ML20210E061

Forwards Description of Retirement Plan for Facility, Expanding on Plan Submitted w/730119 Ltr.Details Re Disposition of Sodium & Blanket Matls Unknown.Sodium May Be Shipped to Hanford & Blanket Matl to Savannah River

ML20210E061
Person / Time
Site:	Fermi
Issue date:	09/24/1973
From:	Alexanderson E POWER REACTOR DEVELOPMENT CO.
To:	Muntzing L US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC)
Shared Package
ML20210D960	List: ML20210D957 ML20210D971 ML20210D985 ML20210E006 ML20210E037 ML20210E061 ML20210E067
References
NUDOCS 8609220091
Download: ML20210E061 (18)

Text

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POWER REACTOR DEVEIAPMENT COMPANY A^Z - 2 J SesteeggAgge.g 1911 FIRST STREET DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48226 EXHIBIT 4.5 l

woooWARD besSe September 24, 1973 Mr. L. Manning Muntzing Director of Regulation Office of Regulation U. S. Atomic Energy Coundesion Washington, D. C. 20545

Dear Mr. Huntzing:

Enclosed is a document describing the retirement program for the Fermi 1 facility. It is essentially an update and expansion of a similar document sent to you by letter dated January 19, 1973, before receipt of Mr. Skovholt's letter of January 22, 1973 prohibiting the permanent on-site storage of the blanket and radioactive sodium. which had previo; sly been contemplated by PRDC and which was reflected in the Januar 19, 1973 document. .

It is our understanding that, given the type of retirement contemplated by PRDC for the facility, it may be necessary upon comple-tion of retirement, to continue the Part 50 license with such modifica-tions in the license and technical specifications as necessary to reflect the retired status of the facility and post-retirement surveillance program. PRDC and The Detroit Edison Company anticipate that, upon completion of the retirement or before, application will be made by PRDC

' to transfer the residual license (whatever its form) to Edison which, upon such transfer taking place, would assume responsibility for the facility.

PRDC is continuing the retirement program expeditiously and would like to negotiate with The Detroit Edison Company as soon as possible the financial aspects of the contemplated transfer of responsi-bility, so that PRDC can better determine its financial requirements.

In order to do this PRDC needs and hereby requests action by your office-sufficient to provide PRDC and Edison assurance that the contemplated configuration for the retired facility and the post-retirement surveillance program is generally satisfactory in concept and scope. We recognize that approval in detail, as distinguished from assurance as to concept and scope, cannot be forthcoming until we have submitted the proposed final form of license and technical specifications covering the retired facility. ,

8609220091 860915 PDR ADOCK 05000016 P, PDR 4.21

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PoirEn REACTOR DEVELOPMENT COMPANY '

Mr. L. Manning Muntaing September 24, 1973 Because PRDC's original plan for permanent on-site storage of E the blanket and radioactive sodium has not proved acceptable to your office, the revised retirement program, by requiring off-site disposition of these materials, will reduce the residual radioactivity on-site by about 40,000 curies, or about 90%, vis-a-vis the original plan. The residual on-site radioactivity will be in the order of 5000 curies, which is much less than that at other retired facilities such as Saxton. This residual radioactivity will be located in solid materials within several barriers, and be subject to the surveillance program. Access to the facility would be restricted, a status which reflects the fact that it is on land owned by The Detroit Edison Company, is within the exclusion area for at lesst two nuclear reactors programmed by the Company, and accordingly would not be available for general commercial, residential, recreational or conservation use even if reduced to unrestricted access status from a radiological point o'f view. .. Finally, no discharges to the environment, either radioactive or non-radioactive, are planned or anticipated from the retired facility.

l The attached document does not cover details of disposition of radioactive primary sodium and blanket materials since these are not yet known. It appears that we may be able to ship the sodium to Hanford with a .few months' delay, and ship the blanket material to Savannah River with a year or two delay. These must be done to complete retirement, with the h facility remaining in a semi-retired state from about year end 1973 until 3 the codium and blanket have been removed from the site.

Please let us know if you have any questions. E 1 Sincerely, J 7

, h{ . , 'N ~

Eldon L. Alexanderson l General Manager i ELA/dem Enclosure -

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4.22 E

FERMI 1 RETIREMENT PROGRAM r

This document describes the Fermi-1 retirement program and is an l

update and expansion of the retirement plan submitted to the AEC by letter dated January 19, 1973. The previous plan was ;.ased upon permanent on-site l

storage of the blankat subassemblies and radioactive sodium. Since that submission, the AEC has forbidden the permanent on-site storage of these materials. This new plan incorporates the changes resulting from that decision.

