ML20216F409
| ML20216F409 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Waltz Mill |
| Issue date: | 04/04/1960 |
| From: | Morris E WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIV OF CBS CORP. |
| To: | Price H US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20216F225 | List:
|
| References | |
| FOIA-98-100 WTR-TO-R752, NUDOCS 9804170061 | |
| Download: ML20216F409 (4) | |
Text
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k westinghouse E0h ELECTRIC CORPORATION O
TESilNG RE ACTOR p o sc= o is April 4, 1960
,,nsevne,4 3 0. e4 i
FTR-TO-R752 c
Mr. H. L. rrice, Directer Divia!.n cf Limr. sing e.n1 Erg. tis *.1.>n U. S. Atomic Energy Ccc=21ssion Washingtcn 2', D. C.
Dear Sir:
Pursuant to tre requirements of the WTR Emergency Procedures, there is attached a report dealing with an incident involving the release of radioactivity at the WIR Site which was previously l
stanmarized in a telegram of thic date
.a the New York Operations Office.
Very truly yours, l
E. g'. Merris A
Manager Westinghouse Testing Reactor
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?12.2.3...1.10ML Fs",_WiCQ;; _,JJ"E REACTCR INTEVX?IUi c ;.'. b j. re C c. ' u.. w _o -
. t2e si.e :susee High activity in tw pri.tary c:a.u tshutdown of the WTR and evacuatiur. of tne site a Indications are that tr.e high :evels were ea; sed by fuel element f ailure 3, 1960.
averaged over a 24-hour period, was Total activity releaseg to the at.cosphere,e/c.1 of air, whtet. is approximately ten times th estimated at 1.0 x 10~
Nc air-bcrne activity was
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-maximum permissible.eath!"g zcne 's concen mation.
detectable st the pt..imeter cf the frE ;,r per*.y.
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'be :.ari:mr. s>xve;ure cf any pers.n was lecc tnar
- .th pt nissiDie weekly expceure I
levelr.
Cf30 RIM 10d The reactor had teen c;erating in < *.eecy s* ate." e erm x' ate'.y 3C r.cu.; st t'
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If, pypar e. :n 'r r c arr,-
I d m.egawatts rj th e. gimvy,x;nt recaced _: 10 ing out scoe Ieduced flow experimente, sce resat;r power wa.siMC. nnd appropriste rerar.s I
megawatta st. ':CO p.m., Apr'i
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Dt. ring ne e xperiment i; ran to permit experiments at a f Jwintended to raise the power level gradually, witn co until e p',ver level cf M regavsits was reached or until baii-bubble equipment, a pires" appearing on the power range ing was observed, (pesitive sud negative s
chart at 7:50 p.m. were induced in tr.e pro:ess of reeetting outback pcints).
i At approximately 7:55 p.m., the reactor flow was reduced gradually to 5,250 l
Continuous readings were being obtair ed on dats icgger charta from tec, instrumented fuel elements, One of which had been equipped with four thermcccuplee gpm.
l used during previous runs and the other having six new thermocouples installed l
l an _t.* previously installed thermocouples had been l
for this run. Readings Readings ous and were the'iit6re.]ilersgarT6TT5irtliis run.
fram the newiy installed fuel element'ther=ocouples we d ln line with predictions, believed to be erro
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were believed to be reading normally and showed good correspondence.
At 8:20 p.m., the reactor power was increased to 37 megawatts (calculated ther During a period of operation at this power, the instrumented fuel element thermo-couples were read and the temperatures indicated were in line with expectailons.
33 the power demand was adjusted to raise the pcuer to 40 At approximately 8:
megawatts.
35 p.m. the power level commenced dropping rapidly, going down to 17 megawa During this period At 8:
over a period of about two minutes for nc apparent reason. reaching its up},er limit.
control rod No. 9 started out continucus!., cu automati2, 21. N y
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- Control was critched to rod No. d e.nd then ; > N:,.
'he power continued dropping and each of cree three saf ety r:<ts war then scved out two percent in travel, one at a time.
On reaching approximstely 17 segawatts, the pcwer ceased dropping and started recovering on approximately a 60-second period or greater. The power returned to approximately 38 megawstts (indicated).
l At 8:40 p.m. the domineralized water monitoring station alsmed.
