ML102150226

Annual Operating Report for University of Utah Triga Nuclear Reactor, for the Period of 1 July 2009 Through 30 June 2010

ML102150226
Person / Time
Site:	University of Utah
Issue date:	07/26/2010
From:	Jevremovic T Univ of Utah
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
Download: ML102150226 (9)

Text

.1 26 July, 2010 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, D.C. 20555 To whom it may concern:

Enclosed is the annual operating report for the University of Utah TRIGA Nuclear Reactor, License No. R-126, Docket number 50-407, for the period of 1 July 2009 through 30 June 2010.

This report fulfills the requirements of the TRIGA technical specifications (TI'S) 6.10(5).

If there are any further questions or concerns regarding this report, please contact me at (801) 587-9696.

Respectfully, Tatjana Jevremovic, Ph.D.

Chair Professor and Director 4O~O

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor (UUTR)

Annual Operating Report for the period 1 July 2009 through 30 June 2010 Dr. Dong-OK Choe, UUTR Supervisor Dr. Tatjana Jevremovic, UNEP & UUTR Director Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 1

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 A. NARRATIVE

1. OperatingExperience The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor (UUTR), License No. R-126, Docket No. 50-407, was critical 68.866 hours0.01 days <br />0.241 hours <br />0.00143 weeks <br />3.29513e-4 months <br /> and generated 2071.227 kilowatt-hours of thermal energy during this reporting year. The reactor was used for educational demonstrations and training, laboratory experiments, systems tests, power measurements and sample irradiations.

2. Changes in FacilityDesign No changes in facility design took place. However, the facility and associated laboratories were upgraded. The upgrade included cleaning of the space, painting and modernizing the space of control room and students' prep-room by replacing the old and used furniture.

The UUTR core power upgrade including a new reactor core design is under investigation.

3. Surveillance Tests Documentation of all surveillance activities is retained and stored by the facility.

a. Control Rod Worth Table 1. Summary of control rod worth, SDM, and ER Core Configuration #24-B #24-B #24-B #24-B Date 8/26/09 12/18/09 2/22/10 4/30/10 Worth ($) Worth ($) Worth ($) Worth ($)

Safety Rod 2.297 2.293 2.263 2.243 Shim Rod 1.587 1.517 1.530 1.550 Regulating Rod 0.290 0.277 0.277 0.287 Excess Reactivity 1.137 0.586 0.635 0.819 Shutdown Margin 0.744 1.207 1.172 1.018

b. Control Rod Inspection The Biennial Control Rod Inspection was performed during December 2009.

The control rods were sequentially removed from the reactor core for visual inspection. Each control rod was found to be in a good condition with no noticeable deterioration or corrosion having occurred since the last inspection.

Rod drop times were measured on 8/26/09, 12/18/09, 2/22/10 and 4/30/10.

All rod drop times were less than 1.0 seconds.

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UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010

c. Reactor Power Level Instrumentation Calorimetric power calibrations were performed on 8/27/09, 12/22/09, and 2/22/10 with the f results shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Summary of calorimetricpower calibration Date Measured % Power Calculated Power Level 8/27/09 91.6 88.63 12/22/09 89.0 88.85 2/22/10 90.2 88.98

d. Fuel Inspection The Biennial Fuel Inspection was performed during December 2009. Each fuel element was visually inspected while keeping it submerged for shielding.

No deterioration or excessive corrosion of in-core fuel elements was observed since the previous inspection. Pool water is sampled and analyzed periodically for evidence of fission product activity indicative of defective or deteriorating fuel. Analyses of pool water following full-power reactor operations lasting several hours have not shown any indication of fission product leakage. B-1 stainless steel fuel element was replaced with R6-6 stainless steel element because B-I element has a bent end-pin. B-I element was moved to R6-1 location.

e. Fuel Temperature Calibration Fuel temperature circuits were calibrated on 8/26/09 and 2/18/10. The circuits were calibrated to less than a 2°C error over the range 20'C to 400'C. The replacement of B-I did not affect on the fuel temperature in the UUTR core.

