ML21077A120
| ML21077A120 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | University of Texas at Austin |
| Issue date: | 03/09/2021 |
| From: | Whaley P University of Texas at Austin |
| To: | William Kennedy Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML21077A120 (11) | |
Text
COil.EGE OF ENGINRERlNG THE UNNERSI1Y OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
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- 1 UWt¥emty Sldl11J11 C2200 *Austi11, T-, 78712-0292 Tdq,ho,,e/512)471-1131 FAX (5_12)471-8727 03/09/2021 ATTN: Document Control Desk Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 W. Kennedy NRR/DLP/PRLB 3WFN MS 8 C28
SUBJECT:
Docket No. 50-602 R-126, 2019 ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TRIG A II NUCLEAR RESEARCH REACTOR Sir:
Attached is the 2020 Annual Report for the University of Texas TRIGA II Nuclear Reactor. If there are any. questions, please feel free to contact P. M. Whaley at whal~y@mail.utexas.edu or 512 232 5374.
Sincerely, P. M. Whaley
- 1
2020 ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TRIGA II NUCLEAR RESEARCH REACTOR (DOCKET 50-602)
INTRODUCTION The University of Texas System (UTS) was established by the Texas Constitution in 1876, with the University of Texas at Austin the flagship institution. The Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory was established at the J. J. Pickle Research Capipus with a TRI GA II Nuclear Research Reactor, critical in 1992. The reactor is licensed to the University of Texas under USNRC License R-129, a class 104 research reactor. Other activities at the NETL using radioisotopes fall under a broad scope, State of Texas license (L00485).
The NETL TRIGA Ir'Reactor Technical Specifications (section 6.6.1) requires an annual report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This Annual Report covers the period from January through December 2020. The report is organized to summarize Ui.:rtatus of current organization during the reporting period (line management organization, oversight committees, and independent oversight activities) followed by the information as detailed in Technical Specifications.
ANNUAL REPORT Personnel status for the organization during the 2019-2020 reporting year for management, oversight, and operating staff is provided. The Technical Specifications requires Routine annual reports covering the activities of the reactor facility during the previous calendar year" three months following the end of each prescribed year. The information required in the annual report is addressed as indicated in Table 1.
Table 1: Required Annual Report Information Information Addressed as A narrative summary of reactor operating experience mcluding Narrative Summary
- a. the energy produced by the reactor or the hours the reactor was Energyproduced: 14MWD critical, or both. Hours critical: 588 h Tabulation of Unscheduled The unscheduled shutdowns mcluding, where applicable, Shutdowns b.
corrective action taken to preclude recurrence.
Analysis and Corrective Action Statement of Surveillance Tabulation of major preventive and corrective maintenance Activities c.
operations having safety significance. Description of Significant Corrective Maintenance Description of Facility Tabulation of major changes m the reactor facility and Modifications procedures, and tabulation of new tests or experiments, or both, Description of Procedure
- d. that are significantly different from those performed previously, Changes including conclusions that no new or unanalyzed safety questions Description of New were identified. Tests/Experiments 50.59 Summary
ts A summary of the nature and amount of ri;tdioactive effluen e
release d or discharged to the environs beyond the effectiv There were no liquid effluents in control of the owner- operato r as determ ined at or before the point 2020 of such release or discharge. The summary shall include , to the e.
extent practicable, an estimate of individual radionuclides present in the effluent. If the estimated average release after dilution or diffusion is less than 25% of the concentration Argon 41 Effluent allowed or recommended, a statement to this effect is sufficient.
ed A summarized result of environmental survey s perform Environmental Surveys
- f. .
outside the facility A summary of exposures received by facili ty personnel and Exposures
- g. visitors where such exposures are greater than 25% of that allowed or recommended.
ORG ANIZ ATIO N Line Mana geme nt Technical Specifications.
