RSCS has been setting up a demolition project at a southern US Nuclear Station. The subject of the project is to segment a 150,000-gallon contaminated water storage tank to support packaging for disposal. This tank has been situated outside of the site’s restricted area, where segmentation activities will be performed. RSCS will be providing comprehensive services with minimal reliance on the site’s infrastructure, while fully meeting the Site’s stringent controls. RSCS is responsible for leading the project and ensuring radioactive material controls for both workers and the environment are fully met. The comprehensive “layers” of controls being deployed include a large tent containment structure outfitted with HVAC and HEPA ventilation, contamination fixative, specialty cutting techniques, fencing, and a full RCA control point trailer. RSCS also provides all instrumentation, all consumables, and staffing including project management, radiation protection, health and safety, and the demolition crew. Demolition activities are planned to commence in mid-May and complete in June – before going too far into hurricane season. The Site’s confidence in RSCS to perform these activities outside of the boundaries of the site’s restricted area is notable. This project demonstrates the special and unique capabilities of RSCS by combining our operational talent, staffing, fixed and portable instrumentation capabilities, technical analysis, and our key specialty partners.

   Ellen Anderson, Director of Radiological Services, was chosen to make the 2023 Wissink Memorial Lecture at the 54th Northern Central Chapter of the Health Physics Society meeting on April 21st, in Madison Wisconsin. This annual lectureship memorializes Robert Wissink’s lifelong service and contributions to health physics and the North Central Chapter.

  Ms. Anderson’s presentation titled “Health Physics in 2023: Bridging the Knowledge Gap” explained how consultants, and especially RSCS, are providing training and professional health physics and radiation protection expertise to nuclear power plants, medical, industrial, and government agencies.

Jessica Joyce, President NCC HPS (left) & Ellen Anderson (right)

National Geographic recently published an article on the Nuclear Ship Savannah. The link to this article is below. RSCS and our Joint Venture partner Energy Solutions were awarded a five-year contract in 2021 to decommission the NS Savannah.  The project is unique in that it is a first-ever combination of NRC License Termination, Coast Guard maritime integrity requirements, and Compliance with the NS Savannah’s National Historic Registry designation. These three unique challenges require a “surgical” decommissioning and a multi-faceted approach. The large and complex project is on budget and on schedule with a recent major milestone of the reactor vessel removal and transport completed with “flawless execution”.

NS Savannah Nat Geo Article 2

Our new Neoden Pick & Place Machine gives us the capabilities of making the circuit boards for our industry leading SIM-Teq line of radiation simulators 100% in-house, in Seabrook NH. This machine eliminates the need for outsourcing or hand-placing circuit board components. This in-house build capability combined with increased design abilities and supply chain optimization efforts all combine to further improve the build times and delivery reliability—so critical during these challenging manufacturing times.  

(RSCS Team Outside Vogtle Unit 3)

    The call came in on the morning of April 1st, “Tim, Vogtle Unit 3 has synced to the grid”.  Tim Rogers, Radiation Safety and Control Services (RSCS) senior Health Physicist, recalls.  “I thought it was an April Fool’s joke” states Tim.  It couldn’t have been the worse week to suddenly travel to northeastern Georgia as The Masters (The Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club) was starting the next day.  “There were no hotel rooms, rental cars, or airline tickets to be had in northeastern Georgia, thankfully one of our team members lived in North Carolina and was able to drive a rental car from there.  We found late night flights and hotel rooms near Savannah.”  RSCS team members (Tim Rogers, Heather Baxter, and Nate Blouin) gathered suitcases, equipment, and supplies and headed to Vogtle Unit 3 to perform the first neutron characterization measurements on an AP-1000 in the United States.  

   The purpose of the study was to provide an evaluation for site specific neutron dosimetry correction factors in support of power ascension startups and operations at Vogtle Unit 3. Neutron characterization and correction factor measures have been performed for years for dry fuel storage campaigns, Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs pads), and operating nuclear power plants.  In 2016, RSCS personnel successfully completed the evaluation for the initial power ascension at TVA’s Watts Bar. 

