ML102630317
| ML102630317 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Washington State University |
| Issue date: | 08/30/2010 |
| From: | Wall D Washington State Univ |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML102630317 (12) | |
Text
WASHINGTON STATE Nuclear Radiation Center
, UNIVERSITY August 30, 2010 Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 Re: Docket No. 50-27; Facility License R-76 In accordance with Technical Specifications for Facility License R-76 the attached Annual Report prepared by C. Corey Hines, Reactor Supervisor of the WSU Facility, is hereby submitted. The report covers the operating period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.
Respectfully Submitted, Donald Wall, Ph.D.
Director Enclosure cc: C.C. Hines P.O. Box641 300, Pullman, WA 99164-1 300 Ac'-ýo 509-335-8641
- Fax: 509-335-4433
- www.wsu.edu/nrc
ANNUAL REPORT WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY NUCLEAR RADIATION CENTER TRIGA REACTOR Facility License R-76 for the Reporting Period of July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 Nuclear Radiation Center Washington State University Pullman, WA 99163-1300
Annual Report 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1. Narrative Summary of the Year's Operation ......................................................... 2
- 2. Energy and Cumulative Output .................................... 2
- 3. Emergency Shutdowns and Inadvertent Scrams .................................................... 3
- 4. M ajor M aintenance .............................................................................................. 3
- 5. Changes, Tests, and Experiments Performed Under 10 CFR 50.59 Criteria ...... 4
- 6. Radioactive Effluent Discharges ........................................................................... 4
- 7. Personnel and Visitor Radiation Exposures ........................................................... 5
- 8. Reactor Facility Radiation and Contamination Levels .......................................... 6
- 9. Environmental Monitoring Program ...................................................................... 8 Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center
Annual Report 2010 ANNUAL REPORT ON THE OPERATION OF THE WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY NUCLEAR RADIATION CENTER TRIGA REACTOR Facility License R-76 for the Reporting Period of July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010
- 1. Narrative Summary of the Year's Operation A. Operating Experience Core 35A has accumulated 859.5 MWH from beginning of life (BOL) through June 30, 2010. A cumulative total of 242 samples were irradiated, for a total of 8406 user-hours. In addition, 39 pulses greater than $1.00 of reactivity addition were performed during this reporting period. The quarterly operations summaries are shown in Table I located in Section 2.
B. Changes In Facility Design, Performance Characteristics, and Operating Procedures Related to Reactor Safety.
No-changes were,performedldbring-the. reporting period'.
C. Results of Surveillance Tests and Requirements All: surveillance tests and..requirements were performed and completed within the prescribed time period.
- 2. Energy and Cumulative Output The quarterly operations summaries are given in Table I. The cumulative energy output since criticality of the TRIGA core (1967) is 1291.3 Megawatt Days (MWD).
The mixed Standard Fuel and 30/20 LEU Fuel Core 35A installed in 2008 has accumulated a total of 61.4 MWD.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 2 of 11
Annual Report 2010 Table I Fiscal Year 2010 Summary of Reactor Operation J-A-S O-ýN-D J-FM A-M-J TOTALS Hours of Operation 189.50 278.35 275.55 253.12 996.52 Megawatt Hours 131.91 235.10 253.55 238.98 859.54 No of Sample Irradiations' 26 8 25 28 87 No. of Samples 48 17 45 57 167 No. of Iridium Cans Irradiated 15 18 18 24 75 User Hours 1346 2236 2649 2175 8406 No. of Pulses > $1.00 17 11 7 4 39 Number of samples and sample irradiations do not include iridium and silicon data. User hours denotes the total user hours, including iridium and silicon.
- 3. Emergency Shutdowns and Inadvertent Scrams There were no emergency shutdowns that occurred during the reporting period. The dates and causes of the 7 inadvertent scrams are listed in Table I1. The scrams during 1/25/10 - 1/28/10 were due to recurring channel overheating that was diagnosed and fixed. No scrams were due to a violation of the Limiting Safety Systems Setting set point.
