate test was made in March 1966.
The leak rate, at 2 psig, was 2.85% per day with the outer airlock doors i
closed and the inner doors open, and 2.44% with the outer doors open and the inner doors closed.
B.
Personnel The reactor is now operated at 2 Mw on a ten hour day, 0730 to 1730, and shutdown on weekends.
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Mr. John Bailey, formerly a shift Supervisor, quit for a mechanical engineering job with the Corps of Engineers.
Mr. O'Connor is recruiting for a replacement in order to in-I crease operating time to two shifts.
Mr. Charles Dady, Health Physicist, and Mr. Richard Stanton, Reactor Engineer, both confided to the inspector that they are considering other employment cwing to the uncertain future they feel they have at the Arsenal.
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m Results of Visit (continued)
Mr. Dady stated that the Arsenal health physicist has managed to survive the Army cut-back by getting himself declared.a Chief.
The paper organiration then has a GS-9 position under this Chief who shall perform health physics duties at the reactor.
There is presently no one in that position, and Mr. Dady stated that there is no active recruit-ment for an applicant.
Mr. Dady is a GS-13 and is rated as a radiochemist.
He divides his time between assisting expe rimenters, employing radiochemical techniques, and supervising two health physics technicians who do the routine health physics surveillance work.
Mr. O'Connor showed the inspector copies of tests from a continuing reactor operator training program.
These are written tests which are given weekly.
They are designed to be answerable by a competent operator in about two hours.
C.
Health Physics Records of shield surveys, smears, personnel monitoring, gaseous and particulate stack releases, and liquid discharges during the past six months were reviewed by the inspector.
No violations of 10 CFR 20 were observed in this review.
During 2 Mw operation, stack gaseous activity averages about 5 - 6 x 10-6 uc/cc, princ{gallyA-41.
The dilution factor for this facility is 10-seconds per cubic centimeter.
200,850 gallons of liquid waste, with a total activity of 1683 uc, were discnarged to the sanitary sewer system during 1966.
Mr. O'Connor stated that he expects that this volume will decrease in the future since they installed a new bed in their demineralirer during the last Spring.
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. Results of Visit (continued)
The Army Materials Command Headquarters Safety Division had requested Mr. O'Connor to furnish them with a written environmental radiological monitoring procedure.
Mr. O'Connor showed the inspector a copy of his reply which describes the present point-of-discharge surveillance progran. Mr. O'Connor also stated that in view of their history during normal operation, he does not in-tend increasing the program unless he is so directed.
Mr. O'Connor also shcwed the inspector a letter from' the Massachusetts Department of Public Health which states that they and the U. S. Public Health Service maintain ap-proximately 80 monitoring stations in the greater Boston area.
All include 2" filter paper air samplers which did shcw evidence of fallout from the Chinese bomb test.
Thirty stations have film badges, processed by Technical Operations,
Inc., which showed no response to the Chinese fallout.
Massachu-setts Institute of Technology has 11 stations which showed no accumulation from reactor operations over an 11. month period.
The nearest monitoring station to the Arsenal reactor is 1 miles away.
The letter concludes by recommending that the Arsenal do no monitoring beyond the Arsenal bcundaries.
Mr. Dady informed the inspector that hardware has been purchased for a liquid level indicator which will see the level in the concrete storage tank.. It will read out in the health physics office.
Mr. O'Connor stated that their absolute filters in the exhaust air duct have never been tested in pince.
However, he pointed out that the isolation valve is between the filter and the stack, and this valve is tested regularly.
He further stated that pressure drop across the filter has not increased since the original installation.
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. Results of Visit (continued)
D.
Audit Mr. O'Connor stated that their arrangement with their consultant, Dr. Robert Ccchran, is that he would visit the facility whenever asked by Mr. O'Connor.
This has averaged cut to at least one visit per year.
It is planned that he will make a visit before the end cf the year when 5 Mw operation is scheduled to begin.
The reactor facility was inspected by a team f cm the Army Inspector General's office in the Spring.
Mr.
O'Connor said that they had no adverse criticism regarding raactor or radiation safety but that they gave him an un-satisfactory mark on industrial safety.
The reason was because of a temporary platform over the cut-of-pile mecx-up of a methane cooled experiment.
E.
Preventive Maintenance The preventive maintenance program of periodic checks and inspections is still in force.
The stainless steel control rods have been visually inspected every 50 FNd.
This has been about every six months to date; it will occur about every three months at 2 Mw opera-tion.
The inspection is made under one foot of water.
No
'deterioratien of the reds has been observed.
The stainless steel tube bundle in the heat exchanger has shown no evidence of leaks.
F.
Drills Two drills were held during the Spring; one for
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a simulated radiation emergency and the other a fire drill.
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- Res'ults of Visit _ (continued)
Mr. O'Connor stated that one of the principal benefits of the drills is that they demonstrate the extent of cannibal-izing of equipment in the emergency locker.
G.
Exit Interview The inspector attended a. meeting of the Reactor Safeguards Ccmmittee, which was also his exit interview.
Mr. O'Connor made his annual operations report.
He explained that a few unplanned scrams were due to operator error in which an operator had moved the log N period chamber too quickly.
Dr. Priest suggested the installation of a fine pitch Saginaw drive.
There was a difference of opinion on whether this shculd be manual or electrically opersted.
The inspector made a streng case that the health physics staffing situation needed straightening out.
The Committee agreed unanimously and stated that they intended quoting the inspector in their report to the Army.
The inspector brought up the fact that the exhaust air absolute filters have never been tested in place.
Mr.
O'Connor and Dr. Priest defended the manufacturer's stated efficiency of the filter media but agreed that there could be bypassing arcund the filter of which they were not aware.
Dr. Priest stated that an in-place test would be j
given sericus consideration.
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