ML20211G781

Univ of Utah Triga Reactor Annual Operating Rept for 980701-990630. with

ML20211G781
Person / Time
Site:	University of Utah
Issue date:	06/30/1999
From:	Slaughter D UTAH, UNIV. OF, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 9909010021
Download: ML20211G781 (8)

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' Center for Excellence in .

Nuct;ar Technology, Engineering, and Research .

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1 27 August 1999 '

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ~

~ Document Control Desk . l

. Washington, D. C. 20555 To Whon It May Concem:

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" Enclosed is the nnual Operating Report for the University of Utah'TRIGA Nuclear Reactor,  !

. License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, for the period of 1 July 1999 through 30 June 1999. This report fulfills the requirements of the TRIGA Technical Specifications (TTS) 6.10(5).

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-If there are any questions or concerns regarding this report, please contact me at (801) 581-8499. j fespectfully, 1

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' Dhvid M. Slaughter Reactor Administrator 9

f I 010i107 9909010021 990630

- )O }D PDR ADOCK 05000407 PDR R

CENTER University of Utah 122 S. Central Campus Dr. Rm.104 j

Salt kke City, Utah 84112-0561 I. ,

.(801)381 8499

i l The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor 1 Annual Operating Report  !

for the period 4 1 July 1998 through 30 June 1999 A NARRATIVE. '

l. Operating Experience.

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The University of Utah Center for Excellence in Nuclear Technology, Engineering, l and Research (CENTER) TRIGA Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, was critical 149.181 hours0.00209 days <br />0.0503 hours <br />2.992725e-4 weeks <br />6.88705e-5 months <br /> and generated 10993.655 kilowatt-hours of ,

thermal energy during this reporting year. The reactor was used for educational l demonstrations, laboratory experiments, systems tests, power measurements and sample irradiations.

2. Changes in Facility Design.

The documents supporting a forthcoming application to upgrade licensed power from 100 kW to 1.1 MW, are being internally reviewed before submission to the NRC. No facilities changes have occurred.

3. Surveillance Tests.

(Documentation of all surveillance activities is retained and filed within the facility.)

a. Control Rod Worths Table I. Summary of Control rod worth, SDM, and ER Core Configuration #23 7/22/98 2/18/99 Dollars ($) Dollars ($)

Safety Rod 2.18 2.02 Shim-Safety Rod 1.52 1.39 Regulating Rod 0.25 0.25 Excess Reactivity 1.08 1.08 Shutdown Margin 0.69 0.56

b. Control Rod Inspection.

Biennial control rod inspection was performed during Nov.1997. The control rods l remain in good condition. Rod drop times were measured on 7/22/98 and 2/18/99.

All rod drop times were less than 1.0 seconds.

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c. Reactor Power Level Instrumentation.

Calorimetric power calibrations were performed on 7/27/98, 2/11/99 and 2/17/99.

The following results were obtained. f i

i Table II. Summary of Thermal Power Calibrations Date Measured % Power Calculated Power Level 7/27/98 92.4 kW 84.6932 kW 1

2/11/99 89.7 kW 84.36 kW  !

2/17/99 88.3 kW 91.7 kW

d. Fuel Inspection.

The Biennial Fuel Inspection was performed during November 1997. Each fuel l element was visually inspected while keeping it submerged for shielding. No deterioration or excessive corrosion of core fuel elements was observed since the ,

previous inspection. Pool water is sampled and analyzed monthly for evidence of l

' fission product activity indicative of defective or deteriorating fuel. Analyses of l pool water following full-power reactor operations lasting several hours have not shown any indication of fission product leakage.

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c. Fuel Temperature Calibration.

l Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/24/98 and 3/1/99. The circuits were calibrated to less than a 3 C error over the range 20 C to 400 C.

f. Reactor Safety Committee Audits.

K. Langely audited radiation safety and ALARA practices at the facility for the period 1 Jan.1998 through 30 June 1998.

G. Sanquist audited the maintenance and operational activities of the facility for the period 1 Jan.1998 through 30 June 1998.

R. Smith audited radiation safety and ALARA practices at the facility for the period 1 July 1998 through 31 Dec.1998 R. Smith audited the maintenance and operational ac. vities of the facility for the period 1 July 1998 through 31 Dec.1998.

No significant deviations from normal operating practices were identified by these j audits.

g. Environmental Surveys.

R Smith' reported to the RSC a maximum total exposure of 34.4 millirem per quarter to environmental dosimeters located at various positions surrounding CENTER for the period 1 July 1998 through 30 June 1999. The average quarterly exposure for the six environmental monitoring stations was 27.16 millirem.

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B; ENERGY OUTPUT.

The reactor was critical for 149.181 hours0.00209 days <br />0.0503 hours <br />2.992725e-4 weeks <br />6.88705e-5 months <br /> and produced 0.4581 megawatt-days l t

(10993.655 kilowatt-hours) of energy during this reporting period. Since initial I criticality, the reactor has been operated for a total of 2900.781 hours0.00904 days <br />0.217 hours <br />0.00129 weeks <br />2.971705e-4 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 7.15 megawatt-days (171533.656 i kilowatt-hours). l C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS.

Two inadvertent (instrumental) scrams occurred while the reactor was critical l during this reporting period. The type, cause and action taken by the operations staff for each scram are summarized below:

Quantity Type Cause Action 1 . Loss of . Electronic Anomaly in linear power Restart console power

.1 - Linear Power Increasing in power -failure to scale Restait D. MAJOR MAINTENANCE.

