The Community's research and development programme on decommissioning of nuclear installations

European Commission Directorate-General For The Information Society And Media Directorate-General For Research And Innovation

Description

Third annual progress report (year 1987)
Nuclear energy and safety

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-THE-INFORMATION-SOCIETY-AND-MEDIA-DI
• Nombre de lectures: 46
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

Extrait

Commission of the European Communities
nuclear science
and technology
The Community's
research and development programme
on decommissioning of nuclear installations
Third annual progress report 1987 Commission of the European Communities
nuclear science
and technology
The Community's
research and development programme
on decommissioning of nuclear installations
Third annual progress report 1987
Directorate-General
Science, Research and Development
1988 EUR 11715 EN Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation
Bâtiment Jean Monnet
LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on
behalf of then is responsible for the use which might be made of the
following information
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1988
ISBN 92-825-8899-8 Catalogue number: CD-NA-11715-EN-C
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1988
Printed in Belgium FOREWORD
This Ì3 the third Annual Progress Report of the European Community's
1984-88 programme of research on the decommissioning of nuclear installa­
tions. It covers the year 1987 and follows the 1985 and 1986 Reports
11,21.
The Council of the European Communities adopted the programme in
January 1984 /3/, considering: "Certain parts of nuclear installations
inevitably become radioactive during operation; it is therefore essential
to find effective solutions which are capable of ensuring the safety and
protection of both mankind and the environment against the potential
hazards involved in the decommissioning of these installations".
Also, the Council recognized that the 1979-83 programme of research
on the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, of which the current pro­
gramme is a follow-up, "has yielded positive results and opened up
encouraging prospects". The main publications relating to the results of
this first programme are listed in Annex I.
The 1984-88 programme has the following contents:
A. Research and development projects concerning the following subjects:
Project N° 1: Long-term integrity of building and systems;
Project N° 2: Decontamination for decommissioning purposes; t N° 3: Dismantling techniques;
Project Ne 4: Treatment of specific waste materials: steel, concrete
and graphite;
Project N° 5: Large containers for radioactive waste produced in the
dismantling of nuclear installations;
Project N° 6: Estimation of the quantities of radioactive wastes
arising from the decommissioning of nuclear installa­
tions in the Community;
Project N° 7: Influence of installation design features on decommis­
sioning.
B. Identification of guiding principles, namely:
- certain guiding principles in the design and operation of nuclear
installations with a view to simplifying their subsequent decommis­
sioning,
- guiding principles in the decommissioning of nuclear installations
which could form the initial elements of a Community policy in this
field.
C. Testing of new techniques under real conditions, within the framework
of large-scale decommissioning operations undertaken in Member States.
The research is carried out by public organisations and private
firms in the Community under cost-sharing contracts with the Commission
of the European Communities. The Commission budget planned for this
five-year programme amounts to 12.1 million ECU. The main publications
relating to the results of this programme are listed in Annex II.
The Commission is responsible for managing the programme and is
assisted in this task by the Management and Coordination Advisory Commit­
tee "Nuclear fission energy - Fuel cycle/processing and storage of waste"
(see Annex III).
The subject of this report is formed by 69 research contracts,
including 11 new contracts concluded in 1987 as well as 10 contracts of
which the execution has been completed in 1986 and 1987. Moreover, 3
contracts were still at the stage of negotiation at the end of the year. The present report describes the objectives, scope and work program­
me of each research contract concluded, as well as the progress of work
