ML20056D859

Requests Waiver of Licensee Fees,W/Regard to Invoice for Payment of FY93 Fees,Since Licensee Dedicated to Education & Training of Students in Nuclear Engineering & Radiation Science & Other Listed Reasons

ML20056D859
Person / Time
Site:	University of Maryland
Issue date:	08/03/1993
From:	Dieter G MARYLAND, UNIV. OF, COLLEGE PARK, MD
To:	NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY)
References
FRN-58FR21662 NUDOCS 9308180169
Download: ML20056D859 (3)

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-t August 3,1993  ;

894 Secretary  !

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ,

Washington, DC 20555 Attn: Docketing and Services Branch  !

'l Re: License # R-70 ,

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SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR WAIVER OF LICENSE FEES _;

UNIVERSITY OF-  !

We have received your invoice for payment of fiscal year 1993 fees and we nARYLAND f understand that FY94 lavoices are currently in preparation. On behalf of the '

University of Maryland and the University's Nuclear Reactor Facility I request these fees be waived and the University of Maryland's Training Reactor be granted an exception waiver from future fees. .coLLEoE or -

i' We believe this request to be legitimate and justified under the recent court ruling that ENGINEERING removed the basis of last year's blanket waiver for university reactors. In that ruling,

~t he court identified education and training as legitimate bases for license fee waivers -

il certain criteria, such as training for the common good and safety, were met. We l H37 ENGINEERING believe the University of Maryland meets every test of the court's decision.

cLassRoon The University of Maryland has maintair a nuclear reactor for 33 years.

Throughout its history, it has remained dede ad to the education and training of "' '"

I students of nuclear engineering and radiation . ance. At no time in the past three I decades of education leadership has service work ever accounted for more than a few - {

percent of i's revenues or activities. The reactor's principal strength - training - has a focused every reactor director in its histo'y to education. The result is a legacy cogogoc pa ,x, {

recorded through our students - a legacy of which the university and the country ca' l

. be proud. naRyexNo This past year, one african-american student and reactor staff member received his 2c742-son 1

. baccalaureate degree in nuclear engineering and entered law school at the University of West Virginia. As a sophomore, one of our women engineering students obtained her reactor operator's iicense. This year she graduated from the University of Maryland with honors and, as a winner of a prestigious National Science Foundation i Fellowship Award, will attend the University of lilinois this fall. Other students are l working for nuclear public utilities, architectural engineering and consulting companies,-

and for equipment vendors. But others have chosen careers in government - The  ;

Army- Research Laboratories, Naval Surface Warfare Center,;Sandia National -

Laboratories, and of course, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. l t\0

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, Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission i August 3,1993 I page 2 l l

l The University of Maryland Reactor first achieved criticality in 1960, the first in the State of Maryland. l Today we are only one of many. But we are the only university reactor in the Washington, DC area where those in government and industry can come and learn by practical experience, the operations and physics l cf nuclear engineering and sciences. We are the only academic education and reactor training program j in our nation's capital where govemment employees can receive advanced degrees in nuclear engineering. l The Maryland reactor is also an integral part of the next-generation training programs under development f by the University of Maryland Office of Special Programs of University College. This unique and exceptional program provides training for students throughout the country. Through a combination of I computer and classroom training, a student can receive a nuclear science degree while working full-time in the nuclear power or related industries. The prograrn is the largest nuclear science program in the world with more than 700 students.  ;

Students can take one week short courses or semester long operator training courses. Student operators ['

can take our reactoi from cold critical to full power more times in a week than a power reactor dunng its entire life. They can witness first hand negative and positive temperature coefficients, and directly measure the reactor's response to operator actions. They can see the effects of their actions in a safe educational environment where mistakes and surprises are important parts of the learning experience, j During the past year the reactor operated a total of 154 runs, consisting of: (1) 68 operator training runs; (2) 36 tour, lab and demonstration runs; (3) 15 calibration and maintenance runs; (4) 14 runs for nuclear j engineering classes: anu (5) 21 research and service runs. To perform these runs, the core produced 8.3 ,

MWh with a corresponding burn-up of 0.41 grams of uranium-235.  !

4 Operator training classes were conducted throughout the year for facility operator qualification and visiting power plant trainees. Seven undergraduate student operators were granted licenses by the NRC, three  !

being qualified as Reactor Operators, and two being upgraded to Senior Reactor Operator. In addition, one faculty and one staff member were issued SRO certificates. j l

A substantial number of the 154 runs during the year were conducted for tours' and demonstrations. l These involved high school, university, and visiting University of maryland students. In these group tours, i l a total of 616 students visited the Reactor Facility. Individual tours accounted for an additional 69 visitors.  !

A partiallist of the organrzations and groups that visited and toured the Maryland Reactor last year include: l the National Science Foundation, the English 393 class, the Department of Defense, the Department of  !

Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Northern Virginia Community - College,  ;

Environmental Safety Classes, Chemistry classes, Nuclear Engineering classes, Georgetown Preparatory l School, UMCP MaryPirg. William Wirt Middle School, Westinghouse Corporation, ANS Second Look Fair, j Middletown High School, Society of Women Engineers, Essex High School, Hannah Penn Middle School, i Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Boy Scouts of America, Northern High School, Lake Braddock High l School, the Society of Physics Students, Prince George's Community College, West Nautingham High j

, School. High Point High School, and the Society of Hispanic Engineers. Many of these groups account  !

for more than one visit as it was common for a high school to return with groups from different classes, j Clearly, the Maryland Reactor supports the broad-based educational needs of the public and the students  ;

of elementary, high school, and college institutions. The facility supports University research needs, and in the process of education and research, provides a diverse stream of highly qualified engineers and  !

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Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission August 3,1993 page 3 scientists to the work force.

Finally, it is also true that this facility will almost certainly be unable to pay these current or projected future fees. Although not justification for waiver, it does mean that the facility will be forced to decommission.

We believe that the loss of the only training facility of its kind and flexibility in the Washington, DC area is a loss of tremendous proportions. To force the closure of any one of the few remaining reactors is to lose a national resource.

I strongly urge your consideration of the above reasons for waiving the reactor fee. We firmly believe that the loss of this waiver will damage the ability of the University to train students and, in the long term,' will cripple our country's ability to respond to critical national and international requirements. >

Sincerely, 6 , l George E. Dieter, Dean ,

cc: Commissioner Ivan Selin, Chairman Commissioner Kenneth Rogers i Commissioner James R. Curtis  :

Commissioner Forrest J. Remick i Commissioner Gait de Planque  !

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