ML23258A089

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Ohio State University, Annual Report for Fy 2022/2023
ML23258A089
Person / Time
Site: Ohio State University
Issue date: 09/11/2023
From: Cao L
Ohio State University
To: Xiaosong Yin
Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML23258A089 (1)
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Text

01 THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

  • Nuclear Reactor Laboratory 1298 Kinnear Road Columbus, OH 43212 reactor@osu.edu reactor.osu.edu September 11, 2023 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Attn: Xiaosong Yin One White Flint North 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-2738

Subject:

Annual Report for The Ohio State University Research Reactor, License R-75, Docket 50-150 Please find enclosed the annual report for The Ohio State University Research Reactor, Docket No. 50-150. This report is being submitted as required by our Technical Specifications, Section 6.6.1. If you have questions on the content of this report, please contact Mr. Andrew Kauffman, Senior Associate Director of the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, at 614-688-8220 or

  • kauffman.9@osu.edu.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on 11-Sep-2023.

Sincerely, Lei Raymond Cao, Director OSU Nuclear Reactor Lab The Ohio State University (License R-75, Docket 50-150)

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY 2022/2023 SEPTEMBER 2023

  • OSURR Annual Report Page 1 of 11 Sep 2023

Introduction As stated in The Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR) Technical Specifications Section 6.6.1, Operating Reports, an annual report shall be made to the NRC by September 30 of each year. This report is to include the following seven information items:

1. A narrative summary of operating experience (including experiments performed) and of changes in facility design, performance characteristics, and operating procedures *related to reactor safety occurring during the reporting period
2. A tabulation showing the energy generated by the reactor (in kilowatt hours) and the number of hours the reactor was in use 3.- The results of safety related maintenance and inspections and the reasons for corrective maintenance of safety-related items
4. A table of unscheduled shutdowns and inadvertent scrams, including their reasons and the corrective actions taken
5. A summary of the safety analyses performed in connection with changes to the facility or procedures, which affect reactor safety, and performance of tests or experiments carried out under the conditions of 10 CFR 50.59
6. A summary of the nature and amount of radioactive gaseous, liquids, and solid effluents released or discharged to the environs beyond the effective control of the licensee as measured or calculated at or prior to the point of such release or discharge
7. A summary of radiation exposures received by facility personnel and visitors, including the dates and times of significant exposures These seven information items are discussed below for the period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, except as noted for exposure records.
1. Summary of Operating Experience and Changes 1.A. Experiments Performed The OSURR engages in a wide range of research, service, and education activities. Examples of recent types of research and industry service include: evaluation of material properties using neutron depth profiling, neutron transmission testing, and neutron activation analysis; evaluation of radiation response and damage for electronic components and other materials, such as optical fibers and optical fiber-based sensors; evaluation of neutron and gamma-ray radiation sensitive detector performance, including at high temperatures; and isotope production. The OSURR has been involved in the evaluation of a number of potential types of neutron and radiation detectors, including fiber-optic, solid-state, and scintillator~

based, and it regularly tests fission chambers for use in commercial power reactors by characterizing their response to known neutron flux. Neutron transmission testing has been used to verify boron loading in borated aluminum, and neutron depth profiling has been used for battery-technology studies. Isotope production has typically been performed for medical research, but sources have been created for other uses, including testing of radiation-sensitive detectors.

In addition, educational student laboratories and demonstrations are performed at the OSURR, including reactivity worth measurements, spectrum and profile characterizations using flux-wire activation and analysis, radiation measurements using neutron and gamma-sensitive detectors, and reactor dynamics measurements. The OSURR provides these via educational tours and student laboratory sessions. The OSURR Annual Report Page 2 of 11 Sep 2023

  • OSURR also supports faculty-led student research, which provides invaluable experience for the next generation of researchers.

