ML20054D530

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Forwards Revised Paragraph 2C Re 800403 Request for Renewal of License SNM-1154
ML20054D530
Person / Time
Site: 07001216
Issue date: 05/18/1981
From: Murton D
NAVY, DEPT. OF
To:
NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
Shared Package
ML20049A233 List: ... further results
References
FOIA-81-428 NUDOCS 8204230099
Download: ML20054D530 (12)
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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

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N AVAL OCEAN SYSTEMS CENTER gj SAN DIEGO. CALIFORNIA 92152 m acety acr tn To:

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WCS:rc 10330 Ser 037/16 18 MAY 1981 From:

Commander, Naval Ocean Systems Center To:

Director, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Division of Fuel Cycle r:a.

and Material Safety Licensing Branch) e Via:

Officer in Charge, Naval Energy and Environmental Support Activ-ity -(Radiological ' Affairs Support Of' ice)

-Subj:

Request for renewal of Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-1154 Ref:

(a) N0SC ltr 10330 Ser 037/8 of 3 Apr 1980; Subj: Request for renewal of Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-1154 ser Encl:

(1) Revision of paragraph 2C of Reference (a) 1.

Enclosure (1) contains a revision of paragraph 2C of enclosure (1) to reference (a), which applies to Special Nuclear Material License No.

SNM-1154, Docket No. 070-01216.

2.

Please include the revision with our renewal application.

Naval Ocean Systems Center requests NRC expedite this. request, if possible.

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For questions, please contact Mr. W. C. Salsbury (714) 225-6458.

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Radioisotopic Heat Sources (1 ). Radioisotope thennoelectric generators fueled trith Pu02 prnvide power for instruments and data transmission in space missions. The heat source con tainer is designed to withstand the heat generated upon re-entry and the subsequent impact with earth, so that the Pu0 is completely contained until 2

recovered. Although the safety of the current container has been adequately demonstrated, the Space and Nuclear Systems Division, Department of Energy (DOE) con tinually seeks more information to improve their safety and desires to extend these studies to the marine environment.

(2 ).

Under DOE sponsorship, N0SC is planning a test program to evaluate the effects of the ocean environment upon the physical and chemical character-istics of con tained Pu0 heat sources. This information is required to assess 2

the consequence of postulated entry of such sources from space directly into the oceans.

(3 ). As a preliminary, pug s urces were safety tested at the Los Alamos 2

National Laboratory (LANL) in simulated marine aquatic conditions.

However, these synthetic systems are only an approximation of the actual environmental conditions tha t exist in the oceans. Absent from the laboratory experiments are (1) life forms, (2) organic debris, (3) currents and tidal action, (4) variations in seawater properties such as pH, salinity and compound concentrations and dissolved gases and (5) variations in physical conditions such as temperature and pressure.

Comparison of the effects of immersion of heat sources in aquaria and in the ocean stresses the need for extension of the examination in the na tural environmen t, Encrustations and deposits develop on sources exposed to the natural medium that are unobserved in synthetic seawater; moreover the release rate of bare fuel to the aqueous medium is substan tially reduced upc encrustation O (4 }.

A 100-watt Pu0 source clad in iridium and vented to release helium 2

gas has been studied in syn the tic seawater for 375 days, During this exposure period none of the plutonium was released into the water from the source.b}

(5 ),

Two 62-watt fuel capsules are to be tested in the marine environment.

Each consists of about 153 grams of plutonium oxide with an tsotopic composition 238 239,240,241 of 80%

Pu and 20%

Pu. The capsules were fabricated at LANL_. The process consisted of hot-pressing plutonium oxide granules to 85.1% of theoretical density into the shape of cylinder 2.738 cm (diam) by 2,768 cm

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(height). The fuel pellet fits snugly utthin two halves of the iridium clad whose nominal thickness is 0.025 inches. After loading, the he halves of the elad are permanently joined together by weldtng in an inert gas atmosphere.

The dimensions of the clad product are 2.99 cm (diam) by 3.01 cm (height).

As with the 100-watt source each -is equipped with a vent to permit the release of helium gas and prevent the loss of plutonium to the environment.

The vent consists of a frit of iridium with cover and backing disks.(enclosure

  1. 1) and fits in to the fuel assembly as shown in enclosure #2. The tesc plan calls for venting only one of the capsule by drilling a hole through tbo vent cover whil.e the other will remain intact. The purpose of examining an irnvented capsule is to simulate the condition of a ven t that'has plugged.

Such plugg(ng has occassionally been observed in sources studied in laboratory experiments.

U 'and To reduce the neutron emission rate, the oxide is depleted in O

]80 isotopes to several hundred parts per million (ppm) and about 100 ppm, 5

respectively..The neutron emission rate for each capsule is 4-6 x 10 neutrons /sec. The beta-gamma-dose rate is 0.5 mr/h/g of plutonium oxide at 10-cm for unclad plutonium oxide. Activation of the iridium is expected to be about 1-3 microcuries per year.

Some capsules have undergone a safety test at LANL in which each was fired at a granite slab while at elevated. temperature under such conditions as to simulate the heating and impact experienced upon a postulated re-entry to the ground from space.

No leakage was dr.tected on surface wipes taken 24-hours after the impact test.

