ML22356A154
| ML22356A154 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pennsylvania State University |
| Issue date: | 12/22/2022 |
| From: | Geuther J Pennsylvania State Univ |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Document Control Desk |
| References | |
| Download: ML22356A154 (1) | |
Text
Penn State 65 The Pennsylvania State Uni versity College of Engineering College of Engineering Radiation Science and Engineering Center Phone: 814-865-635 1 Breazeal e Nuclear Reactor Fax: 814-863-4840 RADIATION SCIENCE & University Park, PA 16802-230 1 ENGINEERING CENTER BRE AZEALE Nuclear Reactor December 22, 2022 Attention Document Control Desk US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 To Whom It May Concern:
Enclosed please find the Annual Operating Rep01t for the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR) located at the Radiation Science and Engineering Center. This rep01t covers the period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, as required by our Facility Operating License R-2, Appendix A, Section 6.6.1 .
Please contact me with any questions you have regarding this rep01t.
Sincerely, Jeffrey A. Geuther, Ph.D.
Acting Director Associate Director for Operations Radiation Science and Engineering Center 109 Breazeale Nuclear Reactor University Park, PA 16802
Enclosures:
Annual Operating Report, FY 21-22 cc: L. Weiss A. Atchley C. Davison A. Wilmot X. Yin - NRC M. Balazik - NRC D. Morrell - DOE Co llege of Enginee ring An Equal Opportunity University
Penn State Breazeale Reactor Annual Operating Report, FY 2021 - 2022 License R-2, Docket 50-005 Reactor Utilization The Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC) houses the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR), a TRI GA Mark III reactor capable of 1 MW steady state operation and pulses of up to approximately 2000 MW peak power. Utilization of the reactor and its associated facilities falls into three major categories:
Education The RSEC's several radiation laboratories allow for an interactive learning environment and supply the equipment necessary for several Nuclear Engineering courses. The RSEC hosts approximately 3000 visitors each year for public outreach and educational support. These visits vary from visiting faculty and graduate level classes to scouting and middle school field trips.
Our facility also strives to educate members of the public about the many benefits of nuclear power as well as the diverse applications of radiation across several fields of study. Some of the major topics covered in public outreach sessions are radiation basics, nuclear security, and reactor physics. Recent upgrades to the neutron beam laboratory include the addition of new faculty, graduate student, and visiting scientist offices to better integrate the education and research missions of the facility.
Research The research performed at the RSEC is associated with several different colleges as the University.
RSEC staff, professors, and graduate students all play a key role in maintaining a constant flow of research projects through the facility. The RSEC maintains flexibility with radiation laboratories and equipment to support research such as thermo-acoustic testing, reactor instrumentation testing, neutron and gamma ray detection, radiation signatures from used fuel elements, neutron activation analysis, and neutron imaging applications. The RSEC has completed the expansion of its neutron beam laborat01y in order to accommodate a Small Angle Neutron Spectrometer (SANS) donated by Helmholtz Zentrum-Berlin. The SANS is scheduled for delivery in 2023, having been delayed from its original delivery date of 2022. Once installation is complete, PSU will be the only US university equipped with a small angle neutron spectrometer.
Service The resources available at the RSEC, paired with the diverse capabilities of the PSBR, allow us to serve the nuclear industry and satisfy the unique needs of several domestic and international companies. The RSEC is frequently involved in neutron radiography for composition uniformity testing as well as providing fast neutron irradiation fluxes to support the nation's defense infrastructure. Also, the RSEC remains at the forefront of neutron transmission testing for spent fuel storage and equipment to be used at nuclear utilities.
The PSBR facility operates on an 8 AM - 5 PM shift, five days per week, with early morning, evening, and weekend shifts as necessaiy to accommodate laboratory courses, public education, university research, or industrial service projects.
Technical Specification 6.6.1.a - Summary of Reactor Operating Experience Between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, the PSBR was utilized as follows.
