ML24262A221
| ML24262A221 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Wisconsin |
| Issue date: | 09/13/2024 |
| From: | Agasie R Univ of Wisconsin |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML24262A221 (1) | |
Text
Nuclear Reactor Laboratory
- UWNR University of Wisconsin-Madison 1513 University Avenue, Room 1215 ME, Madison, WI 53706-1687, Tel: (608) 262-3392, FAX : (608) 262-8590 email : reactor@engr.wisc.edu, http://reactor.engr.wisc.edu
License R-74 Docket 50-156
September 13, 2024
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN : *Document Control Desk Washington, D. C. 20555
Enclosed is a copy of t he 2023 - 2024 Annual Report for the University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor Laboratory as required by Technical Specification 6. 7. 1(1).
Sincerely,
Rf};;. sie Reactor Director
Enc. (Annual Report)
cc : Compliance Inspector, Craig Bassett Facility Project Manager, Paulette Torres Reactor Safety Committee, RSC 1546 I'
I I
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN NUCLEAR REACTOR LABORATORY
FISCAL YEAR 2023 - 2024 ANNUAL OPERATING REPORT
Prepared to meet reporting requirements of:
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission License R-74 Docket 50 - 156 Technical Specification 6. 7. 1(1 _)
Prepared by:
Robert J. Agasie College of Engineering
ef*THE UNIV E RSITY ----
WISCONSIN MADISON UWNR ANNUAL REPORT - Fi s cal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 1 of 13
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A.
SUMMARY
OF OPERAT I ONS..................................... 2
1. INST RUCTIONA L USE.................................... 2
2. OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY SERVICE....................... 3
3. IRRADIATION SERVIC E S................................. 4
4. CHANGES IN PERSONNEL, FACILITY AND PROCEDURES........ 6
5. RESULTS OF SURVEILLANCE TESTS AND INSPECTIONS........ 6
B. OP E RATING STATIS TI CS AND FUEL EXPOSURE.................... 7
C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS................ 7
D. MAINTENANCE............................................... 8
E. CHANGES I N THE FACILITY OR PROCEDURES AND EXPERIMENTS REPORTABLE UNDER 10 CFR 50.59............................. 9
F. S UMMARY OF RADIA TI ON EX P OSURE OF PERSONNEL................ 9
G. RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEYS.................. ~...... 10
H. RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS.................................... 10
TABLE 1 ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING DOSE DATA........... 11
TABLE 2 LIQUID RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISCHARGED TO SEWER........ 12
TABLE 3 EFFL UENT FROM STACK................................. 1 3 UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 2 of 13
A.
SUMMARY
OF OPERATIONS
1. INSTRUCTIONAL USE
Nuclear Engineering (NE) 231, "Introduction to Nuclear Engineering " was offered in the spr i ng semester with an enrollment of 36 studen t s. The course incorporates an engineer i ng design challenge utilizing the reactor. The students designed, manufactured, and tested a light sensitive detector to measure the Cherenkov radiation e mi t ted f rom the reactor. The students then determined how th at dat a correlated with the actual reactor power level.
Sixteen stud~nts participated in NE 234, "Principles and Practice of Nuclear Reactor Operation " during the fall s emester. This course us e s t he reactor extensively, over
+00 hours of reactor use specifically for training were required to provide this operating experience.
Th ree sections of NE 427, " Nuclear Instrumen t ation Laboratory ", were offered during the academic year wi t h a total enrollment of 27 students. Several NE 427 experiments use material s that are activated in the reactor. One experiment requires students to make measurements of r adiat i o n l evels in the Reactor Laboratory.
Two sections of NE 428, " Nuclear Reactor Laboratory ", were offered during the academic year with a total enrollment of 18 students. Three experiments require exclusive use of t h e reactor ( " Crit i cal Experiment ", " Control Element Calibration ", and " Puls i ng " ) requiring a total of 18 hours2.083333e-4 days <br />0.005 hours <br />2.97619e-5 weeks <br />6.849e-6 months <br /> of exclusive reactor use. Other laboratory sessions use materials that have been irradiated in the reactor ("Fast Neu t ron Flu x Mea s urements " and " Resonance Absorption " ).
Individual class sections for NE 305, "Fundamentals of Nuclear Engineering " and NE 565, "Power Plant Technology",
were held at the Reactor Laboratory, with 23 student s par t icipa t ing.
The Reactor Laboratory continues its commitment to educational outreach programs and community s ervice. A listing of individual schools and educational programs that received service s is provided below in section A. 2 of this report.