Table II-Inadvertent SCRAMS-
- Date -~SCRAM 11/2/09 Operator selected "auto range" on linear channel while on 1 kW scale, causing high power scram at 1 kW. Restart ok.
11/16/09 Linear channel 10 kW button was accidently pressed, causing a high power scram signal. Restart ok.
1/25/10 Log-N high voltage failure scram caused by channel overheating.
Restart ok.
1/26/10 Log-N high voltage failure scram caused by channel overheating.
Restart ok.
1/26/10 Log-N high voltage failure scram caused by channel overheating.
Restart ok.
1/27/10 Log-N high voltage failure scram caused by channel overheating.
Restart ok.
1/28/10 Log-N high voltage failure scram caused by channel overheating.
Restart ok.
- 4. Major Maintenance All routine planned maintenance items were completed within the reporting period.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 3 of 11
Annual Report 2010
- 5. Changes, Tests, and Experiments Performed Under 10 CFR 50.59 Criteria No changes were performed during the reporting period.
- 6. Radioactive Effluent Discharges A. Radioactive Liquid Releases Approximately 4640 gallons of liquid waste was released; however, after analysis with gamma spectroscopy, no activity above the limit of detection was found. A total activity approximate of 0.31 pCi is reported for the release.
B. Radioactive Gaseous Release During the reporting period, no significant quantity of gaseous or particulate material with a half-life greater that eight days was released. At no time did the argon-41 releaseexceed&20%.of the effluent release limit. A total of 0.32 curies of argon-41 was released;_with~an-average concentration~of argon-41 of 4.80 x 10-' ýtCi/mL of air, before dilution. The monthly releases are summarized in Table III.
Table 1I.I Monthly Argon-41 Releases Month Conc. Before %Release Lim-it % DAC Limit 2 <Quanhtity MCi3 Dilution, [t~i/mfL Before Dilution,' ~Before Dilution2 July 2009 2.75E-09 0.11 0.00037 16 August 3.73E-09 0.15 0.00050 21 September 4.90E-09 0.20 0.00065 27 October 6.56E-09 0.26 0.00087 37 November 7.37E-09 0.29 0.00098 41 December 3.92E-09 0.16 0.00052 22 January 2010 2.99E-09 0.12 0.00040 17 February 2.OOE-09 0.08 0.00027 10 March 7.21E-09 0.29 0.00096 41 April 9.63E-09 0.39 0.00128 53 May 3.16E-09 0.13 0.00042 18 June 3.41E-09 0.14 0.00045 19 Based on 10 CFR 20 effluent release limit of 1.0 x 10"' uCi/mL for Ar-41 (Table 2, Col.1), and a dilution factor of 4.0 x 10-3 (S.A.R. 6.4.2) for a before dilution limit of 2.5 x 10-6 uCi/cc. (20% of limit is 5.0 x 10-7 uCi/mL).
2 Based on 10 CFR 20 DAC limit of 3.0 x 10-6 uCi/mL for Ar-41 (Table 1, Col. 3) and a dilution factor of 4.0 x 10,3 for a before dilution DAC limit of 7.5 x 10-4 uCi/mL.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 4 of 11
Annual Report 2010 Based on 4500 CFM effluent of ventilation system in AUTO mode of operation.
C. Radioactive Solid Waste Disposal During the reporting period, 0.32 mCi in 21 cubic feet of non-compacted solid waste was transferred to the WSU Radiation Safety Office for packaging and disposal.
- 7. Personnel and Visitor Radiation Exposures The quarterly exposures of the WSU Nuclear Radiation Center eactor staff and experimenters who routinely utilize the WSU Reactor are given in Table IV. The maximum quarterly exposure of a reactor staff member was 28 mrem, whole body.
Other radiation workers were tracked that were participants in exercises during the reporting period, and while some exposures were higher than 28 mrem, the RSO dosimetry flagging limit was not reached.
