Hazards Summary Report for the Battelle Research Reactor
- Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (United States)
This report was prepared for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards for their review and consideration of the potential hazards concerning the Battelle Memorial Institute Research Reactor. As such, it is considered to be a part of the application to the Atomic Energy Commission for a license to construct, to have fissionable material for, and to operate this reactor. The proposed reactor is a modified "swimming-pool" reactor and will operate at 1000 kw. At this power, it will provide fluxes of fast and slow neutrons and gamma rays sufficient for a variety of experimental applications. After much study, a reactor incorporating an experimental stall attached to a large pool was designed. The reactor can be operated in the stall into which the beam tubes and thermal column converge. The reactor can be operated also in the open pool for shielding studies and large-scale irradiations. The plans for this facility and for the instrumentation, shielding, and controls are described in the report. The research reactor facility will be located 13 miles west of Columbus on a 400-acre tract owned by Battelle. The building will be con structed of masonry and Q-metal siding and will be devoted exclusively to the reactor. The minimum distance to the exclusion fence is about 1200 ft; an uninhabited swamp is on the other side of the fence at this point. The only buildings within 2000 feet are structure s housing the Battelle critical assembly facility and the hot-cell laboratories. The off-site area is farming country and is very sparsely settled. Only 60 permanent residents live within a one-mile radius. Discussions on the make-up of the surrounding area, including climatology, geology, hydrology, seismology, and the distribution of population and industry, are included. In the appendixes the reports from the source s (i.e., U. S. Geological Survey, U. S. Weather Bureau, etc.) are given. The conclusions in all cases are favorable to the site. The report further discusses the operating procedure, the fuel inventory required, which is 5103 grams, and the time schedule, which suggests February 15, 1956, as a target date for initial criticality. The last two sections of the report are devoted to hazards during normal operation and hazards following an accident. During normal operation, cracking of the shield, inadequate shielding, and fissure of a fuel element could be hazardous. These and the ventilation and disposal systems are considered along with the methods for removing the associated dangers. Two reactor accidents and their hazards are considered: (1) a "maximum credible accident " in which an instantaneous increase in re - activity causes a power pulse and a Borax-type excursion, and (2) a "maximum hypothetical accident " in which there is complete vaporization of the fuel elements into a cloud. In the latter, which is the most extreme, direct radiation, inhalation, and fall-out of the radioactive cloud are considered. The results of these considerations indicate that, even in this hypothetical accident, the exclusion area is large enough to reduce the hazards to the general public to manageable proportions. It is concluded that the design is safe and that the location provides an adequate exclusion area.
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
- NSA Number:
- NSA-11-004076
- OSTI ID:
- 4382003
- Report Number(s):
- BMI-ACRS-601(Rev.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCIDENTS
AIR
Analysis
BUILDINGS
CANNING
CONTAMINATION
CONTROL ELEMENTS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
COOLANT LOOPS
CRITICAL ASSEMBLIES
CRITICALITY
Control System
Coolant
Critical Assembly
Criticality
ENVIRONMENT
EVAPORATION
EXCURSIONS
FAILURES
FALLOUT
FAST NEUTRONS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
GAMMA RADIATION
GEOLOGY
GRAPHITE
HYDROLOGY
INSTRUMENTS
IRRADIATION
LEAKS
MASS
MEASURED VALUES
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
MELTING
METALS
MODERATORS
NEUTRON BEAMS
NEUTRON FLUX
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
OPERATION
PERSONNEL
PLANNING
POPULATIONS
POWER
RADIATION INJURIES
RADIATION PROTECTION
REACTIVITY
REACTOR SAFETY
REMOTE HANDLING
RESEARCH REACTORS
Reactor Safeguard
SEISMOLOGY
SHIELDING
SLOWDOWN
STARTUP
Safety
Studies
THERMAL NEUTRONS
TUBES
WASTE DISPOS