ML14073A173

General Atomics, Triga, Mark F Reactor, Annual Report for Calendar Year 2013

ML14073A173
Person / Time
Site:	General Atomics
Issue date:	03/04/2014
From:	General Atomics
To:	NRC/FSME
References
Download: ML14073A173 (7)

Text

ITRIGA Mark F ReactorANNUAL REPORTCALENDAR YEAR 2013Prepared to satisfy the requirements ofU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Facility License R-67Docket No. 50-163MARCH 2014+ GENERAL ATONICS TABLE OF CONTENTS1 IN TR O D U C TIO N .............................................................................................................

12 SUMMARY OF FACILITY ACTIVITIES

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12.1 D ecom m issioning A ctivities

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12 .2 F a cility A ctivitie s ..................................................................................................

..12.3 Decom m issioning Schedule

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32.4 Radioactive M aterial Shipm ents ............................................................................

33 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS

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34 10CFR50.59 FACILITY MODIFICATIONS AND SPECIAL EXPERIMENTS

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45 RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS RELEASED TO THE ENVIRONS

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46 ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEYS ..................................................................................

47 SUMMARY OF RADIATION EXPOSURES AND RADIOLOGICAL SURVEYS ..........

47.1 General Atomics Staff Whole Body Exposures

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57.2 Non-General Atomics Staff Whole Body Exposures

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57.3 Routine Wipe Surveys of Mark F Reactor Facility

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57.4 Routine Radiation Measurements of Mark F Reactor Facility

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5ii 1 INTRODUCTION This report documents operation of the General Atomics (GA) TRIGA Mark F non-power reactor for the period January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013. The TRIGA Mark FReactor, possessed by GA under License No. R-67 (Amendment No. 45) granted by the U.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Docket No. 50-163),

at its San Diego, California facilities, wasnot operated for the duration of the reporting period.This report is being prepared and submitted to satisfy the requirements of Section 8.6(d) of theR-67 Technical Specifications, as amended.

This report is presented in seven parts, consistent with the information required by the applicable Technical Specifications.

2 SUMMARY OF FACILITY ACTIVITIES 2.1 Decommissioning Activities During Calendar Year (CY) 2013, the TRIGA Mark F Reactor continued to be inDecommissioning Status. The major tasks accomplished towards eventual decommissioning during this reporting period were as follows:o final rinsing of the Mark F pit and removal of all loose Epocast (an epoxy-type paint liningthe tank walls) from the pit,o removal and dispositioning of all water handling and filtration equipment, o removal of remaining fuel storage racks and misc. hardware from the the pit, ando obtaining core samples from the gunite lined walls of the pit for the purpose ofpreliminary characterization.

o efforts are continuing to properly disposition the remaining Am-241/Be reactor startupneutron source. The source has been placed in an interim shielded container andtransferred to a temporary storage location within the reactor building.

2.2 Facility Activities 2.2.1 During January, 2013 qualified and trained personnel entered the Mark F pit to removelarge loose particles of Epocast that had peeled off from the Mark F pit walls. Sinceanalysis of this particulate and process knowledge indicated the potential for thepresence of hazardous materials (cadmium and lead) in the Epocast, a full Respirator Qualification Process for access to the pit was put in place for confined space entries tothe Mark F pit as a personnel protection measure.2.2.2 Also during January, 2013, a confined space entry was made into the fuel storage areasof the Mark F pit (south canal), and the last of the fuel storage racks removed. TRIGA is a registered trademark of General Atomics1 2.2.3 During March 2013, a final rinsing of the pit with deionized water (DI) was conducted.

Allwater was passed through particulate filters and ion exchange resin cylinders andtemporarily stored in two (2) 1000 gallon tanks for analysis.

Analysis of the watershowed that the water was clean, and it was subsequently discharged to the City'ssanitary drain system.2.2.4 Also during March 2013, selected staff members received training in the use of PoweredAir Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) to be used for all confined space entries into the MarkF pit.2.2.5 On May 2, 2013, 19 samples of the Epocast and gunite were taken from the pit walls foranalysis of hazardous and radioactive material content by core-drilling into selectedlocations.