. The Detroit Edison Company plans to continue to use the Fermi-1 turbine for peaking power utilizing the fossil fueled boiler. In addition, Edison plans to install two'1100 he boiling water reactors on the site; one of these reactors is already under construction. The surveillance and access control programs associated with these other facilities provide added protection in assuring the containment of the small amount of residual radioactivity remaining upon completion of the Fermi-1 retirement program.

1. Present Status of the Facility The major retirement tasks which have been completed or started are as described below:

The core fuel sections of all 214 core A fuel subassemblies composed of 25.6% enriched uranium-molybdenum alloy have been shipped to the Savannah l

River Plant facilities of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission for reprocessing.

The depleted uranium axial blanket sections and radial blanket subassemblies are i

currently stored in water pools located in the Fuel and Repair Building (FARB).

Enriched uranium cold scrap and plutonium-beryllium sources have all been returned .

to the AEC. With the exception of plutonium of very low density in the axial blankst sections and radial blanket subassemblies and seven fission counters, no special nuclear material is on the Fermi-1 site.

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ne reactor vessel has been drained of sodium as far as is possible usin2 the 30-inch outlet pipes. The r== minder of the system will be drained by using special syphoning piping. The additional volumes to be syphoned cret the 30-inch loops; the IHK secondary tube bundles; the reactor low pressure plenum; the remainder of the reactor vessel; the 1HX drain lines; and the overflow pump tank. All primary pump motors and pony motors have bsen removed from the pump shafts.

The primary system cold trap has been drained, shipped, and buried ct the Nuclear Engineering Company site at Beatty, Nevada. The primary system codium hot trap and -economiser have been removed for decontamination.

A sodium melting facility and a decontamination facility for sodium piping and other equipment are being fabricated in the FARB maintenance pit.

Secondary coolant system sodium was drained to the secondary sodium oterage tanks; a sodium barrelling facility was constructed adjacent to the codium service building; and the nonradioactive sodium has been barrelled and chipped off-site for sale. The secondary coolant lines in the sodium galleries hr.ve been cut and capped just outside the reactor building.

About 3000 pounds of 78% NaK are on-site. About 2500 pounds of the E

%. NaK have been drained from various systems to drums. This NaK is nonradioactive and will be sold to or disposed of by Mine Safety Appliance Company or others under contract to PRDC. The means of disposal of the radioactive NaK has not yat been determined.

The Auxiliary Fuel Storage Facility is being retired. The sodium in E the pots has been drained into the primary system. CO2e vill be added to the fccility and the tank will be sealed.

The gaseous fission product detector system has been dismantled. Many ,

of the parts which could not be decontaminated have been shipped for burial.

Th9 remainder of the system is being offered for sale.

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The emergency diesel generator has been disabled and avaits sale.

The fuel has been drained from the tank and the tank is filled with water.

2. Ramaining Retirement Tasks <

l E. remain:

he following sections describe the major retirement tasks which 2.1 Disposal of Radioactive Sodium An inventory and analysis of the radioactive sodium presently at the site are given in Table 1. This sodium is in storage tanks in the Sodium Storage Building, in the transfer tank in the FARB, and in the primary system in the Reactor Building. During the retirement task, all the sodium is to be placed in tanks and/or ' drums and shipped off-site for final disposal.

Sodium is transferred from one location to another by the technique E of adjusting cover gas pressures and syphoning rather than pumping.

2.2 Securing Reactor Building Penetrations j he Reactor Building penetrations can be broken down into three categories: electrical and instrumentation, piping and ventilation, and personnel and equipment.

The electrical and instrumentation penetrations will not be altered although many of the electrical lines will be cut adjacent to the penetrations.

After the primary system is drained, associated sodium and gas piping penetrations will be cut and capped inside or outside of the reactor building.

As previously stated, the secondary coolant lines have been cut and capped just outside the reactor building. One of the above-floor ventilation penetrations will be fitted with a filter and left open to permit the building to " breathe";

other ventilation pwnetrations will be capped.

At the completion of the retirement tasks in the Reactor Building, the access penetrations will be dealt with as follows: the equipment door, which 4.25

is operable only from the inside, will be bolted closed; the emergency and personnel airlocks will be locked on the outside.

