ML25079A047
| ML25079A047 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Maryland |
| Issue date: | 03/05/2025 |
| From: | Andrea Johnson Univ of Maryland - College Park |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML25079A047 (1) | |
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March 5, 2025 Document Control Desk US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington D.C. 20555-0001 Amber S. Johnson Director, Radiation Facilities 4418 Stadium Drive College Park, Maryland 20742 301-405-7756 TEL ajohns37@umd.edu radiation.umd.edu RE: Annual Report for the Maryland University Training Reactor (MUTR), License No. R-70 Enclosed please find the University of Maryland's Annual Report for the period beginning January 1, 2024 and ending December 31, 2024 for the MUTR, License No. R-70.
Sincerely, (4_, ~ (Jok-Amber S. Johnson Director, Nuclear Reactor and Radiation Facilities
18 56 Annual Operating Report:
January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024 MUTR Technical Specification 6.7.1 License No. R-70, Docket No. 50-166 A. James Clark School of Engineering Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 1
Introduction The Maryland University Training Reactor (MUTR) is an open-pool type, TRJGA conversion reactor licensed for operation at 250 kW of thermal power.
The reactor is one of the primary components of the University of Maryland Radiation Facilities, part of the Department of Materials Science and Engi-neering in the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The Radiation Facilities also include an electron linac and a Co-60 panoramic irradiator. The MUTR is used for classes, operator training, outreach, neutron and gamma irradiations, neutron radiography, neutron activation analysis, and isotope production.
2 Reactor Usage and Operations Between January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, the MUTR operated 121 times, which are categorized as follows:
Operator Training and Requalification 11 Operations Tours and Outreach Activities 59 Operations Calibration, Maintenance, and Surveillance 35 Operations Experiments, Radiography, or Activations 16 Operations The total burnup was 0.29 grams of U-235 during this reporting period.
Reporting Period Energy Generated U-235 Burnup 2024 6.7 MWh 0.29g 2023 10.4 MWh 0.46g 2022 16.2 MWh 0.71g 2021 15.5 MWh 0.69g 2020 6.1 MWh 0.27g 3
Surveillance Tests and Inspections All surveillance tests and inspections were preformed at the intervals required by Technical Specification 4.0. No equipment or material failures were observed during surveillances, and no significant differences with from last year's surveil-lances were noted. The reactor excess reactivity was $0.65 and the shutdown margin was $3.65.
3.1 Maintenance Operations In addition to the above surveillance items, the following maintenance opera-tions were performed on the indicated dates:
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Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 4/30/2024 Added Position Indicators to Neutron Source controls 5/8/2024 Vacuumed Reactor Pool 6/11/2024 Sprinklers installed in Control Room and Water Room 6/11/2024 Replaced Shim 1 and Reg Rod Electromagnets, Replaced Reg Rod Up Limit Switch 6/18/2024 Added grounding to console fan power supply 7/24/2024 Replaced Shim 2 Electromagnet 8/23/2024 Reinstalled 3 Fuel Storage Buckets in the Pool 8/28/2024 Replaced Hold-up Tank Valves in Sump 10/17/2024 Replaced Makeup Deionizer Tank Head Additional minor maintenance was performed such as cleaning, replacement of consumables and small parts, and fine-tuning of equipment as necessary.
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Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 4
Changes to Facility and Ongoing Projects During this reporting period, one 50.59 Review was performed for an experiment on Neutron Detection With Gadolinium Containing Semiconductors. 50.59 Screenings were performed for:
- Addition of Source Position Indicator Lights
- Control Rod Drive Mechanism Upgrades
- Replacement of Primary and Makeup Deionizer Column Tank Heads
- New Tools and Parts for Fuel Bundle Rotation Project
- Replacement of In-Sump Valves 50.59 screenings were also performed for updates to procedures OPlO0: Control and Maintenance of Reactor Documents, OP101: Reactor Startup Checkout, OP102: Reactor Shutdown Checkout, OP103: Reactor Startup, OP104: Re-actor Operations, SP201: Control Rod Inspection, SP203: Control Rod Drop Time, SP209: Procedure for Control and Accounting for Special Nuclear Ma-terial, SP216: Fission Chamber 1 Count Per Second Interlock, and MP306:
Ion-Exchange Resin Exchange, as well as new procedures OP106: Requalifi-cation, and MP310: Use of Tools in the Reactor Pool, and the cancelation of procedure OP105: Experiments.