Tests at LANL indicate that the average release rate from a. bare Pu oxide 2

I pellet in cold seawater is 10 nCi/ sect m surface area of the bare pellet.

Were the capsules under consideration unclad, a concentration'of 3 p Ci/ml/

3 day would be expected if the material was dispersed in only a m of seawater, 38 j

Exposure tests of several Pu0 sources,' some of which were bare, 2

occurred near North Ligi.t Harbor Pier, San Clemente Island from 1967-1978.

Materials collected from this environment in 1979 were analyzed for their Pu conten t by investigators at the Lawrence Livennore National Laboratory. They 238 accoun ted for 0.18 t0.05 mci Pu greater than the expected 0.10 mci from fallout deposition in the surface sediment over a 2.8 km region surround the pier.

This amount approximates an estimate of the quantity mobilized from bare microspheres tested in the 1960's.

In terestingly, the total fallout plutonium (238 + 239 + 240) in surface sediments from Santa Barbara and Soledad

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Basins is greater than the total plutonium in the surface sedimen t samples at San C1emente Island.-

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Further, except for a 0,025 km area around the pter, the total plutonium in su. face sediment is within the range of total plutonium from fallout in the

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Atlantic and Pacific Ocean surface sediments obtained from water column depths less than 100 m.

It should be emphasized, however, that on the basis of.the results acquired in the 375-day immersion study of the 100-watt clad source, no release 238 of Pu to the environment is anticipated in the work pmposed.

(6 ).

The program will be carried out at the Marine Environment Test Station, located on th'e protected (mainland) side of San Clemen te Island, Cal i fornia. This island is located approximately 60 miles from the nearest mainl and.

Attachment #3 shows the. location of San Clemente Island.with respect to the Los Angeles area and the other Channel Islands.. Also shown on Attachment

  1. 3 is the north end of the island where all the facilities to be used by this pmject are located, (7 ).

N0SC is a tenant at the Isisnd, which is under the jurisdiction of the Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, California, En try to the Island is restricted to personnel authorized by the Navy, (8 ).

The emplacement area will be the shallow water just offshore of the Marine Environment Test site, at North Light Harbor. The waters con tiguous to the North Light Harbor are not nomally used for projects other than those conducted at the Marine Envirunment Test Station.

(9).

Upon receipt of the test samples a complete monitoring survey will be made, including neutron and gamma dose rates, surface and removable alpha activity and air sampling as indicated by the nature of the work. The samples will be opened in a glove box and immediately immersed, in water.

00). Appropriate protective clothing, including gloves, coveralls arid respirators as needed, will be worn during sample handling.

Personnel will be monitored for alpha contamination during and after sample handling. Themo-luminescent dosimeters or film badges will be worn by personnel handli_ng samples.

01), The test program involves immersion of the two iridium clad heat sources placed in ocean bo ttom material { sand, mud, organic material ) in an exposure chamber which will be emplaced on the ocean bottom at about a 50-foot dep th water, A ske tch of the primary exposure chamber and a photo in situ are shown in Attachments #4 and #5 An inner chamber (Attachment #6) is a six inch cube constructed of 18 gauge 304 stainless steel 1/2 inch flattened expanded mesh.

It is bolted to the base of the primary exposure chamber with six 1/4 inch 3

p V

V 304 stainless steel bolts and wingnuts. All flat stock and angle stock are also of 304 stainless r. teel. To preven t galvanic corrosion from occurring in the event that the iridium clad heat source buches the inner chamber, all componen ts of the cage are coated with a mil thick layer of terion.

Emplacements and recoveries of the exposure chamber at the test site have occurred 84 times in the last decade and always without incident.

(12). Exposure chambers will be recovered at monthly intervals for three V

ronths and later at 3-month intervals.

Each time the exposure chamber is removed from the wa ter, con tamination control measures will be employed. The exposure chamber will be placed in a plastic wading pool,- the heat source will be visually examined and monitored for direct and removable contamirrition, samples of sand, and biological material will be collected for plutonium analysis, and an area survey made upon completion. The Radiological Safety Officer or his designate will be present for moni*aring services during recovery of exposure chamber, examination and/or recovery of samples and replacement of chamber.

In the remote event that leakage from the source is detected the study will be tenninated.

The PP0 heat sources will be returned to LASL, and the exposure chamber and its contents will be decontaminated or disposed of through a licensed radioactive waste disposal contractor.

03) The test duration will be a minimum of one year.

If the Department of Energy requests a longer duration, the test will continue.

04}, Upon completion of the test program the samples will be pack. aged in accordance with Department of Transportation requirements and returned to LASL.

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l REFERENCES 1.

Kubose, D.

A., Lai, M.G., Goya, H.

A., and H. I. Cordova, " Radioactivity Release from Radionuclide Power Sources VIIA. Dissolution Studies of Plutonium Dioxide in the Ocean - 5 Months Exposure".

U. S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory Technical Report, USNRDL-TR-68-74,16 April 1968.

2.

Waterbury, G.E., " Environmental and Radiological Safety Studies, July 1 -

238 September 30, 1976.

Interaction of Pu0 H. eat Sources with Terrestrial and 2

Aquatic Environments". Los Alamos Scientic Laboratory-Progress Report, i A-6587-PR, November 1976.

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