ML20195H427

Forwards Annual Insp of Retired Wtr Per License TR-2 for 1998.Physical Status of Retired Facility Remains Same as It Was at Time of Last Rept

ML20195H427
Person / Time
Site:	Waltz Mill
Issue date:	06/14/1999
From:	Rich Smith CBS, INC./CBS NEWS
To:	NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
References
NUDOCS 9906170047
Download: ML20195H427 (8)

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CBS Corporation 11 stanwix street j Room 383 Pittsburgh. PA 15222 June 14,1999 Teiephone: (412) 642-3285 i

Fax:(412) 642 3957 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Washington, DC 20555 -

Attention: Document Control Desk l

Reference:

Annual Report - License No. TR-2, Docket 50-22 Transmitted herewith is the attached " Annual inspection of Retired WTR per License TR-2" for 1998. This report has been prepared in compliance with the requirements of Facility License l No. TR-2, Docket 50-22 (Technical Specificatior Number 6.6.1, Annual Report). l The physical status of the retired facility remains the same as it was at the time of the last report. As noted in the report, the WTR Decommissioning Plan was approved with the issuance of Amendment Number 7 to the license, dated September 30,1998. Activities are underway to implement that plan in order to terminate this license.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please write me at the above address or telephone me at (412) 642-3285.

Sincerely,

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Richard K. Smith i Director - Environmental Remediation I i

t Attachment cc:

Mr. Theodore S. Michaels, Senior Project Manager Non-Power Reactors & Decommissioning Project Directorate Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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Washington, DC 20555-0001 l

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9906170047 990614

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' Regional Administrator, l

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region I

-475 Allendale Road l King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415 James Yusko, Regional Manager, Radiation Protection i

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Field Operations 400 Waterfront Drive Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222-4745 l A. Joseph Nardi, Supervisory Engineer

l. Westinghouse Electric Company- l Copies transmitted: 3 notarized and 5 conformed i

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA )

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COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY )

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l Before me, the undersigned notary public, this day personally appeared Richard K.

Smith, CBS Corporation,11 Stanwix Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, to me known, who being l duly sworn according to law, deposes and says: that the statements sworn to in this letter and l attachment are correct and accurate to the best of his knowledge.  ;

l Signature of affiant Subscriped and sworn to before me this / V day of June,1999 l

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NotGPublic /

Notarialseal Mary Colleen GaMn. Notary Pubhc PmsburDh, Allegheny County My Commission Expires Nov. 22,1999 i  ;

j ~ Member Pennsylvania Association of Nciaries

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,1998 ANNUAL INSPFCTION REPORT FOR RETIRED WESTINGilOUSE TEST REACTOR U.S.N.H.C. I.lCENSE TR-2 DOCKET 50-22

SUMMARY

OF FACILITY ACTIVITIES During 1998, the facilities of the retired Westinghouse Test Reactor (WTR), retained under NRC License TR-2, were entered for the purpose of conducting the annual radiological survey, inspections, and for performing any preventive maintenance required. Those personnel entering the facilities to conduct the inspections were: R.G.

Cline, Manager, Industrial flygiene, Safety, and Environmental Compliance, M. Brandonio, Facilities Sernees; W.D. Vogel, Radiation Safety Officer; M. Ferguson, Safety Engineer, and I. Seybold, Ilealth Physics Engineer.

The findings and actions taken are summarized below:

1) During the past year, several entries were made into the vapor containment for general inspections and to determine if significant wall condensation or water was accumulating on the floor. Actions were previously taken to reduce humidity and water accumulation including covering the canal with plastic sheeting and polyurethane boards; installing two (2) dehumidifiers - replaced in 1994; and installing a sump pump in a small hole (sump) in a low area of the floor. These actions continue to prove effective, and the humidity within the vapor container is being maintained at a very low level, and essentially no accumulation of water has been observed on the floor during the various inspections.

2) The general condition of the vapor container was good, and no significant moisture was obsen ed on any interior walls, either above or below ground level. Visual inspection of the interior surface showed little or no increased deterioration of the surface coating. Some rusting was observed on the interio- bottom portion of the vapor shell skin, but this condition was essentially unchanged fiom the last several years.