5 Environmental Surveys of Surrounding Areas Environmental surveys include the routine environmental dosimeter measure-ments at the facility perimeter and the remainder of the locations on campus.
Measurements at all points were well within the historical norms.
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Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 Environmental Survey Results for the Maryland University Training Reactor January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 MONITOR LOCATION DOSE ( MILLIREM) 2 308 m NE of MUTR 3
1.1 km SW of MUTR 4
758 m NW of MUTR 5
387 m SE of MUTR 6
North, side MUTR fence line 7
East, adjacent to MUTR and IRR 8
West, adjacent to MUTR 9
606 m S of MUTR 10 950 m W of MUTR 11 South, courtyard adjacent to MUTR 12 248 m NW of MUTR 13 External to MUTR Rollup Door North 0 14 External to MUTR Lower Entrance South aThis dosimeter is located inside of the MUTR fence and is not in a publicly accessible area ky:loc:atioftol.._.Of"f~f'ellllonllOMUfl
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Figure 1: Location of dosimeters and MUTR 10 0
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13 30 51 11 9
36 22 80 16 Page 4
Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 6
Radioactive Release and Discharge to the En-vironment 6.1 Liquid Effluents The Reactor Storage Sump was discharged 1 time during this reporting period and 145 microcuries of H-3 were released to the sewer in the water discharged.
All liquid effluents were well within concentration and activity limits for release to sewers 6.2 Gaseous Effluents The only gaseous release from the MUTR to the environment was Argon-41 pr<>-
duced from the activation of natural Argon dissolved in pool water and natural Argon present in air within the interstitial spaces of beams and ports. Argon-41 escapes from the pool and spaces into the MUTR reactor building and then leaks to areas outside the building.
For this reporting period the reactor was operated for 274.05 hours5.787037e-5 days <br />0.00139 hours <br />8.267196e-6 weeks <br />1.9025e-6 months <br /> and an estimated 38 millicuries of Ar-41 were released from the MUTR into the atm<>-
sphere.
7 Summary of Exposure Received by Facility Personnel and Visitors All MUTR personnel and visitors to the facility received radiation doses of less than 25% of the limits specified in 10 CFR Part 20.
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Maryland University Training Reactor Annual Operating Report, 2024 8
Unscheduled Shutdown/Reportable Occurrences During this reporting period, there was 1 Reportable Occurrence on 7/3/2024 when the Operator momentarily switched on the exhaust fans, causing a loss of confinement. This was reported to the NRC (EN-57207) on 7/3/2024 with the required follow-up report submitted on 7/16/2024. The Reactor Safety Com-mittee reviewed the event and the corrective actions taken at its 12/10/2024 meeting and the issue was closed.
During this reporting period, there were 3 unscheduled shutdowns:
- 7/26/2024, Run# 5386: Period Scram occurred while the reactor was subcritical with Shims 1 and 2 fully withdrawn, and the neutron source was inserted into the core to clear the Count Rate Interlock. No corrective actions were necessary.
- 8/9/2024, Run# 5392: Startup Checkout was aborted when the campus warning siren went off for a potential tornado warning. No corrective actions were necessary.
- 12/2/2024, Run# 5427: Manual Scram due to fire alarm in the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building. This was confirmed to be a false alarm.
No corrective actions were necessary.
9 Experiments One new experiment was approved during this reporting period to test Neutron Detection with Gadolinium Containing Semiconductors. Experiments continued using the MUTR Rabbit and Thermal Column to perform Neutron Activation Analysis, Neutron Imaging, Neutron Detector Testing, and Irradiations in ac-cordance with established procedures.
10 Changes in Facility Staff Dr. Ichiro Takeuchi replaced Dr. JC Zhao as the Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Level I Management for the MUTR).
1 Reactor Operator's license was upgraded to a Senior Reactor Operator's Li-cense.
1 Reactor Operator and 1 Senior Reactor Operator's licenses were terminated.
At the conclusion of the reporting period the MUTR had 3 SROs and 2 ROs.
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