ML20091N225

Operating Rept for Univ of Ma Lowell Reactor for Period Jul 1994 - June 1995

ML20091N225
Person / Time
Site:	University of Lowell
Issue date:	06/30/1995
From:	Bettenhausen L MASSACHUSETTS, UNIV. OF, LOWELL, MA (FORMERLY LOWELL
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 9508310079
Download: ML20091N225 (12)

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' UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL 1 UNIVERSITY' AVENUE LOWELL,MA 01854.

(508) 934-3365 August 23, 1995' Docket No. 50-223 License No. R-125 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document- Control Desk Washington, D. C. 20555

. Gentlemen:

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL OPERATING REPORT Enclosed is the annual report of operation of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Reactor (UMLR) for the period July 1,1994 to June - 30, 1995. This report is provided pursuant to the requirements of Technical Specification 6.6.4 for the reactor.

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Sincerely yours, ee H. 'Bettenhausen Reactor Supervisor cc: Region I Administrator i

. T. S. Michaels,' Senior Project Manager S. II. Weiss, Chief, ONDB Directorate t

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JULY 1,1994.TO JUNE 30,1995L i-0 F . Docket No. 50-223 License No. R-125 e

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Introduction:

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. ~ C5 . Operating Experience

. LI.L - Experiments and Facility: Use'.

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Changes'in Facility Design.

- 3 ; .-  ! Performance Characteristics.

74.; ' Changes:in l Operating Procedures Related: to Reactor Safety-

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. g. 5. Results' of Surveillance Tests and Inspections.

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6. - Staff Changes 7.c . Operations Summary D. Energy . Generated

. E~ . Inadvertent . and Emergency Shutdowns F. Major. Maintenance.

n-  : O. - Facility Changes -Related to .10 CFR 50.59' H. . Environmental . Surveys I. ' Radiation Exposures and Facility Surveys ,

l y 'l- . Personnel Exposures J

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2.. Radiation Surveys

- 3. . Contamination Surveys Nature and Amount of Radioactive Effluents J. .  !

~ l 1.: Liq'uid Wastes 2 .' Gaseous Wastes .j

3. ~ Solid EWastes e

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. A. INTRODUCTION ' -

~ In the late 1950's' the decision 1was made to build a Nuclear Center 'at

what was then Lowell Techn'ological Institute. Its stated aim - was to train

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and : educate nuclear scientists, engineers. and technicians, to serve as a ,

multi-disciplinary research ' center: for LTI and all New ' England academic institutes, to serve the Massachusetts business- community, and to lead the.

way. in the economic revitalization of the Merrimack Valley. The decision l

wasitaken to . supply a nuclear reactor and a Van-de-Graaff accelerator as the -initial basic equipment.

' Construction. of the Center. was started in the summer of 1966.

Classrooms, offices, and the Van-de-Graaff accelerator were in use. by ' ,

1970. Reactor license R-125 was issued by the Atomic Energy Commission

-on December 24, 1974, and initial criticality was achieved on January 1975. J

. The.name of the Nuclear Center was officially changed to the "Pinanski Building" in the spring of 1980.- The purpose was to reflect the J change in ' emphasis of work at the center from strictly nuclear studies. At that time, the University of Lowell Reactor became part of a newly established Radiation Laboratory. The Laboratory occupies the first floor of the Pinanski Building and performs or coordinates research and educational studies in the fields of physics, radiological sciences, and nuclear engineering. The remaining two floors of the Pinanski Building are presently occupied by various other University departments.

On February 14, 1985, the University of Lowell submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for renewal of the facility operating license' R-125 for a period of 30 years. On November 21,

1985, the license' renewal was granted as Amendment No.9 of License R-125' in accordance..with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

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-B. FUNCTION <

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iTheLRadiation Laboratory is a major research focal point ofJthef i

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gUniversity. : . More .than 200' graduate ; students have used lor are 'using ' the

Laboratory's ' services; the comparable number for- the faculty is' in - excess i

{ ofr256 : TheiUniversityJdepartments utilizing the t facility: include' Biology,1 <

i Themistry,.JGeology,' PhysicsL Mechanical Engineering, Plastics Engineering,-

Radiological SciencelandJNuclear

Enjineering. The University's Amherst . l fcampusTand Medical; CenterJ have active research programs at theJ Radiation

$ < Laboratory. Muchi research is correlated with safety and efficiency;in the ,

p' , inuclear"and radiationfindustries, including public utilities, pharmaceuticals,

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' medical applications, health . effects, etc.; however, much research isl aiso ,

g.f jd6ne(by . workers'inLother fields;who .use the. unique facilities as analytical-tools. ..

In addition, the ~ Lab' oratory's facilities are used in the course work of - '

S various(departments 'of the. University. It also provides these services to Lother universities in the New England area, government agencies and; to a F . limited . extent,. industrial organizations in Massachusetts and the New England area, as well as high school science programs in the Merrimack  ;

Valley.

