General Atomics - TRIGA Mark F

1.0 Site Identification

Type of Site:	Research and Test Reactor Facility
Location:	San Diego,CA
License No.:	R-67
Docket No.:	50-163
License Status:	DECON
Project Manager:	Jim Shepherd

2.0 Site Status Summary

The main General Atomics (GA) campus is located on a 120-acre site in San Diego, California, approximately 15 miles north of downtown's San Diego International Airport, mostly via Interstate 5. GA's main facilities contain over one million square feet of engineering and test facilities, precision manufacturing installations, and advanced technology laboratories. Areas adjacent to the TRIGA facility included a building that contained a hot cell for fuel examination and other work, and a radioactive waste tank area. These facilities were decommissioned and the NRC license terminated in 2000.

The Mark F TRIGA was built at GA in 1960. This reactor was designed to provide controlled, instantaneous pulses of intense neutron and gamma radiation for research studies where high-neutron flux and narrow pulse widths were required. The licensee has dismantled the Mark F reactor to the extent possible. It ceased operation in 1995. Decommissioning activities at General Atomics (GA) were put on hold pending the transfer of fuel to DOE which occurred in FY 2010. GA is developing a plan and schedule to complete decommissioning of the facility.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

The licensee has completed all decommissioning activities it can until the fuel is removed from the site. Following discussions between NRC and DOE, GA and DOE, fuel transfer occurred in FY 2010.