   Neutron characterization is important.  Most nuclear plants have a variety of fields which have different energy spectrum.  Neutron dosimeters respond to the energy curve variations.   A site-specific correction factor is needed to address the variation in the response.   American Nuclear Insurer’s (ANI) Bulletin 11-02 “Neutron Monitoring” requests utilities evaluate the performance of their personnel dosimetry to neutron radiation fields.  These measurements are used to validate dose estimates to workers.

   The neutron measurements will be performed on three different containment elevations at locations representative of personnel neutron exposure for three different power levels, 25%, 50%, and 100%.   The measurement methodology was developed by RSCS personnel in response to ANI Bulletin 11-02. Each measurement location consists of Dosimeters of Legal Record (DLR) and Neutron Electronic Dosimeters (ED) mounted on a 30 x 30 x 15 cm polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantom.  The dosimeters were positioned on a tripod representative of the height of a human torso and measured within the specifications of ANSI N13.11(2009).  This configuration allowed for the detection of low-energy albedo neutrons backscattered from the human body. 

   The PMMA phantoms, with the dosimeters attached, were placed at three site specified locations based upon survey data and representative of location where workers could be exposed to neutron dose.  At each site, the DLRs and EDs were placed in the direction of the highest field, typically towards the reactor.  The dosimeters were exposed until each dosimeter received approximately 50 mrem of integrated neutron dose equivalent. At the lowest power and location of lowest neutron dose rate, the dosimeters were exposed for 75 hours.  

   All locations were surveyed for neutron and gammas dose rate using handheld neutron survey meter and ion chamber. All locations were also measured with a Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) and a neutron survey meter.  The TEPC measures mixed-field gamma and neutron radiation.  It records the energy spectra of the protons and electrons created in the detector’s shell from neutrons and gamma radiation in kEV/μm. The instrument measures absorbed dose, dose equivalent, and LET spectra minute by minute.  The TEPC was placed on a tripod directly adjacent to the face of the phantom. The neutron spectrophotometer was laid on top of the phantom with the sealed chamber position in the direction of the field. The survey meters exposure time varied from 22 minutes to 21 hours.

   Upon completion of the measurements, the DLRs will be evaluated by the NVLAP accredited dosimetry vendor without any applied Neutron Correction Factors (NCF). RSCS will use the data from the TEPC and the data from the DLRs, EDs, and neutron survey meters to determine average NCFs per work task and location for each set of instruments. All measured neutron dose equivalent rates will be calculated based on the first principles of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) software for the TEPC. Quality factors equivalent to 10CFR20 (ICRP-26) are used to calculate the neutron dose equivalent rates from the recorded absorbed dose rates on the TEPC. NCFs for survey instruments will also be determined.

    This measurement was a personal milestone for Jay Tarzia and Eric Darois, 2 of the founders of RSCS. Back in 1990, Jay and Eric performed a very similar study for the initial power ascension at Seabrook Station using a TEPC and a neutron spectrometer. Since then, there has only been one power ascension neutron study and Vogtle represents the second. RSCS appreciate the dedication and hard work our team has done to continue to carry this expertise.

Article by Heather Baxter, CHP, CSP, Manager of Technical Services, Radiation Safety and Control Services

Heather Baxter began her employment with RSCS in June of 2022 as a Sr. Staff Health Physicist. She has a BS in chemistry and an MS in nuclear chemistry with over 18 years experience in radiochemistry, health physics and radiation protection. Her experience includes work at operating nuclear plants and soil remediation sites with radiological contamination. She was the chairperson for the NEI Radiological and Environmental Committee from 2016 to 2019 and is currently a member of that committee.

Heather worked at Duke Power/Progress Energy from 2006 through 2019 where she earned several performance awards. She is certified by NRRPT, OSHA certifications, waste-water licenses and is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) which she earned while working for RSCS. She is also a member of a variety of professional organizations.

Heather recently passed Part 1 and Part 2 of the exam administered by the American Board of Health physics and through this she has recently achieved the professional designation of a Certified Health Physicist (CHP). Our family at RSCS congratulates Heather for this important career achievement. She is now recognized as our organization’s 14^th CHP

Eric Darois and Matthew Darois invited to present at the NRC’s Second Annual Subsurface Investigations Public Workshop on May 11, 2022, 12:00 PM to 05:00 PM ET.