A L C. OPERATING EXPERIENCE I

1. - 'Exoeriments and Facility Use p ,

The major 'uses of the reactor during this fiscal year were activation.

analysis, dosimetry.. studies, calibrations, limited isotope production, neutron - damage studies, combined neutron and gamma radiation effects s M  ; on elecricalfcables, fission' decay product studies, teaching and personnel training;

? Activation Ltechniques swere used to study. geologic composition - of  ;

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1. rock 2 sa'mples. ~The evaluation 'of the neutron to the gamma ratio ~and' fdetailed [ neutron-- spectral 1 mapping - for - in-core experiments. is continuing.

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Dosimetry ; studies and calibrations utilized N-16 production for- high ~

energy i gamma' fields.

. . Isotopes 1were produced for calibration ~ standards, medical research use, and- lab practicums.

Reactor l operating time 'used for teaching purposes included a reactor .

operations. course emphasizing control rod calibrations, critical approaches, period c measurement, prompt drops and calorimetric . measurement of

-power and preparation of students and staff members for NRC licensing

- ex'aminations.

Radiological' science students utilized the facility by performing standard radiation' and contamination ' surveys. Senior students

. participated in a laboratory ' that required locating and identifying an unknown isotope of low activity in a mockup power plant environment.

The isotope was provided - for the students in an isolated area in the reactor pump room during non-operating hours. During the practicum, the-students? were supervised -by faculty and staff. The reactor served as a source of neutron and gamma radiation for various radiological science and biology ' laboratories.-

~ A number of activation and decay experiments were performed for. l both university and non-university students _ alike. For the seventh I consecutive year, activation and decay experiments were provided for local high school science classes involving over 2,000 students who observed the experiment at the reactor or in their classrooms via '

interactive cable T.V. l The major'outside use for the reactor facility is neutron and gamma damage ' studies of electronic components and electrical cable.

g 2. Changes in Facility Design

! ' None. i

3. Performance Characteristics  ;

Overall, the performance of the reactor and associated systems has been normal over the past year, except for the ventilation valves discussed  !

.in 'Section F, Maintenance.

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4. Changes in" Operating Procedures Related- to Reactor Safety

. A revised Emergency Plan was prepared in September 1994.

L Training. and .an exercise of the plan were conducted in November and December, 1994. Emergency, operating procedures were revised to conform to the plan and the plan was made effective in January 1995.

We are. presently _ waiting for the Department of Energy to provide a firm schedule.for fuel element fabrication ~ and the NRC to approve the Safety / Analysis Report for the Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) and the new f Technical Specifications related to use of the LEU fuel. Changes to I operating procedures will then be needed to.. implement the new fuel use. .

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.5. Results of Surveillance Test and Insnections i All Technical Specification Surveillances. required during the fiscal l

' year were performed in a timely manner. The results .of each requirement  !

have' been reviewed by the . Reactor Supervisor and Chief Reactor Operator.

Almost all surveillance test results were found to be within specified limits and . surveillance ~ inspections revealed -no abnormalities which would jeopardize the safe operation of the reactor. One surveillance test found l that one rod drop -time was slightly greater than specification; investigation j found an oil film on- the magnets -which delayed breakaway by about 100

< milliseconds. The magnets and rod heads were cleaned and. drop times I were ruduced to the values of 1987. Magnet cleaning will be incorporated in the annual rod maintenance. Each required calibration was also performed.

6. Etaff Changes As of June 30, 1995 the operations staff consists of three Trainees, two part time student Reactor Operators, three part time student Senior Reactor. Operators with the most senior serving as Chief Reactor Operator, and two staff Senior Operators, including the Reactor Supervisor.

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' _7 . . Operations' Sum' mary During the course of the fiscal year 1994-1995 ' the reactor was -

critical a total 'of 555.72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br />, The utilization is broken down as follows:

Operating Hours Critical _ hours 555.72 Hours at full power * '451.78 Megawatt hours

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Exoerimental Utilization

-- ' Sample hours 1613.00 (includes multiple' samples)

Number of irradiations 221 Number of training hours 14

• much of the " full power" operation was done at 800 kw for j

experimental purposes.

D. ENERGY GENERATED Total energy generated -(MWD) 17.72 l Number of hours reactor was critical 555.72 Total cumulative energy output (MWD) 185.39 E. INADVERTENT AND EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS All but two of these scrams were There were 25 inadvertent scrams.

due to aging instrumentation for which replacement is planned in the near future. 1The two scrams not related to instruments were operator actions taken in resp'onse to new core and sample interactions which were subsequently incorporated into new l operator guidance, which eliminated the cause of the scrams. .A l

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s concerted': effort at instrument.. calibration and maintenance reduced the instrument scrams from 17 -in the first quarter to 1 or 2 in subsequent quarters..

