Interesting Note on HFBR: Brookhaven, NRC Inspection/Audit.

["Googins, Shawn (OD)" <sgoogins@exchange.nih.gov>]

No. 99-35 
February 23, 1999 
NRC SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
HIGH FLUX BEAM REACTOR FINDS NO SAFETY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety assessment of the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) High Flux Beam Reactor at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on
Long Island, N.Y., found no safety significant issues, although it identified
several apparent instances of non-compliance with DOE requirements. 
Overall, the NRC found safety programs at the High Flux Beam Reactor, located in
Suffolk County in eastern Long Island, adequate to protect the health and safety
of the public, the workers, and the environment. 
NRC did the assessment at the request of DOE, which is considering whether to
permanently shut down the reactor. NRC was asked to identify and assess any
significant safety issues and DOE's compliance with its safety requirements. NRC
was also asked to examine any potential issues pertaining to external oversight
of the facility. DOE paid NRC $225,000 for the study, which began June 8. The
effort included about six weeks of on-site observations at Brookhaven, as well
as audits of program activities, procedures, and records and interviews with DOE
personnel at Brookhaven and other DOE facilities. 
Historically, DOE has used the reactor for research in chemistry, physics,
advanced materials, the environment, biology and medicine. The reactor has not
operated since it was shut down for routine maintenance two years ago. Following
shutdown, a plume of water contaminated with low-level radioactive tritium
leaked from a pool where spent fuel was stored. Fuel has since been removed from
the pool and shipped offsite. 
"Actions taken to characterize and control the tritium plume were conservative,
and this plume does not represent a radiological hazard to public health or
safety," the 86-page NRC report concludes. 
The NRC report covers 14 areas: design and control; review and audit; radiation
protection; environmental protection and effluent control; operator
qualification and requalification; maintenance; surveillance; fuel handling;
experiments; procedures; emergency preparedness; safeguards and security;
operations; and organizational effectiveness. 
Areas of non-compliance with DOE and Brookhaven National Laboratory's
requirements included: failure to place low-level contaminated material in a
radioactive material storage area; radiation postings not updated in a timely
manner; two instances of incomplete corrective actions; several late or missed
reviews or audits; and a failure to inform a manager of radiation survey
reductions. None of these were considered safety significant. 
The report also concludes that the design and conditions at the High Flux Beam
Reactor "do not present any unique regulatory or technical challenges to
regulatory oversight" of the reactor by outside regulators, such as NRC. The
report recommends that DOE and Brookhaven continue their efforts to clarify
lines of authority for management and oversight of the lab. DOE and Brookhaven
have recently initiated organizational changes and management programs to
address this longstanding issue, but NRC could not assess their effectiveness
because they are relatively new. 
A copy of the report has been sent to the House of Representatives' Committee on
Appropriations. A copy of the executive summary of the NRC safety assessment is
available upon request from the NRC's Office of Public Affairs. The full report
will be posted on the NRC's Internet homepage at:
http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/reports. 
..
I have not seen anything posted on the list and thought it might be of general
interest. From the NRC website

Shawn


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