ML20214R967

Amend 6 to License CX-22,authorizing Receipt & Possession of 600 Unirradiated Spert (F-1) Fuel Pins Containing 21.12 Kg U-235 & Allowing Each Storage Tube to Contain Not More than 15 Spert Fuel Pins at One Time

ML20214R967
Person / Time
Site:	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Issue date:	12/01/1986
From:	Berkow H Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:
Shared Package
ML20214R936	List: ML20214R934 ML20214R967 ML20214R990
References
CX-22-A-006, CX-22-A-6, NUDOCS 8612080154
Download: ML20214R967 (5)

Text

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1. kg UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION g [  !

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8 k ..... o RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE DOCKET NO. 50-225 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 6 License No. CX-22

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:

A. The application for amendment to Facility Operating License No.

CX-22, filed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (the licensee),

dated October 17, 1986, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Ene.rgy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations as set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; l B. The facility will operate in conformity with the amended license, the' provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the

Commission; C. There is reasonable assurance

(1) that the activities authorized by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the public, and (ii) that such activities will be conducted in compliance with the C'ommission's regulations; D. The issuance of this amendment will rot be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public; E. The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 of the Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied; and F. Publication of notice of this amendment is not required since it does

! not involve a significant hazards consideration nor amendment of a license of the type described in 10 CFR Section 2.106(a)(2).

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2. Accordingly, Facility Operating License No. CX-22 is hereby amended by adding paragraph B.5, which reads as follows: ,

5. Pursuant to the Act and 10 CFR Part'70, " Domestic' Licensing of Special Nuclear Material," to receive and possess, but not to use, 21.12 kilograms of contained uranium-235 in SPERT (F-1) fuel pins.

3. Accordingly, the license is amended by ch3nges to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and paragraph C.2 of License No. CX-22 is hereby amended to read-as follows:

2. Technical Specifications

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The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 6 are hereby incorporated in the license.

, The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications. '

4. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Herbert N. Berkow, Director

- itandardization and Special Projects Directorate _ \

Division of PWR Licensing-B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulatica

Attachment:

Appendix A Technical Specifications Changes Date of Issuance: December 1, 1986 1

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1 ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 6

! FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. CX-22 DOCKET NO. 50-225 i

Revised Appendix A Technical Specifications is as follows:

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1 i Changes on the revised pages are identified by marginal lines, i

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5-2

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5.4.2 Reactor Core 1 ...

hie stainless steel reactor core structure is comprised of upper, center, and lower gric pTates. The active core is situated netween tne upper and. center gria plates and is about 22 inches in height and 22 inches in equivalent otam-The core normally contains 38 stationary fuel assem-

' i eter.

e olies and 4 control rod assemblies with fuel followers. Tne entire support structure is mountea on four posts set in the  :

floor of the^ reactor tank.

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5.4.3 Standard Fuel Assemblies

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.A statior.ary fuel assembly shall be composed of a maximum of 18 fuel plates. The box-type fuel assemblies are 2.9 X 2.9 l-X 22 fnches in dimensions. The center-to-center spacing of .

l 2 the fuel plates is maintained by grooved polystyrene inserts i 3

s at 0.163 inch. A control rod fuel follower will be of similar fuel enrichment, but* limited to a maximum of 16 plates per assembly. For reduced loadings, plates may be omitted or dummy plates used.

J.4.4 Control Rod Assemblies The control ' rod assembly shall consist of a control rod ansorcer sec't' ion and 'a control rod follower. Tne. length of the control rod poison.section is 22 inches and is nominally 2.619 inches square. The poison- and fuel follower are in-serted in a stainless steel square: tune, 2.75 inches square, i

j which passes throug,h tne core and rests in a hydraulic ouffer 4

on the bottom grid plate .q,,f the suppor,t-structure.

The drive mechanism isl a , motor and gear oox coup, led by a mag-

- netic clutch to a rack'and pinion' attached to the top of the rod from an.. overhead cantilever mount.

4 5.5 Water Handling' System j The water handling systera allows remote filling and emptying of the reactor tank. It provides for a water dump by means of a fail safe butterfly-type gate valve when a reactor scram is initiated. The

! filling system shall be controlled by the operator who must satisfy tne sequential interlock system before adding water to the tank. A i pump is provided to add the moderator-reflector water from the stor-age cump tank into the reactor tank. Slow and fast fill rates of about 10 gpm and 50 gpm, respectively, are provided. A nominal six inch valve is installed in the cump line and has the capability of emptying the reactor tank on demand of the operator or wnen a reac-tor scram is initiated, unless bypassed with the approval of the

5-3 I' licensed senior operator on duty. A valve is installed in the bottom drain line of the reactor tank to provide for completely emptying the reactor tank.

5.6 Fuel ,

-The fuel used for reactor operation is a plate-type, stainless steel

93% U-235. Stainless steel clad, SPERT

clad}UO-SScermetenrichedtofu$1 (F-1 pins,enrichedto4.8%U-235jcanbestor j but not used for reactor operation.

5.7 Fuel Storage and Transfer When not in use, the fuel shall be stored within the storage vault i

located in the reactor room. The vault shall be closed by a locked door and shall be provided with a criticality monitor near the vault i

door. The fuel shall be stored in cadmium clad steel tubes with no i more than 1 kg fuel per tube mounted on a steel wall rack. A stora tube in the storage vault can not contain more than 15 SPERT (F-1) ge fuel pins at any time. The center-to-center spacing of the storage tubes together with the cadmium clad steel tubes assures that the infinite i multiplication factor is less than 0.9 when flooded with water.

i All fuel transfers shall be conducted under the direction of a licensed

! senior operator.

Operating personnel shall be familiar with health physics procedures and monitoring techniques and shall monitor the operation with appropriate radiation instrumentation.

For a completely unknown or untested system, fuel loading shall follow

! the inverse multiplication approach to criticality and, thereafter, meet Specification 4.2. Shouldanyinterruptionoftheloadingoccur(more ii than four days), all fuel elements except the initial loading step shall be removed from the core in reverse sequence and the operation repeated.

For a known system, up to a quadrant of elements may be removed from the core or a single stationary fuel assembly be replaced with another

stationary assembly only under the following conditions

1. The net change in reactivity has been previously determined by

. measurement or calculation to be negative or less than $.72.

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2. The reactor is subcritical by at least $2.86 in reactivity.

3. There is initially only one vacant position within the active fuel

lattice.

4. The nuclear instrumentation is on scale and the dump valve is not bypassed.

5. The critical rod bank position is checked after the operation is complete.

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