ML20081D037

Berkeley Research Reactor Annual Rept of Operations,1983

ML20081D037
Person / Time
Site:	Berkeley Research Reactor
Issue date:	12/31/1983
From:	Lim T CALIFORNIA, UNIV. OF, BERKELEY, CA
To:	John Miller Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NUDOCS 8403150115
Download: ML20081D037 (11)

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hUCLEAR ENGIhTIRIhU RFAC1DR IABORA1 DRY TRIGA R\RK III FACILI1Y UNIVERSI1Y OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA BERKELEY RESEARGI RFACTOR ANNUAL REPORT OF OPERATIONS January 1, 1983 through December 31, 1983 (BRR Technical Specifications 6.7.2)

Tek II. Lim Reactor Supervisor 8403150115 831231 PDR ADOCK 05000224 R pm

BERKELEY RESEARGI REACIOR OPERATIONS,1983 Reactor Use

'Ihe Berkeley REsearch Reactor (BRR) is a TRIGA Mark III facility capabic of producing 1 FM steady state and of pulsing to 1300 bM peak po-wer. 'Ihe Berkeley Research Reactor is a research and educational tool of the University of Califomia, is located on the Berkeley Campus and is operated by the Department of Nuclear Engineering. ,

Besides being used by the Department of Nuclear Engineering, it is used by other departments and cmpuses of the University, by the lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and is availabic to Universities and Colleges in the area. The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is operated by the University of California under contract from the Department of Energy.

In addition, the Berkeley Research Reactor is used as an irradiation source for service to industry contracts and provides a stimulant to touring and interested high school and college students.

Experiments Performed Table I lists the experiments which were performed in the Berkeley Research Reactor during the year 1983. A total of 25 different experiments were performed. 'lhree new experiments were approved between January 1 and December 31, 1983. 'lhe last column in Table I illustrates the nunber of times each experiment was performed.

Table I. Egeriments Performed at the Berkeley Research Reactor in 1983

. ~ Experiment Title Principal Investigator,. Dep'/ N). .of

1. Class Objective Facility Experimenter Company! Runs 13 A Staff operation of reactor, calibrations, any, all Lim NE 150 demonstrations, etc.

188 B Determination of fission yield Lazy Susan Prussin NE 2 196 A A short term activation analysis study on Central Thimble Asaro, Michel DOE 51 archaeological artifacts 199 A Study of the characteristics of compensated Pool Lim NE 1 Ion-chamber b 221 A Determination of nickel . impurity in Fe20 3 Central Thimble Prussin, Cann NE 4 by activation analysis 273 A Origin of pottery Central Thimble Asaro, Michel DOE 15 274 A Irradiation of ethylene dibromide Lazy Susan Somorjai, Angeles Chemistry 4 275- B Electronic components test Exposure Room Young, et al DISC 89 ,

280 A Production of Co-60m Lazy Susan Pmssin, Markowitz hI 2 4- 281 A Production of Au-198 Lazy Susan Prussin, Markowitz hI 1 2

282 A Production of P-32 Lazy Susan Pmssin, Markowitz hI I 283 A Irradiation of household aluminum foil Lazy Susan Prussin, Cann NE 6 284 A Reactor power calibration and Xenon buildup Pool Lim NE 3

-Table I. Experiments Performed at the Berkeley Research Reactor in 1983 cont'. .

Exneriment Title Principal Investigator, Dept / No. o f '

1. Class Objective Facility Experirrenter Company 1 Runs 303 A Magnitude and shape of Central Thimbic flux Central Thimble Lim NE 2 304 A Reactor chekcout, approach to critical and Pool Ruby, Lim NE 13 pulsing 305' A Reactivity worth of control rods All Lim NE 16 306 B Graphite prism and thermal column. experiment Thennal Column Ruby, Lim NE 3 313 A Activation analysis of biological materials Central Thimble Lim, Cann hT 4 in the Central Thembic 315 A Activation Analysis of Biological materials Lazy Susan Lim, Cann NE 2 in the l2zy Susan u

i 351 B ~ Neutron tracks studies in Lexan Hohlraum Wo11enberg, Lim DDE 1 352 A Deuterium-tritium micro ballons irradiation Central Thimble Lane, Lim DOE 20 354 _A Irradiation of environmental samples Central Thimble lleft, Lim DOE 8 361 B Irradiation of Natural or depleted uranium Lazy Susan Prussin NE 22 in ceramic fonn 363 'A Production of Pt-197 Central Thimble Lougheed, Lim DOE 1 365 B Irradiation of Cu containing phantom All Lim, Derenzo NE/ DOE 8 1

Chemistry: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley DOE: - Department - of Energy, U.S. A.

