ML20056F584

Univ of UT Triga Reactor Annual Operating Rept for Jul 1992-June 1993

ML20056F584
Person / Time
Site:	University of Utah
Issue date:	06/30/1993
From:	Gehmlich D UTAH, UNIV. OF, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 9308300111
Download: ML20056F584 (8)

Text

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. THE UNIVERSITY i

OFUTAli 27 August 1993 Document Control Center U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission  :

Washington D.C. 20555  !

Ikar Sir / Madam:

Enclosed you will find a copy of the Annual Operating Report for the University of Utah [

TRIG A Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, for the period 1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993. This report fulfills TRIGA Technical Specification ('ITS) 6.10(5).

4 If you have any questions concerning this report please contact a member of the staff at the facility.

Sincerely, k #

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Dietrich K. Gehmlich i Reactor Administrator DKG/ cdp enclosure

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1 The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor Annual Operating Report for the period

, 1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993 1

I k A. NARRATIVE.

1. Operating Experience.

The University of Utah Nuclear Engineering Laboratory (UUNEL) TRIGA Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, was critical 90.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br /> and generated 5344.9 kilowatt-hours of thermal energy during this reponing year. The reactor was used for educational demonstrations, laboratory experiments, systems  ;

tests, power measurements, and sample inadiations.  :

2. Changes in Facility Design.

A number of changes occurred during this reporting period. Briefly, they include:

1. The TRIGA Control System Upgrade Program is still in progress as of this reponing date. Here, selected instruments are upgraded to assure improved reliability and dependability.

2. The ventilation system was also modified to integrate our fumehood exhaust and stack exhaust for improved performance.

3. Continuous air monitoring system, hand and foot monitoring station, a neutron l survey instrument were added to our radiation and contamination monitoring l capabilities. '

3. Surveillance Tests i Documentation of all surveillance activities is retained and stored by the facility.

)

a. Control Rod Worths j

l Core Configuration #22 7/20/92 1/26/93 8/6/93 l Dollars ($)

Safety Rod 2.19 2.18 2.17 Shim. Safety Rod 1.63 1.63 1.61 Regulating Rod 0.25 0.25 0.25 Excess Reactivity 0.47 0.58 0.59

( Shutdown Margin 1.40 1.30 1.27 i

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b. Control Rod Inspection. ,

The Biennial Control Rod Inspection was performed during December 1991 and '

was not performed during this reponing period. Rod drop times were measured on 7/20/93 and 1/26/93. All rod drop times were less than 0.8 seconds.

c. Reactor Power Level Instrumentation.

Six calorimetric power calibrations were performed during the reponing period.

The following results were obtained. l Date Measured % Power Calculated Power Level I 8/28/92 90 kW 92.4 9/17/92 88.2 95.9 l 10/1/92 90 89.942 ,

1/21/93 90 89.0 i i

1/6/93 94.3 88.1 i I

2/2/93 90 90.1

d. FuelInspection. i The Biennial Fuel Inspection was performed during December 1991 and was not performed during this reponing period.

e. Fuel Temperature Calibranon. t Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/26/92 and 2/4/93. The circuits were  ;

calibrated to less than a 5 C error over the range 20 C to 400 C.  !

f. Reactor Safety Committee Audits. i Altemate RSO, B.L Hardy, audited radiation safety and ALARA practices at the f facility for the period 1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993.

RSC member J. Byrne audited the maintenance and operational activities of the l facility for the period 1 July 92 through 30 December 1992. t B. L. Hardy audited the maintenance and operational activities of the facility for the  !

period 1 January 1993 through 17 June 1993.  !

P. Sheehan audited radiation safety and ALARA practices at the facility for the l period 31 December 1992 through 30 April 1993.  !

No significant deviations from normal operating practices were identified by these ,

audits.  !

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.4.  ;

g.' Environmental Surveys  ;

B. L. Hanly reported to the RSC a maximum total exposure of 39 6 millirem per quaner to environmental dosimeters located at various positions surrounding UUNEL for the period 1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993. The average quarterly exposure for the six environmental monitoring stations was 32 8 millirem.

B. ENERGY OUTPUT.

'Ihe reactor was critical for 90.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br /> and produced 0.223 megawatt-days (5344.9 ,

kilowatt-hours) of energy. Since initial criticality, the reactor has been in operation for a total of 2,318.54 hours6.25e-4 days <br />0.015 hours <br />8.928571e-5 weeks <br />2.0547e-5 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 5.65 i megawatt-days (135701.44 kilowatt-hours).  !

