ML20211B399

Submits Ltr as Replacement of 970826 Cover Ltr,Which Forwarded 1997 Annual Operating Rept.Previous Ltr Stated Incorrect Docket Number

ML20211B399
Person / Time
Site:	University of Utah
Issue date:	09/22/1997
From:	Slaughter D UTAH, UNIV. OF, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 9709250209
Download: ML20211B399 (1)

Text

.,

.t Center for Excellence in Nuclear Technology. Engineering. ad Research 22 September 1997 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk -

L Washington D.C. 20555 To Whom It May Concern:

. We submit this letter as' a aplacement of our cover letter dated August 26,1997, which accompanied our 1997 Annual Operating Re;xirt. The pmvious letter gave an incorrect =

Docket Number; please note that the conect Docket Number is 50-407, not 50-047 as stated in the first )ctter.

Enclosed is the Annual Operating Report for the Universit y if Utah TRIGA Nuclear Reactor, License No. R 126, Docket No. 50 407, for the xriod of 1 July 1996 through 30 June 1997. This mport full' ills the mquimments of the Tit: G A Technical Specifications .

(TTS) 6.10(5.)

If ihere are any questions or concerns regarding this mpo.1, please contact me at (801) 581-

-8499.

espectfully, i g

- a' ,

David M. Slaughter, Ph. D. . -

Reactor Administrator and Supervisor S

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9709250209 970922 .

PDR ADOCK 05000407 '

R PDR CENTER

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1206 MEB Univgesity of Utah y (,

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- The University of Utah TRIGA Heactor t .

Annual Operatinl! Report for the per od 1 July 1996 through 30 June 1997 A. NARRATi\u.

1. Operating Experience.

The University of Utah Center for Excellence in Nuclear Technology, Engineering, and Research (CENTER) TRIG A Reactor, License No. R 126, Docket ho. 50-407, was critical 54.76 hours8.796296e-4 days <br />0.0211 hours <br />1.256614e-4 weeks <br />2.8918e-5 months <br /> and generated 3562.695 kilowatt hours of thennal energy during this reporting year. The reactor was used for educational demonstrations, laboratory experiments, systems tests, power measurements and sample irradiations.

2. Changes in Facility Design.

The CENTER is currently up-grading the facility to house a radiochemisrty laboratory within its regulatory boundary. Concurrently, the emergency plan and security addition,theplans are being up dated to reflect the increased function documents are being prepaired for submission to the NRC to sup of the facility. In forthcoming application to upgrade licensed power from 100 kW to 1.1 MW. port a

3. Surveillance Tests.

(Documentation of all surveillance activities is tvtained and stored by the facility,

n. Control Rod Wonhs Core Configuration 9KW6 1/23S 7 1/28/97 3/21 S 7

1. 22b l

Dollars ($) Dollars ($) Dollars ($) Dollars ($)

Safety Rod 2.06 1.92 2.12 2.15 Shim Safety Rod 1.62 1.75 1.63 1.51 Regulating Rod 0.27 0.25 0.26 0.21 Excess Reactisity 0.70 0.58 0.63 0.56 Shutdown Margin 1.19 1,42 1.26 1.16

b. Control Rod Inspection.

The Biennial Control Rod Inspection was performed during December 1995.

The control mds were sequentially removed fmm the reactor core for visual inspction. Each control rod was'found to be in good condition with no nonceable deterioration or corrosion having occuned since the last inspection.

Rod drop times were measured on 9/6/96,1/23/97,1/28, and 3/21/97. All rod drop times were less than 1.0 seconds.

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c.. Reactor Power level Instrumentation, t -

Calorimetric power calibrations were perfenned on 9/18S6,11/4S6,1/10/97, and 2/4N7 with the following results:

Date Measured % Power Calculated Power level 9/18S6 90.0 kW 86.8 11/4S 6 90.3 kW 98.7 1/10N7 89.9 kW 93.5 2/4/97 90.4 kW 93.94

d. Fuel Inspection.

