ML20247R420

Annual Rept for Jul 1988 - June 1989

ML20247R420
Person / Time
Site:	University of Maryland
Issue date:	09/13/1989
From:	Roush M MARYLAND, UNIV. OF, COLLEGE PARK, MD
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 8909290249
Download: ML20247R420 (11)

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THE UNIVERSIT(OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK CAMPUS Department of Chemicol and Nucieor Engmeenng College Park. Maryland 20742 (301) 454 Nuclear Engineenng Program September 13, 1989 Section 50.4 Distribution Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555

Dear Sir / Madam:

This annual report 2s submitted in accordance with requirements set forth in our Technical Specifications for the Maryland University Training Reactor (MUTR). This report covers the time period.from July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1989.

L Summary of Operation During this reporting year the MUTR was operated for 187 runs, which corresponds to a productip of 4260 kW-hrs (4.260 MW-hrs) and a burnup of 0.217 grams of U The operations can be broken down into 6 categories:

a. Operator Training (27.1 % )

b. Tours, Labs and Demonstrations for Outside Organizations (17.7%)

c. Irradiations (17. 2 % ) ~

d. Activations (12. 3 % )

e. Calibration, Surveillance and Maintenance (4.4%) and

f. Nuclear Engineering Classes - (21._3%) .

The reactor continued to be used as a teaching tool for the nuclear engineering program, with it's primary course of inclusion being ENNU 320 " Nuclear Reactor Operations". ENNU 320 utilized the reactor four (4) two hour labs per week, from mid February through the end of May. In addition to the reactor operations class, reactor operator training was started, which culminated in one operator receiving a license, and a second training class was begun.

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The Department of Energy's Reactor Time Sharing Program was renewed at the same funding level as the previous year. This program employed 5 students on a part-time basis, one more than last year, since the number of students from user institutions continually increases from year to year.

The reactor was employed to study neutron damage effects on various electronic components and systems. Several firms were measuring the neutron exposure level which leads to failure of these systems.

Two Master's Projects were performed on using bubble detectors, for the Navy. One project studied the effectiveness of bubble detector, and was completed in the Fall of 1988. The second project, which will be comple;ed during the Fall of 1989, will determine the effectiveness of the detectors as a neutron spectrometer.

We have also used the facilities as part of two training courses undertaken by a local firm and University. The firm used the reactor to obtain practical experience of monitoring rr.diation levels around a nuclear reactor and handling radioactive material. A group from a local University was to obtain a Californium source, and required experience using neutron sources and handling activated materials.

22 Maintenance Items Several maintenance items were corrected during the previous year, including:

Primary Water System The primary filter was replaced due to clogging and the radiation levels from the filter were monitored to prevent unnecessary exposures. The filter's radiation levels were s 5 mrem / hour. They are presently being stored in the solid waste bin of the reactor facility for future removal.

The resin beads in the primary water system were replaced, because they lost their deionizing capabilities. The radiation levels of the spent resin beads were 2 mrem /hr, and do not present a hazard to personnel. They were dried and are being stored as solid waste for future shipment.

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Reculating Rod and Control Rod Drive Mechanism There were several adjustments / repairs made to the regulating rod and it's associated Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM). The dead band associated with the servomotor was adjusted to minimize oscillations of the control rod during automatic operation. The dead band determines the sensitivity of the servomotor, the larger the dead band the less oscillations of the control rod to maintain power.

Several of the gears and shafts within the regulating rod CRDM were replaced or straightened and the motor was cleaned and reciled. The motor gears were wearing down from continual use, and required replacements. The shafts associated with the replaced gears were bent and required straightening. Finally, since the motor was easily accessible it was cleaned and oiled.

Safety Channel 2 The wires connected to the Test Trip Switch were replaced.

During the startup checklist when the switch was supposed to trigger a scram, the meter would give erratic readings, oscillating over a range of i 30%. After the wires were replaced, the meter oscillations ceased, and the operator was able to perform the checklist with greater ease.