Therefore, no action is deemed necessary concerning the structural stability of the vapor container. The exterior surface of the vapor container was repainted in July 1992, and its overall condition remains generally good.

3) The water level in the canal was measured and found essentially the same as that observed during the previous annual inspection (1997). The canal low-level water alarm annunciator system was replaced in 1995. The canal low-level water alarm was manually activated, and the alarm responded properly, i.e.,

audible alarm and printout in the Security Control Center and audible and visual alarm in the IIcalth Physics office.

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' No work was done under the water in the vapor container canal since the last annual inspection so the conditions remain unchanged. As previously reported, a system was installed in September 1986 to permit the ion exchange processing of the canal water and return of the processed water to the canal. The processing system continues to work well, and approximately 82109 gallons was processed and recycled in 1998.

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As noted in Table 1 of this report, the canal water was sampled and found to have a gross beta-gamma activity of 1.6 X 10' pCi/ml. The canal water sample was analyzed for specific radionuclides and gave the following results:

l Nuclide 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 l pCi/ml pCi/mi pCi/ml pCi/ml pCi/ml l

l Cobalt-60 13 x 10 4

1.4 x 10 2.0 x 10' l.8 x 10 3 1.4 x 10 4

l 4 3 Cesium-137 1.3 x 10' 4.7 x 10" 4.1 x 10 1.6 x 10' 8.4 x 10 Cesium-134 Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected l 4 i Strontium-90 1.1 x 10* 3.3 x 10* 1.4 x 10' 5.2 x 10* 3.6 x 10 ,

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4) Overall housekeeping within the vapor container remains satisfactory. All loose floor tiles have been removed and very little debris was obsers ed on the floor.

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5) The personnel entry doors on the east and west sides of the vapor container were found locked at the time of entry, as w ere the doors leading into the Rabbit Pump room, the Sub-Pile room, at.d the cover over the primary coolant pipe tunnel. These areas were unlocked to permit access for this inspection but were again locked w hen the inspection was completed.

6) The valve on the drainline on the bottom of the reactor (inside the Sub-Pile room) was inspected. While the valve was temoved during the 1993 characterization to allow access to the interior of the vessel, the remaining piping was verified to be open to the interior of the vessel thus assuring venting of the vessel. A channel was installed to divert condensation from within the vessel to the canal. The butterfly valve in the ventilaten ducts in the Truck Lock Area was inspected and found in the CLOSED position.

7) The absolute filter through which the reactoi primary coolant system breathes into the Annex area was j inspected and found in good condition. The filter was replaced in March 1996.

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+8) . As previously noted, several entries were made into the vapor container during the year. The key for the area is maintained by the Site Security Guards, and records of all entries, indicating date and the Radiation l Safety Officer maintains time, purpose and names.

9) No changes were made in Westinghouse management relative to the administration of License TR-2 since the submission of the 1997 annual report.

• Bruce Bevilacqua remains as the Manager Resources and Support Operations. Mr. Bevilacqua is the senior site manager having responsibility for the retired WTR facilities, e Russell G. Cline remains as the Manager, Industrial liygiene, Safety, and Environmental Compliance (IllSEC). Mr. Cline reports directly to Mr. Bevilacqua.

e Wayne .D. Vogel, Radiation Safety Officer, reports directly to Mr. Cline.

10) The inspection of the primary coolant tunnel (snakepit) surrounding the vapor container indicated that 4

approximately 17360 gallons of water, with a gross beta activity of 2.1 x 10 pCi/m!.

11) The cover for the East Test Loop Dump Tank was removed in February 1998 to ing the condition of the pit and obtain a water sample. Approximately 4500 to 6000 gallons of water wt. stimated to be in the d

pit. The activity level was determined to be 4 x 10 Ci/ml with the principle nuclide being Cs-137.

l M AJOR PREVENTATIVE AND CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS There were no major preventative maintenance or correctin operations having safety significance performed in 1998.

MAJOR CllANGES IN REACTOR FACILITY AND PROCEDURES l

. The Waltz Mill Decommissioning Plan was approved for implementation on September 30,1998.

