Decommissioning of Research Reactors (IAEA TRS-446)

169 Pages·2006·3.046 MB·English

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DECOMMISSIONING OF
RESEARCH REACTORS:
EVOLUTION, STATE OF THE ART,
OPEN ISSUES
The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency:
AFGHANISTAN GHANA PAKISTAN
ALBANIA GREECE PANAMA
ALGERIA GUATEMALA PARAGUAY
ANGOLA HAITI PERU
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BOLIVIA ITALY SEYCHELLES
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SINGAPORE
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BULGARIA KAZAKHSTAN
SLOVENIA
BURKINA FASO KENYA
SOUTH AFRICA
CAMEROON KOREA, REPUBLIC OF
SPAIN
CANADA KUWAIT
SRI LANKA
CENTRAL AFRICAN KYRGYZSTAN
SUDAN
REPUBLIC LATVIA
SWEDEN
CHAD LEBANON
SWITZERLAND
CHILE LIBERIA
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
CHINA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA
TAJIKISTAN
COLOMBIA LIECHTENSTEIN
THAILAND
COSTA RICA LITHUANIA
THE FORMER YUGOSLAV
CÔTE D’IVOIRE LUXEMBOURG
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
CROATIA MADAGASCAR
TUNISIA
CUBA MALAYSIA
TURKEY
CYPRUS MALI
UGANDA
CZECH REPUBLIC MALTA
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MARSHALL ISLANDS UKRAINE
OF THE CONGO MAURITANIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
DENMARK MAURITIUS UNITED KINGDOM OF
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MEXICO GREAT BRITAIN AND
ECUADOR MONACO NORTHERN IRELAND
EGYPT MONGOLIA UNITED REPUBLIC
EL SALVADOR MOROCCO OF TANZANIA
ERITREA MYANMAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ESTONIA NAMIBIA URUGUAY
ETHIOPIA NETHERLANDS UZBEKISTAN
FINLAND NEW ZEALAND VENEZUELA
FRANCE NICARAGUA VIETNAM
GABON NIGER YEMEN
GEORGIA NIGERIA ZAMBIA
GERMANY NORWAY ZIMBABWE
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TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No. 446
DECOMMISSIONING OF
RESEARCH REACTORS:
EVOLUTION, STATE OF THE ART,
OPEN ISSUES
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
VIENNA, 2006
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STI/DOC/010/446
IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Decommissioning of research reactors : evolution, state of the art, open
issues. – Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2006.
p. ; 24 cm. — (Technical reports series, ISSN 0074–1914 ; 446)
STI/DOC/010/446
ISBN 92–0–112605–0
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Nuclear reactors — Decomissioning. I. International Atomic
Energy Agency. II. Series: Technical reports Series (International
Atomic Energy Agency) ; 446.
IAEAL 6–00436
FOREWORD
Many research reactors throughout the world date from the original
nuclear research programmes in Member States. Consequently, dozens of old
research reactors are candidates for near term decommissioning in parallel
with progressive ageing and technical and economic obsolescence. Many of
them are located in countries/institutions that, although familiar with the
operation and management of their reactors, do not necessarily have adequate
expertise and technologies for planning and implementing state of the art
decommissioning projects. It is felt that IAEA reports may contribute to the
awareness of technologies and know-how already tested successfully
elsewhere.
This report addresses a subject area that was dealt with earlier by two
IAEA publications, namely, Planning and Management for the Decommissioning
of Research Reactors and Other Small Nuclear Facilities (Technical Reports
Series No. 351) and Decommissioning Techniques for Research Reactors
(Technical Reports Series No. 373). This publication updates those reports in
view of the technological progress, experience gained and the progressive
ageing of research reactors, many of which have already reached the
permanent shutdown stage and should be decommissioned soon. It is intended
to contribute to the systematic coverage of the entire range of activities that
have been addressed by the IAEA’s decommissioning work in past years. The
perspective of the report is historical, in that relevant issues are identified as
solved, pending, or emerging. Much of the information provided in this report
will also be of use for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and other
nuclear facilities.
A Technical Committee Meeting on this subject was held in Vienna from
17 to 21 May 2004, at which the participants reviewed a draft report written by
consultants from Canada, Germany, Israel, the Russian Federation and the
United Kingdom. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was
M. Laraia of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology.
Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information
contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any
responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use.
The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any
judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories,
of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.
The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated
as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be
construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. OBJECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. HISTORY AND CURRENT STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1. The global picture today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.2. Reasons for decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.3. Factors affecting national policy and strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.3.1. Regulatory framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.3.2. Resource aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.3.3. Reutilization of facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.3.4. Waste management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.3.5. Stakeholder acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.3.6. Safeguards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.3.7. Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.4. Management and planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.4.1. Selection of the decommissioning strategy . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.4.2. Release/clearance criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.4.3. Final survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.4.4. Fuel management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.4.5. Planning for decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.4.6. Regulatory interfaces/licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.4.7. Management of plant status and change . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.4.8. Implementation aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.5. Decommissioning and waste management techniques . . . . . . . 39
5.5.1. Important strategic/preparatory considerations . . . . . . 40
5.5.2. Decommissioning techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.5.3. Decommissioning waste management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.6. Information exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.6.1. Information dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.6.2. National and international working groups . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.6.3. Provision of practical assistance and training of
decommissioning personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.6.4. Organization of conferences and seminars . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.6.5. Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.7. Costs and funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.7.1. Decommissioning cost estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.7.2. Provision of decommissioning funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6. PENDING ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.1. Reasons for decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2. Factors affecting national policy and strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2.1. Regulatory framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2.2. Resource aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.2.3. Facility reutilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.2.4. Waste management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.2.5. Stakeholder acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.2.6. Safeguards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.2.7. Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.3. Management and planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.3.1. Selection of the decommissioning strategy . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.3.2. Release/clearance criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.3.3. Final survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.3.4. Fuel management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.3.5. Decommissioning planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.3.6. Regulatory interfaces/licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.3.7. Management of plant status and change . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.3.8. Implementation aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.4. Decommissioning and waste management techniques . . . . . . . 93
6.4.1. Important strategic/preparatory considerations . . . . . . 93
6.4.2. Decommissioning techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.4.3. Decommissioning waste management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.5. Information exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.5.1. Information dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.5.2. National and international working groups . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.5.3. Provision of practical assistance and training
of decommissioning personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.5.4. Organization of conferences and seminars . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.5.5. Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.6. Costs and funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.6.1. Decommissioning cost estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.6.2. Provision of decommissioning funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
7.1. General management issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
7.2. Planning issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7.3. Waste and fuel issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7.4. Technology issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7.5. Information exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
7.6. Costs and funding issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
ANNEX I: DATABANK FOR DECOMMISSIONING
OF RESEARCH REACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
ANNEX II: LESSONS LEARNED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155