ML20205Q630

Forwards Proposed Schedule for Conversion of Univ of Virginia Nonpower 2 MW Research Reactor from High Enriched U to Low Enriched U Fuel,Per 10CFR50.64(c)(2).Dismantlement Plan for Reactor Will Be Submitted

ML20205Q630
Person / Time
Site:	University of Virginia
Issue date:	03/02/1987
From:	Mulder R VIRGINIA, UNIV. OF, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
To:	Thomas C Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NUDOCS 8704030590
Download: ML20205Q630 (8)

Text

's UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA F ,g, , DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING PIlYSICS NUCLEAR REACTOR FACILITY L* SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE J

' CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA 22901 t ms F Tele 801 924-7136 March 2, phone:

1987 Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation ,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington D.C. 20555 Attn: Mr. Cecil O. Thomas Re: Conversion Proposal for the University of Virginia's 2 MW UVAR reactor, Facility License R-66, Docket No. 50-62

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed the Low Enriched Uranium (LEU)

Conversion Schedule Proposal for the University of Virginia's 2 MW UVAR research reactor, submitted to the NRC to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 50.64 (c) (2) , and implement the HEU-LEU ccnversion rule.

Note should be taken of the following : the U.S. DOE has funded the conversion study for the 100 W CAVALIER reactor (the low-power version of the UVAR) since September, 1986 (Grant No.

DE-FG05-86 ER 75273); recently, DOE verbally indicated to this licensee its intention of funding the separate conversion study for the UVAR reactor, beginning in May 1987; the licensee decided to forego conversion of the CAVALIER reactor on February 27, 1987 and instead submit a dismantlement plan for the CAVALIER reactor to the NRC (this decision is being communicated to NRC and DOE in separate letters) ; the licensee will apply the grant funding l already received and still to be received, as well as the study i results of the CAVALIER reactor, to the conversion study for the j UVAR, with the agreement of DOE.

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The present DOE schedule for availability of LEU fuel elements for the UVAR reactor is October, 1988. The tentative U.

Virginia schedule for conversion given in this plan will be affected if this date slips. The licensee's schedule is also dependent on the availability of a suitable spent fuel cask for shipping the HEU fuel off-site prior to the conversion.

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's We are concerned by the recent questions involving the certifications for use of the GE and MH1-A casks, which indicate that spent fuel casks might not be available when needed. This licensee intends to ship all its HEU fuel just prior to the introduction of the LEU fuel, thereby avoiding an interim period where both HEU and LEU would be possessed, and additional security measures might become necessary. The phasing in of LEU fuel in the HEU core is not being considered.

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Robert U. Mulder, Director L D- -

U.Va. Nuclear Reactor Facility My Cemm'sr.!cn &pkas 9117/2.9.

cc: Mr. Robert Carter, NRC Project Manager for U.Va., Wash. D.C.

Administrator, USNRC Region II, Atlanta, Georgia.

Mr. Paul E. Fredrickson, Div. Reactor Proj., Atlanta, Ga.

Mr. Keith Brown, Div. University Programs, DOE 1

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PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR CONVERSION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA NON-POWER 2 MW UVAR RESEARCH REACTOR FROM HEU TO LEU FUEL 9

Submitted to:

Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington D.C. 20555 Attn: Mr. Cecil O. Thomas Submitted by:

Robert U. Mulder Director U. Va. Reactor Facility Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics University of Virginia 22901 March 1987

1 UVAR LEU CONVERSION SCHEDULE Milestones Dates Availability of DOE conversion study funds September 86 86 Submittal to the NRC by Va. of an application to convert, with necessary documentation August 88*

Receipt of NRC's " Order to Convert" the UVAR A Completion of tentative plans and scheduling A+2 Completion of all HEU fuel shipments from site A+N+2 Expected UVAR reactor downtime < 1 mo.