Mode of Operation Time [hours] Hours per Shift I Critical 517.0 2.1 l Sub-Critical 212.8 0.9 I Shutdown 575.3 2.3 l TOTAL 1158.0 5.3 The reactor was pulsed a total of 55 times with the following reactivities:
Reactivitv Number of Pulses I <$2.00 12 I
$2.00 to $2.50 42 I > $2.50 1 I TOTAL 55 The square wave mode was used a total of 22 times to operate the reactor with power levels between approximately 100 and 500 kilowatts. Total energy produced during this reporting period was 233.2 MWh, conesponding to the consumption of approximately 12.2 g of 235 U. Fuel bumup is expected to increase substantially following SANS installation due to a forecast for increased demand for operations at high power.
Technical Specification 6.6.1.b- Unscheduled Shutdowns The following unscheduled shutdowns and unplanned reactor trips occuned during the rep01ting period:
12/7/2021 Reactor high power scram with a peak power of ~ 1.3 8 MW. Prior to the trip, the reactor operator was trying to perform a $0.75 square wave with a setpoint of 500 kW. When the operator entered the setpoint, he did not hit ENTER so the 500 kW was not stored in the console, which defaulted to the current power level (100 W) as the setpoint. Once the square wave was executed, the control rods immediately began to move in to counter the $0.75 ofreactivity from the transient rod and maintain the power level at 100 W. The operator noticed that the setpoint was inconect, and after 9 seconds, changed the power setpoint to 500 kW. At this time, the rod bank began to move out, adding $1.20 over the course of 4 seconds. (The maximum total reactivity
beyond critical is estimated to be - $1.10). The reactor scrammed based on high log range (fission chamber) power and high wide range (GIC) power.
The fuel temperature safety limit was not challenged; however, the Technical Specifications limiting condition of operation for maximum steady state power (1.1 MW) was exceeded. This event was reported to the NRC and is recorded as event #55632. Several changes were implement to prevent the recurrence of this event, including a requirement to enter the square wave and auto setpoint twice, after which the setpoint will only be stored if the two values agree.
12/15/2021 Interlock validation failure scram while at 100 W, preparing for square wave.
1/11/2022 Manual scram due to power spike when switching from MANUAL to AUTO mode with safety rod at upper limit; maximum power reached was 70 W.
2/24/2022 Square wave terminated prematurely due to unexpected behavior of the
$TIMER block.
6/13/2022 Interlock validation failure scram while preparing for reg rod worth measurement 6/27/2022 Watchdog scram- SA motor trouble while preparing for a pulse Technical Specification 6.6.1.c - Major Corrective or Preventative Maintenance with Safety Significance TS-required maintenance and surveillances were completed within required time frames. Non-routine maintenance and repair is documented under facility procedure # AP-13. Safety-related maintenance during the reporting period was as follows .
AP-13 2021-05 7/7/21 Fuse Failure Resulting in Inability to Start FES Fans from Console -
24 VDC fuse in auxiliary equipment rack failed, preventing FES fans and CCTV cameras in beam lab from being energized from console . Fuse was replaced to solve problem .
Technical Specification 6.6.1.d - Major Changes Reportable Under 10 CFR 50.59 Facility changes are processed via procedure AP-12. The following major change was completed during the reporting period per 10CFR50.59. Various minor changes that did not require 10CFR50.59 reviews are not included below but are available for review upon request. The beam laboratory expansion was completed in 2022, but was repmied upon in the FY2020-21 annual operations repo1i and is not included below.
AP-12 2020-05 8/21/2021 The DCC-X and DCC-Z digital pmiion of the analog/digital
hybrid control console was replaced by a Foxboro DCS-based system. The system was designed to mimic the functionality of the DCC. Pulse tracing was moved to a separate interface. The analog reactor safety system credited in the facility Technical Specifications was not affected by this change.
Procedures Procedures are normally reviewed biennially, and on an as-needed basis. Numerous minor changes and updates are made during the year and do not require a repmi under 10CFR50.59.