2.3 Sealing the Primary System In its final configuration, the primary system will be a gas-tight  !

cystem consisting of the reactor vessel and primary sodium piping plus the E, primary shield tank, the machinery done, and the primary sodium service and cecondary sodium system out to welded pipe caps. After the system is sealed, l it will be connected to a carbon dioxide supply and maintained at a slight positive pressure. (The CO slowly reacts with the residual sodium to form l

2 the inert solid compound Na CO ).

2 3 l The reactor vessel vill contain safety and control rods and stainless oteel thermal shield bars, but no fuel or blanket subassemblies. The activity levels associated with these components are shown in Table 2. As of June 1, 1973, the calculated totals are 1500 curies of co-60, 3500 curies of Fe-55, and 130 curies of other isotopes. These materials are nonvolatile and contained within the sealed reactor vessel. In addition, it is estimated that the primary system and overflow tank will contain a maximum of 1100 Kg of residual sodium. The

,' total activity of this soditan la 0.024 curies.

Note that the overflow tank will not be a part of this system. All lines to the tank will be cut and capped. CO will 2 be added to the tank atmos- l phere and the tank will be sealed.

2.4 Sodium Service System l This system consists of the cold trap, hot trap, economizer, and piping in the sodium service tunnel and cold trap room. As stated previously, the cold trap, hot trap, economizer, EM pump and much of the piping in the cold trap room have been dismantled and removed. At the completion of plant retirement, the cold trap room will be essentially empty. l

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I The piping in the sodium service tunnel will be cut at each end of the tunnel, the ends will be covered, and the pipe will be flooded with CO 2

to passivate any residual sodium.

2.5 Disposal of Secondary Sodium <

and System Components Sodium for this nonradioactive system was drained to storage tanks from which it was loaded in 55-gallon drums, shipped off-site and sold. The L residual sodium in the piping and equipment external to the reactor building

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vill be reacted with CO2 8 88 t Prevent any hazard from fire or from hydrogen formation. Components of the system can thec. be salvaged or scrapped as time permits and need for the space for other use arises.

The Detroit Edi, son Company is planning to provide No. I steam generator to the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, of

Japan. The steam generator will be shipped as a unit; a 2 psig nitrogen gas pressure will be maintained during shipment.

2.6 Disposal of Fuel Transfer and FARB Systems j The fuel transport facility consists of a cask car which shuttles between the reactor building and the FARB, two gripper casks, and two plug casks. This system will be cleaned of sodium, the car will be moved to the B reactor building, and the casks will remain in their storage locations.

1 Drainable pots used in fuel handling and storage will remain in the l transfer rotor or transfer tank. Non-drainable pots will be emptied, steam cleaned, and shipped off-site for disposal.

( The FARB transfer tank will be drained of sodium and deactivated by filling with CO . 2The two temporary storage tanks in the FARB sodium service -

system and the FARB cold trap will be removed, drained of sodium, and shipped 1

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r u-off-site for burial. The decontamination and sodium melting facilities in the FARB maintenance pit will be removed and the area decontaminated. The steam cleaning machine will be sealed in its room. Tae wasta liquid holdup tanks will be decontaminated.

Presently, the FARB pools are heir.g used to store radioactiva blanket subassemblies. When these are removed from a pool, the pool will be drained of water and decontaminated; the equipment associated with the pool will be dis-mantled, decontaminated, and sold.

• 2.7 Revised Site Boundary The retirement of Fermi-1 has now proceeded to the point where reactor i

operation is impossible; most of the radioactivity has been removed by shipping the fuel off-site, and activities are limited to dismantling, decontamination, and off-site shipments. At this point in the retirement program, no accident can be conceived which results in a discharge or distribution of radioactivity in sufficient quantity to be of danger to the health and safety of the public.

Consequently, a large exclusion area is no longer needed. A sufficient site is one which excludes public access to all radioactive components.

The boundary of the site will be revised as shown in Figure 1 to include only those areas containing radioactivity. Note that some building walls t

are used as part of the boundary; by the completion of the retirement program the building doors which now interrupt those walls will have been permanently closed.

2.8 Prevention of Access to Areas Containing Radioactivity

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Those areas which will or may contain radioactive material or con-tamination are the reactor primary system, the auxiliary fuel storage facility (AFSF), the overflow tank and associated piping, the sodium service piping Complete decontamination of some of these components will not be practicable. In general, components for which decontamination is not successful will be shipped off-site for burial. When this is not feasible, the component will be sealed and access to the area will be restricted.