This is a remote meeting and the second of its kind hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During the first workshop, Matthew presented examples of subsurface evaluations that he managed for RSCS using GIS tools. For this second workshop, Eric will be presenting on “Subsurface Basement Modeling and Survey Methods” and Matthew will be presenting “Utilizing the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 07-07 Industry Groundwater Protection Initiative as a Foundation for Addressing Subsurface Site Assessments”. Their presentation will begin around 2:10 pm and end at about 2:50 pm followed by a Q&A session. Additional information about this meeting is provided below.

The NRC is holding this second public workshop via webinar on the technical basis for development of interim guidance on subsurface investigations supporting license termination under 10 CFR Part 20. The public meeting notice purpose states, “This research effort focuses on survey design optimization methods, data analysis techniques, and recommendations for associated software development to support subsurface investigations at decommissioning sites. A draft technical report has been developed and feedback received during the workshop will be considered in finalizing the report. Taking into consideration workshop and technical report findings, interim guidance will be developed by NRC staff in late 2022. The objective of the interim guidance is to improve transparency regarding acceptable methods to assess, evaluate, and manage risks associated with residual radioactivity in subsurface soils and groundwater.”  This workshop will include participants from DOE, RSCS, EPRI, NEI and PNNL.  Meeting details can be found at the notice shown as follows:

Public Meeting notice:

https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg?do=details&Code=20220265

Salt Lake City, Utah – March 29, 2022 – Radiation Safety and Control Services Inc. (RSCS) and EnergySolutions, today announced a partnership to decommission the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, the N.S. Savannah.

RSCS started working with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration in 2007 on Phase 1 decommissioning preparations and completed this phase in early 2021.  The RSCS-EnergySolutions Joint Venture (Nuclear Ship Support Services, LLC) is now conducting Phase II and Phase III decommissioning where remediation is expected to be complete mid-2023 and License termination expected to be completed by 2025.

“This ship is designed with a one-of-a-kind reactor and associated support systems,” stated Jay Tarzia, Executive Director, RSCS.  “The goal of the project is to safely and surgically decommission the ship, maintaining maximum ship integrity to preserve this national historic landmark.  To complete this job we have assembled a world-class team with our partners EnergySolutions to achieve this goal.

“This is a unique opportunity for EnergySolutions to apply our decommissioning experience to the decommissioning efforts of the N.S. Savannah and we value our partnership with RSCS on this important project,” said Ken Robuck, President and CEO of EnergySolutions.  “We are confident as a team we will safely decommission the Savannah applying lessons learned from our experience at commercial reactor decommissioning projects while at the same time preserving this national treasure.”

A National Historic, Nuclear Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Landmark, the N.S. Savannah was commissioned July 20, 1956 under President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peach Program.”  The ship, originally constructed under a joint agreement between the U.S. DOT Maritime Division and the Atomic Energy Agency, is currently licensed with the NRC.  An 80 Mw reactor powered the ship, which weighs 9,570 tons with an overall length of 595 feet and was operated by a sixty-person crew.

Decommissioning activities include safely removing the control rod drive system, pressurizer, reactor pressure vessel, neutron shield tank, steam generators, primary system piping, reactor vessel and all primary system components.  All of this material is considered low-level waste and will be safely transported and disposed of at the EnergySolutions “Clive” disposal facility located in Utah’s West Desert.

Our joint team will carefully perform the decommissioning to preserve the ship for future use as a museum.

About Radiation Safety & Control Services (RSCS)

RSCS provides project management, technical, and laboratory services to the nuclear power industry, the Government, and other companies that use radioactive material.  We actively manage and support nuclear and radiological operations and decommissioning projects through our specialty services and staff augmentation.   Our project services, ISO/IEC accredited laboratory, and our manufacturing division provide state-of-the art solutions to our clients to improve quality and efficiency.  For more information about RSCS please visit http://www.radsafety.com

About EnergySolutions

EnergySolutions offers customers a full range of integrated services and solutions, including nuclear operations, characterization, decommissioning, decontamination, site closure, transportation, nuclear materials management, processing, recycling, and disposition of nuclear waste, and research and engineering services across the nuclear fuel cycle. For additional information about EnergySolutions visit http://www.energysolutions.com 

For additional information about this announcement please contact Mark Walker at [email protected] or 801- 231 -9194.

Project website http://www.nssavannahdecommissioning.com will be available in April to monitor project process.