RCF 22-01, Calendar Year (Cy) 2021 Operations Report of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Reactor Critical Facility (RCF)

Calendar Year (Cy) 2021 Operations Report of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Reactor Critical Facility (RCF)

ML22060A008
Person / Time
Site:	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Issue date:	02/28/2022
From:	Ji W Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
RCF 22-01
Download: ML22060A008 (2)

Text

RCF 22-01 Feb 28, 2022 ATTN: Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Re: Operations Report for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Reactor Critical Facility, NRC License CX-22, Docket Number 50-225.

To Whom It May Concern:

This document constitutes the calendar year (CY) 2021 Operations Report of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Reactor Critical Facility (RCF) to the USNRC, and to Rensselaer management.

The RCF was operated successfully during CY2021. The facility staff maintained three Senior Reactor Operators with staffing changes planned for the coming year. On January 1st, 2022, Mr.

Peter Kowal will replace Dr. Jason Thompson as the RCF Operations Supervisor. Dr. Jason Thompson will continue as a Senior Reactor Operator at the facility. On October 25th, 2021, Ms.

Ginger Caravalho was appointed as the new Radiation Safety Officer.

A licensing amendment, denoting the revised exclusion zone and restricted zone boundaries of the RCF, was issued on September 28th, 2021. The appropriate changes have been made to the RCF license and technical specifications.

A NRC inspection was performed in October 2021. NRC findings and the RPI response have been reported in other correspondence.

Training and proficiency requirements for all licensed operators have been reviewed and are current. The Technical Specifications, App. A to USNRC License CX-22 require reporting the following operational items:

1. Changes to facility design: No changes to the facility were made during CY2021.

2. Significant maintenance, repairs or other work performed on RCF systems: None.

3. Changes in operating procedures which relate to the safety of RCF operations: None.

4. Surveillance checks, tests, and calibrations were conducted and logged as required. The results were satisfactory. On September 11th, 2021, an emergency preparedness drill was conducted at the RCF.

5. Changes, tests or experiments requiring authorization from the USNRC under 10CFR50.59 a or b: None

6. Calculated integrated thermal power: Approximately 1.92 x 10-2 kw-hr for all of 2021.

7. There were no unplanned scrams in the report interval.

8. Maintenance operations were carried out and logged with satisfactory results.

9. There were no discharges of radioactive effluents.

10. Environmental monitor dosimetry is performed at the exclusion area fence (EM1 through EM4), and at the site boundary fence (EM5 and EM6). These results have not been received and RPI will resubmit this report once these results have been received.

11. Facility personnel exposures were all less than 10 mrem (the minimum detectable exposure) for the first three quarters of 2021 with the exception of one SRO receiving a dose of 17 mrem in quarter three. Results of the fourth quarter have not been received and RPI will resubmit this report once these results have been received.

Sincerely, Dr. Wei Ji, Facility Director School of Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute cc:

Dr. Shekhar Garde, Dean, School of Engineering Dr. Suvranu De, Head, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Dr. Hyun Kang, NSRB Chair Ms. Ginger Caravalho, RPI Radiation Safety Officer Mr. Peter Kowal, Reactor Critical Facility (RCF) Operations Supervisor