Bypass Lights The beam ports and thru tubes have a control rod interlock associated with the electrical plugs attached to them. When the electrical plugs are removed, the reactor can not be operated without the use of special bypass keys. .The lights indicating which plugs were bypassed are checked during the startup checklist. After the button was depressed, the lights would stay lit, although they should be extinguished. Several resistors within the light's circuitry were burned out, and replacement eliminated this problem. ,

Pool Tank Cleaning A swimming pool vacuum cleaner was used to clean the reactor pool last fall. The main effort was to sweep up the remaining ion exchange resins in tne pool. We were able to sweep up all the visible resins and some collected dirt. There was no detectable radiation levels from the vacuum, and the debris were disposed of as solid rad waste.

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- q Control Rod Position Indicators At the end of the Fall the control rod indicators for all' three control' rods malfunctioned and were temporarily replaced with calibrated. digital voltmeters (DVM' s ) . The calibration was such that the reading from the DVM's indicated per cent withdrawn instead of voltage. -There was no safety significance to the replacement with DVM's, as determined by the Reactor Safety Committee - (RSC) . In January, the digital voltmeters were replaced with new digital position indicators, and are presently operating properly.

Safety 1 Drawer

.The operate / calibrate and channel test switch for the log per cent meter, was not making proper contact. This produced a' drift in the campbelling mode transition on the log per cent meter.

Since the period meter derives it's signal from the log per cent meter it also did not respond properly. Therefore, the switch-and associated wiring was replaced. The operation of the safety 1 meter was not affected by the faulty switch. The new wiring and replacement switch is identical to the original switch, and presents no safety hazards, but increases the safety.of the operations, since all of'the meters are operational.

In the same drawer, the terminal board which connects to both the safety 1 and log per cent meter was replaced. The high

-voltage to the board had arced across the board several times before, and-there was no further room on the board for'the high voltage leads to be attached. Although the board was operable, l it needed replacement, because in the event of future voltage arcing, the board would not have been operable.

Computer Connection 1

Recently the Reactor has acquired a data acquisition system, which by use c ^ a computer can obtain data from a number of systems. It was desired to install a permanent terminal strip on the back of the reactor such that the computer can be hooked to the reactor rather easily. Attached to the terminal board are position indicators for Shims I, II, and the Reg Rod, log per cent meter, period meter, Safety I, fuel temperature, bulk water temperature, and the linear channel of the chart recorder (CIC).

All of the connections, with the exception of the fuel and bulk water temperature, utilizes an output on the back of the meter within the console. Since all of the connections are buffered between the terminal board and the meter there is no chance of feed back from the board to the console, and therefore does not affect the safe operation of the reactor.

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The instrumented fuel rod in the MUTR core contains three thermocouple, two of which are not used. The terminal board is attached to one of the two unused thermocouple, and similarly is buffered, therefore will not affect.the safe operation of the reactor. Analogous to the fuel temperature meter an additional thermocouple is attached to the terminal board for the bulk water temperature, and is also buffered. The thermocouple is not stored in the pool, only inserted when required, and thus does not impact safe operation of the MUTR.

CIC Compensating Voltace The potentiometer which controls the amount of compensating for the Compensated Ion Chamber was moved to the front of the console. This allows for easier access when adjustments are needed.

Louvers and Motors In the ground floor west wall of the reactor are two intake louvers, with attached motors. In early May 1989 the motors stopped functioning and would not open. The motors were outdated, and exact duplicate parts were not available, so they were entirely replaced. The replacement motors would not properly line up with the old louvers, so the entire system needed to be replaced, to insure a properly operating system. The system is identically functional, and thus does not represent a change in plant safety, technical specifications or the MUTR FSAR.

3 Equipment Surveillance and Tests Area Radiation Monitors Area radiation monitors for the bridge and exhaust were calibrated in accordance with the Technical Specification surveillance schedule on October 20, 1988.