7 Within about one mincte, the hot cell radiation monitor alarm sounded and the head tank monitor followed almost immediately. The power dammM was lowered to 15 megawatts and then manually cutback. At 8:44 the reactor was manually scrammed when other radiation
' monitoring instruments showed high readings.
ACTION TREN
{
Securina Plant mM Evac ation.
Imediately following scram, request for evacuation of the reactor top was initiated on the Femco system. As all radiation monitoring instr.aeonts continued rising, the signal for general evacuation was sounded.
Operations ' and Health Physics ' personnel re.mained a short tinee to secure plant and continue survey but were alsc ordered to leave the plant when levels continued rising rapidly. One Health Physics ' person remained on cent;.nucun duty using self -
reading dosimeters to limit his exposure. The assembly point was the guardhouse c.t the entrance to the TTR preperty but was changed to Seubert house, approximately one-third of a mile scutheast, as radiation levels continued to rise.
The primary coolant system was left in operation and high pressure loop No. I was placed on cool down; the reactor shell ventilation syst e switched to recirculate when activated by stack and reactor monitors for gas and particulate material.
The surge tank vent blower was left running to prevent possible blowback of fission material into the process area and was turned off at smetime between 9:00 and 9:_5 p.m. At that time the primar/ coolant system was aisc placed on shutdown flow.
REA SIRVIIS Three groups with instruments started immediate surveys of the site and surrounding countryside. One group drove northward toward Madison with air sampler and a Geiger counter, another westward toward Yukon via a dirt road opposite thr. FTR site.
A third group drove southward and eastward toward New Stanton. These initial surveye resulted in the following measurements.
Incation Eggdig WREC
>20mrperbr(G)
Northside perimeter
( 2 mr per hr Seubert and Fabian houses
Background
Yukon
Background
to at bridge - Sewickley
Background
Readings at the main road directly in front of the site were as follows:
lim Etad1K Immediately following incident 6)'mrperhr 20 mr per hr 9:20 p.m.
12:05 a.m. (4/4) 5 mr per hr 1:05 a.m.
3 5 mr per hr.
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$ W A-u C00D AFTERNOON MR LYALL J UN y CIEF LJcENSING BRANCH DIVISION 07 LICENSING AND RECULATION USAEC VASHINGTON D C AT 6.40 PM, APRIL 2, 1960 THERE WAS A LELEASE OF FISSIONABL' MATERI ALS
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TO THE PRIMARY C00LANT OF THE WTR PROBAALT CAUSEL BY RUPTURE OF A FUEL ELEMENT.
THE REACT 0k WAS SHUT LOWN AT ' m 7c.A2 ?* AND ALL PERSONNEL ilCEPT ONE ;1EALT4 F:D S : LIST LCAC AiEU I:iMEDI ATILY.
ISTINATED MIXED l
FISS'.ON FRODLCT FF.cM HEAD TANK Al AN F.LEVATICH OF 25C FEET WAS
- 1. 0 X 10 TO THE P.INUS 4 SICROC'JHIE3 PE2 MIL 1 IL'.TEP. OF AIR AVERAGED OVER A 24 HOUR PERIOD.
THIS IS APPROIIMATELY 10 TIMES PERMISSABLE 3REATHING ZONE CONCENTRATION AT THE PERIMFTER of WTR PROPERTY THERE WAS NO SETECTABLE AIR 80RNE ACTIVITY.
Tdi MAXIMUM EXPOSURE OF WTR PERSONNEL AS A RESULT OF THE INCICXXX INCIDENT VAS LESS THAN THE PERMISSABLE VEEKLT U POSURE LEVEL.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE INCIDENT WOULD RESULT IN THE REACTOR BEING INOPERATIVE FOR 6 DAYS WERE IT SCHEDULED TO OPERATE.
HOWEVER, A NORMAL SHUTDOWN FOR 34 DAYS To PERMIT EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION WAS SCHEDULED T9 START AT 12.01 AM PWFT' APRIL 4 AND CONTINUE UNTIL 12.01 AM MAY 9.
E T MORRIS MANAGER WTR PROJECT END OR CA PLS REC OK TU END CC V
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