A total of 1196 individual persons visited the Nuclear Radiation Center during the reporting period, of which 797 entered a Restricted Area. All exposures as determined by digital pocket dosimeter were less than or equal to 1 mrem. A total of 53 group tours, consisting of 33`3 individuals, visited the center during the reporting period. As determined by digital pocket dosimeter, all exposures were less than 1 mR.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 5 of 11
Annual Report 2010 Table IV Quarterly Reactor and Experimenter Staff Exposure (in mrem)
JuI-Atig-Seji Oct-Nov-Dec Jan-Feb-Mar Apr-May-Jun o -ag 0.09 2009 20110 2010 08747 M --....
08158 M M ....
07528 3 M 11 M 08141 27 4 18 4 07588 19 9 28 6 07643 M -- --.
08535 M M --..
03504 M M 13 --
07805 9 5 14 1 08753 M M 14 --
08156 -- 34 -- --
08813 -- 1 14 --
08152 5 M 17 M 07748 2 M11 11 M 08532 M -- -.
08777 16 ...--.
08778 71 ...--.
08775 M ...--.
08539 M ...--.
08780 M ...--.
08779 M ...--.
08773 M ...--.
08776 M ...--.
08774 M ...--.
08781 M ...--.
08772 M ...--.
1 The "--" denotes data not available due to departure from the facility. An 'M' denotes that the dosimeter reading was less than or equal to the background radiation level for that quarter.
- 8. Reactor Facility Radiation and Contamination Levels The method detection limit (MDL) for building survey samples collected for removable contamination determination by liquid scintillation assay is 6 x 10-8
ýtCi/cm 2 . Routine building surveys showed average removable contamination levels less than the MDL for most CAA and all non-CAA. The average removable contamination levels above the MDL was located on 201 Experimenter Platform (CAA, 1.07 x 107); which falls well under contamination thresholds. Likewise, Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 6 of 11
Annual Report 2010 surveys showed removable contamination levels less than 6 x 10-8 O tCi/cm 2 in locations that might be suspected to have a higher probability for contamination, including the sample drop tube in Room 201, Laboratory. 120 (a gamma-spectroscopy laboratory) and the radiochemistry hoods.
The routine area radiation surveys of the building in controlled (CAAs) and non-controlled access areas' (non-CAAs) are given in Table V. The highest average dose rate level in a CAA was 8.69 mrem/h, which occurred in Room 2 East, behind a shielded storage area. The lowest average dose rate in a CAA was 0.04 mrem/h, which occurred in rooms 201 A-C, 101 doorway, 116, 120, and B2 1. The average dose rate in the radiochemistry sample hoods (a non-CAA) was 1.01 mrem/h. The highest on site dose rate was 75 mrem/h, which occurred in Room 2 East. This area is accessible only through a locked room, and is not accessible to the public.
A non-controlled access area is an area in the building where radioactive materials are used or stored but which is not a part of the licensed reactor facility.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 7 of 11
Annual Report 2010 Table V Average Radiation Dose Rates (in mrem/h) for Weekly Monitoring in CAAs and Non-CAAs (bold)
Location Average dose rate (mreinh) 201B 0.04 201A 0.04 201 Bridge 1.11 201 Benches 0.05 201 South 0.36 201 East 0.91 201C Heat Exchanger 0.04 201 Floor North 0.73 106 Ion Exchanger Pit 0.38 101A Purification Pit 2.32 Sample Storage 0.61 101 Door Way 0.04 101 ShipmenpBench. 0.43-101 Sample Drop Hood, Y.23.
