ML19211C007

Reed College, Transmittal of Annual Report July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019

ML19211C007
Person / Time
Site:	Reed College
Issue date:	07/24/2019
From:	Krahenbuhl M Reed College
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML19211C007 (18)

Text

REED COLLEGE REACTOR FACILITY 3203 Southeast Woodstock Boulevard Portland, Oregon 97202-8199 July 24, 2019 telephone 503/777-7222 fax 503/777-7274 email reactor@reed.edu ATTN: Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission web Washington, DC 20555-0001 http://reactor.reed.edu Docket: 50-288 License No: R-112 Enclosed is the annual report for Reed College.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

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

Executed on Melinda Krahenbuhl, Ph.D.

Director, Reed Research Reactor Cc: Geoffrey A. Wertz, P.E.

Project Manager Research and Test Reactors U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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REED RESEARCH REACTOR ANNUAL REPORT July 1, 2018 -- June 30, 2019

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_3203 Southeast Woodstock Blvd.

Portland, Oregon 97202-8199

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503-777-7222 http:/!reactor.reed .edli reactor@reed.edu

J TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 1 People ........................................................ ~ ................................................................................. 2 Reactor Staff......................................................................................................................................... 2 Reactor Operations Committee (ROC) ....................................................................................... 4 Facilities ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Reactor Facili1:y ....*............................................................................................................................. 5 Rotating Specimen Rack Facility" ..........................................................................,........................ 5 Pneumatic Transfer System........................................................................................................... 5 lit -Core Facilities ................................................................................................................................ 5

• In-Pool Facilities .............................................. .-..*....................................................*.....~................... S Beam Facilities .................................................................................................................................... 5 Inspections and Audits ................................*................................................................... ~ ........ 6

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Users******************-:*************************************************************************************************************************

Reactor Operations Seminar ................................................................:........................................ 7 7

Outside Users ...................................................................................................................................... 8 High School Student Project ............................................................................................................ 8 Scaler Kits ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Reed Classes ...............................:...................................... ~ ..................... -.................... ~ ....................... 9

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Industrial and Commercial Applications .................................................................................. 9 Reactor Operatio~s *~******************************!'***************************************************************************** 10 Operations ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Unplanned ~eactor Shutdowns ................................................................................................... 11 Reactor Maintenance****************************************!****************************************~************************* 13 Significant Maintenance ............................................................................ ~ ................................... 13 Radiation Protection .*....*.......*.*....*....*......*..........*.......*.**.............*.....**********...............*..****. 14 Personnel Dosimetry .................................................................................................................... 14 Fixed Area Dosimetry ............................................................................................................*...... 14 Gaseous Releases ............................................................................................................................. 15 Liquid Waste Releases ........................................................................ ~ ......................................... 15 Solid Waste Disposal ................................................................................... ~ ................................. 15 Environmental Sampling ............................................................................................................. 15 Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 3

OVERVIEW This report covers the period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, and is intended to fulfill the reporting requirements of tp.e U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission License No. R-112, Docket 50-288, the l) .S. Department of Energy, and the Oregon Department of Energy Rule No. 345-030-010.

Reed College operates a 250 kW TRI GA Mark I reactor. The Reed College Research Reactor has been a resource for research and educational projects in the Portland area since 1968. The main uses of the Reed Research Reactor are instruction and research.

During the year there were 1297 visitors from schools, colleges, universities, and special groups. An additional 530 visitors came as part of a Reed sponsored activity (prospective students, family of students, Reed classes, etc.). Twenty-one members of emergency response organizations came for training. Including tours and research conducted at the facility, the Reed Research Reactor contributed to the educational programs of 25 institutions.

During the year the reactor was taken critical 365 times on 168 days. The total energy produced was 21.85 megawatt-hours.

The reactor staff consists of a Director, a Reactor Operations- Manager, Reed College undergraduate students who are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as reactor operators or senior reactor operators, and reactor technicians:.,During the reporting period, 12 RO candidates and 10 SRO candidates received NRC licenses after passing NRC exams administered in March and May of 2019.

There were no radiation exposures to individuals in excess of any limit during the year.

There were no releases of liquid radioactive material from the facility an,d airborne releases were well within regulatory limits. There was one shipment of low-level radioactive waste from the facility. '

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted two regular and one reactive inspection during this reporting period.