f. Reactor Safety Committee Audits Four Audits were completed during this period. The data are shown in Table

3. No significant deviations from normal operating practices were identified by these audits.

Table 3. Audit summary Audit Period auditor Operation and 1 Jan. 2009 to 30 Jun. 2009 James R. Parry/INL Maintenance Radiation Safety and 1 Jan. 2009 to 30 Jun. 2009 James R. Parry/INL ALARA Operation and 1 Jul. 2009 to 31 Dec. 2009 James R. Parry/INL Maintenance Radiation Safety and 1 Jul. 2009 to 31 Dec. 2009 James R. Parry/INL ALARA Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 3

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010

g. Environmental Surveys Six environmental monitors are located in the areas surrounding the UUTR.

James R. Parry at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) reported to the RSC a maximum exposure of 48 millirem per quarter to an environmental dosimeter located at building #80 and ERG. Table 4. shows the average dose recorded in last four years.

Table 4. Summary of environmental monitoringaround the UUTR Year Average quarterly readings for the 6 environmental monitors (mrem) 2009 34.56 2008 39.26 2007 37.94 2006 36.74 2005 37.53 2004 35.58 B. ENERGY OUTPUT The UUTR reactor was critical for 68.866 hours0.01 days <br />0.241 hours <br />0.00143 weeks <br />3.29513e-4 months <br /> and produced 0.0863 megawatt-days (2071.227 kilowatt-hours) of energy during this reporting period. Since initial criticality, the reactor has been operated for a total of 3447.112 hours0.0013 days <br />0.0311 hours <br />1.851852e-4 weeks <br />4.2616e-5 months <br /> with an accumulated total energy output of 8.634 megawatt-days (207220.682 kilowatt-hours).

C. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWNS AND INADVERTENT SCRAMS:

There was one inadvertent SCRAM occurred during this period. It occurred at 3/19/2010 because of feedback from the reactor power select switch. There were no emergency shutdowns. Summary of the inadvertent scrams are given in Table 5.

Table 5. Summary of Inadvertent SCRAMS Date Run Type Cause Action Number 3/19/10 1669 Linear Power switch connection- N/A Power Feedback from the reactor power switch D. MAJOR MAINTENANCE

1) Floor tiles and ceiling tiles for reactor room and MEB 1205 area were Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 4

ý I UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 replaced.

E. CHANGES, TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.59 a) All floor tiles and ceiling tiles were replaced in the reactor room and MEB 1205 area. Guardrail around the reactor pool was replaced. All outgoing trashes were surveyed with TBM 3S detector. A wipe test of selected surface (rail, and flooring, etc.) was performed to check for removable beta-gamma contamination.

b) The B-1 stainless steel fuel element was replaced with the R6-6 stainless steel fuel element. The B-I element has a bent end-pin and it was about 2 inches higher than the other element. B-1 was placed at R6-1 position. The MCNP5 simulation was performed showing that there was no change in UUTR core criticality.

F. REACTOR SAFETY COMMITTEE As of the end of the reporting period, the current membership of the Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) as designated by the Licensee is as follows:

James M. Byrne, Chair Tatjana Jevremovic, Director UNEP and UUTR Karen Langely, RSO of University of Utah Dongok Choe, Reactor Supervisor Gary M. Sandquist Robert J. Huber James Thompson James R. Parry Paul Tikalsky Alireza Haghighat Rian B. Smith The UNEP staff continues to review and update facility documentation to assure compliance with all applicable regulations.

G. RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS

1. Liquid Waste - Total activity released: none

2. Gaseous Waste - Total estimated activity released: 22.733 [tCi.

The TRIGA Reactor was operated for 68.866 hours0.01 days <br />0.241 hours <br />0.00143 weeks <br />3.29513e-4 months <br /> at power levels up to approximately 90 kW. At this power level argon-41 production is substantially below MPC values for unrestricted areas. The minimum detectable concentration Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 5

a -

UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 of Ar-41 from the CAM system for the stack monitor has been found to be less than two-third of 10 CFR 20 appendix B limits for release to unrestricted areas.