During the period from October 1,1998 to December 31,1998, preparations were being made to implement the TR-2 Decommissioning Plan in accordance with Amendment 8 of the TR-2 License. No major changes .in the reactor facility, procedures and activities significantly different from those previously described in the safety analysis report were made to the WTR or the Facility License number TR-2 during this time.

Only project control procedures supporting the license amendment and the decommissioning project were developed and general facility inspections were conducted.

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RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS RELEASED OR DISCil ARGED TO Tile ENVIRONS No liquid or air effluents were made to the environs from the facility in 1998. No radioactive waste was generated or shipped from the facility in 1998.

ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEY Since there were no discharges made from the facility to the environs in 1998, there is no relevant environmental i

surveillance data to report. j I

ANNUAL RADIATION SURVEY l The results of the radiological survey are shown in Table I, attached. A review of the survey data obtained since 1963 indicate that the accessible radiation and contamination levels are very low and relatively stable. Frequently, some scatter is seen in the data that is attributed to sampling techniques, locations, sensitivity of the counting instrumentation, radioactive decay, and relatively low levels of activity present. Any slight changes in a specific set of data from year-to-year are not considered significant. Inaccessible locations inside the reactor vessel, and hardware in the canal have higher radiation levels, principally from metal activation of reactor components and surface contamination. 1 The sampling techniques, equipment, and instrumentation used during this inspection were as follows:

I Water samr% were taken in clean polyethylene botdes at the inlet to t!." canal La exchange processing  !

a) system or as '* grab" samples in non-flowing systems. An aliquot of the sample was evaporated to dryness in a two-inch stainless steel planchet and counted in an automatic, thin-window gas proponional, alpha-beta anti; coincidence counter. The counting efficiency for beta-gamma activity was 39 % and the backgrourad was 1.62 cpm.

For specific radionuclide determinations, an aliquot of the untreated sample was analyzed by gamma-ray

, spectrometry using a high-resolution germanium detector. The strontium-90 activity was determined by performing a chemical sepamtion on a portion of the sample and then counting the separated strontium-90 fraction in the counter described above.

2 b) Contamination surveys were performed by taking random smears of approximately 100 cm using 3 cm filter paper (Whatman 5 or equivalent). The filter paper was then counted in the gas proportional counter r ., -

described in (a), above. A varying number of smears were taken for each area listed in Table 1, and the

' average value was reported.

c) Air samples were collected using a Radeco high volume sampler with a flow rate of 4.5 to 5.5 cfm and collected on a GF47.GA glass fibe, filter paper with a collection efficiency of 95%. The sampling time was 20 minutes. After sampling, the filter paper was counted in the gas proportional counter described in (a),above, d) Radiation surveys were made at random locations within each area shown in Table 1. Measurements were 2

made at waist height using an Eberline Model E-520 with a G-M detector with a 30 mg/cm window, and a Ludlum Model 19 Micro-R meter with a Nai crystal. The average radiation level for each area was determined and reported in Table 1.

,.4 TABLE 1

Reference:

WTR-172. Appendix A RADIATION AND CONTAMINATION AREAS SURVEY REPORT Retired WTR Facility License TR-2 Survey Dates: July - August '1998 IIcalth Physics Procedure No. 29 LOCATIONS Radiation b-g Contamination Levels

• Levels mr/hr Surface Air Water dpm/100 cm 2 mci /mi mci /mi

1. Reactor Building

- 1. 16 ft Elevation - <1 321 1.4 x 10d ' N.A.

General Background

2. Rabbit Pump Room - 1.8 < 200 7.7 x 10 N.A.

General Background

3. Sub-Pile Room - 0.6 2080 2.2 x 10"' N.A.

I General Background

4. Reactor Top - <1 < 200 4.4 x 10a2 N.A.

I General Background

5. Reactor Top - <1 < 200 3.1 x 10 42 N.A.

l Over Closed Vessel-l General Background

6. Reactor Top - <1 < 200 2.7 x 10a2 N.A.

Around Trench -

General Background

7. Canal Wall Top <1 N.A. N.A. N.A.

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8. Canal Water <1 N.A. N.A. l.6 x 10

9. Pit - <1 205 2 8 x 10a2 2.1 x 10*

PC Pipe -

l Tunnel 16 ft Elevation l

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• Average values

- N.A. Not Applicable l

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