ML25356A093
| ML25356A093 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pennsylvania State University |
| Issue date: | 12/22/2025 |
| From: | Geuther J Pennsylvania State Univ |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Document Control Desk |
| References | |
| Download: ML25356A093 (0) | |
Text
College of Engineering An Equal Opportunity University The Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering Radiation Science and Engineering Center Phone: 814-865-6351 Breazeale Nuclear Reactor Fax: 814-863-4840 University Park, PA 16802-2301 22 December 2025 Attention: Document Control Desk US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 To Whom It May Concern, Enclosed please find the Annual Operating Report for the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR) located at the Radiation Science and Engineering Center. This report covers the period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, 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 report.
Sincerely, Jeffrey A. Geuther, Ph.D.
Acting Director Associate Director for Operations PSU Radiation Science and Engineering Center 109 Breazeale Nuclear Reactor University Park, PA 16802
Enclosure:
Annual Operating Report, FY24-25 cc:
A. Read E. Donnell T. Peeples C. Davison A. Wilmot B. Lin, NRC M. Balazik, NRC J. Lovett, NRC D. Morrell, INL
Penn State Breazeale Reactor Annual Operating Report, FY 2024 - 2025 License R-2, Docket 50-005 Reactor Utilization The Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC) houses the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR), a TRIGA 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 RSECs 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 installation and testing of a cold neutron source and the completion of most of the Small Angle Neutron Spectrometer (SANS).
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 reactor instrumentation testing, neutron and gamma ray detection, neutron activation analysis, neutron depth profiling, and neutron imaging applications. The SANS is expected to increase the demand for Breazeale reactor operations. This increase in demand will increase urgency both for new fuel to be provide to PSU from DOE and for spent fuel disposal.
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 nations 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 necessary 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, 2024 and June 30, 2025, the PSBR was utilized as follows.
Mode of Operation Time [hours]
Hours per Shift Critical 792.4 2.9 Sub-Critical 231.0 0.9 Shutdown 454.8 1.7 TOTAL 1478.2 5.5 The reactor was pulsed a total of 130 times with the following reactivities:
Reactivity Number of Pulses
<$2.00 52
$2.00 to $2.50 74
> $2.50 4
TOTAL 130 The square wave mode was used a total of 32 times to operate the reactor with power levels between approximately 100 and 500 kilowatts. The total energy produced during this reporting period was 434.7 MWh, corresponding to the consumption of approximately 14.7 g of 235U. This fiscal year had a significantly higher burnup than the previous reporting period. However, the facility still anticipates an increase in burnup due to SANS use when the SANS facility is fully commissioned.
Technical Specification 6.6.1.b - Unscheduled Shutdowns There were no unscheduled shutdowns and unplanned reactor trips occurred during the reporting period. Reactor trips with the key on but the reactor in a subcritical state, such as a reactor trip during the daily checkout procedure, are not included.
During the previous reporting period there were three reactor high power scrams thought to be caused by noise internal to the wide-range channel. The facility has continued attempts to troubleshoot and repair this issue, which at times have resulted in scrams during testing. Funding has been received through a DOE NEUP grant to replace the wide range channel, and this should resolve the issue. Operations are currently administratively restricted to 950 kW in steady state mode to avoid unplanned scrams due to the noise in the wide range channel.
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 2024-07 8/9/24 Adjustments made to regulating and shim rod drives to improve coupling and engage regulating rod drive end of travel indicator AP-13 2024-08 8/20/24 Shim and safety rod drive motion impeded due to swelling of polymer bushings in draw tubes AP-13 2024-09 9/23/24 Transient rod shock absorber repair AP-13 2024-10 9/23/24 Transient rod drive Teflon piston ring replacement AP-13 2024-11 10/1/24 Console blower motor replacement AP-13 2024-12 10/9/24 Fission chamber high power trip test AP-13 2025-01 4/30/25 Repair of phone line controlling secondary heat exchanger pump remote ON/OFF function AP-13 2025-02 6/26/25 Investigation of low reading on heat exchanger differential pressure value on control console relative to local sensor.
Technical Specification 6.6.1.d - Major Changes Reportable Under 10 CFR 50.59 Facility changes are processed via procedure AP-12. From July 2024 - June 2025, no changes requiring a 10CFR50.59 review were completed. Records are maintained for minor changes which did not screen in to a 50.59 review; these are available for review upon request.
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 report under 10CFR50.59.
New Tests and Experiments The tests / experiments performed at the RSEC during FY2024-2025 did not require 10CFR50.59 evaluation or reporting.
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 reporting 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 Unless otherwise noted gaseous releases were less than 10% of the allowed concentrations and do not require a specific report.
Argon-41 (41Ar)
Gaseous effluent 41Ar is generated from dissolved air in the reactor pool water, air in dry irradiation tubes, air in neutron beam ports, and air leakage to and from the CO2-operated pneumatic sample transfer system (i.e., rabbit). The amount of 41Ar 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 41Ar 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.
The annual report of 41Ar release is routinely calculated as follows. All power operations are assumed to take place at the Fast Neutron Irradiator (FNI) Tube, which has historically been the location of the greatest 41Ar production and release. This calculation method includes direct release from the pool in addition to release from the FNI. The FNI has a nominal inner diameter of 10 inches, and holds air at atmospheric pressure, but has some thermal neutron shielding which hardens the neutron spectrum. During the current reporting period, there was an experiment which used two 8-diameter dry tubes with no thermal neutron filtration.
This experiment was therefore unusual in that it had the potential to create a greater concentration of radioactive argon gas than operating at the FNI. Therefore, in this reporting period the argon calculation considers the 125.0 MWh of dual irradiator use separately from the remainder of the years operations (309.7 MWh), for which the standard methodology was applied.
For 41Ar, the maximum permissible concentration in the unrestricted area is 1.0x 10-8 Ci/mL. For FY2024-2025, a quantity of 1258 mCi of 41Ar was produced for the 309.7 MWh of total energy produced by the reactor when not operating using the dual irradiator. An additional 26.6 Ci of 41Ar was produced during the 125 MWh of operation at the dual irradiator. Note that for the dual irradiator calculation it was assumed that the tubes were
full of air, while in practice much of the irradiation volume was occupied by an experiment which would have displaced gaseous argon / air and reduced the production of Ar-41. The dual irradiator was also sealed with plastic and duct tape during use. However, for both the dual irradiator and standard calculation, it is assumed that that none of the argon decays in place before release. Based on this assumption, the total argon-41 release during the reporting period represents 44.5% of the annual limit.
Tritium (3H)
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 FY2024-2025 was 10456 gallons, or 128 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 29501 pCi / L (averaged between July, 2024 - June, 2025), the total tritium activity released through ventilation would be ~1168 Ci. A dilution of factor of 2.0 x 108 mL / sec was used to calculate that unrestricted area concentration. This is from 200 m2 (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 Report.
Parameter Value Units Tritium released 1168 Ci Average concentration, unrestricted area 1.85 x 10-13 Ci / mL Permissible concentration, unrestricted area 1.00 x 10-7 Ci / mL Percentage of permissible concentration 0.00018 Calculated effected dose equivalent, unrestricted area
~9 x 10-5 mrem 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 deep dose equivalent, for the current reporting period. All of the measured dose values were zero mrem with the exception of an outlier of 32 mrem reported for the east fence during the first quarter of 2025.
Quarter North Fence South Central Fence South SANS Fence North East Fence South Fence East Fence West Fence Childcare 2024 Q3 0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
0
[mrem]
2024 Q4 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 2025 Q1 0
0 0
0 0
32 0
0 2025 Q2 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0