IR 05000184/1985003

Insp Rept 50-184/85-03 on 850905-06.No Violations or Deviations Noted.Major Areas Inspected:Licensee Organization,Logs & Records,Reviews & Audits,Equipment Condition,Experiments & Surveillance Activities

ML20138A652
Person / Time
Site:	National Bureau of Standards Reactor
Issue date:	09/18/1985
From:	Mccabe E, Trimble D NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20138A649	List: IR 05000184/1985003 ML20138A646
References
50-184-85-03, 50-184-85-3, NUDOCS 8510080604
Download: ML20138A652 (6)

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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION I

Docket / Report: 50-184/85-03 License: TR-5 Licensee: U.S. Department of Commerce Facility: NBS Reactor Inspection At: Gaithersburg, Maryland Dates: September 5-6, 1985 Inspector: R.L.Lfm D. PM Mr D. C. Trimble, Resadent Inspector 'Date Approved by: b 4 9 fl9I&f E. C. McCabe, Jr., Chief, Reactor Projects Section 3B Date Summary: Inspection Report 50-184/85-03 (September 5-6, 1985)

Areas Inspected: Routine, unannounced inspection by a resident inspector (15 hours1.736111e-4 days <br />0.00417 hours <br />2.480159e-5 weeks <br />5.7075e-6 months <br />) of licensee organization, logs and records, reviews and audit, equipment condition, experiments, surveillance activities, and engineering change Results: No violations or deviations were identified.

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8510080604 850925 PDR ADOCK 05000184 O PM

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DETAILS 1. Persons Contacted

• R. S. Carter, Chief, Reactor Radiation Division

• T. M. Raby, Chief, Reactor Operations

, N. Bickford, Reactor Supervisor i

J. Wang, Supervisory Health Physicist-Reactor J. M. Rowe, Chairman, Safety Evaluation Committee The inspector also interviewed reactor operators during the inspectio * Denotes those present at the exit intervie ,

2. Facility Tour i

The inspector and a licensee representative toured accessible areas of the facility immediately after the entrance intervie The reactor was operating at full power at the tim Plant material condition was generally very good with virtually no out of service equipment. A spray guard panel was missing from the vital motor control center. The Chief, Reactor Operations stated

that the panel would be replace . Facility Organization

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The organizational positions and the incumbents providing management and operational control of the reactor are shown belo Position Incumbent

Chief, Reactor Radiation Division R. S. Carter Chief, Reactor Operations T. M. Raby Deputy Chief, Reactor Operations J. F. Torrence

, Reactor Operators R. Beasley N. Bickford

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H. Dilks J. Ring R. Stiber

The licensee operates the reactor continuously using_a four shift schedule with a total staff of 15 operator The licensee currently has 14 licensed

{ senior reactor operators, including the reactor supervisors. At the time of inspection, authorization had been received to hire three additional operators.

1 During the past year one reactor supervisor retired. There is one reactor j supervisor and two reactor operators on each shift.

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l 4. Log Review The inspector reviewed the Shift Supervisor's Log for the period of September 1, 1984 through September 5, 198 The operators had entered pertinent in-formation about reactor operations, experiments, surveillances, and mainten-ance performe No discrepancies were identifie . Reviews and Audits Safety Evaluation Committee (SEC)

Committee membership has remained the sam Member Alternate J. M. Rowe, Chairman E. Prince, Vice-Chairman J. F. Torrence Reactor Supervisor on Duty J. H. Nicklas J. B. Sturrock P. R. Cassidy J. Wang R. L. Zeisler R. M. Lindstrom R. S. Conway R. P. Hayes The inspector reviewed the minutes of the following SEC meetings:

Meeting N Date 276 9/19/84 277 10/17/84 278 11/15/84 280 1/16/85 282 3/04/85 Items reviewed by the SEC during these meetings included: Test No. 401, "In-crease to 20 MW"; new Engineering Change Notice (ECN) development guidelines; ECN 287, Primary Purification System Ion Exchanger Columns; ECN 290, Emergency Control Station Relocation; ECN 291, Modification of Decontamination Recircu-lation Fan SF-19 and ACV-11; and ECN 293, Replacement of Aluminum Regulating Rod.

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The SEC continues to effectively use the Irradiation Subcommittee to screen irradiaticn experiments. Only those experiments introducing previously unre-viewed conditions are brought before the full committe Conservative guide-lines have been established to recertify experiments for 20 MW operation, which is presently authorized by the NRC. The experiments had formerly been approved for 10 MW operation, the previously authorized power leve _ _ .. _ . _ _ _ - . ._ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ . _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ .

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The inspector discussed SEC operation with the committee chairman. The chairman appeared to be very conscientious in carrying out committee respon-  !

sibilitie Meeting agendas are distributed one week in advance. The chair-j man personally drafts committee minutes and distributes them within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />

! of the meetings. Good communication exists between the operations group and the chairman, and the committee does not appear to be overburdened with is-j sues of small safety significance. Test procedures (and results) associated

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with the 10 to 20 MW power increase were reviewed by the committee.

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. No unacceptable conditions were identified.