IMSC: Lockheed Missiles 4 Space Company NE: Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

. Reactor hiaintenance Routine blaintenance, minor repair and modification, testing and inspec-tion as required by the Tech Specs were perfonned during 1983.

10 CFR 50.59 Changes There were no changes in 1983 that required review under 10 CFR 50.59.

Administrative Changes In April 1983, hiichael Denton replaced liarry Braun, who retired early in the year, 'as Chief Reactor Operator.

Starting as of August 1,1983, Ranas H. Pigford was appointed Reactor Administrator to replace Selig N. Kaplan.

Routine Testssand Calibrations Thermal power calibrations were performed in h!ay 1983. The constant Air hbnitor was calibrated during the month of November 1983.

He Reactor Pool Water Radiation hbnitor was calibrated in June 1983, and the Stack Cas Argon-41 Abnitor was calibrated in September 1983. I Operating' Schedule ne . Berkeley Research Reactor nonna11y operates on a single 8 hour9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> -

shift between 8 A\1 and 5 Ph!, hbnday through Friday. One day every two weeks is set aside for routine monthly checks and maintenance. Extended reactor runs and overtime operation are allowed if required by the experi-mental program.

Fuel Addition and Fuel Inventory There were no fuel additions in 1983. He annual fuel element inven-tory was performed in June 1983.

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Energy Production and Fuel Burn-up H e Berkeley Research Reactor produced 126,014 kW-hours or 5,25 FM-days of energy during 1983. As there were 192 operating days in 1983, this corresponds to an average daily energy production of 656 kW-hours per op-erating day. In 1983, the Berkeley Research Reactor was critical approxi-i i

mately 270 hours0.00313 days <br />0.075 hours <br />4.464286e-4 weeks <br />1.02735e-4 months <br /> and was operated at full power (1 SM) for approximately 119 hours0.00138 days <br />0.0331 hours <br />1.967593e-4 weeks <br />4.52795e-5 months <br />.

The total burn-up in 1983 was 5.6 grams elemental and 6.5 grams of isotope U-235.

He total cumulative energy production since initial criticality is approximately 266.3 FM-days.

l Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspection Inspections of the Berkeley Research Reactor safety were performed by the Nuclear Regulatory Comission Region V office in blay of 1983. No items of noncompliance to the Technical Specifications and Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations were found during the inspections.

Operating Procedures he following new and revised operating and safety procedures were introduced in 1983:

Appendix #10 April 1983 Reactor blonthly Inspection's Entry 4

NERL #27 Emergency Shutdowns and Inadvertent Scrams l Date Scram Circuit Reason 4-11-8 Linear Power Scram Operator Error 4-12-83 Linear Power Scram hbde Switch Contact Nois?

7-1-83 Accidental Scram Leak in transient rod hose 9-8-83 Linear Power Scram Operator Error

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l Operator's Training In July 1983, one reactor operator and ene senior operator passed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reactor Operator's examination.

Requalification Training Program _

In accordance with regulations, a successful requalification written examination was given to licensed operators and senior operators in September and November 1983.

Exercise Routine security and emergency evacuation exercises were performed during the months of June and December 1983. Both the reactor staff and campus police participated in the drills.

Radioactive Effluent Released or Shipped Liquid Waste All liquid waste from the facility was picked up by Campus Environ-mental Health if Safety personnel for disposal in accordance with their regulations. All waste was in one gallon glass jugs.

Material shipped included:

6-17-83 2 gallons 0.05 mci miscellaneous activation product plus 1 gm U-nat.

No liquid waste was discharged to the sewer, storm drain or other location in the environment from this facility in 1983.

Gascous Waste All gaseous waste discharged was calculated as Ar-41, since studies in the past have shown no other significant radionuclides.

Total curies released was 2.37 Ci as Ar-41 of a maximum permitted re-

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lease of 2,785 Ci. Average concentration at stack discharge was 2.7 x 10 '

pCi/ml. This concentration is 0.0009 of allowable maximum concentration for this facility of 3.12 x 10 ' pCi/ml.