C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS ANDINADVERTENTSCRAMS. l There were no emergency (manually-induced) shutdowns of the reactor during operations this reporting period. i Seven inadvertent (instrumental) scrams occurred while the reactor was critical.

The type, cause and action taken by the operations staff for each scram are  !

summarized below.  ;

Quantity Type Cause Action j 3 Linear Power Scaling down to stan on range switch Restan i 2 Linear Movement in set range switch Restan [

1 Fuel Temp #1 Shon in signal Terminated  :

1 Water Level Float bumper during fuel movement Restan i D. MAJOR MAINTENANCE.

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The fission chamber and its associated circuit under went a number ofinvestications and minor adjustments. A ion chamber failed, a spare detector was installed to replace the non-  !

functioning unit. While other maintenance activities were done throughout the year, those >

wem considered normal ( and not major) activities. As required, all maintenance activities  ;

are documented and records are stored in the facility.  !

E. CHANGES, TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.59.- f The current membership of the Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) as designated by the Licensee is as follows- .

t Dietrich K. Gehmlich, Reactor Administrator  !

Gary M. Sandquist, UUNEL Director j David M. Slaughter, Reactor Supervisor j Keith J. Schiager, Radiation Safety Officer  :

John S. Bennion '

James M. Byrne  !

Patrick S. Sheehan J l

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l The modifications that underwent review for compliance were design and technical specifications requirements, quality assurance, and possible unreviewed safety questions i by facility management and members of the Reactor Safety Committee. If necessary, a i review of security effectiveness was also done.  !

1. The control instrumentation of the TRIGA Mark III control console, obtained ,

from the decommissioned Berkeley Research Reactor (BRR, NRC License No. R-  ;

101) and installed in April 1991, continues to be improved as part of an ongoing .

instrumentation upgrade program. Each monitoring and safety channel is being j systematically replaced by equivalent and contemporary state-of-the-art electrome  !

circuits. .

2. Changes to the ventilation system used in the operation of the 100 kW TRIGA reactor were implemented. Dese changes included modification of the plenum and  !

exhaust pathways for the two fume hoods located in 1205 F and G and the i elimination of the exhaust-side damper. In addition, the supply-side damper was modemized.  !

3. A new continuous air monitor (Technical associates BAM-3H) was installed.

The changes included removal of the existing particulate pump, plumbing, cables and detector, and replacement with the new CAM system. l

4. Another modification was the removal of the door between 1205F and G with l the hardware replaced on an exterior door including a lock guard. i

5. Finally, the RSC has reviewed and approved several NEL procedures which .

were modified to update ard correct perceived deficiencies. The NEL staff  ;

continues to review and update facility documentation to assure compliance with  !

applicable regulations.

F. RADIOACT. IVE EFFLUENTS. .

1. Liquid Waste - Total Activity Released: Negligible.  ;

1 A total volume of approximately 5 gallons ofliquid effluent was released to the  :

sanitary sewerage system. The liquid effluent consisted of mop water from routine  !

housekeeping operations. Prior to release, independent analyses by the i Radiological Health Depanment confirmed that the effluent contained no  ;

radioactivity in excess of naturally occurring radionuclides normally present in the  ;

potable water supply of this area ,

2. Gaseous Waste - Total Estimated Activity Released: 40.1 pCi. I i

The TRIGA Reactor was operated for 90.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br /> at power levels up to _

approximately 95 kW. At this power level argon-41 production is substantially  ;

below MPC values for unrestricted areas. The minimum detectable concentration of  :

Ar-41 for the stack monitor has been found to be one-third of 10 CFR 20 appendix  !

B limits for release to unrestricted areas. The average annual calculated i concentration of Ar-41 generated during operations is estimated at 1.79 x 10-1,uCi/ml which is approximately 0.5% of the MPC for this radionuclide. The total ,

amount of Ar-41 released was estimated at 40.1 uCi. No phosphorus-32 was 3 released from UUNEL during this period. The total amount of all gaseous 4

. . - . ~- _- .- . . . - - ,

, ' radioactivity released was estimated at 40.1 uCi. A monthly summary of gaseous  !

releases is given in Table I.

l Table 1. i Summary of Monthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent i 1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993 Month Ar-41 (pCi) Estimated Release Total (pCi)

P-32 and all others July 2.5 0 2.5 j August 6.89 0 6.89 September 3.86 0 3.86 October 4.49 0 4.49  !