No major maintenance activity was conducted for the period of 7/1/98-6/30/99.

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

A core change from #22b to #23 took place during July 1998. Rod drops were performed during core change over. These can be viewed in the Core Procedures Manual and the Log Manual.

The membership of the Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) as designated by the Licensee for the period of this report is as follows:

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4 JoAnn S. Lighty, Chair David M. Slaughter, Reactor Supervisor, Reactor Administrator James Thompson, RSO of University of Utah Gary M. Sandquist James M. Byrne Karen Langely Melinda P. Krahenbuhl Rian Smith The RSC has reviewed and approved several CENTER procedures which were modified to update, improve, or correct perceived deficiencies. The CENTER staff continues to review and update facility documentation in order to assure compliance with applicable regulations.

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F. RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS.

l. Liquid Waste - Total Activity Released: 0.9049 mci.

Approximately 10 gallons ofliquid effluent was released to Radiological Health This liquid effluent containing .0.9048 mci of tritium was generated during sample irradiation and subsequent processing. An additional 5 gallons of mop water from routine maintenance operations was released to the sanitary sewage system. Prior to release, radiological analysis confirmed that the mop water effluent contained no i radioactivity in excess of naturally occurring radio nuclides nomially present in the potable water supply of this area.

2. Gaseous Waste - Total Estimated Activity Released: 136.87 Ci.

The TRIGA Reactor was operated for 149.181 hours0.00209 days <br />0.0503 hours <br />2.992725e-4 weeks <br />6.88705e-5 months <br /> at power levels up to ap 3roximately 90 kW. At this power level argon-41 production is substantially be ow effluent concentration limit for unrestricted areas. The rninimum detectable concentration of Ar-41 for the stack monitor has been found to be one-third of the 10 CFR 20 (Appendix B) limit on release to unrestricted areas. The average annual calculated concentration of Ar-41 generated during operations is estimated at 6.09 x 10-10, Ci/ml which is less than 6.04% of the effluent concentration limit for this radionuclide. The total amount of Ar-41 released was estimated at 136.87 Ci. No phosphorus-32 was released from CENTER during this period. The total amount of all gaseous radioactivity released was estimated at 136.87 pCi. A monthly summary of gaseous releases is given in Table III.

Table III. Summary of Monthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent 1 July 1998 through 30 June 1999 Month Ar-41 (pCi) Estimated Release Total (pCi) )

.1 P-32 and all others i July 8.4 0 8.4 August 10.06 0 10.06 i September 2.38 0 2.38 October 26.31 0 26.31 November 9.02 0 9.02 December 6.98 0 6.98 January 19.15 0 19.15 February 13.4 0 13.4 March 8.39 0 8.39 April 15.77 0 15.77 May 3.07 0 3.07 June 13.9 0 13.9 Total Activity of gaseous effluent (pCi): 136.87 4

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3. Solid Waste - Total Activity: 0.697 Ci Approximately 2 cubic meters of low-level decontamination materials were generated by the University of Utah facility . The types of decontamination materials generated include the following: debris removed from the reactor tank during cleaning, and irradiated samples disposed of through the Radiological Health Department.

l G. RADIATION EXPOSURES.

Personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional l basis have been issued a film-badge dosimeter by the University of Utah ,

Radiological Health Department. The duty category and monito.ing period of personnel are summarized in Table IV:

Table IV. Summary of Personnel, monitoring period, and duty category I

Name Monitoring Period Duty Category David M. Slaughter 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular I Gary M. Sandquist 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Henry F. Moeller 7/1/98-6/30/99 occasional / terminated Ross Schmidtlein 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Kevan Weaver 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular / terminated l

.Cindy Henderson 7/1/98-6/30/99 occasional / terminated Melinda Krahenbuhl 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular l Dong-ok Choe 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Justin Wilde 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular 1

Christy Seiger-Webster 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Brenda Sheikey 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Stephannie Mecham 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Thomas Cantrell 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular / terminated Jeremy Cox - 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular / terminated Douglas Ruffell 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular / terminated David Lignell 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Hiedi Walk 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular Valerie Winberg 7/1/98-6/30/99 regular

1. Measured Doses 7/1/98-6/30/99 Doses: <10 mrem average; 10 mrem highest measured.

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2. Dose Eauivalent Limit l' Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem / year (1250/ quarter).

Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge = 10 mrem.

Of the 301 visitors to the facility under the DOE Reactor Sharing Program for the reporting year, no visitor received a measurable dose. Therefore, the average maximum doses are all within NRC guidelines. A summary of whole body exposures is presented in Table V.

Table V. Summary of Whole Body Exposures 1 July 1998 through 30 June 1999 Estimated whole body exposure range Number ofindividuals in each range:

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No Measurable Dose 0 Less than 0.10 18 l- 0.10 to 0.25 0 0.25 to 0.50 0 0.50 to 0.75 0 0.75 to 1.00 0 1.00 to 2.00 0 2.00 to 3.00 0 3.00 to 4.00 0 4.00 to 5.00 0 l

Greater than 5 rem 0 l

H. 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.

l I. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES 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. i 6

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Piepared by :

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Date: O/7O/99 '

Submitted by: / /'

~ Date:' / 26 99 IR eacior Supervis'or /

Approved by: - -D Date: f 27 77 Reactor Administrator /

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