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fi s cal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 3 of 13
2. OUTREACH AND CO MMUNITY SERVICE
Most outreach activities include a reactor tour with a discussion on applications of nuclear energy and uses of the UW nuclear reactor. More immersive activities are offered when requested, including hands - on demonstrations of radiation detection and shielding. Service 9 provided to the community typically involve analyzing swipe tests for leak checks of radioactive sources and performed detector calibrations for non profit educational ins t itutions.
K - 12 Educationa1 Programs
Participating Organization No. of Participants Abundant Life Christian High School 34 Badger Summer Pre - College Program 23 BECOME Program 17 Boy Scout s of America 289 ProCSI: Promoting. Computational Science Initiative 45
Post Secondary Educationa1 Programs
Participating Organization No. of Participants UW NEEP Department Grad Student Recruitment Program 16 UW - Oshkosh Office of International Education 23 WiscProf : Future Faculty in Engineering Workshop 4
Professiona1 Deve1opment Programs
Participating Organization No. of Participants Constellation Energy ; Dresden Generating Station 4 SHINE 9 U. S. Legislature - Wisconsin Delegation 11 UW Chemistry Department 14 UW Computer Aided Engineering Department 6 UW FP&M Safety Symposium 16 UW Foundation 11 UW Libraries 20 UW Mechanical Engineering Department 13 UW NEEP Department 9 Young Presidents Organization 26 UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 4 of 13
Community Outreach
Participating Group No. of Participants UW Alumni Tour 2
Community Service
Participating Institution Beloit College UW-Whitewater Department of Physics
OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY SERVICE USER
SUMMARY
Organizations: 22 Participants : 592
- 3. IRRADIATION SERVICES
There were 246 individual samples irradiated during the year. Samples accumulated 52. 9 irradiation space hours and 250. 3 sample hours. Experiments accumulated 3.0 hours0 days <br />0 hours <br />0 weeks <br />0 months <br /> of neutron irradiation.
American Indian & Indigenous Studies, UW-Madison 31 samples, *1 7. 1 sample hours NAA characterizing water samples to support research on water quality for Native American tribes.
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, UW-Madison 7 samples, 28. 0 sample hours Neutron irradiation to create ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond supporting research to develop ultra sensitive magnetometry.
Department of Medical Physics, UW-Madison 6 samples, 2. 5 sample hours Irradiation of natural gadolinium for the production and isolation of terbium-161 for preclinical development of a next generation metastatic prostate cancer targeted radionuclide therapy agent.
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 5 of 13
Department of Nuclear Engineeri n g & E n gi n eering Ph ysics,
UW-Madison NE 231 3.0 hours0 days <br />0 hours <br />0 weeks <br />0 months <br /> of neutron irradiation Following a course redesigned to incorporate an engineering design challenge utilizing the reactor, students designed,
manufactured, and tested a light-sensitive detector to measure the Cherenkov radiation emitted from the reactor while operating. The students correlated the detector data to the actual reactor power level.
Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engi n eering Physics,
UW-Madison NE 427 88 samples, 102. 4 sample hours Production of foil sources for radiation detector experiments and activation of samples for the neutron activation analysis experiment.
Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engineeri n g Physics,
UW-Madison NE 428 24 samples, 18.0 sample hours Irradiation of foils for resonance absorption measurements and fast neutron flux measurements.
UW Nuclear Reactor Laboratory 5 samples, 1.4 sample hours Production of ca l ibration sources for required reactor measurements, flux measurements and development of methods for instrumental neutron activation analysis.
University of Colorado, Anschutz Medica l Campus 26 samples, 52. 0 sample hours Irradiation of yttrium patches to produce Y-90 for preclinical development of superficial skin cancer therapies.
Helion Energy 18 samples, 18. 9 sample hours NAA characterizing HDPE samples.
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Page 6 of 13
ManTech 21 samples, 2.1 sample hours NAA characterizing environmental samples.
Northstar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC 1 sample, 5.0 sample hours Irradiation of radiopharmaceutical samples to refine production techniques.
SHINE Medical Technologies 3 samples, 1. 3 sample ho u rs Irradiation of radiopharmaceutical samples to refine production techniques.
4. CHANGES IN PERSONNEL, FACILITY AND PROCEDURES
Personnel changes during the year were as follows:
The following Reactor Operator Licenses were terminated :
Name License Effective Date Jason J. Rusch OP - 504405 March 27, 2024 Andrea Strzelec OP-504877 March 27, 2024
Fac i lity change s reportable under 10 CFR 50.59 are detailed in section E of this report. Th ere were no other changes to the facility duririg the year.
All procedures were reviewed with the proposed revision approved by the Reactor Safety Committee. No changes to operating procedures related to reactor safety occurred during the year.