Receipt of LEU fuel for a complete UVAR core A+N+2 Loading of LEU fuel in UVAR core A+N+2 Completion of initial LEU fuel operating parameter tests -

A+N+5 Report to NRC containing summary of new UVAR reactor operational conditions, comparisons with SAR predictions, and license / tech spec conditions A+NF10 A =

Date of NRC order to convert N =

Number of months from date A needed to arrange and schedule HEU fuel shipments (highly dependent on cask availability and receiver's agreement)

1. 's = Number of months

• This tentative schedule date will slip forward in time, should LEU fuel not be available by October 1988, or the scheduling of HEU fuel shipments be impossible at about the time that the fuel does become available.

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CONVERSION IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS A. Application by Virginia for NRC Authorization to Convert i' The date on which Virginia will request'an authorization from the NRC to convert its UVAR reactor to LEU is conditioned 4

mainly on the date by which DOE expects LEU fuel elements.to be ready for a full UVAR reactor core loading. In the schedule presented in this conversion plan, the Virginia request to the NRC will be sent in August of 1988. This date is based on the present information furnished by DOE that the Va. LEU elements will be available in October of 1988, and on the assumption that all HEU fuel will be shipped from the Reactor Fagility just prior

.i to the conversion. This schedule will be revised and updated at yearly intervals, as necessary, to take into account the 5

i availability of LEU fuel, a spent fuel shipping cask and a receiver for the HEU fuel.

B. Description and Analysis of Safety Factors l

The licensee will include in its conversion authorization request to the NRC a description of those reactor safety factors-significantly affected, if any by the change from.HEU to LEU fuel. These safety concerns will be addressed in the UVAR -

! conversion study being financed'by DOE. Necessary facility changes will also be described in the documentation; C. Necessary Changes in Reactor License, Tech. Specs.-and Plans a

! Based on the results of the conversion study carried out by j

i the licensee, proposed necessary changes in the facility license and the technical specifications tiill be indicated to .the NRC at the moment of the conversion request.

Changes in other facility documents related to licensed reactor operations made necessary by the conversion will also be described. The documents to be reviewed.-include the Physical j Security Plan and the Emergency Plan.

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Reactor operators will be active >in the various' aspects-o'f

! the conversion study and document reviews. They will also participate in the loading of the new core and initial tests. It is expected that the SOP's will not have to be changed, since the information presently available about the conversion experience at the University of Michigan indicates imperceptible variance in

} operating performance and characteristics between the two fuel

types. Changes in procedures will be reviewed during regularly i ' scheduled staff meetings and requalification meetings, as J currently done.

D. Quantity of HEU to be Shipped Off-site l

1 The Reactor Facility presently maintains 42 curved plate HEU j elements, 36 flat plate HEU elements, and 8 single curved HEU i fuel plates. Sixteen of the curved plate elements are presently i

in the CAVALIER core. No spare fresh HEU' fuel is kept in fuel storage. The older flat plate elements are only used in the UVAR.

The curved plate elements and plates contain 6568.2 gm of U-235, I

while the flat plate elements have 4494.0 gm of-_U-235. In addition, the Facility has 3 fuel plates, 2 fission plates and 3 j

fission chambers, also under license R-66, with a total U-235.

content of 301.2 gm, yielding a total inventory of 11,363.4 gm of U-235 at the present time. The license limits are 3.6 kg U-235 for the CAVALIER and 14.0 Kg U-235 for the UVAR.

t The irradiated CAVALIER elements will be maintained in( the

} Facility for use in the UVAR reactor, following the former's j dismantling. This will be possible since the UVAR license limit i

for U-235 will not be exceeded. Once the' flat plate elements ,

leave the Facility, which will'take place on the first i opportunity that is offered (the snag continues to be the I

' availability of a suitable spent fuel cask), the CAVALIER elements will be needed to operate the UVAR.