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in the tunnel, the primary sodium storage tanks in the sodium storage building, and the following areas in the FARB: transfer tank room, cold trap room, fue, decay and cut-up pools, steam cleaning room, and the wasta liquid and gas holdup areas. #

Access to the reactor building will be limited by the locked personnel doors. The primary system will be seal-welded and will be gastight. The AFSF

{ is located under a heavy five-foot thick,12 foot diameter shield plug. The overflow tank and piping are below-floor; unauthorized access to the below-floor area will be prevented by a locked cover or grating over the manhole.

After the primary sodium storage tanks are emptied, an attempt will be made to decontaminate them. If unsuccessful, the storage building will be l sealed by some means such as welding a plate over the door.

The piping in the sodium service tunnel can be reached only through l

l a manhole which will be locked or welded closed. (The total activity in this E

area will be in the order of 10 pCi.)

l Access to the FARB will be limited to one locked door; other doors

( wi11 be operable only from the inside. In the FARB, s'ccess to the transfer tank room and cold trap room will be prevented by a locked manhole cover. Doors 1

to the pool areas will be locked. Only single accesses to the waste tank area and steam-cleaning room exist and they will be blocked by heavy plugs.

2.9 Disposition of Miscellaneous E

, Equipment and Material PRDC intends to offer a number of components and materials for sale.

Major items include the two PRDC fuel shipping casks, the diesel electric generator, the three primary coolant pump main motors and pony motors, the plant ran.c d.t. - - s,.t... . d v.ri.. 1.c - c.1 s., ,.a,. tr.s, _ e,s. . d E ..

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compressors. The extent of sale will depend largely on economic feasibility.

Sale components will be checked for radioactive conta=fnation and cleaned when necessary.

Some radioactive components may also be offered for sale to those cuthorized by the AEC to receive them. Possible items are the vacuum pump and B compressor of the recirculating and waste gas systems, the fuel subassembly cut-up machine, and portions of the fission product detector system. Transfer of these items would be made pursuant to. applicable regulations of the AEC and the Department of Transportation.

2.10 Disposal of Blanket Elements +

l The blanket subassemblies are to remain in the FARB pool (s) until a nathod for disposal is agreed upon with the AEC. These subassemblies constitute e source of 52,000 Ci and contain 6.7 Kg Pu. The activity is primarily fission products contained in metallic uranium alloy rods encased in stainless steel tubes.

Since the uranium is depleted, criticality cannot be achieved in any configura-tion. The decay heat is sufficiently low that even if the pools should drain, no melting would result.

Consequently, it is incredible ,that this activity could cadanger the health and safety of any person at the revised site boundary.

} 2.11 Administrative and Technical Files Legally required and other significant files, drawings, and records are being consolidated and will be retained as long as required. The Detroit Edison Company is expected to be the file custodian once PRDC is dissolved.

These records will be maintained in the Fermi-1 office building or other suitable otorage.

3. Final Plant Configuration The final configuration of the facility resulting from accomplishment of the foregoing tasks will be as follows: '

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a. As previously indicated, the facility would be redefined: its boundaries will be narrowed and demarked by a fence, as shown in Figure 1, through which there will be limited means of access by locked gates. All contaminated areas will he within this fence.

The facility will be within the large exclusion area owned by The Detroit Edison Conpany and associated with other reactors and generation facilities planned or operated by that company. Access and use limitations as may be imposed by that company will apply to this area.

b. Within the facility as redefined, all areas having residual radio-E ' ctivity a will be sealed and/or secured as described in Section 2.

4 above.

c. The amount of residual radioactivity in the primary system will be in the order of 5000 curies.

I d. The amount of residual radioactivity outside of the primary system

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is estimated to be 5 to 10 curies.

e. There will be no planned radioactive discharges from the facility as

( redefined above.

4. Post-retirement Surveillance i 4.1 Physical Barrier Inspection Visual inspection of the fence and buildings will be made monthly to 1

determine that the physical barriers are intact and the gates and doors are

! properly locked.

4.2 Cover Gas Pressure i

Carbon dioxide cover gas will be maintained over the primary system as described in Section 2.3. The cover gas pressure will be maintained at

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approximately 1 psig. A low pressure switch will energize a light located in a continuously manned room. The alarm system will be tested quarterly.

j 4.3 Water Seepage Detection Water detectors will be installed to detect seepage into the space between the biological shield and the reactor building and the primary sodium overflow tank pit. Alarms will be continuously monitored. The alarm systems l will be tested quarterly.