The Biennial Fuel ins yction was perfomied durin;; December 1995. Each fuel element was visually : nspected while keeping it su amerged for shielding. No deterioration or excessive corrosion ofin core fuel elements was observed since the arevious inspectiert l'ool water is sampled and analyzed periodically for evic ence of nssion product activity indicative of defective or deteriorating fuel.

Analyses of pool water follow ing full power reactor operations lasting several

hours have not shown any indication of Ossion product leakage,

c. Fuel Temperature Calibration.

Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/31/96 and 3/3S7 The circuits were calibrated to less than a 5'C error over the range 20 C to 400*C.

c f. Reactor Safety Committee Audits.

K. Langely audited mdiation safety and ALARA practices at the facility for the period 1 Jan.1996 through 30 June 1996.

K. Langely audited the maintenance and operational activities of the facility for the period 1 Jan.1996 through 30 June 1996.

K. Langely audited radiation safety and ALARA practices of the facility for the period 1 July 1996 through 31 Dec.1996.

K. Langely audited the maintenance and operational activities of the facility for the penod 1 July 1996 through 31 Dec.1996.

No signincant deviations from nonnal operating practices were identined by these audits.

- -..a- - - - u-. . -

g. Environmental Surveys.

i K. Langely reported to the RSC a maximum total exposun: of 38.0 millirem per quarter to environmental dosimeters located at various positions surrounding CENTER for the Triod 1 July 1996 through 30 June 1997. The average quanerly exposure fo+ the six environmental monitoring stations was 28.0 millirem.

B. ENERGY OUTPUT.

The reactor was critical for 54.76 hours8.796296e-4 days <br />0.0211 hours <br />1.256614e-4 weeks <br />2.8918e-5 months <br /> and produced 0.1493 megawatt days (3582.061 kilowatt hours) of energy during this reporting pericxl Since initial criticality, the reactor has been operated for a total of 2668.178 hours0.00206 days <br />0.0494 hours <br />2.943122e-4 weeks <br />6.7729e-5 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 6.42 megawatt days (154112.759 kilowatt hours).

C. EhiERGENCY SilUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAhtS.

There were no emergency (manually induced) shutdowns of the reactor during operations this reporting period.

There were no inadvertent (instumental) scrams of the reactor while it was critical during operations this reporting period.

D. hiAJOR MAINTENNANCE.

No major maintenance activity was conducted for the period of 7/1/96 to 6/30/97.

E. CilANGES, TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.59.

As of the end of the reporting period, the curtrnt membership of the Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) as designated by the Licensee is as follows:

JoAnn Lighty, Chair Gary M handquist, Secretary David M. Slaughter, Reactor Administrator and Supervisor James Thompson, RSO of University of Utah Melinda P. Krahenbuhl James M. Byrne Karrn Langely The RSC has reviewed and approved several CENTER procedures which were modified to update and correct perteived deficiencies. The CENTER staff continues to review and update facility documentation to assure compliance with all applicable regulations.

l

. l F. RADIOACrlVE EIPLUENTS.

1. Liquid Waste Total Activity Released: None.

A total volume of approximately 5 ;;allons ofliquid effluent was released to the sanitary sewage system. The liquic efnuent consisted of mop water from routine

.naintenance operations. Prior to release, analysis confinned that the efnuent contained no radioactivity in excess of naturally occurring radionuclides nonnally present in the potable water supply of this area.

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2. Gaseous Waste Total Estimated Activity Released: 44.35 pCi. i The TRIGA Reactor was operated for 54.76 hours8.796296e-4 days <br />0.0211 hours <br />1.256614e-4 weeks <br />2.8918e-5 months <br /> at power levels up to ap,roximately 95 kW. At this power level argon 41 pnxtuction is substantially '

be ow h1PC values for unrestricted areas. The minimum detectable concentration of Ar-41 for the stack monitor has been found to be one third of 10 CFR 20 appendix B limits for release to unrestricted areas. The average annual calculated concentration of Ar 41 generated during operations is estimated at 1.98 10 10 pCi/ml which is less than 1.0 % of the h1PC for this radionuclide. The total amount of Ar-41 released was estimated at 44.35 pCl. No phosphorus 32 was released from CENTER during this period. The total amount of all gaseous radioactivity released was estimated at 44.35 pCi. A monthly summary of gaseous irleases is given in Table 1.

