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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Design criteria for decommissioning of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants

Book ·
OSTI ID:7237909

This standard provides criteria for designers of nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities to guide them in enabling these facilities to meet the requirements of Federal regulations governing shutdown and decommissioning. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 1, Part 50, Appendix F, states in part that ''a design objective for fuel reprocessing plants shall be to facilitate decontamination and removal of all significant radioactive wastes at the time the facility is permanently decommissioned.'' Included in the scope of this standard are the following considerations: (1) Protection from radiation hazards to personnel and the environment during and after decommissioning. (2) Decontamination of plant structures and process equipment. (3) Dismantling or isolation of the facilities. (4) Disposal of contaminated materials. When the owner has deactivated or shut down one process facility but continues to operate on the same site or builds another operating plant on the same site, this deactivation of the facility, even if it involves abandonment in place, is not decommissioning in the context of this standard. Deactivation can be partial or can involve complete shutdown of process operation. Even when total plant shutdown is part of deactivation, the plant owner has complete control of the functions or acivities remaining on site and retains the responsibility for surveillance of the deactivated facility to assure public health and safety. This standard provides guidance to designers by giving specific functional criteria for structures and systems (Section 3.0) and by establishing normal operational criteria to minimize problems during the decommissioning stage (Section 4.0).

OSTI ID:
7237909
Report Number(s):
ICONS-02161
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English