achieved and the results obtained in 1987.
For each contract, the Paragraph "C. Progress of Work and Obtained
Results" has been prepared by the contractor, under the responsibility of
the Project Leader. The Commission wishes to express its gratitude to all
scientists of the contractors who have contributed to this report.
The Commission staff having edited the report are: E. Skupinski,
R. Bisci and K. Pflugrad.
Β. Huber
Head of the Programme
References
/l/ "The Community's research and development programme on decommission­
ing of nuclear installations. First annual progress report (year
1985)". EUR 10740, 1986.
¡21 "The Community's research and development programme on decommission­
ing of nuclear . Second annual progress report (year
1986)". EUR 11112, 1987.
131 Council Decision of 31 January 1984 adopting a research programme
concerning the decommissioning of nuclear installations. OJ N° L 36,
8.2.1984, p. 23.
IV CONTENTS
Page
1. PROJECT N° 1 : LONG-TERM INTEGRITY OF BUILDINGS AND SYSTEMS 1
1.1. Deterioration assessment of nuclear power station buildings. 2
1.2. Long-term stability and leak-tightness of reactor
containments 7
1.3. Consequences of suppression of negative pressure in the KW-
Lingen containment 11
2. PROJECT N° 2: DECONTAMINATION FOR DECOMMISSIONING PURPOSES 17
2.1. Complete decontamination of a primary steam piping of the
Lingen BWR8
2.2. Aggressive chemical decontamination tests on valves from the
Garigliano BWR9
2.3. Decontamination using chemical gels, electrolytical swab and
jet, abrasives 24
2.4. Development of an easy-to-process electrolyte for decontami­
nation by electropolishing7
2.5. Optimisation of filtering systems for various concrete
decontamination techniques 33
2.6. Economic comparison of decontamination and direct melting
with a view to recycling of scrap8
2.7. Remote electrochemicaln for hot cell
applications
2.8. Decontamination with pasty pickling agents forming a
strippable foil 4
2.9. Rack-torch unit for remote decontamination of concrete 49
2.10. Feasibility of concreten using a plasma-
augmented burner 54
2.11. Closed electropolishing system for decontamination of
underwater surfaces 60
2.12. Development of vibratory decontamination with abrasives .... 65
3. PROJECT N° 3 : DISMANTLING TECHNIQUES9
3.1. Ventilation and filtration techniques for thermal cutting
operations 7
3.2. Prefiltering devices for gaseous effluents from dismantling s6
3.3. Dross and ultrafine particulate formation in underwater
plasma-arc cutting 82
3.4. In-situ arc-saw cutting of heat exchanger tubes and of pipes
from the inside8
3.5. Electrochemical technique for the segmenting of activated
steel components 93
3.6. Explosive techniques for the dismantling of biological
shield structures4
3.7.es for dismantling of activated concrete
structures 100
3.8. Prototype system for remote laser cutting of radioactive s5
3.9. Investigations of applications of laser cutting in
decommissioning9
3.10. Spreading and filtering of radioactive by-products of under­
water segmenting 11
- V -3.11. Development of a prototype system for remote underwater
plasma-arc cutting 120
3.12. Adaptation of a robot and tools for dismantling of a
gas-cooled reactor6
3.13. Remote measuring and control systems for underwater cutting
of radioactive components 131
3.14. Removal of concrete layers from biological shields by
microwaves7
3.15. Adaptation of an existing air-tight and modular workshop
for remote operation 143
3.16.n of abrasive water jet to cutting of radioactive
steel and concrete9
3.17. Development of abrasive water jet for submerged cutting of
steel 155
4. PROJECT N° 4: TREATMENT OF SPECIFIC WASTE MATERIALS: STEEL,
CONCRETE AND GRAPHITE
4.1. Melting/refining of contaminated steel scrap from
decommissioning 160
4.2. Melting of radioactive metal scrap from nuclear
installations3
4.3. Separation of stainless steel constituents using transport
in the vapour phase9
4.4. Immobilisation of contamination of large waste units by
polymer coating 17
4.5. Treatment of active concrete dust by slurry setting method.. 172
4.6. Investigations into the melting of radioactive metal waste
in a controlled area4
4.7. Behaviour of actinides and other radionuclides that are
difficult to measure, in melting of steel 176
4.8. Conditioning and disposal of radioactive graphite bricks
from reactor decommissioning 181
4.9. Separation of contaminated cement-stone and
non-contaminated concrete aggregates
5. PROJECT N° 5: LARGE TRANSPORT CONTAINERS FOR RADI