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On-Site Disposal As a Decommissioning Strategy

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On-Site Disposal As a Decommissioning Strategy XA9953315 IAEA-TECDOC-1124 On-site disposala as decommissioning strategy INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY /A November 1999 30-50 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Waste Technology Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria IAEe Th A doe t normallsno y maintain stock f reportso thin si s series However, electronic copie f thesso e reportobtainede b n sca from: INIS Clearinghouse International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse5 PO Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone- (43) 1 2600-22880 or 22866 Fax- (43) 1 2600-29882 E-mail: [email protected] siteb :We http://www.iaea.org/programmes/inis/mis.htm Orders shoul accompaniee db prepaymeny db Austria0 10 f o t n Schilling fore a th f m o n s i chequ r credieo t card (MasterCard, VISA) ON-SITE DISPOSAL AS A DECOMMISSIONING STRATEGY IAEA, VIENNA, 1999 IAEA-TECDOC-1124 ISSN 1011-4289 IAEA© , 1999 Printe IAEe th AustriAn y i d b a November 1999 FOREWORD On-site disposanovea t no l s decommissionini l g strateg histore nucleae th th n y i f yo r industry. Several projects base thin do s strategy have been implemented. Moreover numbea , studief ro s and proposals have explored variations within the strategy, ranging from in situ disposal of entire facilities or portions thereof to disposal within the site boundary of major components reactoe sucth s ha r pressure vesse r steao l m generators. Regardles f theso s e initiativesd an , despite a significant potential for dose, radioactive waste and cost reduction, on-site disposal has often been disregarde viabla s da e decommissioning strategy, generall e resulth f s o yta environmenta othed an l r public concerns. Little attentio bees nha n give on-sito nt e disposa previoun li s IAEA publication fiele th f do n si decommissioning. The objective of this report is to establish an awareness of technical factors that may or may not favour the adoption of on-site disposal as a decommissioning strategy. In addition, this report presents an overview of relevant national experiences, studies and proposals e expecteTh . d resulo shot en d s wi t that, subjec o safett td environmentaan y l protection assessment, on-site viabla disposa e b en decommissioninca l g optio should nan e db taken into consideratio decision i n making. This repor firss wa t drafte groua y db f consultant po Octoben si r 1997, then reviewen a t da Advisory Group meeting in May 1998. At this meeting, a large amount of national experience, studie proposald san s were made availabl nationay eb l nominees repore finalizes Th . wa t y db G.A. Brow Februarn ni y 1999 IAEe Th . A officer responsible thir . fo Larais M wor s f ao k wa the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE In preparing this publication press,for IAEAthe staffof have pages madethe up from the original manuscripts) viewsThe expressed necessarilynot do reflect IAEA,thosethe the of governments nominating ofthe Member Statesnominatingthe or organizations Throughout the text names of Member States are retained as they were when the text was compiled The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement b\ 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 endorsementan recommendationor partthe IAEA ofon the CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................! 2. SCOPE..................................................................................................................................2 3. OBJECTIVE.........................................................................................................................^ 4. CONSIDERATIONS INFLUENCIN SELECTIOE GTH F NO ON-SITE DISPOSAL ...........................................................................................................3 4.1. Technical considerations..............................................................................................^ 4.2. Political issues and public concerns .............................................................................5 5. ON-SITE DISPOSAL OPTIONS..........................................................................................6 5.1 sitn I .u disposal..............................................................................................................8 5.2. On-site transfe disposal.........................................................................................d an r 8 5.3. Consideration of factors influencing implementation ..................................................9 5.4. Summar advantagef yo disadvantages................................................................1d san 1 6. STUDIE EXPERIENCD SAN E WITH ON-SITE DISPOSAL.........................................1 .1 6.1. Reported studies for on-site disposal options............................................................. 11 6.2. Experience with on-site disposal................................................................................ 15 6.3. Special cases............................................................................................................... 16 7. SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................17 8. CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................1D SAN 8 REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................^ ANNEXES................................................................................................................................23 Anne : xI Canada..................................................................................................................25 Annex II: Finland..................................................................................................................31 Anne : Georgia.................................................................................................................3xHI 8 Anne : Germany...............................................................................................................4xIV 3 Annex V: Italy.......................................................................................................................57 Annex VI: Japan.....................................................................................................................58 Annex VTI: Russian Federation...............................................................................................63 Annex VIE: Switzerland..........................................................................................................^? Annex IX: Ukraine.................................................................................................................68 Annex X: United Kingdom...................................................................................................73 Annex XI: United States of America.....................................................................................78 GLOSSARY .............................................................................................................................89 CONTRIBUTOR DRAFTINO ST REVIED GAN W ..............................................................91 1. INTRODUCTION Accordin IAEe th Ao gt definition [1] ultimate ,th e goa f decommissionino l s unrestrictegi d sitee definitioe th Th .f o release nus r recognizeeo s thatime th t e perio achievo dt e this goal y rang o severat ma e w frofe l ma hundre d years. Subjec o nationat t l legad regulatoran l y requirements, a nuclear facility or its remaining components may also be considered decommissioned if incorporated into a new or existing nuclear facility, and the site on which it is located remains under regulatory control. The purpose of the latter approach is to provide reasonable flexibilit implied yan s that circumstances suc coss h a r practicalit o t impedy yma e achievemen unrestrictef o t d site release. Under these circumstances, only restricted site release e possiblb y ma e becaus e presencth f o e f significano e t amount f residuao s l radioactivity. Restrictions on the use of the site may range from a minimum (e.g. administrative acts forbidding residentia r industriao l l uses o prescribet ) d surveillanc d maintenancan e f o e protective barriers intended to confine residual radioactivity. The other aspect to be taken into accoun duratioe th s i t f restricteno d use, i.e. temporar r permanentyo temporare th n I . y case, e expressioth n storag s usei e IAEn i d A terminology, while disposa s use i lr fina d dfo an l permanent conditions (see Glossary). In most cases, decommissionin f nucleao g r facilitie s i accomplishes d unde o basitw r c strategies, namely ) immediat(1 : e dismantling ) saf(2 e r o enclosur, e followe deferrey b d d dismantling. Both strategie intendee sar leao dt d eventuall unrestricteo yt d releas site th e f eo and imply removal of radioactive waste to an off-site repository. There is however a third strategy called on-site disposal, which consists of disposing of the nuclear facility on the same site where it had operated.
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