The following are typical laboratory topics taught at the OSURR:

a. laboratory introduction, radiation safety training, radiological survey
b. approach to critical (using banked control rods rather than fuel loading)
c. control rod calibration by rod drop, positive period, and subcritical multiplication
d. temperature coefficient measurement
e. delayed neutron groups measurement
f. core axial profile
g. neutron spectrum measurement For tour groups, neutron activation and measurement of small samples with a short half-life is typically performed.

The reactor utilization for July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 is summarized in the following reports.

Please note that the utilization hours listed below only reflect actual reactor operating time. The list does not include hours spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization .

  • OSURR Annual Report Page 3 of 11 Sep 2023

Institution (Pl)

OSURR Utilization Summary July 1 - December 31, 2022 Description Hours 1 Idaho National Lab (Tsai)/ CEA Radiation/ temperature effects on neutron sensors 6.6 Idaho National Lab (Daw)/ X-Wave Radiation effects on SAW sensors 7.4 Oak Ridge National Lab (Ezell) Facility characterization for GaN sensor project 16.8 OSU NE (Cao/ Kandlakunta) Solar cells in the fast beam facility a.a 2 2

OSU NE (Cao/ Bisbee) Fast beam facility characterization (imaging) 48.2 OSU NE 4505 Tour for class support 6.2 OSU NE 4506 Lab class support 7.7 U. of Chicago (Collar) Detector calibration in the thermal beam facility 23.8 U. of Michigan (Jovanovic) Radiation effects on optical components 62.7 U. of Michigan (Pakari)

Orrvilon, Inc.

Reuter-Stokes, LLC Organic scintillators in fast beam facility Neutron transmission testing Fission chamber testing 4.4 16.6 45.5 USNC-Tech Eu-152 production 1.5 2

NRL staff Operator training & equipment maintenance 3.3 Various 3 Facility Tours 8.0 Total: 258.7 Notes:

1. Utilization reflects actual reactor operating time. This list does not include time spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization (pre-start and post-shutdown checkout, experiment planning and setup, etc.).
2. The value listed does not include utilization when run as a secondary user concurrent with a primary user.
3. In addition to those supporting OSU Nuclear Engineering courses, tours were provided to support the College of Engineering open house, the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Physics Students, and an OSU Wexner Medical Center radiation therapy course.

OSURR Annual Report Page 4 of 11 Sep 2023 *

  • Institution (Pl)

OSURR Utilization Summary January 1 - June 30, 2023 Description Hours 1 OSU NE4505 Tour for class support 7.4 OSU NE 5742 Labs for class support 1.7 OSU NE 6726 Labs for class support 11.9 OSU NE (Cao/ Bisbee) Thermal beam facility experiments 54.8 OSU NE (Cao/ Kandlakunta) Fast beam facility experiments 21.7 OSU NE (Cao) Radioactive tracer in uranium-bearing salt 2.1 U. ofTenn. Knoxville (Lukosi} Rad effects on electronic devices 1.5 ORNL (Mulligan) Rad effects on pressure sensors 11.0 ORNL (Reed) Rad effects on GaN transistors 15.2

  • Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc.

Orrvilon, Inc.

Reuter-Stokes, LLC Radiation effects on cryo temperature sensors Neutron transmission testing Fission chamber testing 5.9 20.3 54.4 2

USNC-Tech Co-60 production 2.5 NRL staff Operator training & facility maintenance 6.4 Various 3 Facility Tours 3.0 Total: 219.8 Notes:

1. Utilization reflects actual reactor operating time. This list does not include time spent on tasks supporting this reactor utilization (pre-start and post-shutdown checkout, experiment planning and setup, etc.).
2. The value listed does not include utilization when run as a secondary user concurrent with a primary user.
3. In addition to those in support of OSU Nuclear Engineering courses, tours were provided to support a course in Environmental Science and students from Tolles Career & Technical Center working with the OSU Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence .
  • OSURR Annual Report Page 5 of 11 Sep 2023

1.B. Changes in Facility Design There were no facility design changes that required a change to the Technical Specifications. 10 CFR 50.59 changes are described in Section 5.A of this report.

