ML20153B681
| ML20153B681 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07001374 |
| Issue date: | 09/16/1998 |
| From: | NRC |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20153B668 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9809230217 | |
| Download: ML20153B681 (6) | |
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, ' gGCEGg k UNITED STATES E
j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001
.... ./ September 16, 1998 DOCKET: 70 1374 LICENSEE:. Idaho State University Pocatello, Idaho
SUBJECT:
SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT: RENEWAL APPLICATION DATED JULY 24,1998
- l. INTRODUCTION A. General Idaho State University (ISU) uses special nuclear material (SNM) under U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Materials License SNM-1373, for research and educational purposes to strengthen the existing undergraduate and graduate programs in the areas of nuclear science and engineering. ISU is currently authorized to possess uranium enriched in the U-235 isotope in the study of a subcritical assembly (SCA). ISU is also authorized to possess plutonium contained in plutonium-beryllium sealed sources.
ISU also has two other licenses from the NRC. These are Reactor License No. R-110 for ISU's research reactor and Materials License No. 11-27380-01 for by-product material.
B. License History Materials License SNM-1373 was first issued to ISU in July 1973. The license was subsequently renewed in 1981,1987, and 1992. The current license expired October 31,1997.
By letter dated September 30,1997, ISU submitted a renewal application. Because the renewal application was submitted no less than 30 days before the expiration date, the license has remained in effect under the timely renewal provision of 10 CFR 70.38(a). By letter dated May 7,1998, NRC issued a request for additional information (RAI) regarding administration, radiation protection, and criticality safety matters. By letter dated July 15,1998, ISU submitted a response to the RAl. By letter dated July 24,1998, ISU submitted a revised renewal ,
application, which incorporated ISU's response to the RAl. The revised renewal application
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replaced the September 30,1997, renewal application in its entirety.
- 11. POSSESSION LIMITS The possession limits for SNM-1373 requested by ISU are different from the current license.
ISU has not included the plutonium-beryllium sealed sources in the renewal application, l because this material is now licensed to ISU under NRC Materials License No. 11-27380-01.
9809230217 980916 I PDR ADOCK 07001374L C PDR w l l
2 ISU has requested authorization for the following SNM:
Material Form Amount A. Uranium enriched A. 150 clad uranium A. 1511 grams U-235 to 5 20 wt. % in aluminum fuel the U-235 isotope plates B. Uranium enriched B. 74 uranium B. 1 gram U-235 to 5 93 wt. % in aluminum foils the U-235 isotope and one fission counter Ill. AUTHORIZED USE AND PLACE OF USE In the renewal application, ISU described the activities that will be conducted under this license and the locations where the SNM will be used. The following provides this information:
A. The materials specified in items A and B above may be used in the Lillibridge Engineering Laboratory (LEL) Building at the ISU. The material will be used for experiments in a subcritical assembly.
B. . Up to 10 fuel plates specified in item A and/or up to 25 foils specified in item B may be used at one of three ISU Accelerator Center facilities. The material will be used for research projects.
The staff has determined that the proposed activities are consistent with the research or development activities specified in the Atomic Energy Act and are in accordance with 10 CFR 70.23 (a)(1). To authorize these activities and places of use, the staff proposes the following license conditions:
- 9. Authorized us~ N use in accordance with the statements, representations, and conditioris te r led in the application dated July 24,1998.
- 10. Authorized place of use: The Lillibridge Engineering Laboratory Building and three Accelerator Center facilities at Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho.
IV. PERFORMANCE HISTORY Only one inspection has been performed since the license was last renewed in 1992. The inspection was conducted on October 25,1996, and two violations were identified. The first violation involved the failure to perform required contamination and leak test surveys and the second violation involved a failure to notify NRC before designating new individuals to serve in positions identified in the license application. ISU responded promptly and the corrective actions taken were approved by the NRC.
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V. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATIOR ISU is operated by the State of Idaho, with its principal office at Pocatello, Idaho. The board members and officers are all United States citizens. The Reactor Administrator is responsible for the safe use and storage of the SNM. No activity will be performed or SNM transferred I without the prior approval of the Reactor Administrator. The Dean of the College of !
