Refurbishment of the rotating rack of the OSU TRIGA MKII reactor
- OSU Radiation Center, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-5903 (United States)
Many TRIGA reactors have experienced operational difficulties with the rotating racks used for sample irradiation. Generally the rack gradually becomes more difficult to rotate until it finally seizes. The recommended action at that point is replacement of the entire facility at a significant cost. The purpose of this paper is to describe the symptoms leading to rack failure and to present the results of a refurbishment procedure that does not involve the use of solvents which create mixed chemical and radioactive hazardous waste. The primary reason for rack failure is the buildup of sludge produced through irradiation of lubrication oil. The refurbishment procedure involves using a commercially available degreasing solution which can be pumped into and out of the rack with the objective of removing this sludge. The solution used is sold under the trade name 'Simple Green'. No radioactive material was detected on smear or air samples taken of the work area during the reifurbishment activities and the rack rotates freely in both direction even after eighteen months of operation. The only disadvantage to performing this procedure has been the need to maintain a very aggressive contamination control program when unloading samples from the rack. A very fine particulate material attaches to the outside of tubes used to encapsulate samples. This material can produce contamination levels of 10,000 dpm/100 cm{sup 2} in the worst cases but will typically produce local hot spots on the order of 1000 dpm. (author)
- Research Organization:
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21141178
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09N0020; TOC-24; TRN: US09N0024020815
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 13. U.S. TRIGA users conference, Ithaca, NY (United States), 18-20 May 1992; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); 3 figs; Related Information: In: 13. U.S. TRIGA users conference: Papers and abstracts, 250 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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