New Tests and Experiments The tests I experiments performed at the RSEC during FY2021-2022 were typical and did not require 10CFR50.59 evaluation or repmiing.
Technical Specification 6.6.1.e - Radiological Effluents Released Liquid There were no planned or unplanned liquid effluent releases under the reactor license for the repmiing period.
Liquid radioactive waste from the radioisotope laboratories at the PSBR is under the University byproduct materials license and is transferred to the Radiation Protection Office for disposal with the waste from other campus laboratories. Liquid waste disposal techniques include storage for decay, release to sanitary sewer per 10CFR20, and solidification for shipment to licensed disposal sites.
Gaseous All gaseous releases were less than 10% of the allowed concentrations and do not require a specific repmi.
Argon-41 (41 Ar)
Gaseous effluent 41 Ar is generated from dissolved air in the reactor pool water, air in dry irradiation tubes, air in neutron beam pmis, and air leakage to and from the CO2-operated pneumatic sample transfer system (i.e., "rabbit"). The amount of 41 Ar released from the reactor pool is dependent on the operating power level and the length of time at power. The release per MWh is highest for extended high power runs and lowest for intermittent low power runs. The concentration of 41 Ar in the reactor bay and bay exhaust were measured by the Radiation Protection staff during the summer of 1986. Measurements were made for conditions of low and high power runs simulating typical operating cycles.
For a conservative calculation of 41 Ar release, all power operations were assumed to take place at the Fast Neutron Irradiator (FNI) Tube, the location of the greatest 41 Ar production and release.
The calculation method includes direct release from the pool in addition to release from the FNI fixture and estimates a quantity of 536 mCi of 41 Ar released for the 233.2 MWh of operations which took place during FY2021-22. A po1iion of the 41 Ar will decay in place, however, if all of the 41 Ar were released, it represents 0.9% of the annual limit.
hram~r 1/2~e &ili I Argon-41 produced 1490 mCi l Average concentration, unrestricted area 0.9 X 10-IO µCi/mL
, Permissible concentration, unrestricted area 1.0 X }0-B iLCi / mL 1 Percentage of permissible concentration 0.9 %
~ Calculated effective dose, unrestricted area 1.1 mrem /year 1 Tritium (3 H)
Normally tritium is only released from the reactor facility due to the evaporation of reactor pool water. The total makeup to the reactor pool for FY2021-2022 was 10417 gallons, or 1.19 gal / hr.
The evaporative loss rate is dependent on air movement, relative humidity, temperature of air and water, etc. Based on the measured average pool tritium concentration of 26847 pCi / L (averaged between July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022), the total tritium activity released through ventilation would be ~ 1059 µCi. A dilution of factor of 2.0 x 10 8 mL / sec was used to calculate that umestricted area concentration. This is from 200 m 2 ( cross sectional area of the building) times an assumed wind speed of 1 m / sec. These are the same values used in the reactor Safety Analysis Repmi.
Parameter Value Units r Tritium released Average concentration, unrestricted area I Permissible concentration, unrestricted area 1059 1.68 X 10-l 3 1.00 X 10-7
µCi
µCi /mL
µCi/mL l
Percentage of permissible concentration 0.00017 %
[ Calculated effected dose equivalent, unrestricted area ~ l.00 X 10-4 mrem i Technical Specification 6.6.1.f- Environmental Surveys The only environmental surveys performed were the routine environmental dosimeter measurements at the facility fence line and an off-site point at a childcare center approximately 100 yards from facility. The following table summarizes the net measurements, in millirem, for the cmTent reporting period.
Quarter North South East Fence West Childcare Fence Fence Fence I 2020 Q3 4 fmreml 11 fmreml 9 fmreml 9 fmreml 0 fmreml I 2020 Q4 9 11 9 20 5
~ 2021 Ql 5 4 8 7 4 j 2021 Q2 9 6 3 5 2