ML20154C531
| ML20154C531 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Maryland |
| Issue date: | 07/19/1988 |
| From: | Roush M MARYLAND, UNIV. OF, COLLEGE PARK, MD |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION & RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (ARM) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8809140399 | |
| Download: ML20154C531 (8) | |
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THE UNIVEPSTY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK CAMPUS Deporterent Cerege c# Chemicol Po'k. and Mar /ord Nuc;ocr 20742 Eng4 neggJO (301) 51 -
memor ingmenna nc.a.om July 19,1988 Sk Section 50.4 Distribution Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555
Dear Sir /htadam:
This annual repon is submitted in accordance with requirements set forth in our Technical Specineations for the ht land University Training Reactor (51UTR). This repon covers the time period from J ly 1,1987 to June 30,1988.
A. Summary of Oneration Excerience During the reporting period the reactor was operated 208 times, an increase of 3%
over the previous reporting period, producing a total of 27099 kilowatt hours of energy, This represents a consumption of approximately 1.4 grams of U 235.
Several minor problems were encountered with the reactor during this re wrting period. Corrections and minor adjustments were made to the reactor as needec to respond to each of these issues.
The general reactor operations can be broken dowr hto the following categories:
- a. Operator Training (30%)
- b. Nuclear Engineering Courses (16%)
- c. Activation Analysis (9%)
- d. Calibration, Surveillance and hiaintenance (10%)
- e. Tours, Demonstrations, and Teaching Laboratories for Outside Organizations (18%)
- f. Radioisotope Production (7%)
g, hiaterial Irradiations (10%)
We continued to provide reactor service to the Nuclear Engineering courses; primarily, ENNU 320 Nuclear Reactor Operations. This service utilized the reactor for four (4) two hour sessions per week during the Spring semester. A rather extensive reactor operator training program was undertaken during the summer months. Because of l
this effort, four students obtained Senior Reactor Operator Licenses and two obtained Reactor Operator Licenses. The Facility now has more current licensed operators than anytime in its 22 + year history.
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t A number of undergraduate students have used the h!UTR for student research projects. These projects resulted in six payrs civen at both the Eastern Re Student Conference and the the recent TR LOA teactor Users Conference. gional ANS Two papers .
won awards at the Student Conference. A third paper won an American Society of !
Women Engineers (ASWE) award and will be presented at an ASWE conference in July. 4 The DOE "Reactor Sharing Program" was renewed at about the same level of effort for this reporting period. This enabled us to use four (4) students on a part time basis [
to support reactor operations. The number of students from regional institutions taking i part in this program almost doubled from last year.
ASThi standard characterization of the neutron and gamma Ouxes in the reactor i facilities continued this period. In addition, we have obtained NBS traceable 1 htcV !
equivalent silicon neutron fluence measuretaent capability in the htUTR experimental !
facilities. !
- lhe reactor facility was used to produce amounts of P 32 used as radioactive tracers in research work in the biochemistry department at the University. To obtain ;
the amounts needed, the reactor was operated at near full power for 50 hours5.787037e-4 days <br />0.0139 hours <br />8.267196e-5 weeks <br />1.9025e-5 months <br /> in two >
separate 5 day periods. All of the newly qualified Reactor Operators were used in shifts during these irradiations.
Irradiation effect studies on electronic components and systems has increased during I this time period. Several electonics firms have used the facilities to measure the neutron !
i exposure level which leads to failure of the system.
l Activation analysis work for the Wye River Institute to determine the extent of ;
migration of fertilizer from fields near the Chesapeake Bay has been completed. ;
3 Samples of ceramic material have been activated in the hlUTR as part of a study l
- being carried out at Uht Baltimore Campus concerning high temperature superconducting i properties. !
l Some research on a new type of neutron dosimeter, called a bubble detector, for j the Navy is being conducted using the Reactor Facility. This study will be part of a j hiaster's thesis when completed at the end of summer. t i We have carried out some preliminary training for beginning power reactor operator l
. trainees from a Nuclear Power Plant in the Atlantic Region. The blUTR facility is quite t l wc!! suited for this type of training, and was designed and constructed with this I objective in mind. !
4 We have also used the facilities as part of a llealth Physics training course l i undertaken by a local training firm. The students obtain practical experience of !
j monitoring radiation levels around a nuclear reactor and handling radioactive material.
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B. hiaintenince Items Regulating Rod:
We have been experiencing some problems with the Regulating Rod drive mechanism and controller. Sometimes the drive mechanism gears would bind and the rod would not drive out. This usually could be taken care of by dropping the rod and starting over. On [
one occasion the gears jammed and the drive mechanism ( magnet, not the armature) t would not drive down. These problems were resolved by modifying the worm wheel gear shaft bearing and replacing the worm wheel gear. In addition, the Reg Rod position l indicator appears to drift about 4% maximum. The rod itself doesn't drift, but rather the msition indicator. We are not sure what component causes the drift, but suspect it may l x the potentiomehr. We are carrying out tests in order to isolate the problem, it is not '
a safety concern at the present time because of the relatively sinall amount of drift. l At the beginning of last summer, the size of the dead band on the automatic Dux controller was adjusted to be large enough that the drive mechanism would not i continuo 1 sly hunt and search for the correct rod position. Over the course of this reporting period, the dead band size has narrowed again, and adjustments will have to be
, i made again.