! Some Virginia fuel is being stored by B&W at its~Lynchburg i' plant. There, 5 curved plate elements contain 486.8 gm U-235 and one flat plate element an additional 83.08 gm, for a total of'

569.88 gm.

i The licensee expects to continue UVAR reactor operation with l I I the HEU curved plate fuel until the LEU fuel becomes available I j and arrangements for the complete removal of'the HEU are i finalized. The flat plate fuel elements, which have incurred

! significant burn-up, will be shipped off-site as soon as a l'

suitable cask is provided by DOE. However, they may have to remain at the Reactor Facility and be' shipped with the' curved

plate elements if a spent fuel cask is not made available until the date of conversion. -

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,- 4 E. Interim Period for Possession of both LEU and HEU '

The licensee does not believe that an incerim period for the i possession of both HEU and LEU fuel is necessary or desirable.

The gradual phasing in of LEU fuel in an HEU core, while perhaps i possible, will not be considered by Virginia in its conversion safety study. Our goal is to convert as quickly and efficiently as possible, with the least disruption to our normal irradiation schedule. Accumulation of SNM in our reactor pool would run counter to the premise on which the conversion is deemed necessary. The licensee does not wish to consider the upgrading of its security plan to accommodate possession of larger.

quantities of SNM and believes that one of the conversion benefits is or should be reduced security requirements.

Therefore, our reactor's conversion date will be contingent on the availability of replacement fuel, a spent fuel cask and an agreement from a receiver for the HEU fuel.

Should any of the above factors be unfavorable to the licensee, the conversion of the UVAR reactor will be delayed, and an updated schedule for conversion re-submitted to the NRC at yearly intervals. The licensee hopes that the federal agencies which are coordinating and assisting the conversion process will also take these important aspects into account.

F. Compliance with Physical Security Regulations Since the licensee expects to reduce the present inventory of HEU with the shipments of its 36 flat plate spent fuel elements as soon as a cask is provided by DOE (1987 ?), and continue use of the HEU elements only until the conversion date, most of the fuel at the Reactor Facility will be "self-protecting". It is assumed that the CAVALIER fuel ~ elements will be introduced in the UVAR fuel cycle following the shipment of the flat plate elements.

No methods beyond those already stated in the licensee's security plan will be proposed for maintaining compliance with the relevant regulations, in particular those contained in 10 CFR 73, on the presumption that all HEU fuel will leave the Facility' prior to the introduction of the LEU replacement fuel (in other words, no interim period should exist during which HEU fuel would be held in the reactor pool and turn non-self-protecting due to the licensee's inability to legally operate a HEU core)'.

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G. Converted Reactor Operator Requalification It is anticipated that the operating characteristics of~the j converted UVAR reactor will not differ significantly from that of .

I the present reactor. Therefore, the SOP's should not change

appreciably. The operators will be made aware of changes made to l SOP's, during scheduled requalification meetings, and receive

training as warranted.

j H. Certification of Federal Government Funding l

Federal Government funding for the conversion study of the CAVALIER reactor was made available by DOE starting in September of 1986, in the form of a grant for a reactor conversion study t o be performed by UVA faculty, students and staff. Since the 1

CAVALIER will no longer be converted, the study funding and .

results are being applied to the UVAR conversion. A new cost 2

proposal is being submitted to DOE for continued funding of the UVAR study beyond September of 1987. It is our understanding that funds for this study will be available.

, We have been informed by DOE that the funds for fabricating the LEU fuel are yet to be appropriated by Congress. If these

' funds are not approved on time, the entire conversion program will be affected and delayed.

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, I. Cancellation of CAVALIER Conversion

The management of the Reactor Facility decided to notify the NRC and DOE, under separate cover, of its recent decision to forgo conversion of the 100 W CAVALIER reactor, and to submit instead a dismantlement plan for this reactor in the near' future.

The funding of the CAVALIER conversion study will be applied to i the UVAR study, as already verbally agreed with a DOE i representative.

l A conversion plan for the CAVALIER will not be submitted to the

! NRC in view of the preparations for' dismantlement.

4 I The DOE funding for the UVAR conversion study was to have begun in May of this year. Now, the two separate conversion

proposals will be merged into a single continuation proposal for i

the UVAR. This proposal will very soon be submitted to DOE by the licensee, to avoid-a break in the on-going study, whose first

! year ends in September of 1987.

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