Engineering, Reactor Administrator, and Radiation Safety Officer each will have responsibility !
I for the supervision of operations with SNM. The Reactor Safety Committee (RSC) will review and approve all experimental plans and procedures for the use of the SNM. The RSC will also i review and approve all charges to existing experimental plans and procedures that may affect l safety. ;
1 ISU's renewal application demonstrates that there is adequate technical staff with appropriate i qualifications to administer an effective radiological safety program. NRC staff has determined I that the ISU staff is qualified, by reason of training and experience, to use the SNM for the I purposes authorized in Condition 9, in accordance with 10 CFR 70.23(a)(2). I VI. RADIATION PROTECTION A. Personnel Exposure Control All personnel monitoring will be performed in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1501. Gamma ,
beta , and neutron-sensitive dosimeters are issued to all students and staff who work with the SNM. The data provided in the renewal application show that radiation levels at the surface of the subcritical assembly tank are less than 7.5 mrem /hr. Considering that (1) personnel are unlikely to be near the surface of the tank for long periods and (2) personnel will only spend a few hours per week in the vicinity of the SCA while it is operating (e.g., estimated maximum ,
individual dose of 1560 mrem /yr), NRC staff considers the risk of overexposure to be minimal. I B. Training Program ISU's requested SNM will be used for instructional purposes to strengthen the cxisting academic program in the areas of nuclear science and engineering. ISU has committed to ensure that all personnel, before working with SNM, shall have received training in radiation '
safety or shall be supervised by persons who have received such training.
C. Contamination Control Disposable plastic gloves or other hand coverings will be used when handling the fuel plates. ,
The uranium-aluminum foils will be handled using disposable plastic gloves or tongs, as appropriate. ISU has committed to leak-testing the foils and 10 percent of the fuel plates, using a standard smear test for alpha contamination, before each experiment, and at least twice a year, when inventories are conducted. A general-area contamination survey will also be performed along with the fuel plates / foils surveys. In addition, a monthly contamination survey and radiation survey of the fuel plate storage room in the LEL Building will be performed.
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All SNM used at the Accelerator Center facilities will be leak-tested upon return to the LEL Building for storage. A radiological survey of the work area in the Accelerator Center facilities will also be performed after the completion af each research project.
For the release of equipment and materials from restricted areas to unrestricted areas, staff recommends continuance of the following license condition:
- 11. Release of equipment or materials for unrestricted use, or from contaminated to clean areas onsite, shall be in accordance with the attached, " Guidelines for Decontamination of Facilities and Equipment Prior to Release for Unrestricted Use or Termination of Licenses for Byproduct, Source, or Special Nuclear Materials," April 1993. l 1
I D. As Low As is Reasonable Achievable (ALARA) Commitment ISU is required by 10 CFR 20.1101(b) to maintain doses ALARA. At ISU, the Radiation Safety Officer will review workers' radiation dose data annually to ensure that doses are maintained ALARA and will report the findings of the assessment to the RSC. In the renewal application, I ISU has shown that operations involving the SNM to date have not resulted in any radiation hazard to personnel.
E. Calibrations cf Instruments The staff confirmed that ISU has an adequate range of radiation monitoring and measuring instruments listed in the renewal application. All the radiation detection instruments used with this license will be calibrated at intervals not to exceed 8 months.
F. Waste Disposal ;
The renewal application indicated that there will be very little waste contaminated with SNM !
from the activities under this license. ISU has established provisions for the control and ;
disposal of the low-level waste. The ISU Technical Safety Officer is responsible for proper I disposal of this waste.
1 G. Emergency Planning j The Emergency Plan (Revision 5, dated April 26,1994) established under NRC Reactor License Number R-110 applies to the areas in the LEL Building where the SCA will be handled
- and store .d The emergency procedures for the three Accelerator Center facilities include actions to be taken when SCA fuel plates and/or foils are involved in an emergency at one of f, those facilities: Staff has determined that ISU has adequate emergency response capacities.
