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Guide to Nuclear Decommissioning

The guide outlines the nuclear decommissioning process, which involves safely shutting down and dismantling nuclear facilities, managing radioactive waste, and restoring sites for future use. It details the stages of decommissioning, including initial decommissioning, decontamination and dismantling, and demolition, while emphasizing safety and environmental protection. The UK decommissioning industry is highlighted, with UKAEA's role in managing various sites and its international consultancy efforts in decommissioning practices.

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Alessandro Da Cruz Goncalves
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10 views

Guide to Nuclear Decommissioning

The guide outlines the nuclear decommissioning process, which involves safely shutting down and dismantling nuclear facilities, managing radioactive waste, and restoring sites for future use. It details the stages of decommissioning, including initial decommissioning, decontamination and dismantling, and demolition, while emphasizing safety and environmental protection. The UK decommissioning industry is highlighted, with UKAEA's role in managing various sites and its international consultancy efforts in decommissioning practices.

Uploaded by

Alessandro Da Cruz Goncalves
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Guide to nuclear decommissioning

Contents:
• What is decommissioning?
• Stages of decommissioning
• Site restoration
• Waste management
• The UK decommissioning industry
• The international picture

What is decommissioning?

There comes a time in the life of any power station – nuclear, coal or oil-fired – when
age takes its toll and it becomes uneconomic to run any longer. Once this stage has
been reached the decision has to be taken to shut it down. Eventually the plant is
taken to pieces to remove any hazardous material, the debris disposed of and the
site left in a safe condition which is visually acceptable. This is called
decommissioning. Each project is treated on its merits; actions can range from simply
closing the facility to dismantling and restoration of the land for other use.

Decommissioning is not unique to the nuclear industry. For example, chemical


companies use similar practices to dismantle and dispose of obsolete plants which
have been used to handle hazardous compounds.

In the course of restoring a nuclear site, a variety of facilities need to be


decommissioned. Reactors, support laboratories and plants used for fuel and waste
storage and treatment all present challenges involving many different types of
contaminated material.

The overriding approach with any


decommissioning project is to ensure safety
and protection for the environment.

UKAEA has carried out more nuclear clean-


up work than any organisation in Europe,
dismantling 15 reactors and over 40 major
radioactive facilities. Today, new nuclear
plant is designed with decommissioning in
mind. However, many of the facilities
removed by UKAEA were experimental
devices built in the early days of the nuclear
industry. UKAEA has proved – largely
through innovative use of existing
technology – that such facilities can be Reactor decommissioning at Harwell
removed safely, predictably and cost-
effectively.
Stages of decommissioning

There are three stages of decommissioning a nuclear facility:

1. Initial decommissioning
• Reactors are defuelled and the fuel usually moved
away from the reactor. All non-fixed contaminated
components are removed.

• For non-reactor facilities, all radioactive sources and


readily removable equipment are taken out.
• The structure is maintained intact and the
atmosphere inside the containment building and enclosures are controlled.
• This stage is sometimes referred to as “post operational clean-out” (POCO).

2. Decontamination and dismantling


• Contaminated equipment is dismantled in carefully
planned steps. This involves decontamination to
minimise the amount of radioactive waste which is
generated.
• Once a building is stripped of all its internal
equipment, it is carefully surveyed to determine the
extent of contamination in the building fabric. Simple processes of washing and
scabbling are generally sufficient to decontaminate the building.

3. Demolition
• Once all radioactive and other hazardous material
(such as asbestos or mercury) have been removed,
the building is refurbished for alternative uses or
demolished if no longer required.
• Demolition is carried out in the same way as for any
industrial building, although stringent controls are
applied to monitor for the possible presence of radioactivity.
• The land is then remediated and returned to a condition where no radioactive
hazard remains.

In some cases the stages will follow directly one after the other. However, they are
often separated by periods of care and maintenance to allow for radioactive decay.
Site restoration

Restoring the environment of a whole nuclear site involves integrating a large range
of individual projects within an overall programme. UKAEA has led the development
of site restoration plans that prioritise these projects based on safety, environmental
and cost considerations.

The end-point for decommissioning a site depends on the potential for its future use.

• Ideally the site will be restored for unrestricted alternative use.