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. Maximum concentration at the stack discharge was 6.6 x 10 -7 pCi/ml which is

, 0.21 of the permitted average concentration at the release point.

Filter paper air samples showed no particulate radioactivity was re--

leased via exhaust stream. No particulate radioactivity concentrations above naturally occurring values were detected.

Solid '(Dry) Vaste All solid (dry) waste was picked up by Campus Environmental llealth and Safety personnel for disposal in accordance with their regulations. Material

shipped included

6-17-83 12 ft* 0.05 mci miscellaneous activation products No solid waste was released to the environment.

Personnel Radiation Exposure Recorded radiation exposures to personnel incitided:

a. Facility personnel (routine users of dosimeters) -

Maximum total exposure to an individual - 135 mrem Minim 2m total exposure to an individual - O mrem Note: Forty-two individuals were assigned dosimeters; two indivi-duals incurred exposures (of 135 mre and 20 mrem respectively).

One badge result of 18,000 mrem was investigated and detern. ned not to represent a personnel exposure. 1

b. Visitors (non-routine dosimeter users) -

Maximum total exposure to any individual - 17 mrem (74 entries) minimum total exposure to any individual - O mrem '!

Average total exposure to any individual _0.13 mrem 'i Note

Approximately 740 entries were made by 490 individuals. ~ Forty-six positive readings were recorded for-19 individuals. No individual incurred total recorded exposures exceeding 25 mrem / year; two persons 1 1_

exceeded 10 mrem / year. Maximum exposure-for any entry was-10 mrem in-

! curred during portable instrument calibration.

c. There were no exposures in excess of 10 CRF 20 limits.

There were three persons for whom dosimeters were required by pro-visions of 10 CFR 20 (entrv into high radiation area).

Radiation and Contamination Levels

a. Routine monthly meter surveys generated 396 individual radiation readings.

blaximum reading observed was 142 mrem /hr (70 Y + 72 netron).

blinimm reading observed was 0 mrem /hr.

Average of readings is meaningless due to abnormal influence of one high dose rate area out of 27 locations routinely surveyed.

b. Routine area quarterly film dosimeters at 27 locations generated 308 readings, routine area monthly dosimeters at 3 locntions generated 36 readings.

hiaximum readings observed - 290 mrem (monthly location), (50 Y + 240 neutron) 610 mrem (quarterly location) hiinimum readings observed - O mrem (monthly location)

) 0 m*cm- (quarterly location) h!aximum annual accumlated - 1135 mrem (monthly location),

(285 Y.+ 850 neutron) 1860 mrem (quarterly location) _

Average dose is meaningless due to excessive influence of a few positions.

c. Routine quarterly area TID dosimeter readings totalled 16.

blaximum total ~ dose at any location for the year was 13 mrem.

hiinimum total dose at any location for the year was 0 mrem.

Average total dose at any location for the year was 0.8 mrem.

Note that the period reported for film and TLD is 2-1-83 through 1-31-84.

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d. Routine weekly swipe program generated 2040 swipes, of which 30 showed contamination above normally expected level.

Maximum swipe activities recorded was 2.1 x 10'* pCi/100 cm2 from normally contaminated surfaces, 3.1 x 10 -8 pCi/100 cm2 from not .i normally-contaminated surfaces.

Mininum activities for both categories was zero.

Averages were not determined due to excessive influence of a few swipes.

Environmental Surveys Environmental TLD measurements at eleven locations outside the facility generated 44 radiatiSn readings.

Maximum total recorded exposure at any location for the year was 374 mrem.

Minimum total recorded egosure at any location for the year was 9 mrem.

Average recorded exposure for the eleven locations for the year was 44 mrem.

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Note that the period reported was'2 1-83 through 1231-84.

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COLLEGE OF ENGLWEERING DERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720 DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING h! arch 9, 1924 Docket No. 50-224

- License No. R-101 hfr. James A. bliller, Chief Standardization and Special Project Branch Division of Licensing U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, District of Columbia 20555

Dear hfr. bliller:

For your information, enclosed is a copy of the Berkeley Research Reactor's Annual Report for the year 1983.

The Report is prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Connission as required by our Technical Specifications.

' Sincerely,

/

. #54 ek H. Lim Reactor Supervisor ML:sf enc.

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