ML20203M166
| ML20203M166 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Texas at Austin |
| Issue date: | 07/23/2020 |
| From: | Geoffrey Wertz NRC/NRR/DANU/UNPL |
| To: | Charlton W University of Texas at Austin |
| Wertz G,NRR/DANU/UNPL,415-0293 | |
| References | |
| EPID: L-2017-RNW-0032 | |
| Download: ML20203M166 (7) | |
Text
July 23, 2020 Dr. William Charlton, Director Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory The University of Texas at Austin Pickle Research Campus, Building 159 10100 Burnet Road Austin, TX 78758
SUBJECT:
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN - REGULATORY AUDIT RE: RENEWAL OF FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. R-129 (EPID NO. L-2017-RNW-0032)
Dear Dr. Charlton:
By letter dated December 12, 2011 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML12156A097), as supplemented by letter dated April 16, 2020 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML20115E293-cover letter, and ML20115E287-enclosure), the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) submitted an application for renewal of Facility Operating License No. R-129 for the TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor. The requested licensing action would renew the facility operating license for a period of 20 years.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff will conduct a regulatory audit beginning August 31, 2020, and continuing as necessary. The intent of the audit is to gain a better understanding of the license renewal application (LRA), specifically the neutronic and thermal hydraulic analyses. In addition, the regulatory audit will identify information that will support the basis of the licensing decision, and will allow the NRC staff to more efficiently gain insights necessary to complete the review of the UTA LRA. The NRC staff has provided a copy of the audit plan as an enclosure to this letter.
At the completion of the regulatory audit, a regulatory audit summary will be prepared and provided to you. If necessary, you will have the opportunity to supplement the application to provide additional information or the option to withdraw the application.
We appreciate your support in providing the requested documentation and access to the online reference document portal that will assist in an efficiently conducted audit.
W. Charlton If you have any questions regarding the NRC staffs audit, please contact me at 301-415-0893, or by electronic mail at Geoffrey.Wertz@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Geoffrey A. Wertz, Project Manager Non-Power Production and Utilization Facility Licensing Branch Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-602 License No. R-129
Enclosure:
As stated cc: See next page
University of Texas Docket No. 50-602 cc:
Bureau of Radiation Control Test, Research and Training State of Texas Reactor Newsletter 1100 West 49th Street Attention: Amber Johnson Austin, TX 78756 Dept of Materials Science and Engineering University of Maryland Dr. Gregory L. Fenves 4418 Stadium Drive The University of Texas at Austin College Park, MD 20742-2115 Office of the President 110 Inner Campus Drive, G3400 John G Ekerdt, PhD Austin, TX 78712-3400 The University of Texas at Austin Chemical Engineering Maurie McInnis 200 E. Dean Keeton St, Stop C0400 Executive Vice President and Provost Austin, TX 78712-1589 The University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station, G1000 Dr. Richard Neptune, Dept. Chair Austin, TX 78712 Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering DeAnn Walker, Director 204 E. Dean Keeton St., ETC 5.200 Office of the Governor (C2200)
Office of Budget and Policy Austin, TX 78712-1591 P.O. Box 12428 Austin, TX 78711 Dean Sharon Wood The Cockrell School of Engineering Paul Whaley, Associate Director 301 E. Dean Keeton St., ECJ 10th Floor Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (C2100)
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712-2100 10100 Burnet Road, Building 159 Austin, TX 78758 Ashley Forbes, Director Radiation Materials Division, MC 233 Larry Hall, Reactor Supervisor Texas Commission on Environmental Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory Quality The University of Texas at Austin P.O. Box 13087 10100 Burnet Road, Building 159 Austin, TX 78711-3087 Austin, TX 78758
ML20203M166 *concurred via email NRR-106 OFFICE NRR/DANU/UNPL/PM* NRR/DANU/UNPL/LA* NRR/DANU/UNPL/BC* NRR/DANU/UNPL/PM*
NAME GWertz NParker GCasto GWertz DATE 7/22 /2020 7/22/2020 7/23/2020 7/23 /2020 OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION REGULATORY AUDIT PLAN REGARDING RENEWAL OF FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. R-129 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN TRIGA MARK II NUCLEAR REACTOR DOCKET NO. 50-602
Background
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is continuing its review of the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor license renewal application (LRA),
provided by letter dated December 12, 2011 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML12156A097), as supplemented by letter dated April 16, 2020 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML20115E293-cover letter, and ML20115E287-enclosure). This regulatory audit is intended to assist the NRC staff in its review of the LRA.
Regulatory Audit Bases The purpose of this audit is to determine if the licensees LRA requesting renewal of Facility Operating License No. R-129 meets all the applicable regulatory requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations and addresses applicable guidance provided in NUREG-1537, Guidelines for Preparing and Reviewing Applications for the Licensing of Non-Power Reactors, Part 1, Format and Content, and Part 2, Standard Review Plan and Acceptance Criteria (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML042430055 and ML042430048, respectively).
