ML20148P209

Responds to 771228 Lic Amend Appl Re Increase of Quantitiy & Special Nuc Matl in Hot Cell.Recommends Increase W/Condition That U-235 Inventroy Records Will Be Maintained & Maximum U-235 Stored in 17H Container Will Be 350 Grams

ML20148P209
Person / Time
Site:	07000687
Issue date:	10/30/1978
From:	Delaney J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	UNION CARBIDE CORP.
Shared Package
ML20148P187	List: ML20148P209
References
NUDOCS 7811280146
Download: ML20148P209 (2)

Text

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e 4 UNITED STATES yN t NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Q WASHINGTON, D, C. 20555 OCT 3 0 M DOCKET NO.: 70-687 APPLICANT: Union Carbide Corporation FACILITY: Corporate Research Laboratory -

t

SUBJECT:

LICENSE AMENDMENT APPLICATION DATED DECEMBER 28, 1977, AND SUPPLEMENTS DATED MAY 3 AND OCTOBER 13, 1978

Background

The December 28, 1977, application requested that (a) the quantity of special nuclear material in a single hot cell be increased from 650 grams to 2650 grams and (b) that the possession limit of U-235 under the license be increased from 4600 grams to 3000 grams of unirradiated U-235 and 10,000 grams of irradiated U-235. The licensee states that the increases are needed because the shutdown of the GETR has greatly increased their business. The May 3,1978, supplement changed the proposed mass limits for the hot cells as well as the containers and arrays in the cells in response to questions on nuclear safety which we raised in conversations with Carbide personnel, in addition, Carbide has deferred requesting an increase in'overall U-235 possession limits pending satisfactory completion of negotiations they are now having with Safeguards. The October 13, 1978, letter transmitted a drawing that was inadvertently not included with the May 3, 1978, letter and which indicated 55-gallon 17H drums would be loaded with 350 grams of U-235 rather than with the 300 grams U-235 specified in the May 3 letter. A license condition has been added to clarify this discrepancy.

Radiation Safety and Environmental The changes in hot cell possession limits do not affect the currently approved radiation safety procedures nor the environmental considerations.

Nuclear Safetz Carbide now proposes a maximum possession limit for each waste storage cell of 2000 grams of U-235, with the material stored in linear array in five-inch diameter cylinders each limited to 200 grams of U-235.

Based on buckling calculations performed by Norman Ketzlach using data he had previously developed from TID-7028, this storage array is safe.

Carbide also proposes a maximum possession limit of 650 grams U-235 in each isotope processing hot cell with the material stored in 300 ml.

glass bottles, cach bottle limited to 150 grams of U-235. Six hundred and fifty (650) grams of U-235 is only about 80 percent of a critical mass.

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Jerry Roth, IE Region I inspector, advised me of some problems noted during a recent inspection of the Carbide operations. On October 19, 1978, he agreed that a license condition should be added to provide greater assurance that mass limits imposed by the license will not be exceeded. This condition is shown below.

Recommendation-4 .

_ f On the basis of the above, it is recommended that the hot cell limit increases be approved but with the following two conditions added to the license.

1. Where U-235 mass limits are imposed as criticality control criteria, the licensee shall maintain running U-235 inventory records to assure that these masses are not exceeded.

2. The maximum quantity of U-235 that may be stored in a 55-gallon 17H container is 350 grams.

J. C. Delaney Ml s Fuel Processing & Fabrication Branch Division of Fuel Cycle and

- Material Safety Approved by: /O, ft' W. T. Crow

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