November 0 0 0  !

December 0.03 0 0.03 January 11.17 0 11.17 )

February 4.00 0 4.00 l

March 1.76 0 1.76 l l

Apdl 1.3 0 1.3_ j May 1.86 0 1.86 l June 2.95 0 2.95 I Total Activity of gaseous effluent (pCi): 40.1 j

3. Solid Waste - Total Activity: Negligible. J Approximately 1.2 cubic meter of solid waste consisting oflow-level j decontammation materials was generated. These waste materials generated by the j facility include the following ,

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Debris removed from the reactor tank during cleaning, and irradiated samples disposed of through Radiological Health Depamnent.

Included in solid waste were selected components from the AGN and debris from )

the decommissioning process. These were surveyed, characterized, and transferred t to Radiological Health Depanment for disposal.

Sections of the removed ventilation system contammated with tritium were also transferred to Rad Health for proper disposal.

Other solid waste which was accumulated from past opemtions, including spent ion-exchange resin from the pool-water purification system were characterized and subsequently transferred to the Radiological Health Depanment for disposal.

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.G. RADIATION EXPOSURES.

Personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional basis have been issued a film-badge dosimeter by the University of Utah ,

Radiological Health Department. The duty category and monitoring period of personnel are summarized below:  !

Name Monitoring Period Duty Category l l

David M. Slaughter regular  !

7/1/92-6SO/93 Gary M. Sandquist 7/IS2-6/30/93 regular i Henry Moeller 7/1/92-6SO/93 regular .

John Bennion 7/1/92-6/30/93 regular .

Enrique Estrada 7/1/92-6SO/93 regular  !

Byron Hardy 7/1/92-6 S 0/93 occasional  !

Cindy Henderson 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional l

Bob Henderson 7/1/92-6SO/93 occasional l i

Todd Gasauge 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional  ;

MedhiTaheri 7/1/92-6 S 0/93 occasional i Henry Moeller 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional 1 ]

Ross Schmidtlein 7/1/92-6B0/93 occasional l Rian Smith 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional  !

John Moore 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional  :

Robert Henderson 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional  ;

James Godfrey 7/1/92-6/30/93 occasional Measured Doses 7/1/92-6/30/93 Doses: <10 mrem average; 170 mrem highest measured.

Dose Eouivalent Limit Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem / year (1250/ quarter).

Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge = 10 mrem.  ;

i Of the approximately 300 visitors to the facility under the DOE Reactor Sharing Program - l for the reporting year, no visitor received a measurable dose. Therefore, the average  ;

maximum doses are all within NRC guidelines. A' summary of whole body exposures to i duty personnel is presented in Table 11. '

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Table II  !

Summary of Whole Body Exposures ,

1 July 1992 through 30 June 1993 Estimated whole body exposure range Number cfindividuals in each range:

(rem): [

No Measurable Dose 21 Less than 0.10 3 1

0.10 to 0.25 1 >

0.25 to 0.50 0.50 to 0.75 J

0.75 to 1.00 l 1.00 to 2.00 l 2.00 to 3.00  !

3.00 to 4.00 4.00 to 5.00 Greater than 5 rem H. LABORATORY SURVEYS Monthly surveys of the facility were conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department. Some of these surveys have identified minor localized removable contamination sources which were immediately cleaned. The surveys have not indicated any unusual radiation levels over previous years. Records of stuveys are retained by the facility.

I. ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES The Air Monitoring Station, operated by the U.S. Environmental Pmtection Agency and ,

located outside the reactor building, has indicated no unusual changes in radiation or i radioactive material concentrations.

Environmental monitoring conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health  !

Department indicated no unusual dose rates in the areas surrounding the Merrill l l Engineering Building, which houses the reactor facihty.

i Prepared by: nry F. Moeller Acting Sr. Reactor Engineer Date:

Submitted by:

t / ~ Date: 8 d'

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fA-Director andReactor Supervisor

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Approved by: _ ~ Date: 24 E Y 'R'eactor Adminidrator A bic-64 k. Ackfd 0

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