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] Safety Auditing Committee (SAC)

l Committee membership has remained the sam The SAC performed its last an-

nual audit of the National Bureau of Standards Reactor (NBSR) facility opera-

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tions on November 6-7, 1984. The SAC audit appeared thorough.

Committee findings included:  !

i (1) Satisfactory attention is being given to items previously identified by 4 the committee (e.g. hiring of additional operators, instrument modifica-l tion, and increased trending / review of personnel exposures);

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j (2) proper test procedures had been assembled for the increase to 20 MW; (3) the safety aspects associated with the installation of the " cold neutron facility (CNF)" are being thoroughly considered; I

(4) fuel being manufactured by a new vendor should be used in early loadings ~

so potential problems can be identified in time to make any needed ad-justments to manufacturing procedures;

, (5) because Dr. Rowe, the current SEC Chairman, may wish to resign to devote

,! more time to the CNF, careful attention should be given to his replace-

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l (6) the NBS Research Reactor continues to be operated in a safe and efficient

manner; and

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i (7) the reactor staff is highly competent, and continues to place a high em-

phasis on safet . Surveillance Activities i

l The inspector performed a sampling review of records of performance of the

! following surveillance activities:

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j Technical I Specification Description Dates Performed

, 5. Operability Check and Calibration of 6/06/85 ,

! N16 monitor 5. Scram Time for first 5 degrees of each 3/18/85 Shim Arm Drive 8/25/85 l

5. Diesel Generator Testing 2/15/85 5. Integrated Leak Test of Confinement 2/14/85 Building 5. Operability Test of Emergency Exhaust 8/28/85 i Filter System j

j These surveillance activities were performed as required by Technical Speci-fication . Upgrade of Licensed Power from 10 MW to 20 MW The reactor was shutdown on September 7, 1984 for an extended outage for con-version from 10 MW to 20 MW and to make a number of plant improvements and repair The reactor was restarted on March 20, 1985 and reached full power (20 MW) on April 3. Major plant improvements included: impeller and motor

. changeout of three main primary pumps, addition of a fourth main primary pump, addition of a second main heat exchanger, improvement in control console lay-out, instrumentation upgrades, replacement of heavy water, removal of main pump discharge check valves, installation of two additional primary ion ex-changer columns, improved tightness of Confinement Building, repair of thermal shield cooling system, cleaning and plugging of leaking tubes in the main heat exchanger, replacement of a pneumatic tube tip, relocation of the Emergency l Control Station, improvement of the regulating rod and its drive mechanism, upgrade of plant procedures, and ultrasonic testing of primary piping and joint In total some 72 major maintenance / upgrade activities were completed.

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One of the check valves noted above, which was removed, was found to have been damaged with pieces missing. All missing parts were recovered. None of these

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parts had reached the reactor vessel area.

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l The changeout of heavy water and the installation of additional ion exchangers

with shielding should reduce overall man-rem exposure in the long term.

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The inspector reviewed safety analyses for the following Engineering Change

Notices (ECN's): ECN 293, Replacement of 2-1/4 inch diameter solid aluminum

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regulating rod with 2-1/2 inch aluminum rod; ECN 291, modify operation of de-

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contamination recirculation fan SF-19 and ACV-11 for automatic to manual; ECN i 287, primary purification system ion exchanger column installation.

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The inspector reviewed two test procedures associated with the upgrade in plant power levels: Procedure 401, Increase to 20 MW, and Procedure 403,

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inside gamma and neutron survey i j In company with the senior licensed operator who was responsible for incor-

porating associated changes to the plant Technical Specifications (TS) into plant procedures, the inspector confirmed that (1) new low flow (inner and

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outer plenum) setpoints were conservatively determined relative to revised limiting safety system trip settings (TS 2.2); (2) requirements for TS 3.1, regarding Confinement Building pressure and minimum time for allowed breaching i

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of Confinement after shutdown, were properly incorporated into TS procedure 5.1.2 and Operating Instruction OI 1.3; and (3) that scram times for the first 5 degrees were correctly incorporated into TS procedure 5. The inspector also reviewed the documentation for the calibration of newly installed flow transmitters (used for generation of low flow scram signals).

i No unacceptable conditions were identifie . Other Items Reviewed

! During the September 1984 to March 1985 outage the licensee corrected pipe

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" cold springing" problems in the vicinity of the main primary pumps ("D,0 i pumps"). The inspector asked if the piping had been examined for evidehce j of stress cracking. The licensee pointed out that a thorough U.T. program

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was conducted on primary piping and joints and no cracking was identified.

Additionally, operating stresses are low (primary system operating pressure is less than 50 psig and temperature is about 114 degrees F) and no indica-tions of leakage have been found. The licensee, therefore, did not consider y

this to be a problem.

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The licensee has been experiencing problems with loosening of the impeller

nuts on the D 0 pumps. Number 2 D 0 pump is also exhibiting higher than nor-

mal vibration 2 2 I

Corrective action for both problems was being planned at the time of inspec-i tion. These present more of-an operational than a safety problem since the i

licensee has performed analyses showing that the D 20 pumps are not needed for post accident core coolin No unacceptable conditions were identifie . Exit Interview I The inspector met with licensee representatives (denoted in paragraph 1) at

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the conclusion of the inspection on September 6,1985. The inspector pre-sented the scope and findings of the inspection.

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