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PEOPLE Reactor Staff During the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019,_the staff consisted of:

Table 1 Supervisory Staff 2018-2019 Reactor Director: Melinda Krahenbuhl 6/11 - present Reactor Operations Manager: Ilana Novakoski 9/17 - 5/19 Toria Ellis 6/19- present Radiation Safety Officer: April Sams 5/16 - present Operations Supervisor: Colin Whitmore 5/18,-5/19 Val Lim 5/19 - present Training Supervisor: Thomas Malthouse 5/19 - present Maileen Nakashima 5/18 -5/19 Elena McKnight 5/18 - present Requalification Supervisor: Bri Dobson 5/18 ~ 5/19 Sophie Bender 5/19 - present Projects Supervisor Toria Ellis 5/18 - 5/19 Addison Guynn 5/19 - present Table 2 Staff 2018-2019 Senior Reactor Operators (SRO)

Lorenzo Barrar Addison Guynn Zach Beadle Elena McKnight Melinda Claire Mashlan Maileen Nakashima Thomas Malthouse Krahenbuhl Milander Toria Ellis Val Lim Jonathan Li Shawn Owens Ilana Novakoski Sophie Bender , Colin Whitmore Gabe Yeung I

Bri Dobson Grey Perez Yilian Liu Matt Parson

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Reactor Operators (RO)

Jillian James Gio Ramirez Ethan Shek Rebecca Xie M Benesch Gavin Dury Nemo Shen Kees Benkendorfer

• Henry Scheffer Avantika Vivek Emanuel Gordis Ryen Burris Patrick Park Marie Faulkner Stephanie Gee Dorothy Cheng

'I lsmayn Ditter Rhody Kaner Tenzin Sangpo Ashlee Cook

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Riyaz Ditter Emmet Kahn Miriam Zitler YuFu Segovia Garcia Megan Hilton Pratik Kafle Matt Hwang

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Kaitlyn Li Kaiyan Shi Natalie Murphy Reactor Technicians '-

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Carrie Padula Laura Yoshida Gianmatteo Martinez Nick Egan Laura Estridge The list of operators includes everyone who held a license at any time during the reporting period. Reactor Operators who upgrade their licenses to Senior Reactor Operators dµring the reporting period are listed under Senior Reactor Operators. There are 51 licensed operators at Reed College.

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Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 3

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Reactor Operations Committee (ROC) ,

For 2018 -2019 the membership of the R~actor Operation committee is listed.

Reactor Operations Committee

• Wayne Lei - (Portland General Electric-retired)

• Norm Dyer (OAR Services-retired)

• Jerry Shurman (Math Faculty, Reed College)

• April Sams (Director, Reed Environmental Health and Safety)

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• Dan Gerrity- (Chemistry Faculty, Reed College)

• Steve Reese (Radiation Center Director, Oregon State University)

• Nigel Nicholson (Dean of the Faculty, Reed College)

• Melinda Krahenbuhl (Director, RRR)

• Ilana Novakoski (Reactor Operations Manager, RRR)

• Colin Whitmore (Supervisor, RRR) 4

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~ F A C I L *, TI E s Reactor Facility In addition to the reactor, Reed College has a radiochemistry lab. The equipment available at the reactor facility includes hi'gh purity germanium gamma spectrometers, ion chambers,

• beta counters, Geiger Muller tubes, and alpha detectors. These instruments are used for expt?riments and training in nuclear science and radiation detection. One exit monitor is in the control room. A liquid scintillation detector serves both the reactor and broad scope license users. The reactor facility has several systems for performing irradiations, described below. -

• Rotating Specimen Rack Facility The rotating specimen rack is located in a well on top of the graphite reflector surrounding the core. The rack consists of a circular array of 40 tubular receptacles, each of which can accommodate two irradiation tubes. The rack automatically rotates during irradiation to" ensure each sample receives the same neutron flux. The approximate thermal neutron flux in a rotating rack position at full power is 1.7 xl0 12 n/cm2s with a cadmium ratio of 6.

Pneumatic Transfer System The pneumatic transfer system ("rabbit") consists of an irradiation chamber in the outer P-ring of the core and its associated blower and piping. This allows samples to be transferred in and out of the reactor core very rapidly while the reactor is at power. The flux in the core terminal is approximately 5xl012 n/cm2s when the reactor is at full power.

In-Core Facilities The central thimble is a water-filled irradiation chamber about 3 cm in diameter. It provides the highest available neutron flux*, about' lxl013 n/cm2s.

Foil-insertion holes, 0.8 cm in diameter, are drilled at various positions 'through the grid plates. These holes allow inserting special holders containing flux "Yires into the core, to obtain neutron flux maps of the core.

In-Pool Facilities Near core, in-pool irradiation facilities can be arranged f6r larger samples. Neutron fluxes will be lower than in the rotary specimen rack and will depend on the sample location.

