Regulation of the Shutdown Defueling and Decommissioning Reactors in the United Kingdom - 16576

Conference · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2016

OSTI ID:22838334

Golshan, Mina; Rothwell, Peter; Hayes, Peter; Jacobs, John ^[1]

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1. Office for Nuclear Regulation (United Kingdom)

Nuclear policy, including for decommissioning, in the United Kingdom is set by the UK Government. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NDA, is responsible for managing the clean-up of the UK's nuclear legacy which includes the first generation of Magnox power stations. Magnox Ltd (MXL), owned by Cavendish Fluor Partnership, is the licensee and the management and operations contractor responsible for ten Magnox reactor sites and two restoration sites in the UK, working for the sites' owner, NDA. The work of the company is diverse covering electricity generation at Wylfa (until December 2015), defueling, and preparation for an interim end state, known as Care and Maintenance (C and M) which will precede the final site clearance. The C and M phase is expected to last over 75 years during which the sites are maintained in a passively safe and secure state while radiation levels are left to decay naturally. Preparations for this phase include removing fuel from the reactors and storage ponds; retrieving intermediate level waste from current stores and treating it or converting it to forms suitable for long-term storage or disposal and making sure of the integrity of critical safety systems of the de-fuelled reactors. The Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste programme within the Office for Nuclear Regulation, ONR, regulates nuclear safety in the 12 Magnox nuclear licensed sites. ONR works with the environmental regulators who are responsible for environmental protection on nuclear sites. The focus of this paper is the regulation of nuclear safety by ONR across the Magnox sites and the interactions with nuclear security and the environmental aspects required to achieve effective, proportionate and efficient regulation of these sites in the UK. ONR's strategy for regulating the Magnox defueling and decommissioning sites is focused on enabling the licensee to complete the initial stages of decommissioning and reduce the nuclear and radioactive hazards on its sites. To this effect, ONR's revised inspection guidance is centred on inspecting the (remaining) important systems for safety identified in the safety cases. Other interventions focus on engaging with the licensee on safety significant decommissioning projects to gain evidence of the licensee's readiness prior to and during these activities rather than formal assessment of the associated safety cases. In light of reduced hazards and risks across the de-fueled and decommissioning Magnox reactors, ONR's revised regulatory expectation regarding evolution of emergency arrangements during decommissioning is based on key transition points that follow electricity generation. Implementation of these revised strategies as well as organisational restructuring within the team responsible for regulation of the Magnox fleet has resulted in improved efficiency and consistency in regulatory approach whilst securing the required safety standards in managing decommissioning activities. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22838334
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--19-WM-16576
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
DECOMMISSIONING
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
HAZARDS
INSPECTION
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MAINTENANCE
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SAFETY STANDARDS
SHUTDOWN
UNITED KINGDOM