Table I.

Summary of hionthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent 1 July 1996 through 30 June 1997 hionth Ar-41 (pCi) Estimated Release Total (pCi)

P 32 and all others July 2.5 0 2.5 August 6.89 0 6.89 September 3.86 0 3.86 October 4.49 0 4.49 November 0 0 0 December 0.03 0 0.03 January 11.17 0 11.17 February 4.00 0 4.00 hiamh 1,76 0 1.76 A3ril 1.3 0 1.3 hLay 1.86 0 1.86 June 2.95 0 2.95 Total Activity of gaseous effluent (pCi): 44.35

3. Solid Waste Total Activity: none Approximately 1.5 cubic meter of low level decontamination materials were generated by the University of Ut3 facility. The types of decontamination materials generated include the following: debris removed from the tractor tank

l v during cleaing, anc! irradiated samples disposed of through Radiologicalllealth

, Department.

G. RADIATION EXPOSURES.

Personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional basis have been issued a film-badge dosimeter by the University of Utah i Radiological licalth Department. The duty category and monitoring period of L personnel are summarized below:

Name Monitoring Period Duty Category David M, Slaughter 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Gary M. Sandquist 7/iS6-6/30S7 regular

) Ross Schmidtlein 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Kevan Weaver 7/IS6-6/30S/ regular Cindy Henderson 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Meiinda Krahenbuhl 7/lS6-6/30S7 regular 3 Dong-ok Choe 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Justin Wilde 7/lS6-6/30S7 regular Christy Seiger-Webster 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Brenda Newton 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Stephannie Mecham 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Byron Lawn nce 7/1S6-6/30S7 regular Tom Cantrell 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Adam Rodgers 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular Bob llenderson 7/IS6-6/30S7 occasional Henry Moeller 7/IS6-6/30S7 regular c Rian Smith 7/IS6-3/31S7 regular /tenninated James Parry 7/IS6-3/3167 regular / terminated Susheela Narasimham 7/IS6-10/3:S6 regular /temiinated Tony Zhou 7/IS6-2/28S7 occasional /tenninated Measured Doses

- 7/IS6-6/30S7 Doses: <10 mre.n average; 10 mrem highest measured.

Dose Equivalent Limit Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem / year (1250/ quarter).

Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge = 10 mrem.

p' Of the 735 visitors to the facility under the DOE Reactor Sharing Program for the

l reporting year, no visitor received a measurable dose. Therefore, the mere.ge i s maximum does are all within NRC guidelines. A summary of whole body l exposures is presented in Table II.

i Table 11 Summary of Whole Body Exposures 1 July 1996 through 30 June 1997 Estimated whole body exposur:: range Number ofindividuals in each range:

(rem):

No Measurable Dose Less than 0.10 20 0.10 to 0.25 0.25 to 0.50 0.50 to 0.75 0.75 to 1.00 1.00 to 2.00 2.00 to 3.00 3.00 to 4.00 4.00 to 5.00 Gienter than 5 mm

11. LABORATORY SURVEYS Monthly surveys of the facility were conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department during the reporting period. Some of these surveys have identified minor localized removable contamination sources which were immediately cleaned. The surveys have not indicated any unusual radiation levels over previous years. Records of surveys are retained by the facility.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES >

The Air Monitoring Station, operated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and located outside the reactor building, has indicated no unusual changes in radiation or radioactive material concentrations during the irporting period.

Environmental monitoring conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department indicated no unusual dose rates in the areas surrounding the Merrill Engineering Building, which houses the reactor facility.

Prepared by: Date:

Submitted by: Date:

Reactor Supervisor Approved ty Date:

Reactor Administrator