4.4 kadiation Surveys l

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Surveys will be made to check for the presence of gsama radiation and transferable contamination on a quarterly basis. Gamma radiation measurements using portable survey instruments and contamination checks using smears will E be made of the following areas:

Containment Building

1. Exit port area N=

2. Machinery dome door and window seals

3. Operating ' floor E

4. Filter in breather pipe f Fuel and Repair Building

1. Cold trap room access plugs

2. Transfer tank exit port area

3. Pool areas While the blanket subassemblies r*= min on site, water samples from the storage pool (s) will be analyzed for radioactivity on a quarterly basis.

To verify that no detectable release of radioactive material has occurred, the radioactivity on the filter in the building breather pipe will be measured quarterly. This together with the above tests and the absence of l

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. . -n-l alarse from the water seepage monitors and the primary cover gas pressure l

monitor win verify the integrity of the primary system and other barriers.

l Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 enviran==ntal monitoring program will provide additional data on the retention of radioactivity.

4.5 Administrative Controls A person will be designated to control the keye to the locked gates l

and doors and to control authorized entry into restricted areas. The results l

of the radiation surveys together with a report on the statt.s of the deactivated facility win be submitted annually to the AEC. Unusual events win be reported to the AEC as requ' ired by license and by means of the annual reports. Records or logs will be kept witti respect to the radiation surveys, water seepage, q testing of the cover gas and water seepage alarm systems, inspection of the physical barriers and unusual events.

5. Licensing The land on which the facility is located is owned by The Detroit Edison Company. Some of the facility buildings are now own6d by that company; the others win be sold or otherwise transferred to it. Accordingly, upon completion of the retirement.or before, it is contemplated by The Detroit Edison Ccepany and PRDC that application will be made to the AEC for transfer of the residual license to the former, who would then assume responsibility for post-retirement surveillance of the facility. The Detroit Edison Company and PRDC 'have not yet entered into a definitive arrangement for this purpose and will not be able to do so until PRDC has received from the AEC sufficient indication of the accept-ability of the retirament and surveillance pisna to permit useful finaccial estimates to be made of the completion and surveillence costs.

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4 For purposes of the retirement tasks, PRDC plans to continue to request appropriate modifications to the technical specifications to permit these tasks to go forward efficiently. In due course, a wholly revised license and technical specification covering the retired facility and its surveillance will be submitted.

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. e TABLE 1 l RADICACTIVE SODIUM INVENTO R E[

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Trrsafer Prianry Er.e:gency Tank IHX Sodies Sedha __ Sodium Drain Total ,

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l Quantity, Ib '# 6,000 101,000 73,000 32,000 582,000 r s l

Measured Specific Activity tici/gm Na-22 0.02 0.G004 l'

Sr-90 0.0005 C.0C001 Cs-137 0_. 00J. _,

0.001 l; Total 0.022 0.00025 0.0014 0.00000 -

Total Activity ,ci 3.8 0.01 O.05 0.00000 3.9 1

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. o TABLE 2 CALCULATED STAINLESS STREL ACTIVATION IN REA30R t'3SSEL

! 2, INEGLECTING BU_EET_ $~JhASSEMELIES) l (June 1,1973) w q Actig tlen Source, curies Comeonent Mi-63 Fe-55 Co.-_5 8 Co-60_ Total lj Control and Sa.fety Rod Channeln ,

C,d Portica is Core 2 76 21 9 108 Portion in Blanket L 22 1 9 32 Portion b'etween Blanket

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m and Holddown L -1 L 1 2 Holddown Machanism

~l Inner Region 4 152 L 158 314 d1 Outer Region (E741 cm) 1 54 L 70 125 n

Shield bars 22 795 12 105 935 Thermal Shield Lower 20 720 1 88 829 Upper .

2 76 L '9 87 Holddwn celunc L 22 L 3 25 Safety Rods - Poison Section Lwer L 1 L 1 2 Mid11e L 1 L 1 2 Upper L 1 L 1 2 Totating Plug L 1 L 1 2 Support ?lates 24 8K L 965 1849 Support Structure 7 259 L 35 301 Support Structure Shielding 8 259 L 35 312 71w Baffles L 10 L 2 12 Conicci F. low Guide L 1 L 1 2 Lever Rasetor Head Shielding 4 152 L 18 174 Transfer Rotor L 1 L 1 2 OHM 1 44 L 6 51 Reactor Vessel  ::egligible Total 96 3515 35 1519 5168 L = Less than 1 curie This table has been v; dated since the January 19, 1973 eubmission. Activity due to Fe-55 and Ni-63 has been taken into account and that due to Fe-59 and Cr-51 < deleted since these nuclides constitute less than 2 curies total 4.37

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