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Dounreay Decommissioning RADIATION PROTECTION DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF SITE DECOMMISSIONING AT THE UKAEA'S DOUNREAY SITE P.J. Thompson*, W. Sinclair+, D. Mowat+, S. White*, R. Kerr*, T. Chalmers+ and S.M. Calder* * The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Dounreay, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 7TZ. + RWE NUKEM Ltd., Dounreay, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 7TZ. In 1998 the United Kingdom Government announced that the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site at Dounreay in northern Scotland would no longer be seeking further commercial reprocessing contracts. This decision laid down the foundations for the UKAEA to focus firmly on the task of decommissioning the UKAEA’s site at Dounreay. Fifty to sixty years has been identified as the period in which to decommission the site and restore its environment. The business of decommissioning at Dounreay presents a number of interesting challenges that need to be addressed. There are a number of complex and unique projects that must be undertaken including the decommissioning of the early fast reactors, a materials test reactor, metallurgical laboratories (housing fume cupboards, glove boxes and shielded cells) and novel fuel reprocessing plants. This paper discusses the experience gained during the various stages of decommissioning in the fast reactors and nuclear fuel cycle reprocessing plants, focusing on the Dounreay Fast Reactor, the Prototype Fast Reactor, a criticality test facility, fuel reprocessing plants, laboratories and associated environment. The UKAEA at Dounreay is dedicated to restoring the environment both safely and cost effectively. This paper discusses the practical radiation protection issues that have been encountered during the early stages of a number of decommissioning projects on the site. The conference presentation will give an update on our experience and discuss lessons learnt. INTRODUCTION The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site at Dounreay was opened in 1955, and was built on a former Admiralty airfield and adjacent farmland. Dounreay was instrumental in developing the United Kingdom’s knowledge of fast reactors. It is home to both the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) and the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR). The DFR went critical in November 1959, supplying electricity power for commercial use from October 1962 and the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) went critical in 1974. PFR was the postulated forerunner of large-output commercial fast reactors and an important facility within the European collaborative programme. Figure 1: Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) and the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) A third reactor on the site, the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) went critical in May 1958. The associated infrastructure, such as reprocessing plants, metallurgical laboratories and examination facilities were completed subsequent to this. Figure 2: Dounreay Material Test Reactor (DMTR) The DMTR, DFR and PFR closed in 1969, 1977 and 1994 respectively. As a consequence, work at Dounreay continued primarily focussed on commercial fuel reprocessing contracts and to a certain extent decommissioning. Figure 3: The Dounreay Fuel Cycle Area (FCA) There are many books available on the history of Dounreay and the UKAEA’s web site (http://www.ukaea.org.uk) provides further interesting information. In 1998 the United Kingdom (UK) Government announced that Dounreay would no longer be seeking further commercial reprocessing contracts. This decision has enabled the UKAEA to focus firmly on the task of decommissioning the site. A period of between fifty and sixty years has been identified to decommission and restore the environment of the site. The Dounreay Site Restoration Plan (DSRP1) details the proposal, which is supported by the Health and Safety Executive2 (HSE) and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in their close out report3 to the 1998 Safety Audit4. THE DOUNREAY SITE RESTORATION PLAN (DSRP) The UKAEA’s business at Dounreay is now one of decommissioning, environmental remediation and site restoration. An ambitious, but achievable plan has been formulated detailing how this will be achieved and the timetable involved. A copy of the DSRP1 can be downloaded from the UKAEA’s web site, and an overview of the rational behind the DSRP and the challenge it poses were given in ‘People, plants and Projects: the challenges at Dounreay’5. To aid restoration of the site a number of new plants will be required to support the decommissioning infrastructure and provide temporary waste storage capabilities. These plants will be constructed in parallel to certain decommissioning activities, with their availability being pivotal to the DSRP’s success. Managing the interdependencies of decommissioning, construction, land remediation and site restoration is complex, and the DSRP will be a “living document” that will be continuously reviewed and modified as required. The DSRP has been divided into five sections, each of which reflects a consecutive time period of between ten and fifteen year’s duration. Summarised details are provided in figure 4. Period 1 Up to twenty new plants will be constructed for waste treatment and processing of nuclear material, to put them in a suitable condition for long term storage or disposal. A small number of existing plants will be upgraded to support continued operations to treat waste and fuels. Coincidental with this work, decommissioning will continue on a number of redundant facilities and dealing with contaminated land. Period 2 Waste will be retrieved from the shaft and silo and the remaining nuclear materials will be processed. As operations in plants are completed they will start to undergo decommissioning. At the end of this section of the DSRP the major radiological hazards on the site will have been removed. Period 3 Primarily the decommissioning of fuel processing and handling plants. Work will also start on decommissioning redundant high-level waste treatment and storage facilities. Period 4 The decommissioning of the DFR, DMTR and PFR will have been completed, whilst the decommissioning of redundant waste facilities will continue. Post Operative Clean Out (POCO) and the decommissioning of the remaining redundant facilities will commence. Period 5 By the end of this period all redundant facilities will be dismantled and the wastes appropriately treated. Environmental remediation will be completed and although some areas of site will require continuing “control and surveillance”, the risk to the public and environment will be minimal. Figure 4: Summarised stages of the DSRP Figure 5 depicts the changing landscape of Dounreay during the DSRP. Figure 5: Changes to the Dounreay site during implementation of the DSRP DUE PROCESS – SAFETY JUSTIFICATIONS The UKAEA has a strong safety and environmental management system, supported by UKAEA Safety and Environment Procedures (USEPs) and lower tier site-specific derivatives, called Dounreay Procedures (DPs) at Dounreay. These documents specify the requisite due process for decommissioning projects (and other activities), including the requirement for project sanctioning and the production of Project Safety Cases as detailed below. Project Project Project Project Project Plant Initiation Development Design Construction Commissioning Operation Safety Case Preliminary Pre- Pre- Pre- Strategy Safety Report Construction Commissionin Operational Overview (PSR) Safety Report g Safety Safety Report Report describes the (PCSR) Report (POSR), is (SCSOR), safety describes how (PCmSR), this based upon informs principles and the facility covers both “as built” stakeholders standards to will address non-active and plant (such as the be employed and meet the active (from a information to Nuclear in the work principles radiological confirm that it Installations described in perspective) is now ready Inspectorate the PSR. commissionin for operation. and the Issues such as g works. Scottish planning Approval Environment permission allows a Protection and ‘licence Agency) of conventional instrument’ to the steps that safety will be granted and will be gone also be the release of through, key addressed at “hold points”. safety this stage Authorisation documents of discharges that will be under the produced and Radioactive “hold points”. Figure 6: Safety Case Documentation at the various Project Stages The Pre-Commissioning Safety Report (PCmSR) and the Pre-Operational Safety Report (POSR) are not always appropriate for decommissioning projects. They may, however, be necessary for decommissioning “pre-works” projects (electrical and ventilation upgrades, etc.). A well-established system of document peer review and then committee review by suitably qualified, experienced, competent and trained personnel will be used for any safety case with a significant hazard category, or a project that is considered novel or potentially contentious. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and possibly SEPA will also review high hazard category safety cases. DOSIMETRY The UKAEA, with its appointed Approved Dosimetry Service (ADS) [RWE Nukem Ltd.], operates a robust and demonstrable system for the selection and adoption of appropriate personal dosimetry commensurate with project hazards. These requirements are formally reviewed at least annually and at key project phases, to ensure their continued suitability for the particular workforce. These reviews are conducted by the UKAEA Management, the UKAEA appointed Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) (and on occasion the contractor’s RPA) and a senior member of the ADS. Further details
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