Log % Power Amplifier: !
i We have experienced some unplanned period scrams which appear to have their :
origin in adrifting of the Campbelling htode cross-over point in the log ampliner. These penod scrams occur somewhat above 25 watts where the log amplifier usually changes i operation from the pulse counting mode to the statistical variance (Campbelling) mode.
This is not part of a Safety Channel and therefore does not involvi a safety concern.
De problem has usually been taken care of by spraying the test position contacts with l Tuner Cleaner, causing better electrical connection.
On Sept. 9 1987, arcing was observed between two high voltage pins on the circuit board in the log % power drawer which resulted in enessive Ductuations in the log % 3 power meter and chart recorder. This was corrected by changing the pin locations l connected to the high voltage, t
Compensated Ion Chamber (CIC): '
It is never possible to adjust the compensating voltage on the CIC so that it is exactly gamma compensated over the full power. Over the years we have usually set the com ynsating voltage such that it was overcompensated, particularly at low wer. This resul ted in the chart recorder being pegged on zero at low pow cr, particularl after a high power run when the gamma to neutron ratio waa. high. It was reasoned .st it would be more conservative to have the CIC undercom than actual reading, especially at the low power levels, so that pensated the chart so as to recorder would give a higher tiever be pegged at zero. Therefore the compensating voltage was reduced somew hat to allow for undercompensation.
Radiation Area htonitors (RAhtS):
New RAhtS have been installed calibrated, and are part of the scram circuitry at the present time. The old RAhtS are still functioning and are still part of the scram circuitry. This provides much more safety than necessarv. The ptsn is to replace the present glove box Ght detector with the old exhaust rah!. and the old ion exchange Ght detector with the old bridge RAht.
Pool Tank Cleaning:
A swimming pool vacuum clear er was used to clean the reactre pool last summer.
The main effort was to sweep up the ion exchange resins that got into the pool due to a broken metal strainer in the ion exchange column which occured several years agc We were able to sweep up all the visible resins and some collected dirt. None of the cleaned up material was very radioactive, only slightly above background, it was however ,
disposed of as sclid rad waste. Ovsr the course of this reporting period, some more of the resins that were hiding under the core support structure have emerged into visible stagnant areas under the beam ports and through tube. These resins do not pose a I saftey problem, and they probably don't have much indueed radioactivity.
Also during this reporting period, the ion exchange resins and coarse filter were ;
replaced. Both were placed in the rad waste because they had activities sLmewhat above background, l
( llot Room Shadow Shield Repair and Upgrade:
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l Last summer a student who was using the lead brick shadc,w shield in the !!ot Room grabbed hold of the wall for support and it broke loose and fell onto the Door Fortunately no one was seriously hurt in the accident, but a number of the tiricks were rieformed. There bricks were repaired and the wall redesigned to have a structural restraint around the lead brick wall.
1 l l Reactor Building Intake and Exhaust Louvers: i l
The bl. annual external audit team commented that the building louvers did n>t close very quickly and did not close tightly enough, in response to these comments, the intake and exhaunt louvers were repaired. They now close more qukkly and tighly than before, it should be noted that we are allowed nominal leakage rates and cluure times in the Technical Specifications and therefore were not in violation even before the improvements.
C. Equipment Sun eilbnceand Tests i Area Radiation Monitors:
l Area radiation monitors for the bridge and exhaust were calibrated in accordance !
with the Technical Specification surveillance schedule.
Pool Water Analysis: l 1
Pool water was simpled and activation analysis made on a monthly basis in l accordance with the Technical Specification surveillance schedule. No measured ;
radiolsotope concentration was found to be above htPC limits. j Control Rod Inspection: !
A contro! rod im(ection was perfonned Dec. 16,1986. The appearance of the rods ;
has not changed since the last inspection of Jan. 7,1985. The next inspection will be !
performed before the end of this calendar year. i I
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- Control Rod Calibration:
Control rod worth calibrations were performed during the time period Sept. 8 - 13, 1986. The measured integral and differential worth is within experimental error of previous calibrations. Shutdown margins and excess reactivities were calculated and found to be within the Technical Specification requirements. The next calibration will be performed before the end of this calendar year.
Control Rod Drop Time:
Control rod drop times were last measured on Feb. 4,1988 for the Shim Rods and April 28,1988 for the Reg Rod. All drop times were less than .7 seconds which is less than the 1 second required by the Technical Specifications.
Power Calibration:
A power calibration was performed on Sept.1,1987. The measured thermal power outaut was 200 kW and the indicated power on Safety Channel I and 11 was also 200 kW, v/it iin a reading error of IkW. Since the measured and indicated power levels were the same, no adjustments of either Safety Channel were made.
D. Radioactive Effluent Discharged to the Environment and Radioactive Waste Shippsd Off-site for Disposal No waste water with radioisotopic concentrations greater than h1PC were discharged to the sewer system, hionthly air samples taken in the reactor building contained no activity greater than background. A small amount of low level radioactive waste in liquid and solid form has been shipped for off-site disposal through the University Radiation Safety Office.