2.2.6 On June 4, 2013, HTGR Historical Fuel materials, containing both LEU & HEU, wereshipped from the TRIGA Reactors Facility (TRF) to Oak Ridge National Laboratory intwo (2) DOT 7A Type A Drums.2.2.7 During the decommissioning activities, sufficient solid, low-level waste (LLW) wasgenerated to load five (5) Y-4 (Type IP-1) boxes. These boxes were all packaged, gamma scanned and sealed in accordance with established procedures.

On July 10,2013, these boxes were shipped, without incident, to the Nevada National Security Sitefor burial.2.2.8 Results of the 19 coring samples taken from the Mark F pit indicated that hazardous metal contamination (Cd and Pb) is relatively localized, primarily on the bottom deck andthe walls of the lower portion of the round portion of the Mark F pit. This hazardous metal contamination appears to be limited to only the Epocast paint layer and the first 1/4inch depth of the unprotected gunite material.

There was little or no detected metalcontamination in the upper portion of the pit and the fuel storage canal. The presence ofCd and Pb, as well as the localized nature of the contamination, is consistent withprocess knowledge from reactor operations and maintenance activities.

2.2.9 On October 30, 2013, USNRC inspectors visited GA to inspect the TRF D&D Projectand schedule.

No problems were noted. The USNRC also reviewed the D&D Schedule.

The inspection is documented in NRC's Inspection report NRC IR Oct 2013 12-02-2013.

2.2.10 On November 6, 2013 additional sample corings were taken from the pit in an effort tofurther determine the efficacy of the intact Epocast coating in protecting the underlying gunite from radioactive and metal contamination.

The samples were prepared andshipped for analysis by an outside laboratory on November 18, 2013.2 2.2.11 Negotiations between the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and Argonne NationalLaboratory (ANL) continued during the past year. A tentative agreement was reachedon December 9, 2013, and, once a contract is in place, ANL will accept the Am-Bestartup source -anticipated to occur during 2nd or 3rd quarter 2014.2.3 Decommissioning ScheduleA primary activity during 2014 is expected to be removal of the entire Epocast coating in themain pit and adjoining fuel storage canal in preparation of final characterization.

To that end, aRequest for Proposals will be issued early in 2014 for the removal of the Epocast, a vendorselected, and removal activities carried out. This will allow for further hazardous and radioactive characterization of the pit gunite, steel liner, biological shield, and soil.2.4 Radioactive Material Shipments On June 4, 2013, two (2) DOT 7A Type A Drums with historical HTGR fuel samples, which weremaintained by GA in secure storage in the TRF, were shipped from the GA site to ORNL.Package 1 contained 2.65 Mbq (0.0715 mCi) of solid U-235.Package 2 contained 1.42 Mbq (0.0384 mCi) of solid U-235.On June 11, 2013, five (5) DOT Type IP-1 steel boxes were shipped from the GA site to theNNSS.Package 1 contained 2.363 Mbq (0.06 mCi) of Solid Metal Oxides with radionuclides of Co-60, Cs-137, Fe-55, Ni-63, Sr-90, Th-232, U-235 and U-238.Package 2 contained 38.65 Mbq (1.04 mCi) of Solid Metal Oxides with radionuclides of Co-60, Fe-55, Ni-63, U-235 and U-238.Package 3 contained 57.98 Mbq (1.57 mCi) of Solid Metal Oxides with radionuclides of Co-60, Eu-152, Fe-55, Ni-63, U-235 and U-238.Package 4 contained 51.49 Mbq (1.38 mCi) of Solid Metal Oxides with radionuclides of Co-60, Cs-1 37, Fe-55, Ni-63, Sr-90, Eu-1 52, Eu-154, U-235 and U-238.Package 5 contained 117.90 Mbq (3.20 mCi) of Solid Metal Oxides with radionuclides of Co-60, Cs-137, Fe-55, Ni-63, Sr-90, Th-232, U-235 and U-238.3 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS All maintenance activities, performed during the reporting period, generally fall into threecategories:

(i) routine preventive maintenance, (ii) routine calibration activities, and (iii) activities associated with replacement of older components and systems due to age. All maintenance activities are recorded in the TRF Decommissioning Logbook.