Figure 1 presents the four levels of management identified in University ofTc:us ll Austin Executive ice President and
~diation Safety Provost Committe e ReactorO vcnight Committe e
~diation Safety Nuclear Engineering Teaching Officer Laborator y Direct or Health Physicist Figure 1: Line Management Organization
Table 2: Level 1 The University of Texas at Austin Administration J. Hartzell, PhD, President Daniel Jaffee, PhD, Executive Vice President and Provost Sharon Wood, PhD, Dean, Cockrell School of Engineering Table 3: Level 2 Mechanical Engineering and NETL Administration Dr. Richard Neptune, Chair, Mechanical Engineering Department Dr. W. Charlton, Director P. M. Whaley, Associate Director There were no changes in Level 2 personnel during 2020.
Table 4: Level 3 NETL Reactor Supervisor Larry Hall, Reactor Manger There was no change in the reactor manager during 2020.
Table 5: Level 4 NETL Reactor Operators/Senior Reactor Operators P. M Whaley: Senior Operator Larry Hall: Senior Operator Jim Terry (Electronic Technician) Senior Operator Tracy Tipping (Health Physicist) Reactor Operator Walker Payne (Research Assistant) Reactor Operator Kevin McKay -- Reactor Operator Mark Andrews (Research Associate) - Reactor Operator Oversight Committees Table 6: 2019-2020 University Radiation Safety Committee Kevin N. Dalby, Ph.D., Chair, Professor, College of Phannacy Alison Preston, Ph.D., Vice-Chair, Office of the Vice President for Research R. DeWayne Holcomb, ex-officio, Radiation Safety Officer, Environmental Health and Safety Jack L. Ritchie, Ph.D., Department Chair, Professor, Department of Physics John Salsman, Diryctor, Environmental Health and Safety (& acting Radiation Safety Officer)
Christopher S. Sullivan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences J. Steven Swinnea, Ph.D., Texas Materials Institute X-Ray Facility Manager Tracy N. Tipping, NETL Health Physicist and Laboratory Manager Karen M. Vasquez, Ph.D., Professor, College of Pharmacy
Table 7: 2019-2020 Reactor Oversight Committee Derek Haas (ME), Chair . .
Kevin Clarno (ME), Chair Dale Klein (ME)
Rick Neptune, ex-officio (ME)
John G. Ekerdt, ex-officio Lawrence R. Jacobi (External Representative)
Scott Pennington (External Representative)
Larry Hall, ex-officio (NETL)
- Tracy Tipping, ex-officio (NETL)
Mike Whaley, ex-officio (NETL)
DeWayne Holcomb (Radiation Safety Officer)
Independent Oversight Activities Table 8: Inspections and Reviews USNRC License(s) Inspection
. R-129 16-18 November 2020 State of Texas License Inspection L00485 (89) None Reactor Oversight Committee Review Semi Annual Review 20 Apr 2020 Semi Annual Review 30 Nov 2020 Other UT Fire Marshal Fire Safety ~ None UT Fire Safety Systems None due to installation of new
- fire alarm and sprinkler system FACILITY OPERATIONS
SUMMARY
REPORT Narrative Summary
, The UT-TRIGA reactor operated on 151 days in 2020, producing a total energy output of 339.5 MWh. There were routine maintenance outages in Jan and July, (Jan maintenance outage was completed in Dec 2019 prior to Christmas break (The University is secured over Christmas break, typicatly from the Friday before Christmas through January 1) to support an experiment schedule. The COVID 19 pandemic affected the operating schedule, which resulted in limited staff and student ability torenter facility for .an extended period of time. Even with the special event that limited reactor operations, the trend of operating hours and energy generation remained relatively high. Sandia National Laboratory performed: experiments at the facility during 2020. .
/
Energy Generation 40 35 30 25 0
5 20
~
15 10 5
0 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Year Operating Days 250 V) cu 0 200 tl.O C
cu (lJ 0.. 150 0
'+-
0 (lJ
..0 100 E
- i z
so 0
2016 2017 2018 2019 Year There were 20 days of operations for training and education, including preparation for NRC examination and reactor-based laboratory classes. There were 710 samples irradiated during 151 days of experiment operations (31 experiments run: 19 for research, 10 for service work and
2 for internal experiments. The distribution of utilization across experiment facilities is provided below.