Ail iridium gamma irradiator is also in the reactor pool for gamma only irradiations.

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Beam Facilities The central thimble can be evacuated with gas, producing a vertical neutron beam. The flux above the beam exit is approximately lxl06 n/cm2s when the reactor is at full power.

Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 5

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IINSPECTIONS AND AUDITS The Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted inspections during Nov. 5-8 2018, Jan 18, 2019 and June 17-19, 2019.

, Brian Fairchild Assistant Manager, Health and Safety, Training, University ofMisso.uri -

Columbia Research Reactor (MURR) conducted an external audit June 24-25, 2019.

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iUsERS Reactor Operations Seminar The Reed Research Reactor conducts an annual seminar series. This non-credit course serves as an introduction to nuclear reactor theory , health physics , and reactor operation .

Some of the students continue with in-depth reactor operator training and subsequently apply for a Reactor Opera or (RO) license. If successful, the individual is hired to operate the reactor. In addition, existing ROs may take the NRC Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) exam to upgrade their licenses.

During this reporting period, the NRC administered exams on the following dates:

March 25-29 2019- 12 of 13 RO and 5 of 5 SRO candidates passed their exams.

May 6-10 2019- 5 of 5 SRO candidates passed their exams Two reactor operators were issued licenses after the successful completion of a make-up exam administered on June 28 , 2018 .

Figure 1 is a graph of the pass rate for RO and SRO since 2000 .

120%

100%

80%

60 %

40 %

20%

0%

0 M N M ~ ~ ~ ~ 00 ~ 0 M N M ~ ~ ~ ~ 00 ~

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M M M M M M M M M M 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N

• SRO pass rate

• RO pass rate Figure 1 Reed Research Reactor License Exam Results Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 7

Outside Users During the year there were 1297 visitors from school s, colleges , universities , and special groups . Additionally, 530 individuals visited as part of Reed College activities (prospective students, family of students , Reed classes , etc.). Twenty-one members of emergency response organizations came for training.

Figure 2 is a graph showing the history of visiting groups .

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• Colleges and Un iversi t ies 40 +------,

- Hig h Schools/ Middle Schools/ Elementary Schools 35 + - ------<

- Special Groups

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....f--0 25 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- ----------- -----1

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.0 2 0 + - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - l - - ~ l l ! ! ! ! : : ~ -- -- - -- - - - -- U-..L...\- ~I---Lf---l E

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z 2000 200 1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 201 2 2013 201 4 20 15 2016 201 7 20 18 2019 Figure 2 Visiting Groups Many reactor tours include hands-on use of facility equipment to conduct experiments in radiation science, health physics, and nuclear physics. A typical lab involves determining the background of a Geiger Muller scaler system and then determining the half-life of a sample of radioactive material.

Several special programs for gifted children use the reactor for projects . These are designed to enrich their educational program and prepare them for college . Some of the groups who use the reactor target minority and disadvantaged youth who are historically under-represented in science professions.

High School Student Project The Reed Research Reactor continues to be used in independent science projects initiated by students from several Oregon and Washington State high schools .

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Scaler Kits Through the generosity of Portland General Electric, the reactor lends out kits containing a Geiger counter, a scaler , and some small exempt sources to local high schools.

Reed Classes

• Biology - Independent study "Low dose y-radiation induces radioprotective melanocyte umbrella and latent hermetic effect in Danio rerio" Stephanie Gee, Olivia Hagen, Leila Shokat.

• Chemistry 101 (Molecular Structure and Properties) students determined the half- lives of two silver isotopes .

• Physics Thesis - Modeling the Neutron Flux of the Reed Research using Temperature, Toria Ellis Industrial and Commercial Applications The Reed Research Reactor is available for industrial or commercial concerns when it does not conflict with our educational goals. The facility also provides radiation protection training to interested parties and schools in the area.

Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 9

! REACTOR OPERATIONS Operations During the year the reactor was taken critical 365 times on 168 days . The total energy produced was approximately 21 .85 megawatt-hours. Operating history by month appears in Table 3 . A history of the data is shown in Figure 3.

Table 3 Operating History 2018-2019 TIMES CRITICAL DAYS OPERATED MW-HOURS July 2018 16 9 1.01 August 2018 20 9 0.93 September 2018 40 16 1.69 October 2018 10 31 1.23 November 2018 42 20 2.54 December 2018 5 3 0.02 January 2019 27 13 1.74 February 2019 20 7 1.59 March 2019 75 18 3 .11 April 2019 55 19 3.20 May 2019 25 13 2.34 June 2019 30 10 2.45 Total 365 168 21.85 10

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Times Critical

-+-- Days Operated 500 +---- -, - - . - Irradiations

- - MW-hrs 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Figure 3. Operations Unplanned Reactor Shutdowns There were 13 inadvertent reactor shutdow ns (scra ms) as shown in Table 4. The number of unplanned reactor shutdowns is shown in Figure 4.

Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 11

Table 4 Unpanne l dReactor Shutdowns DATE SCRAM CHANNEL CAUSE OF SCRAM I

7/19/18 Percent High Power 7/10/18 Linear and Percent High power 9/23/18 Linear High Power

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10/4/18 Percent High Power

,10/8/18 Linear High Power 10/13/18 Linear High Power 10/23/18 Linear High Power 1/25/19 Linear High Power 2/11/19 Linear High Power 2/18/19 Linear High Power 2/18/19 Linear High Power.

4/8/19 Linear and Percent High Power 4/23/19 Linear and Percent Electrical Transient 12 '

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2005 2010 2015 J

Figure 4 Unplanned Shutdowns 12

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II REACTOR MAINTENANCE Significant Maintenance Reactor staff pelforms routine equipment checks on a daily, biweekly, bimonthly, semiannual (January and July) and annual (January) basis as required by facility procedures. Reed College maintenance personnel assist with routine preventative maintenance to auxiliary equipment. The following maintenance items were completed during this year.

• Pool temperature thermocouple repaired e, Replaced potentiometer on Safety Control rod motor

• Replaced transistor on the NMP 1000 linear test function

• Console button refurbishing

• 'Installed a static pressure gauge in the ventilation stack

• Installed an Air Particulate Monitor (APM) as a backup for the Continuous Air Monitor (CAM)

• Installed a capillary pump for the addition of biocide to the secondary water system.

Reed Rese~rch Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 13

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II RADIATION PROTECTION Personnel Dosimetry Dosimeters are changed on a calendar quarter schedule. Individuals were issued beta-gamma sensitive ring badges and whole-body badges.

The highest individual doses received were 3 mrem/qtr. DDE and 109 mrem/qtr. SDE.

These doses are below occupational dose limits and no further action was required.

Fixed Area Dosimetry Radiation levels are continually monitored to provide an indication of the average radiation levels in the reactor bay and dose outside the facility. All dosimeters monitor beta and gamma radiation. Three locations also measure neutron dose.

The deep dose equjvalent radiation measured by fixed dosimeters during the period April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 are shown in Table 5. Dosimeters from April 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 are currently being processed. An "M" indicates less than 1 mrem above background during the quarter.

Tables Area Radiation Dosjmeters (doses are in mrem per calendar quarter)

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HEIGH1 RADIATION APRIL 1- JUL 1- OCT 1- JAN 1- TOTAL LOCATION (M) DETECTED JUNE30 SEP 30 DEC31 MAR31

-Reactor East Wall 1.5 [3, y 5 6 4 9 24 Reactor North Wall 1.6 [3, y 7 7 3 7 24 Reactor West Wall 1.0 [3, y, n 7 10 2 7 26 Reactor South -Wall 1.6 [3, y, n -,_ 8 7 2 8 25 Reactor North Wall - 4 5 1 8 18 2.3 [3, y High

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Control Room 1.5 [3, y 6 8 4 11 29 Outside North 2.8 [3, y M 2 M M 2 Outside Roof 0.4 [3, Y, n 2 1 0 2 5 Outside East 1.5 [3, y M M M M M Outside South 0.4 [3, y M M M M M

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Counting Room 1.5 [3, y M M M 3 3 14

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Gaseous Releases The only routine release of gaseous radioactivity is from 41 Ar (l.83-hour half-life) and 16N (7 .13-second half-life). These come from activation of pool water and air in the pool water and in the irradiation facilities. For the reporting period, the average gaseous activity at the site boundary was 2.3 x 10- 10 µCi/ml, which would deliver a dose to a member of the public of approximately 1.15 mrem per year, well below regulatory guidelines and constraints.

Figure 5 shows the gaseous releases for each year since 2000.

1.E-08 1.E-09 1.E-10 1.E-11 2000 2005 2010 2015 Figure 5 Gaseous Releases Activity (µCi/ml) at Site Boundary Liquid Waste Releases No liquid radioactive waste was released from the Reed Research Reactor during this report period. -

Solid Waste Disposal There was one shipment of low-level radioactive waste from the facility during this reporting period.

Environmental Sampling Soil samples taken from the area surrounding the facility showed no activity above background. Water from the facility's secondary cooling system and the nearby canyon were sampled for activation products and tritium. These water samples showed no activity above background.

Reed Research Reactor Annual Report 2018-2019 15