• However, our overriding consideration is whether it is the Best Practicable
Environmental Option (BPEO). The BPEO assessment takes account of the
needs of the environment, safety of workers and the local community, and the
practicability of the clean-up operations. Consulting our stakeholders is an
integral part of the BPEO assessment process.
• Where the assessment decides that release of land for unrestricted use is the
BPEO, UKAEA seeks regulatory approval to “delicense” or remove it from nuclear
site restrictions. This involves remediating the land and carrying out extensive
environmental surveys to demonstrate to the regulators that there is no danger
from ionising radiation.
• Restored nuclear sites can often be regenerated for the benefit of local
communities. UKAEA has successfully established business centres at its
Harwell and Winfrith sites, and sold former research sites at Risley and Culcheth
for commercial development.

1. New business premises at the Harwell site


2. The site of a major plutonium facility at Winfrith has been restored to greenfield
Waste management

Decommissioning nuclear facilities can generate large amounts of radioactive waste.


Much of this waste is no more harmful than Brazil nuts, coffee or garden fertiliser,
which are naturally radioactive.

UKAEA has experience in managing a wide variety of waste types safely and
securely. In each case we assess all relevant options, so that the chosen strategy
represents the best balance of environmental, safety, economic and community
considerations.

UK radioactive wastes are classified into a number of categories, as follows.

• Very low-level waste (VLLW)


Waste which can be safely disposed of with ordinary refuse, each 0.1 m3 of
material containing less than 400 kBq of beta/gamma activity or single items
containing less than 40 kBq of beta/gamma. Comprises of demolition rubble and
similar materials.

• Low-level waste (LLW)


Wastes containing radioactive materials other than those acceptable for disposal
with ordinary refuse, but not exceeding 4 GBq/te alpha or 12 GBq/te beta/gamma
activity. LLW accounts for by far the largest volume of waste from nuclear
activities – almost 90%. The waste includes anything from contaminated tools
and equipment to rubble from demolished facilities.
- Solid LLW at our English sites is mainly sent to the LLW disposal facility at
Drigg in Cumbria. Dounreay LLW is held on the site pending a longer-term
disposal solution.
- Liquid LLW at UKAEA sites is treated to remove as much of the radioactivity
as possible before discharging the treated liquid within stringent authorised
limits. Separated solids containing the radioactivity are immobilised and
managed with other solid wastes on the sites.

• Intermediate-level waste (ILW)


Wastes with radioactivity levels greater than LLW, but which do not require
heating to be taken into account in the design of storage or disposal facilities
ILW. Material can vary from solid reactor components to liquid coolants and
sludges from treatment processes. There is no UK disposal facility for ILW and
the Government is consulting on a long-term national strategy for managing it.
- UKAEA policy is to condition solid and liquid ILW in a passively safe form and
store it securely until a permanent disposal route is available.

• High-level waste (HLW)


The temperature of this waste can rise significantly as a result of its radioactivity,
so this factor has to be taken into account in designing storage or disposal
facilities. HLW arises from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
- UKAEA sites do not have any HLW.

For more information on radioactive waste, please see www.corwm.org.uk.


The UK decommissioning industry

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for overseeing the £48
billion restoration of the UK’s 20 civil nuclear sites, including those operated by
UKAEA.
• The NDA provides national co-ordination and ensures that best practice and
value for money is being achieved. It contracts out the management of its site
clean-up programmes
• UKAEA is a contractor for management of the Dounreay, Harwell, Windscale and
Winfrith sites.
• The NDA monitors site clean-up progress against Near Term Work Plans –
showing the detailed scope of work for the first three years – and long-range
Lifecycle Baseline plans covering the entire restoration process. They are
available at www.nda.gov.uk.

UKAEA’s decommissioning operations in the UK are regulated by the Nuclear


Installations Inspectorate – part of the Health and Safety Executive – and by the
Environment Agency (Dounreay is subject to regulation by the Scottish Environment
Protection Agency). The regulators must be satisfied that all relevant health, safety
and environmental considerations are being met before projects can be carried out.

The international picture

Around the world, nuclear clean-up is becoming a major growth industry, with over
400 reactors being decommissioned or awaiting decommissioning.

UKAEA’s work in cleaning up UK nuclear


sites has set international standards.
Pioneering decommissioning projects such
as the Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled
Reactor have attracted interest from
organisations facing similar challenges in
other countries.

We are therefore well placed to advise on


best practice, and so far we have supplied
consultancy services to decommissioning
agencies in over a dozen countries
including South Africa, Australia, Denmark
and Canada.

We also help raise global understanding of


decommissioning issues through
collaboration agreements with France's
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA),
the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory in the USA, Decommissioning the Windscale
Italian Government Agency SOGIN and Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor
Electricité de France.

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