Experim ent Facility Utilizatio n 7.03% 2.34% 3.77%
9.78% 10. 19%
15.89%
-Epnt: 29 -RSR: 45 -BP3: 115 -Tpnt: 17 -3L: 27 Trng: 22 -BP 5: 19 -BP 2 : 3 -BP 4: 32 Other Significant Operations and Events Tabulation of Unscheduled Shutdowns TABLE9:UN SCHEDULE DSHUTDOW NS 31 Jan 2020 PWRHIGH Approach 950kW NP spike High Operator Error 16 Dec 2020 NM3/4PWR Playback indicated 98% prior to trip Spurious NM 16 Dec 2020 NM3/4PWR Playback indicated 99% prior to trip Spurious NM
Analysis and Corrective Actions Temperature Trips There were no temperature trips in 2020 a significant change from previous years.
Operator Error There was a single reactor scram due to operator error. The scram occurred while approaching 950kW.
Spurious NM 1000 Power Level Trips The NM was responsible for two spurious scrams. Playback allows the operator to witness the highest level of power reached. In all cases, the scram occurred well below the scram limit.
This has been a recurring event throughout the history of UT NETL.
Statement of Surveillance Activities The facility conducts two major maintenance outages each year, one in January (before the start of the spring semester) and one mid-summer. All surveillances and scheduled maintenance activities were completed during the reporting year at the required frequencies. All results met or exceeded the requirements of the Technical Specifications.
Description of Significant Corrective Maintenance None Description of Facility Modifications Fire alarm and sprinkler system completed.
A new roof was installed on the facility. This work included new railings and vent stacks. Vent stacks were tested prior to and after replacement and flow rates remained the same. All specs of the new stacks were complimentary of the original stack.
New alarm and camera software were installed with greater capabilities available on both systems.
Description of Procedure Changes
None New Tests or Experiments None 50.59 Summary Modifications for which no Technical Specifications change is required and the criteria for NRC approval prior to implementation was not met.
10 March evaluation performed for Fire alarm and sprinkler upgrade. No 50.59 required 13 May evaluation performed for RSR motor replacement. No 50.59 required.
28 May evaluation performed for alarms software. No 50.59 required.
13 Dec evaluation performed for roof replacement. No 50.59 required.
The pneumatic facility in a 3-EL canister is in the design phase; a 10CFR50.59 review will be completed following review of final design and prior to installation (ongoing)
RADIOLOGICA L
SUMMARY
REPORT Argon 41 Effluent 6
The principal radioactive effluent for the UT reactor is Argon 41. There were 3.3 x10 µCi of argon-41 discharged during calendar year 2020, approximately 3% of the value permitted by Technical Specifications.
Environmental Surveys NETL monitors exterior locations indicated as positions 1 through 6 on the exterior dosimeter map. For 2020, "minimal" doses(< 1 mrem) were reported for positions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. A dose of two mrem was reported for position 5 for 2020. These doses are well below the 100 mrem annual limit for dose to the general public.
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~ Mx..Mw NETL TLD loc1tion 1 Samplt locations for UT Nuclear Enginttnng Testing laboratory 1 ...,,W$ Unl,'ihtd C1ealtd on t',ov 18 Updaltd 9 mmu!H ~o RylM!on l t . . ~ Wr1tf1 I \:OQl'DIUI
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The Texas Department of State Health Services monitors exterior locations near NETL indicated as positions 1 through 5 on the TDSHS TLD map. As yet, TDSHS has only reported results for the first three calendar quarters of 2020. For this period, 1 mrem dose was reported for position 1, 2 mrem dose was reported for positions 2 and 3, 8 mrem dose was reported for position 4, and 5 mrem dose was reported for position 5. These doses are well below the 100 mrem annual limit for dose to the general public.
Exposures No workers or members of the general public received doses in excess of 25% of applicable exposure limits during 2020.