5. RESULTS OF SURVEILLANCE TESTS AND INSPECTIONS
The program of inspection and testing of reactor components continues, satisfactorily meeting procedural acceptance criteria. Inspection of underwater components during the annual maintenance showed no deterioration or abnormal wear.
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 7 of 13
Th e pool leak su r veillance program continues to monitor the pool make - up vo l ume and pool water radioactivity. The pool leak surveillance program indicated that no water effluent had been released to the environment this year.
B. OPERATING STATISTICS AND FUEL EXPOSURE
Operating Period Critical MW - Hours Runs Pulses Hours Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 193. 72 88. 29 187 31 Cumulative TRIGA 30/20 LEU 4, 432. 78 2, 878. 68 2, 107 467
Core K21 - R6 was operated throughout the year. The excess reactivity of thi s core was determined to be 3.892%p.
C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS
There were three automatic SCRAMS during the year. Each is described below in chronological sequence.
October 27, 2023 ; SCRAM from picoammeter number 2. while performing a nor mal reactor startup, a reactor operator trainee inadverte n tly upranged picoa mm eter number 2 two ranges and immed i a t ely down ranged in an attempt to correc t but accidentally down ranged two ranges. By this t i me reactor power had reached the trip setpoint on the original range. As a re s ult, a reactor SCRAM from a neutron high flux trip at 125% on the 100 mW range occurred.
December 21, 2023; SCRAM from loss of alternating current.
During routine op e rations at f u ll power, the Mechanical Engineering building s u ffered a momentary loss of power.
As a resu l t, a reactor SCRAM from loss of alternating cur r ent occ u rred.
Apri l 29, 2024 ; SCRAM from picoammeter number 2. While performing a normal reactor startup, a reactor operator trainee inadvertently selected the transient rod withdrawal.
switch when intending to insert the rod. When the trainee UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Page 8 of 13
observed increasing reactor power following the positive reactivity insertion, they intended to insert negative reactivity to terminate the transient. However, the trainee still believed they were manipulating the insert switch while they remained on the withdraw switch. The subsequent additional positive reactivity continued to increase reactor power. As a result, a reactor SCRAM from a neutron high flux trip at 125 % on the lkW range occurred.
D. MAINTENANCE
The Preventive* Maintenance Program continues to maintain equipment and systems in good condition. Routine demineralizer regeneration occurred on December 14, 2023.
Any corrective maintenance that may have been performed as a follow up action necessary for reactor restart following an emergency shutdown or automatic SCRAM would be covered in section C of this report. Additional corrective maintenance was performed on the following installed systems, structures, and components (SSC ) as described in the Safety Analysis Report (SAR):
On July 7, 2023, the reactor water clean-up system (demineralizer) flow meter display was found to be nonfunctional. Troubleshooting revealed the display failed. The display was replaced with an identical spare.
On July 10, 2023, the reactor ventilation exhaust flow meter display was found to be nonfunctional.
Troubleshooting revealed the flow monitoring station
- failed. The flow monitoring station was replaced with an identical spare.
As a result of spurious trips of the reactor ventilation exhaust fan, EF-7, despite previous follow up corrective maintenance, it was decided to replac~ the fan motor on September 29, 2023, to prevent future trips.
In May 2024, the pneumatic sample transfer system's sample in station sensor was behaving erratically.
Troubleshooting revealed the infrared beam reflector had become misaligned. The reflector was realigned. The system was tested and returned to service.
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 9 of 13
E. CHANGES IN T HE FACILITY OR PROCEDURES AND EXPERI MENT S REPORTABLE UNDER 10 CFR 50. 59
There was one change to the facility, reportable pursuant to 1 0 CFR 50. 59, completed during the year. The safety evaluation for the modification concluded a license amendment pursuant to 10 CFR 50.90 was not required. The modification is summarized below.
The fuel temperat u re safety channel, 19Ml, operated with an Omega brand DP81 thermocouple process instr u ment. The instrument was no longer sold nor supported by Omega and the membrane sty l e keys on its front as we l l as the ribbon cab l e inside were beginning to wear out. The monitor was rep l aced with a functionally identical but newer model Omega brand DP41 - TC thermocouple process instrument. There were no required changes to the Safety Analysis Report (SAR).
There were no changes to procedures, reportab l e pursuant to 10 CFR 50. 59, comp l eted during the year.
There were no new experiments, reportable pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59, conducted during the year.
F. SUMMAR Y OF RADIATION EXPOSURE OF PE RSONNEL (01/01/23 - 12/31/23)
The personnel radiation monitoring program at the Un i versity of Wisconsin for the past calendar year used Landauer Luxel brand monitors for whole body and extremity exposure. No personnel received any significant radiation exposure for the above period. The highest annual whole body doses recorded were 41 mrem deep dose equivalen t (DDE) and 57 mrem sha l low dose equivalent (SDE). The highest annual extremity dose was 72 mrem and the highest annual dose to t h e lens of the eye was 48 mrem.