Pool Water Analysis Pool water was sampled and activation analysis made on a monthly basis in accordance with the Technical Specification surveillance schedule. No measured radioisotope concentration was found to be above MPC limits.

Control Rod Inspection A control rod inspection was performed on October 24 and 25,

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1988. The appearance of the rods has not changed since the last i inspection of Dec. 16, 1986. The next inspection will be performed before the end of the next calendar year.

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Control Rod Calibration Control rod worth calibrations for all three rods were performed on December 1, 1988. The measured integral and differential worth is within experimental error of previous calibrations. Shutdown margins and excess reactivities were calculated and found to be within the Technical Specification requirements. The next calibration will be performed before the end of the next calendar year.

l l Control Rod Droo Time l

l Control rod drop times were last measured on Oct. 25, 1988, immediately after the control rod inspections. All drop times were less than .80 seconds which is less than the Technical Specification requirement of 1 second.

Power Calibration A power calibration was performed on Sept. 30, 1988. The measured thermal power output was 195 kW and the indicated power on Safety Channel I and II was also 200 kW, within a reading error of 1 kW. Since the measured and indicated power levels were within 2.5%, no adjustments of either Safety Channel were made.

32 Radioactive Effluent Discharced to the Environment and Radioactive Waste Shipped Off-site for Disposal No waste water with radioisotopic concentrations greater than MPC were discharged to the sewer system. Monthly air samples taken in the reactor building contained no activity greater than the MPC. There were no shipments of low level radioactive waste either liquid and solid form during this reporting period.

52 Unplanned Shut-Downs, Scrams and Reportable Occurrences During this reporting period there were no reportable occurrences, although there were several unplanned shutdowns and scrams. There were two unplanned scrams'due to electrical interruptions, and were indicated by all the annunciator lights illuminating. In addition, there was one period scram due to operator error.

Two unplanned scrams due to power surges, were indicated by a fuel temperature scram. Since the fuel temperature meter was operating normally both before and after the power surge, and the needle on the meter did not show a temperature increase, a power surge was determined as the cause of the scram.

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There was one scram and four unplanned shutdowns due to drifting of the campbelling mode transition. See replacement of operate / calibrate switch in safety 1 drawer, above in the maintenance section.

Subsequent to maintenance to replace the operate / calibrate switch connected to the Safety 1 meter (see maintenance section),

the reactor was operated and an unplanned shutdown occurred due to the inoperability of Safety 1. This was not considered a i reportable occurrence, because it occurred during a test of the l reactor system (see MUTR Technical Specifications 1.21.3). The l

ensuing check of the switch revealed a necessary jumper wire was inadvertently omitted, and replaced. Upon replacement of the jumper wire, the safety channel responded properly during subsequent operations.

There were two bridge monitor scrams, one due to drifting of the scram setpoint, and one due to a voltage spike in the monitor circuitry. The drifting of the scram setpoint was indicated when the setpoint was checked after the scram (by lowering the setpoint as performed in the startup checklist), and the reactor would not scram irregardless of the setpoint reading. The problem was corrected by recalibrating the bridge monitor. The voltage spike was indicated by an external reactor scram (on the bridge.

monitor) and the bridge monitor was not yielding abnormally high readings. No adjustments to the bridge monitor was necessary.

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6 62 Radiation Exposures See the attached ALARA audit for this time period.

22 Chances to Facility Personnel, Procedures, and Special Experiments No changes were made to the Facility Procedures and no special experiments were undertaken during this reporting period.

Bernie White has assumed the position of Reactor Operations Manager, effective September 1, 1988.

Sincerely yours,

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• Marvin L. Roush, Chairman Chemical & Nuclear Engineering Dept.

cc: Dr. David D. Ebert, Reactor Director Dr. Frank Munno, Chairman, Nuclear Engineering Program Mr. Bernard H. White IV, Reactor Operations Manager Mr. Lowell E. Tripp, Chief Reactor Projects Section 3A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I 631 Park Ave.