1.C. Changes in Performance Characteristics There have been no changes in performance characteristics related to reactor safety in the last year.

1.D. Changes in Operating Procedures There were no changes in operating procedures related to reactor safety in the last year. 10 CFR 50.59 changes are described in Section 5.B of this report.

2. Energy Generated and Hours of Use Kilowatt-Hours of Operation: 81,389.3 kW-hr Hours of Utilization: 478.5 hr
3. Safety Related Maintenance and Inspections All TS-required maintenance and surveillance activities were completed within the required time frames, and other system maintenance activities were performed as needed. No effects on the safe operation of the reactor were observed. The safety-related maintenance activities from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 are summarized below.
1) Planned replacement of the bias voltage supplies for the in-pool detectors following a modification to allow the supplies to have a consistent full-scale proportional output voltage.
2) Unplanned replacement of a relay in the Level Safety B module following an unplanned shutdown indicating LSB signal loss.
3) Unplanned lubrication of the ACME screw on Shim Safety #2 to prevent an intermittent squealing noise during shutdown.
4) Unplanned replacement of the wall-wart power supplies in the magnet current display module for S5#2 and 55#3 to correct A/C bleed-through behavior.
5) Unplanned swap of the HIGH POWER / NO PUMPS input cable to an identical circuit to compensate for a bad relay. The bad relay was marked to ensure it will no longer be used.
6) Planned modification to the LSA and LSB scram setpoints to make them more conservative.
7) Planned replacement of the magnet current display module with a new module with identical functionality.
8) Planned replacement of the compensating voltage supplies for the linear and log channels with a new module that provides an independent compensating voltage for each channel.
9) Unplanned swap of the bias supply for UIC 1 to correct noisy output voltage that had the potential to cause low-bias voltage scrams.

OSURR Annual Report Page 6 of 11 Sep 2023 *

  • 4. Unscheduled Shutdowns From July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, there were five unplanned shutdowns that are summarized below.

Reason Corrective Action Level Safety B signal loss scram (1) Replaced a failed relay in the LSB module Linear level scram due to operator error; failure to index (1) None required the linear electrometer Period safety scram due to noise on the log channel (3) None required

5. Changes in Facility and Procedures in Accordance with 10 CFR 50.59 5.A. Facility Modifications During the period July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, six OSURR Modification Requests were completed:
1) In-pool detectors bias voltage.supply replacements
2) Makeup and process systems upgrades
3) Linear channel remote meter replacement
4) Magnet current display module replacement
5) CICs compensating voltages replacement module
6) TBF east gate addition
  • All the modifications screened out of 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation per Procedure AP-16, 50.59 Screening and Evaluation.

5.B. Procedure changes The following is a list of procedure changes made under 10 CFR 50.59 from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, in accordance with Administrative Procedure AP-06, Format for Writing, Revising, and Approving Procedures.

Procedure Procedure Revision Number Title Date OM-08 Reactor Operation Logbook Records 06/05/23 OM-16 Power Calibration 05/31/23 OM-17 Thermal Beam Facility Use 10/11/22 OM-18 Fast Beam Facility Use 10/11/22 IM-01 Scram Checks 05/19/23 IM-02 Adjusting Meter Zeros 05/26/23 IM-03 Pre-Startup Checkout 05/18/23 IM-05 Core Reactivity Data 05/30/23 IM-06 Low Startup Count Rate Scram Bypass 04/18/23 IM-07 Rod Parameter Testing 05/22/23 IM-12 Reactor Instrumentation Calibration 05/23/23 RS-03 Effluent Monitor Calibration 05/26/23 RS-17 Ar-41 Release Calculation 05/22/23 OSURR Annual Report Page 7 of 11 Sep 2023

All the procedure changes screened out of 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation per Procedure AP-16, 50.59 Screening and Evaluation.