Vll. Nuclear Criticality Safety l ISU intends to use the SCA in Room 23 of the LEL Building (SCA-room). In the SCA-room, there is a criticality alarm system as required by 10 CFR 70.24 (a)(2). Because the SCA was I
5 analyzed to have fully reflected moderation, there is no prohibition against using water to
, extinguish a fire in the SCA-room. NRC staff agrees that normal firefighting techniques can be used in the SCA-room.
The SCA was designed to be subcritical under all conditions. Experiments have been conducted with the SCA and neutron sources (Jotikasthira, Prinya, The Evaluation of the Idaho State University Subcritical Assembiv. ISU Thesis,1973). The results of the thesis are that the highest k-eff measured was 0.88 and criticality cannot be achieved using the SCA materials.
NRC staff modeled the SCA, neutron sources, uranium-aluminum foils, and graphite thermal column by using the KENO criticality code. The model assumed worst-case conditions of fissile and reflector materials in homogenized forms. The result, including standard uncertainties due to the homogenization of materials, ancillary equipment, and calculational uncertainty, was a k-eff of 0.93. Based on these results, NRC staff agrees that an inadvertent criticality is not possible using the materials in the SCA-room.
However, an inadvertent criticality might be possible by the deliberate and unauthorized use of superior moderator or reflector materials with the licensed SNM arranged in an optimal i geometric configuration. ISU has not identified a mechanism that would create the optimal i geometric configuration. ISU committed to have administrative controls restricting or prohibiting !
the use of superior moderator or reflector materials in the SCA-room. The administrative 1 controls consist of the control of access to the SCA-Room by the Reactor Administrator, the control of access to the shipping container and tank where the SNM is stored, and the posting i of the following administrative control notice at the entrance to the SCA-Room:
" NOTICE The following materials are nol to be taken into or stored within the suberitical assembly room: beryllium, beryllium oxide, heavy water, or fissile nuclides (i.e., 23sU, and/or 2 SPu) exceeding 3 gm of any one isotope or combination of isotopes except for the Pu-Be sources necessary for facility operation. Graphite may be taken into the subcritical assembly room only with the approval of the Reactor Administrator."
NRC staff agrees that the lack of an identified mechanism which could create an optimum geometric configuration and the administrative controls used by ISU are sufficient to not allow I an inadvertent criticality. l SCA-SNM will consist of up to 10 fuel plates and/or up to 25 uranium-aluminum foils and will be used at only one of the three Accelerator Center facilities at a time in shielded bays for research and development projects. Because the maximum amount of SCA-SNM at an Accelerator Center facility at any one time will be approximately 100 grams of U-235, NRC staff agrees that an inadvertent criticality is not credible. Therefore, a criticality alarm system is not required at any of the Accelerator Center facilities.
Vill. Decommissionina By letter dated October 23,1990, NRC agreed that all fuel plates and foils authorized for use in Materials License SNM-1373 are sealed sources. Because the clad uranium-aluminum fuel plates and foils authorized in the license are sealed sources, ISU is not subject to the financial assurance for decommissioning requirements of 10 CFR 70.25.
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6 IX. Physical Security and Material Control and Accountina Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.67 and 10 CFR 74.31, neither a physical security plan nor a material control and accounting system is required under Materials License SNM-1373. However, ISU ,
is required to c .mply with the reporting requirements of 10 CFR Parts 73 and 74, and to provide i physical protection, as specified in 10 CFR 73.67(f), to prevent theft and diversion of the SNM. '
Physical protection for the SCA is incorporated into the research reactor's Physical Protection l Plan and is implemented by ISU as part of the research reactor's protective measures.
X. Environmental Review The Commission has determined that the proposed activities do not adversely affect public I
health and safety or the environment because the activities involve the use of radioactive materials for research and development or for educational purposes. Such activities are categorically excluded from the requirements to prepare a site-specific environmental assessment. Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.22(c)(14)(v), neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is warranted for this action.
XI. Conclusion On completion of the safety review of the ISU's renewal application, the staff concludes that ISU has an adequate radiological safety program and an adequate criticality safety program.
Therefore, the staff recommends that Materials License SNM-1373 be renewed for a 10-year period in accordance with the application and subject to the recommended conditions.
The Region IV inspector staff has no objections to this licensing action.
Princioal Contributors Sean Soong Harry Felsher Charles Gaskin Susan Chotoo l
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