Regulatory Audit Scope The NRC staff will conduct this audit completely via teleconference and/or video conference with UTA. The NRC staff will review basis documents to determine whether the information included in the documents supports the LRA and/or is necessary to conduct NRC staff review of the LRA. This audit will provide information necessary to complete the NRC staffs evaluation of the LRA. In addition, the regulatory audit may identify additional information that will be required to be docketed to support the basis of the licensing decision and will allow NRC staff to more efficiently gain insights on the license renewal.
To improve the efficiency of the review, UTA and NRC staff discussed, during a teleconference conducted on July 16, 2020, the implementation of an online reference document portal, by UTA, that would allow NRC staff read-only access to the documents and other reference materials cited in the LRA. Use of the online reference document portal is acceptable provided that UTA establishes measures to limit access to specific NRC staff (e.g., based on NRC e-mail addresses or the use of passwords which will only be assigned to NRC staff directly involved in the LRA review on a need-to-know basis), and to make the documents read-only (i.e., prevent NRC staff from saving, copying, downloading, or printing any documents). The conditions associated with the online reference document portal must be maintained throughout the UTA Enclosure
LRA review process. The NRC staff who should be granted access to the portal are those listed in the Team Assignments section below. The NRC staff will provide a request to close the online reference document portal at the conclusion of the audit.
Information and Other Material Necessary for the Regulatory Audit UTA staff should be prepared to support the NRC staff with a comprehensive review of the UTA neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses provided by letter dated April 16, 2020 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML20115E293-cover letter, and ML20115E287-enclosure). UTA staff should be prepared to provide supporting documents and reports, calculations, and computer code verification, as applicable, to support the analysis documented in the April 16, 2020, letter. For this audit, the NRC staff requests the following documents be available on the online reference document portal:
- A detailed description of the supporting SCALE analyses used to deplete the fuel elements as described in Section 4 of the neutronics analysis;
- The as-modeled diagrams and dimensions for fuel and control elements for both MCNP and SCALE;
- The individual fuel element and control element characteristics for the operating and limiting core configurations;
- A summary description of the available data and modeling approach for the beginning-of-life critical configurations used to evaluate model bias;
- An explanation of how data was transferred from SCALE analyses to MCNP;
- A detailed description of rod worth measurement procedures and the associated uncertainty evaluation used to determine the experimental reactivity values shown in table 4 of the neutronics analysis;
- A detailed description of the FLUENT analyses referred to in Section 2.2 of the thermal-hydraulic report and explain whether any other TRACE model inputs or modeling information aside from the thermal-hydraulic loss factors were derived from these analyses; and
- The calculation notebooks and input decks used for the thermal-hydraulic critical heat flux margin, reactor transient, and loss-of-coolant accident calculations.
Team Assignments The NRC staff performing this audit will be:
- Geoffrey Wertz (Audit Lead)
- Benjamin Parks (Technical Reviewer)
- Joe Staudenmeier (Technical Reviewer)
- Molly-Kate Gavello (Technical Reviewer)
Logistics The audit will involve a week of focused review between the NRC staff and UTA staff. The audit will initiate on August 31, 2020, as discussed by teleconference conducted on July 16, 2020.
Following the focused audit review week, the audit will continue as necessary until NRC staff have adequate understanding of issues to be addressed to complete the review of the LRA.
The audit activities will be conducted via teleconference and video conferences, as appropriate, to support the efficient gathering of information by the NRC staff.
An entrance meeting teleconference will commence the audit, as indicated in the schedule below. Additional audit activities, such as a daily status debriefs, will also be planned in advance, as necessary, to support the understanding of information necessary to complete the review of the LRA. It is expected that additional interaction may be needed to identify information requests to support LRA review activities.
Audit Questions Audit questions will be developed following a detailed review of the information listed above.
The NRC staff will generate a list of open items during the audit to discuss and close as applicable. At the conclusion of the audit, necessary requests for additional information (RAIs) will be drafted to ensure the licensee has a clear understanding of the RAI scope.
Deliverables At the completion of the regulatory audit the NRC staff will prepare a regulatory audit summary, which will be issued by letter, within 90 days after the audit. The regulatory audit summary will include the documents reviewed, the audit activities, and any RAIs that were discussed or that will be issued based on the audit, as applicable.
Audit Schedule The NRC staff will conduct teleconferences and/or video conferences with UTA staff on the dates and times provided below. These times can be modified as necessary.
Earlier if possible but no later than August 17, 2020, provide NRC staff access to the online reference documents portal with the documents listed in the section Information and Other Material Necessary for the Regulatory Audit above.
Monday, August 31, 2020 (all times are EDT) 9:00 am - Entrance meeting between NRC and UTA staff To be determined (TBD) - Discussion between NRC and UTA staff 4:30 pm - Daily status debrief between NRC and UTA staff 5:00 pm - End for the day Tuesday - Thursday, September 1 - 3, 2020 9:00 am - NRC staff resume audit review TBD - Discussion between NRC and UTA staff 4:30 pm - Daily status debrief between NRC and UTA staff 5:00 pm - End for the day Friday, September 4, 2020 9:00 am - NRC staff resume audit TBD - Exit meeting with UTA staff and conclude audit The NRC staff will provide notification by electronic mail indicating when the online reference document portal may be closed.