F. MAJOR MAINTENANCE A -purchase . order- has been executed for new nuclear instrumentation; plans :for instrument change over in late .1995 are in progress. A, series of problems occurred with ventilation' valves in this reporting period. The facility. exhaust valve, Valve E, .would only stay open l

' for brief intervals; a -repair effort found that the quick-release valve .

diaphragm' had failed. The valve was rebuilt, tested satisfactorily, and j

returned to service _with no: subsequent problems. The emergency exhaust.

valve, Valve D, failed to close' after a. setpoint surveillance test; this made the containment system inoperable. Disassembly ' revealed that the threads f on the -piston head _ failed, apparently from lack of full engagement. A thread repair was made, the valve seals rebuilt, the quick-release rebuilt, air leaks eliminated, and the valve and containment returned to service after closure time testing. The .last problem occurred when exhaust valve C . closed for no apparent reason, necessitating a ventilation shutdown. The cause was a failed electrical coil in the air control valve. Replacement coil 4 and seal parts were obtained from the manufacturer, installed, tested satisfactorily, and. the system returned to service.

G. FACILITY CHANGES RELATED TO 10 CFR 50.59 1

There have been no facility changes to. date which pose an unreviewed safety question.

H. ENV1RONMENTAL SURVEYS Surveys of the environs external to the reactor building have continued .to show no increase in levels or concentrations of radioactivity -

-as a result of reactor operations. Air particulate samples collected at a

. continuously monitored site on the roof of the Pinanski building have i shown-'no reactor produced radioactivity. Thermoluminescent dosimeters OP95-8

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• are used to- monitor unrestricted areas outside of the Reactor. The results  !

I of' these measurements show that doses in these areas were indistinguishable from background radiation levels during the period of.-

' July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995..

- Analysis of. water samples collected from the Merrimack River upstream and downstream of the reactor location have continued to yield no radioactivity -associated with reactor operations.

i I. RADIATION EXPOSURES AND FACILITY SURVEYS I. Personnel Exposures .

Personnel exposures were maintained at the lowest reasonable levels. Doses received by individuals concerned either directly or indirectly:with operation of the reactor were within allowed limits. Of the l 24 individuals who were monitored by film badge during the year, two received external deep dose equivalents of 60 mrem. Four other

- individuals received 10 mrem each.

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2. Radiation Surveys l Radiation levels measured in the reactor building have been typically less than 0.1 mrem /hr in general areas. Experiments have been conducted in which transient levels at specific locations have been in excess of 100 mrem /hr. Doses in these instances have been controlled by use of shielding and/or personnel access control. The pump room remains l

, designated as a high radiation area during reactor operation and access is controlled. Dose equivalent levels in the order of 10 mrem /hr are present

adjacent to the closed beam ports during maximum power operation, j i

3. Contamination Surveys General area contamination has not been a problem in the reactor building. Contamination has occurred at specific locations where samples i are handled and. particular experiments have been in progress. )

4 Contamination in these areas is controlled by the use of easily replaced plastic-backed absorbent paper on work surfaces, contamination protection for- workers, and restricted access.

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i J. NATURE AND AMOUNT OF RADIOACFIVE WASTES

1. Liquid Wastes-

' Liquid wastes are. stored for.~ decay of the' short lived isotopes and

. then released to the . sanitary sewer in accordance with 20 CFR 2003. A total of 25.5 Ci were released over the 12 month period. The principle

j. isotopes released were corrosion products ie. Mn-54, Co-60, Zn-65 and

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Sb-124.

The 1993 total activity data-was based on gross beta sample analysis. The 199.4. release data was based on gamma spectral analysis of the waste water samples.

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l2. ~ Gaseous Wastes Argon-41 ' continues to - be the 'on'ly .significant' reactor produced radioactivity identifiable in' the gaseous effluent.- Following are the .

monthly stack release data for' Ar4 1 for the reporting period:

Month Full: Power Ar-41 Released Hours Curies JJuly 1994 64 2.2

! August - 1994 - 51 1.5

-September 1994 33 'l.1

' October 1994 28 0.9 November 1994 36 1.1 December 1994 68 2.2 January 1995 40 1.3

. February 1995 37 1.2

- March 1995 44 1.5

- April 1995 15 0.5 May 1995 30 1.0 June 1995 4 0.1 Total- 450 14.6

3. Solid Wastes Solid' wastes, primarily paper, disposable clothing, and gloves, along with other miscellaneous items have been disposed of in appropriate containers. Most of the activity from these wastes consisted of short lived induced radioactivity. These wastes were held for decay and then released  ;

if no- activity remained. The remaining long lived waste (< 5 cubic feet) was collected and stored in a designated long lived waste storage area.

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