DECOMMISSIONING | DISMANTLING LARGE COMPONENTS
Deputy Head of Projects Burkhard Könning
Phillip Thalmann
Project Engineer at NUKEM Technologies
Mock up for dismantling reactor components
All nuclear facilities ultimately have to be decommissioned and dismantled. The complex task of dismantling large components in nuclear power plants, such as a reactor pressure vessel, can be supported by developing a full- scale mock up prior to starting on-site work
ALL NUCLEAR FACILITIES HAVE TO be decommissioned and dismantled at some point. Besides the maximum period of operation laid down by law, other reasons for decommissioning may be political decisions or economic drivers. When dismantling nuclear facilities, the technical and administrative conditions must be considered just as much as compliance with the safety goals set out in the relevant legislation. In Germany that means the Radiation Protection Ordinance and the Radiation Protection Act. To work as cost-effectively as possible during
decommissioning, attention must be paid to the type and quantity of the secondary waste generated, as well as to the reliability of the selected technology, the complexity
of the tools used and the associated maintenance costs. Therefore, the machines and tools are ideally first tested in a test facility before they are used in the nuclear power plant. This kind of testing on full-size models of large components is known as a mock-up. Since repairs during the actual dismantling work in nuclear facilities can be risky or even impossible, all the needed work steps are first tested at the mock-up facility, similar to a dress rehearsal. Mock-up testing helps verify the functionality and can also support optimisation of the different processes. A test facility free of radiation-related risks enables the simplified implementation of optimisations. Meticulous testing of the equipment at the mock-up also makes it possible to get rid
Bereich Vorzelegung Bereich Nachzerlegung
Above, figure 1: pre-and post-segmentation areas at a reactor site 30 | February 2023 |
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