Documented Safety Analysis Addendum for the Neutron Radiography Reactor Facility Core Conversion

Conference · Fri May 08 00:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI ID:957523

Christensen, Boyd D. ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

The Neutron Radiography Reactor Facility (NRAD) is a Training, Research, Isotope Production, General Atomics (TRIGA) reactor which was installed in the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Hot Fuels Examination Facility (HFEF) at the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in the mid 1970s. The facility provides researchers the capability to examine both irradiated and non-irradiated materials in support of reactor fuel and components programs through non-destructive neutron radiography examination. The facility has been used in the past as one facet of a suite of reactor fuels and component examination facilities available to researchers at the INL and throughout the DOE complex. The facility has also served various commercial research activities in addition to the DOE research and development support. The reactor was initially constructed using Fuel Lifetime Improvement Program (FLIP)- type highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel obtained from the dismantled Puerto Rico Nuclear Center (PRNC) reactor. In accordance with international non-proliferation agreements, the NRAD core will be converted to a low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel and will continue to utilize the PRNC control rods, control rod drives, startup source, and instrument console as was previously used with the HEU core. The existing NRAD Safety Analysis Report (SAR) was created and maintained in the preferred format of the day, combining sections of both DOE-STD-3009 and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide 1.70. An addendum was developed to cover the refueling and reactor operation with the LEU core. This addendum follows the existing SAR format combining required formats from both the DOE and NRC. This paper discusses the project to successfully write a compliant and approved addendum to the existing safety basis documents.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID-13727
• OSTI ID: 957523
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-09-15854; TRN: US1000621
• Resource Relation: Conference: Safety Analysis Working Group, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 8-14 May 2009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
CONSOLES
CONTROL ELEMENTS
CONTROL ROD DRIVES
ENRICHED URANIUM
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
IDAHO
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION
LIFETIME
NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY
NUCLEAR FUELS
PROLIFERATION
REACTOR OPERATION
REGULATORY GUIDES
SAFETY
SAFETY ANALYSIS
TRAINING
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Neutron Radiography Reactor Facility (NRAD)
Training
Research
Isotope Production
General Atomics (TRIGA) Reactor
Fuel Lifetime Improvement Program (FLIP)
Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Fuel
Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Fuel
Safety Analysis Report (SAR)
Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC)