Minor water leak at research reactor

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State's Breazeale Nuclear Reactor reported a minor leak of slightly radioactive water from the pool which contains the reactor. The reactor will be out of service until the source of the leak is found. This water release poses no health risk to personnel at the facility, members of the community or to the environment.

The Breazeale reactor staff regularly monitors the water levels of the pool to compensate for water naturally lost through evaporation. The staff noticed a small reduction of several hundred gallons over the past several days. The reactor pool holds a total of 71,000 gallons of water.

As is required by federal and state laws with any nonstandard release of water into the environment, the university notified the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Although notification to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not required for this situation, the NRC also was notified.

Breazeale personnel are currently conducting studies to identify the location of the leak. Their efforts involve initial inspection of all exposed areas, valves, tanks and piping; visual inspection by camera including a remotely operated submersible camera and acoustic inspections using advanced technologies of the concrete walls of the reactor pool. Once the leak is located, it will either be repaired underwater or the pool will be divided in half using an existing dividing wall and water from the half with the leak will be transferred to a holding tank while repairs take place.

The 71,000 gallons of water in the pool provide shielding from the core's radiation and cooling for the reactor. The water is regular tap water with most of the minerals and impurities removed before it is added to the pool. The estimated rate of the pool leak is 10 gallons per hour which can easily be replenished from existing sources. The estimated radiation exposure if this water were the sole source of drinking water for an entire year is half the amount deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and less than half the amount of exposure received from a conventional x-ray. Residents of central Pennsylvania routinely receive much larger exposure from natural sources in their environment.

In addition to the operators, several devices monitor the level of the water in the pool. If the level changes significantly, alarms activate, alerting the operators to a potential problem.

The Breazeale Reactor provides nuclear analytical and testing facilities in support of the research and education activities of faculty, staff, and students at Penn State. The reactor has been shut down, however reactor classroom instruction and non-reactor research activities continue.

The Penn State Breazeale reactor is a TRIGA (Training Research and Isotope production General Atomic) reactor manufactured by General Atomics. It has a 1000-kilowatt steady state capacity and 2000-megawatt pulsing capability. The reactor holds license R-2 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.