King of Prussia, Pa 19406 Mr. David F. Limroth, Project Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I 631 Park Ave.

King of Prussia, Pa 19406 Mr. Thomas Foley, Associate Resident Inspector CCNPP U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissi.on Region I 631 Park Ave.

King of Prussia, Pa 19406 8

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u THE'UNIVEPSTY OF MARYLAND '

COLLEGE PARK CAMPUS Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineenng College Pork. Maryland 20742 (301) 454 f l Nucteor Engineenng Program August _18, 1989-l' MEMO TO: Dr. Joe Silverman, Chairman l Reactor Safety Committee l

MEMO FROM: 'h.

Dr. David D.-Ebert, Reactor Director

Subject:

ALARA. Audit for 6/16/88 to 6/14/89

1. RADIATION AREA MONITOR CALIBRATION

'All portable.~ radiation monitors have'been calibrated semi-

' annually. -This service'is performed by Radiation Safety with the exception of the Radiation Area Monitors (RAMS). The RAMS were calibrated on October 20, 1988, in accorde.nce with the annual Technical Specification (Tech. Spec.) requirement.

2.. CONTROL ROD INSPECTION' Tech.-Specs. require the three control rods to.be inspected-biennially. The last inspection was performed on October 24 -

25, 1988, with the next inspection being planned for October 1990. There were no noticable changes in degradation of the control rods since the last inspection.

3. FUEL ROD INSPECTION This inspection is not recuired according to the MUTR Technical Specifications (8/7/84). This inspection has been replaced by the Pool Water Gamma Ray Analysis.

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- 4. POOL WATER GAMMA ANALYSIS  !

Radioisotope. gamma analysis of the reactor pool water has been performed on a monthly basis. No radioisotopes attributable-to fission' products were found. All radioisotopic concentrations' were much less than the Maximum Permissible Concentration (MPC) for the general public. The same was true with the sump water which was monitored and dumped to the sewer'on September 14, 1988.

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5. POWER CALIBRATION A power calibration was performed on September 30, 1988. The

! results were:

i Indicated power level on:

l Safety Channel I = 200 kW L , Safety Channel II = 200 kW Measured thermal power = 195 kw Since the measured and indicated power levels were within 2.5%,

no adjustments of either Safety Channel were made.

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FILM BADGE EXPOSURE RECORDS For the year June 15, 1988 to June 14, 1989 all but 4 personnel film badge records showed exposures less than the minimum' detectable dose equivalent of 10 mrem. The 4 people, which,' received exposures greater than 10 mrem were distributed as follows:

3 people received dose equivalent between 10 and 20 mrem 0 people received dose equivalent between 20 and 30 mrem 0 people received dose equivalent between 30 and 40 mrem 1 person received dose equivalent between 40 and 50 mrem 4

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TheLfollowing is=a list of the 10 area monitor. film' badges.

Monitor #. Location Exposure (mrem) 1 Control Room' <10 2 Bridge 120

-3 Hot Room 110 4 W. Balcony '20 5 S. Wall Upper Level <10 6 S. Wall Lower Level <10 7 E. Wall Lower Level <10 8 Water Room 680 1

9 N. Wall Lower Level 30 10 W. Wall Lower Level <10

7. CONTAMINATION SURVEY REPORT No contamination was found in the Reactor Area during'the reporting period.

8. SELF-READING POCKET DOSIMETERS A. CALIBRATION The calibrations were performed every 6 months by Radiation Safety.

B. VISITORS LOG OF PERSONNEL EXPOSURE No'significant dose was recorded on the pocket dosimeters for any visitors during this audit period. All doses' received were less than 4 mrem, with one exception, and this dose equivalent being 12 mrem.

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PuBe source located in water room.

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