The highest dose received by a member of the public visiting the reactor lab was 0. 18 mrem, as measured by Mirian brand, model DMC 3000 electronic personal dosimeters.
UWNR AN NUA L REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 10 of 1 3
Monthly r adiation surveys continue to demonstrate acceptable radi a tion dose rates within the reactor laboratory and no contamination.
G. RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEYS
( 01/01/23 - 1 2/31/23)
The environmenta l moni t oring program at the University uses Landauer Luxel brand area monitors located in areas s u rrounding the reactor l aboratory. Table 1 indicates the dose a person would have received if continuously present in the indicated area for the entire 2023 calendar year.
H. RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
1. LIQUID EFFLUENTS
Liquid waste discharged to the sanitary sewer from the facility during the year is detailed in Table 2.
No l iqu i d eff l uents were released to the environment during the year.
2. EX HAUS T EFFLUENTS
Table 3 presents informa t ion on stack discharges during the year.
3. SOLID WASTE
No solid waste was transferred from the faci l ity during the year.
UWNR ANNUAL RE PORT - Fiscal Year 2Q23 - 2024 Page 11 of 13
TABLE 1 ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING DOSE DATA (01/01/23 - 12/31/23)
Locat i on Ann u al Dose (mrem )
Dose Inside Reac t or Laborat~ry Stack <1
Hi ghest Dose in Non - restricted Area 13
Highest Dose in Occup i ed* Non - restricted 13 Area
Average Dose in all No n -res t ricted Areas 2. 17 (26 Monitor Points)
- Occupied areas i nclude classrooms, offices, and lobbies/meeting areas where an individual might reasonably spe n d more than 2 hour2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> s per day
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Page 12 of 13
TABLE 2 LIQUID RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISCHARGED TO SEWER
Release Date: 12/05/2023 Gallons Released: 884 Total µCi : *8. 22 Sum of Fraction of MPC w/o dilution: 4. 919E-02 Sum of Fraction of MPC w/ daily dilution: l. 829E - 03
MPC Isotope (µCi/ml) Released Co - 58 2. 00E - 04 9. 939E - 01, µCi 2. 970E - 07 µCi/ml 1.485E - 03 Fraction of MPC Co - 60 3. 00E - 05 4. 518E+00 µCi 1.350E - 06 µCi/ml 4.S00E-02 Fraction of MPC
Mn - 54 3.00E - 04 2.711E+00 µCi 8.l0OE - 07 µCi/ml 2. 700E-03 Fraction of MPC
Annual total volume of water released to the sani t ary sewer (gallons) 884 Annual total activity released to the sanitary sewer (µCi) 8.22 Average daily sewage flow for dilution (gallons) 2.370E+04 Annual sum of fraction of MONTHLY release limit with DAILY dilution l.829E-03 Annual sum of fraction of MONTHLY release limit with MONTHLY dilution 6.008E - 05
UWNR ANNUAL REPORT-Fi s cal Year 2023 - 2024 Page 13 of 13
TABLE 3 EFFLUENT FROM STACK
1. Particulate Activ i ty
There was no di s charge of particulate activity above background levels.
2. Gaseous Activity - Al l Argon - 41
Activity Maximum Average Month oi *scharged Concentration Concentrat i on (Curies) (µCi/ml) (µCi/ml)
July 2023 0. 009 3.370E - 07 5. 545E - 10 August 0. 055 6. 840E - 07 3. 339E - 09
r September 0. 058 4. 760E - 07 3. 658E - 09 October 0. 563 4. ll0E - 07 3. 410E - 08 November 0. 043 4. 320E - 07 2. 738E - 09 December 0. 038 3. 570E - 07 2.312E - 09 January 2024 0.035 2. 840E - 07 2. 160E - 09 February 0. 060 3. 840E - 07 3. 961E - 09 March 0. 059 7. 410E - 07 3. 652E-09 April 0. 068 4.350 E- 07 4. 380E - 09 May 0. 021 5. 810E - 07 1. 306 E- 09 June 0. 0 1 9 3. 250E - 07 1.201E - 09
Total Maximum Average 1.028 7. 410E - 07 5. 281E - 09
Us ing the Gauss i an Plume model, as de s cribed in sec t ion 13.1. 7. 2 of the " S a fe t y Analysis Report for the University of Wiscons i n Nuc l ear Reactor ", a concentration of 6E - 5
µCi/ml at the stack discharge would result in a maximum air concentration of lE - 8 µCi/ml at any point downwind.