Facility Maintenance Checklists are completed on a regular schedule at weekly, quarterly, and annual frequencies.

Allmaintenance operations performed on the TRIGA Mark F Reactor Facility were minor in nature.There were no major maintenance operations performed during the reporting period.3 4 10CFR50.59 FACILITY MODIFICATIONS AND SPECIAL EXPERIMENTS No applications for Facility Modification under the provisions of 10CFR50.59 were submitted forthe R-67 facility during the CY2013 reporting period.There were no Special Experiments submitted for the R-67 facility during CY2013.5 RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS RELEASED TO THE ENVIRONSDuring CY2013, 0.00 millicuries of Argon-41 were discharged from the TRIGA Mark F ReactorFacility ventilation stack to the atmosphere.

6 ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEYSDuring CY2013, the Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for the TRF remained essentially unchanged from the prior year. The applicable EMP includes the following monitoring equipment and actions:o Five (5) emergency air samplers, situated on the Facility roof and around the TRIGAReactor Facility perimeter.

o Six (6) environmental air samplers, situated adjacent to, and near the GA site perimeter, in accordance with the GA Special Nuclear Material License (SNM-696).

o Daily liquid effluent monitoring from the GA Main Sewerage Outfall Pump House, forgross alpha and beta radioactivity concentrations.

o External radiation monitoring of the TRF using five (5) passive area dosimeters, as wellas radiation meter surveys conducted periodically.

o A Continuous Air Monitor (CAM), situated in the Mark F Reactor Room (21/107),

continuously samples room air for airborne radioactivity.

CAM air filters are collected each week and analyzed for radioactivity.

7 SUMMARY OF RADIATION EXPOSURES AND RADIOLOGICAL SURVEYSThe following data summarizes measured personnel occupational radiation exposures andradiological surveys of the TRIGA Reactors Facility during CY 2013. Personnel who are listedon the TRIGA Reactors Facility Work Authorization (WA #3427 and, as of July 12, 2013, WA#600-13) and specific Radiological Work Permits (RWPs) were monitored for radiation exposure; these individuals included General Atomics Staff and Non-General Atomics Staffemployees.

The following exposures were primarily as a result of the cleaning and sampling ofthe Mark F pit, loading of LLW into Y-4 boxes, and subsequent shipment activities.

4 7.1 General Atomics Staff Whole Body Exposures 1Number of individuals monitored:

25High Exposure:

0.014 RemLow Exposure:

0.000 RemAverage Exposure:

<0.001 Rem7.2 Non-General Atomics Staff Whole Body Exposures 2Number of individuals monitored:

10High Exposure:

0.008 RemLow Exposure:

0.000 RemAverage Exposure:

<0.001 Rem7.3 Routine Wipe Surveys of Mark F Reactor FacilityHigh Wipe: 133.0 dpm/100 cm2Low Wipe: < 1.0 dpm/100 cm2Average Wipe: 16.1 dpm/100 cm27.4 Routine Radiation Measurements of Mark F Reactor FacilityHigh Measurement:

10 mR/hrLow Measurement:

< 0.2 mR/hrAverage Level: < 0.2 mR/hrIncludes reactor facility staff and facility support staff authorized to work at theTRIGA Reactor Facility.

These personnel may also work routinely at other GAradiation facilities; therefore, this dose represents cumulative exposure at all GAfacilities.

2 Includes non-GA personnel who were granted periodic access to the facility forthe performance of work. These personnel may also work routinely at other GAradiation facilities; therefore, this dose represents cumulative exposure at all GAfacilities.

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