14 Jan How 2014 went

Danish Decommissioning has had an eventful year, with our three major decommissioning projects making significant progress. Join us for a tour of 2014.

D The three plants that we have been dismantling are the DR3 reactor, the Fuel fabrication plant and Hot Cells. DR3 (Danish Reactor 3) was Denmark's largest research reactor and it was in operation from 1960-2000. the Fuel fabrication plant fuel rod production for the DR3 reactor. Hot Cells were concrete cells where research was carried out into irradiated materials and sources of medical use were produced.

DR3
In DR3 we have carried out two large lifting operations and removed the reactor plug and top ring, which have been wedged into the reactor block. The plug, also known as top shield plug or TSP, amounted to 22 tons of shielding and was highly radioactive on the underside after many years of operation of the reactor. When it was removed, in the same operation, we put a guard lid over the tank.

After the TSP lift in May, we had to start milling concrete off the lower part of the reactor block to allow space to manoeuvre out the wide top shield ring (TSR).

Just over 20 cm of concrete was milled by the façade at a height of 3.30 meters. In October, the TSR was then lifted out of the reactor and onto a special vehicle, which was transporting it out of the reactor hall.

the Fuel fabrication plant
the Fuel fabrication plant have been thoroughly cleaned and we are very close to being finished. The building consists of several rooms where different phases of the production of fuel rods have been carried out.

A large part of the work of the Fuel fabrication plant has looked like ordinary dirty refurbishment. We have removed tables, sinks, pipes and flooring, and we have sanded walls and ceilings to make sure there were no traces of uranium. The powder room was the room where Risø's laborers weighed uranium in powder form and pushed it into solid pieces surrounded by aluminum. It could not be avoided that a little powder was swirled up and sat like dust.

The task of the Fuel fabrication plant because the pollution of uranium in the areas has proved to be more widespread than expected. Our extensive measurements ensure that all contamination is removed.

Hot Cells
These have been major planning years for the Hot Cells project, where we have to solve a challenging task: the concrete cells must be cleaned through a 1.7 meter thick wall. This means that we must bring mechanical arms in through holes in the wall and sandbbp the cells in all corners, even under the fixed table in each cell. During 2014 we have developed a vacuum arm and a sandblower arm and prepared for the conversion of the ventilation. The actual work on ventilation conversion and then rough cleaning will be started in 2015.

Waste management
DD is responsible for the management of Danish radioactive waste; both what we ourselves produce in connection with decommissioning, and waste from external customers. We have completed a number of special tasks during the year and we have, among other things, picked up an old blood irradiation facility from a major hospital. The plant was from 1968 and it weighed 1.2 tons. A DD -driver and a health assistant was in charge of the pick-up, which took place as a special transport. We have also contributed to the Ministry of Health's work on a long-term solution for radioactive waste. Shortly, we will be submitting contributions to a decision-making basis for long-term intermediate stocks.

DD make a great effort to minimise the amount of radioactive waste. In 2014, we released 35 tonnes of construction waste from our demolition work. In addition, we are working on a solution to melt or burn parts of the waste. The aim is to sort the radioactive parts from and reduce the total amount of waste.

International cooperation
DD participates to a large extent in international cooperation in the areas of decommissioning, waste management and radiation protection. In 2014, among other things, we contributed to an IAEA project to bring together experience with radiation protection in connection with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.

We have also received a representative on the UN Radioactive Waste Review Panel. This is only the second time a Dane has been appointed an officer on a Joint Convention panel.

DD also participates in other international for a. In 2014, we joined the Technical Advisory Board (TAG), a network for technical knowledge professionals, i.e. not commercially and not for authorities. We have been to a number of conferences and study visits abroad, and we have had visits from, among others, our sister reactor HIFAR in Australia, the Finnish radiation protection authorities and Stilleger, an association of companies working on decommissioning in German-speaking countries. DD also participate in very international cooperation in the field of waste, such as the ERDO Working Group, which, among other things, examines the possibility of a regional repository for long-lived waste;

A more detailed description of our activities can be found in the annual reports of Publications.