E. Unplanned Shut Downs. Scrams and Reportable Occurrences There were ao Reportable Occurrences during this reporting period while there were several unplanned shut-downs and scrams during this time period. Six unplanned scrams were due to drifting of the Campbelling mode transition as discussed above in the hiaintenance section. These scrams indicated as period scrams, but were caused by the f'ampbelling mode transition drift.
One unexpected scram was caused by arcing of the high voltage pin in the log percent power circuit board as discuused in the hiaintenance section. During one operation at high power, a visitor dropped a dosimeter into the pool and the operator scrammed the reactor. The dosimeter was quickly retrieved and the high power run continued. We also had another period scram due to operator error, and one due to unknown causes. Finally, there was a scram on high level due to noise in the circuitry.
F. Radiation Exposures See the attached ALARA audits for this time period.
G. Changes to Facility Personnel. Procedures. and Special Experiments No changes were made to the Facility Procedures and no special experiments were undertaken during this reporting period. Dr. Ralph Belcher retired from his position of Associate Reactor Director in September of 1987. Bernie White has assumed the position of Reactor Operations Mariager, effective September 1,1988 Sincerely yours,
'7 7dta ci,e I E t-Marvin L. Roush, Chairman Chemical & Nuclear Engineering Dept, cc: Dr. David D. Ebert, Reactor Director ;
Dr. Frank Munno, Chairman, Nuclear Engineering Program Mr. Lowell E. Tripp, Chief Reactor Projects Section 3A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I 631 Park Ave.
King of Prussia, Pa 19406 i
Mr. David F. Limroth, Project Inspector U.S. Nt. clear Regulatory Commission Region I ,
631 Park Ave. i King of Prussia, Pa 19406 I Mr. Thomas Foley, Associate Resident Inspector CCNPP U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I 631 Park Ave.
King of Prussia, Pa 19406 J
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THEUNIVERSITYOF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK CAMPUS Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering College Park, Maryland 20742 (301) 454-243 0 Nuclear Engineedng Program July 15,1988 h1EhiO TO: Dr. Joe Silverman Chairman Reactor Safety Committee hiEhtO FROht: De b-Dr. David D. Ebert, Reactor Director
Subject:
ALARA Audit for 6/16/87 to 6/15/88 ,
Item 1 - RADIATION AREA h10NITOR CALIBRATION -
All portable radiation monitors have been calibrated se:ni annually. This serv'ce is performed by Radiation Safety with the exception of the RAhtS. The RAhtS were calibrated on 10/26/87 in accordance with the annual'fe- hnical Specification requirement.
Item 2 - CONTROL ROD INSPECTION Control rods are inspected bi annually. The last inspection was performed on 12/16/86. The next inspection is planned for December 1988.
Item 3 - RIEL ROD INSPECTION This inspection is not required according to the hiUTR Technical Specifications (8/7/84). This inspection has been replaced by the Pool Water Gamma Ray Analysis.
Item 4 - POWER CALIBRATION A power calibration was performed on 9/1/87. 'Ihe results of the calibration were as follows.
Indicated power level on:
Safety Channel I = 200 kW Safety ChannelII = 200 kW [
hiensrured thermal power = 200 kw
Sincc the measured and indicated power levels were within the experimental error bound, no adjustments of Safety Channels I or II were made.
Item 5 - POOL WATER GAhth1A ACTIVITY ANALYSIS Radioisotope gamma activity analysis of the reactor pool water has been performed on a monthly basis. No radioisotopes attributable to fission products were found. All i radioisotopic concentrations were much less than the hiaximum Permissible Concentration j (hiPC) for the general public. The same was true with the sump water which was
! dumped periodically to sewer.
Item 6 - FILhi BADGE EXPOSURE RECORDS All but 8 personnel film badge records showed exposures less than the minimum detectable dose equivalent of 10 mrem. These 8 people received exposures greater than 10 mrem were distributed as follows:
- 2 people received dose equivalent between 10 and 20 mrem
- 2 people received dose equivalent between 20 and 30 mrem
- 1 person received dose equivalent between 30 and 40 mrem
) 3 people received dose equivalent between 40 and 50 mrem 4
! The following is a list of the 10 area monitor film badges.
! hionitor # Location Exposure (mrem)
, 1 Control Room <10 2 Bridge 1620 3 llot Room 130 1
4 W. Balcony 330
, 5 S. Wall Upper Level 140 6 S. Wall Lower Level .00
- 7 E. Wall Lower Level 130 t
8 Water Room 860
- 9 N. Wall Lower Level 420 10 W. Wall Lower Level <10
- - Pu/Be sources stored in water room
! Item 7 - CONTAh11 NATION SURVEY REPORT
! No contamination was found in the Reactor Area during the reporting period.
l Item 8 - SELF READING POCKET DOSih1ETERS
- a. Calibration The calibrations were performed every 6 months by Radiation Safety,
- b. Visitors Log of Personnel Exposure No significant dose was recorded on the pocket dosimeters for any visitors
} during this audit period.
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