Removal and decontamination of highly active materials and facilities at JRC-ITU Hot Cells

This paper presents highlights of procedures for removal of highly radioactive materials and decontamination of facilities at JRC-ITU's Hot Cells. Such procedures require a combination of analytical and calculation tasks together with direct interventions in contaminated areas. Storage and transportation of irradiated fuel samples containing radiolysable materials requires special procedures. A 20-rod degraded bundle from the Phébus PF project was tested for H2 generation before transportation to another facility could be allowed. In order to curb radon emission in the exhaust system of the Hot Cells a complex set of analysis and interventions was performed to identify its source, and resulted in a series of renovation activities to be carried out to decontaminate old cell components. Conditioning of poorly characterized legacy waste materials, in some cases containing plutonium and other transuranic species, can be problematic as detailed information on their composition is required before conditioning and waste removal; examples on how the optimisation of the analysis can assist in preparing waste declarations are presented.

BOTTOMLEY Paul;  VELNOM Laurent Herve;  NASYROW Ramil;  PAPAIOANNOU Dimitrios;  UHLIG Matthias;  WEGEN Detlef;  KINTZ Yvan;  FAZIO Concetta;  VAN BELLE Pieter;  GLATZ Jean-Paul;  RONDINELLA Vincenzo; 

2016-12-19

KernTechnische Gesellschaft

JRC100432

978-3-926956-98-9,