Hood 1 0.79 116 0,04 F20h 0"04 B21 Panoramic Irradiatior 0.04 Rm 2 South 0.04 Rm 2 Thermal Column 2.48 Rm 2 North 2.43 Rm 2 West Cave 6.63 Rm 2 East Cave 8.69
- 9. Environmental Monitoring Program The environmental monitoring program uses thermo-luminescent dosimeters (TLD's) at locations both near and at distances around the reactor facility building. The quarterly exposures in the vicinity of the Nuclear Radiation Center are listed in Table VI. The average ambient gamma radiation levels for this area (80 mile radius) are 0.243 mrem/day as reported in the 3 0 th Annual Report of the Environmental Radiation Program, Washington State Department of Health, Environmental Health Program, Table A- 12, page 131.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 8 of 11
Annual Report 2010 A large decorative granite structure, located in the center of the WSU campus, has been monitored for comparison to the dose rate values obtained in the environmental surveys for the areas that are in the vicinity of the Nuclear Radiation Center. The dose rate level values for the areas located greater than 25 meters of the WSUNRC, when compared to the central campus dose rate values, show no appreciable increase in ambient dose rate levels due to reactor operation.
Table VI Environmental Radiation Levels in the Vicinity of the Nuclear Radiation Center (Exposure in mrem/day)
Loaio u1-Aug-Sep Oct-Nov-~Dec Jaii-Feb-Ma Ap-a-u 2009 2009 i2010* 2010ra
> 25 meters' 0.257 0.305 0.354 0.336 0.313 Granite Rock 2 0.753 0.861 0.888 ___ _ 0.834
'For sampling stations located 25 meters or greater from the Nuclear Radiation Center.
2TLD attached to decorative granite display on Compton Union Building Mall approximately 1300 meters from the Nuclear Radiation Center.
3 The "--" denotes data not available due to missing TLD.
B. Locations Adjacent:to Reactor-Facility, Quarterly measured dose rates at locations adjacent to the reactor facility are listed in Table VII. No significant effect: on the environmental radiation levels by reactor operation:was noted'.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 9 of 11
Annual Report 2010 Table VII Environmental Radiation Levels Adjacent to the Nuclear Radiation Center' (Exposure in mrem/day)
I occtionJu1-eug-Sep Oe Jan-Feb-Mar Apr-Ma-Jun \c LoLttin 2009 ~ 2009, 2010< 201~0 Avr1 East Loading Dock2 : 0.270 0.307 0.348 0.304 0.307 Rad. Storage Shed 0.315 0.327 0.483 0.380 0.376 Reactor Room 0.292 0.297 0.337 0.337 0.316 East Security Gate ______
Cooling Tower Fence 0.281 0.307 0.371 0.359 0.329 Liquid Waste Tank 0.292 0.347 0.404 0.337 0.345 BuildingR..*Roo West 0.258 0.287 0.326 0.315 0.297 Building West Side 0.270 0.277 0.348 0.315 0.303 ReactorRoom 0.258 0.277 0.303 0.293 0.283 Exhaust Room,:
R,;;eactor Vent_______
0.438 0.624 0.674 0.587 0.581 West Vent" Pool Roon East Vent 0.393 0.604 0.663 0.500 0.540 Building RolofEast 0.258 0.287 0.337 0.315 0.299 LSo'uth Bldg. Entrance 0.315, 0.366, 0.427 0.380 0.372 For sampling stations located less than meters~from the Nuclear Radiation Center.
2 Bold print locations indicate areas that are readily accessible by the public.
3 Pool Room West Vent. TLD on roof, directly above the reactor core.
4 The "--" denotes data not available due to missing TLD.
C. ALARA Release Limits Technical Specifications describing ALARA effluent releases in 3.12(2) specify annual radiation exposure due to reactor operation, at the closest off-site extended occupancy, shall not, on an annual basis, exceed the average local off-site background radiation by more than 20%. For the reporting period, the average total background radiation dose rate level for sampling points 25 meters or greater from the facility was 0.313 mrem/day, while the average total radiation dose rate level at the closest extended occupied area 930 meters away was 0.292 mR/day, indicating no significant exposure level above natural background radiation.
Washington State University Nuclear Radiation Center Page 10 of 11