6. Radioactive Effluents 6.A. Gaseous Effluent The only gaseous effluent releases made from operation of the OSURR are Ar-41 releases from activation of the naturally occurring noble gas Ar-40. For the period July 1 - December 31, 2022, Ar-41 releases measured 2.4% of the annual average concentrat.ion limit. From January 1 - June 30, 2023, releases measured 1.6% of the annual average concentration limit. In accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 20.llOl(d); the COM PLY code was run using the total Ar-41 release of 201 mCi for the period July 1, 2022

- June 30, 2023. Using level 2 in the code, the effective dose equivalent rate at the facility fence was computed to be 0.1 mrem/yr. This is well below the 10 mrem/yr constraint specified in the regulation.

Any other releases were reported under the university's license with the state of Ohio.

6.B. Liquid Releases Hot sink releases are recorded and reported through the OSU Office of Radiation Safety. No releases were made from operation of the OSURR, and other releases were reported under the university's license with the state of Ohio.

6.C. Solid Releases No releases of solid radioactive material were made to the uncontrolled environment.

OSURR Annual Report Page 8 of 11 Sep 2023 *

  • 7. Radiation Exposures Since the firm that maintains records for The Ohio State University keeps a year-to-date record, it is simpler to report radiation exposure records by the nearest completed calendar year. Therefore, dosimetry badge exposures in this report are for the period January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

Twenty-two individuals were monitored as radiation workers during this period, and the measured dose equivalent values are tabulated below in mrem.

Individual Dose Equivalent (mrem)

ODE LOE SOE, WB SDE, ME Visitors 0 0 0 n/a Staff member #1 60 63 85 538 Staff member #2 45 45 45 80 Staff member #3 121 122 248 268 Staff member#4 0 0 4 27 Staff member #5 45 48 114 173 Staff member #6 17 23 30 n/a Staff member #7 60 62 64 n/a Staff member#8 22 26 31 23 Faculty member #1 137 139 141 189 Student #1 417 426 430 279 Student #2 177 178 179 20 Student #3 27 30 33 26 Student #4 39 44 47 43 Student #5 0 0 0 0 Student #6 0 0 2 0 Student #7 2 2 8 0 Student #8 4 6 8 0 Student #9 0 0 1 0 Student#lO 8 14 21 192 Student#ll 38 38 39 21 Student #12 3 3 4 220 Visiting Scientist #1 0 0 0 0

  • OSURR Annual Report Page 9 of 11 Sep 2023

COMPLY: Vl.7.

40 CFR Part 61 7/3/2023 10:41 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE CLEAN AIR ACT LIMITS FOR RADIONUCLIDE EMISSIONS FROM THE COMPLY CODE - Vl.7.

Prepared by:

Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Lab Columbus, OH Andrew Kauffman 614-688-8220 Prepared for:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Radiation and Indoor Air Washington, DC 20460 OSURR Annual Report Page 10 of 11 Sep 2023 *

  • COMPLY: Vl.7.

OSU NRL FY2023 7/3/2023 10:41 SCREENING LEVEL 2 DATA ENTERED:

Release Rate Nuclide (curies/YEAR)

AR-41 2.007E-01 Release height 10 meters.

Building height 11 meters.

The source and receptor are not on the same building.

Distance from the source to the receptor is 15 meters .

  • Building width 25 meters.

Default mean wind speed used (2.0 m/sec).

NOTES:

Input parameters outside the "normal" range:

None.

RESULTS:

Effective dose equivalent: 0.1 mrem/yr.

      • Comply at level 2.

This facility is in COMPLIANCE.

It may or may not be EXEMPT from reporting to the EPA.

You may contact your regional EPA office for more information.

                    • OF COMPLIANCE REPORT**********

END OSURR Annual Report Page 11 of 11 Sep 2023

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