The average annual calculated concentration of Ar-41 generated during operation is estimated to be 1.012x10-° [tCi/ml approximately 1.012 % of the DAC for this radionuclide. The total amount of Ar-41 released was estimated to be 22.733 [tCi.

No phosphorus-32 was released from the UUTR and associated facilities during this period. The total amount of all gaseous radioactivity released was estimated to be 22.733 [tCi. A monthly summary of gaseous releases is given in Table 6.

Total activity of gaseous effluent is therefore 22.733 [tCi.

Table 6. Summary of Monthly Gaseous Radioactive Effluent Month Ar-41 ([tCi) Estimated Release Total (1xCi)

P-32 and all others July, 09 0.0 0 0.0 August, 09 2.508 0 2.508 September, 09 0.0 0 0.0 October, 09 0.0 0 0.0 November, 09 1.606 0 1.606 December, 09 2.706 0 2.706 January, 09 0.887 0 0.887 February, 09 4.565 0 4.565 March, 09 0.059 0 0.059 April, 09 0.006 0 0.006 May, 09 5.413 0 5.413 June, 09 4.983 0 4.983

3. Solid Waste - Total activity: None No solid waste material was sent to the Radiological Health Department for disposal during the period of 1 July 2009 through 30 June 2010.

H. RADIATION EXPOSURES The University of Utah Radiological Health Department has issued to all personnel with duties in the reactor laboratory on either a regular or occasional basis an OSL dosimeter. The duty category and monitoring period of personnel are summarized in Table 7.

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UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 Table 7. Summary of Monitored Personnel Name Monitoring Period Duty Category Dong-ok Choe 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Brian A. Harper 7/01/09-5/31/10 Regular/Terminated Douglas Crawford 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Jorge Navarro 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Brandalyn Bassett 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular/Terminated Margaret Fitch 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular/Terminated Ward L. Steven 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Kingston J. Micha 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Mini eong Cho 7/01/09-12/31/09 Regular/Terminated Jonathan Gebel 7/01/09-3/30/10 Regular/Terminated Benjamin Marble 7/01/09-6/30/10 Regular Clendennen Crystal 1/01/10-4/30/10 Regular/Terminated Jesse Reeves 1/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Jensen Mathew 3/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Troy Bowden 4/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Tatjana Jevremovic 5/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Nader Satvat 6/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Todd Sherman 6/01/10-6/30/10 Regular Measured Doses 7/1/09-6/30/10 Doses: <7 mrem average; 7 mrem highest measured Dose Equivalent Limit Maximum Permissible Dose Equivalent = 5000 mrem/year (1250/quarter).

Minimum Detectable Dose per Monthly Badge = 10 mrem.

Three hundred and eighty nine (389) individuals visited the reactor facility during the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010. None of the visitors received a measurable dose. A summary of the whole body exposures to the personnel is presented in Table 8.

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UUTR Annual Report 1 July 2009 - 30 Jun 2010 Table 8. Summary of Whole Body Exposures Estimated whole body exposure Number of individuals in range (rem) each range No Measurable Dose (Less than 0. 10) 11

0. 10 to 0.25 0 0.25 to 0.50 0 0.50 to 0.75 0 0.75 to 1.00 0 1.00 to 2.00 0 2.00 to 3.00 0 3.00 to 4.00 0 4.00 to 5.00 0 Greater than 5 rem 0 I. LABORATORY SURVEYS Monthly surveys of the facility were conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department during the reporting period. The surveys have not indicated any unusual radiation levels over previous years. Records of surveys are retained by the facility.

J. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES Environmental monitoring conducted by the University of Utah Radiological Health Department indicated no unusual dose rates in the areas surrounding the Merrill Engineering Building, which houses the UUTR reactor facility.

Prepared by: Dongok Choe Date: 7/24/2010 Submitted by: Dongok Choe Date: 7/24/2010 Reactor Supervisor Approved by: Tati ana Jevremovic Date: 7/26/2010 Director Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP) 8