The R²D² Project

The Research Reactor Decommissioning Demonstration Project: R²D²P

 

Background

Decommissioning is becoming of increased importance among the Agency’s Member States. There are over 200 research reactors that have either not been in operation for a considerable period of time and may never return to operation or, are close to permanent shutdown. Many of these reactors are in state of limbo since many countries do not have a decommissioning policy or a decommissioning plan. The national legal and regulatory framework, the expertise or the funds to effectively implement a decommissioning project may also not be available. The Agency is receiving an increased number of requests from Member States covering all aspects of decommissioning.

In order to respond to this increased interest, the Agency is exploring new approaches that can be used to enhance the exchange of information and lessons learned between countries that have actual decommissioning experience and those whose decommissioning programmes need to be developed. One approach is to have national, regional or inter-regional training sessions and international conferences, but this does not provide “hands-on” experience to participants.

To help answer this perceived need, an international demonstration project has been established involving a research reactor that is at the beginning of the decommissioning process. This project would implement Agency safety standards and provide a model for other decommissioning projects.

Objectives

The project is intended to provide a platform that can be used for “hands-on” and practical training in activities related to safe decommissioning.

It should be a focal point for the exchange of information, experience, education and training on regulatory requirements, decommissioning approaches and technologies.

It should serve as a model for use in the decommissioning of research reactors in other countries and so enabling other countries to bring the national situations in line with international recommendations.

The demonstration of the interaction between the parties involved is an important issue. This includes in particular the regulatory body, the operator, any contractors, the organisations responsible for the processing, transport and disposal of radioactive waste, the radiation protection personnel, decontamination and dismantling specialist, administrative personnel as well as politicians and decision makers.

Philippine research reactor

The Philippine Research Reactor (PRR-1) is a 3 MW TRIGA ("Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics") reactor, a class of small research reactors designed and manufactured by General Atomics of the USA. This reactor is located in Quezon City (Metro Manila) and operated by the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI - formerly Philippine Atomic Energy Commission). The first criticality was achieved in August 1963. The restart of the reactor after conversion to 3 MW happened in 1988. Shortly after that the reactor was shutdown for pool and other repairs. In 2002 it was decided to terminate the repairs and decommission the reactor. A Chronology of events leading to the PRR-1 decommissioning decision is also available.

Scope

The focus of the project is on decommissioning of a research reactor on the example of PRR-1 with the reactor being at an early stage of decommissioning. Other decommissioning projects may contribute, as necessary. The scope includes all aspects of the decommissioning process, from establishing a legal and regulatory infrastructure to the final release of the facility from regulatory control.

The project would not be used as a research and development platform to develop new technologies. Only commercially available technologies would be considered for incorporation into the decommissioning project.

Workshops and training courses would be held at the facility, which would be used as a teaching laboratory for participants. It is anticipated that during major evolutions of the decommissioning process, groups of individuals from countries involved in the project would be cycled through the facility to obtain practical experience.

Examples of such training might include characterization, decontamination, disassembling of systems, release of materials and waste, processing of waste for storage and disposal and radiation surveys, including operational and final release surveys and regulatory overview activities.

It is expected that experts from participating countries will calibrate their national situations against international recommendations provided in the lectures and demonstrations during the project. They are expected to help improving the national situation and report on progress in each of the workshops.

Workplan

An initial workplan was developed when the project was implemented. The first part of the workshops is targeting at infrastructure, planning and licensing issues. The second part would then be targeting at the actual decontamination and dismantling activities. In any instance, the progress in the Philippine decommissioning activities should be somehow in parallel with the workshop implementation. The project commenced in June 2006 and was expected to take about 6 years. The activities carried out so far followed the sequence of events given in this workplan. Due to various reasons, including funding issues, the workshop implementation is behind schedule by almost one year. However an additional workshop on “transition” was added to the workplan. The PRR-1 was shut down, cleared and cleaned for repair after the pool leak occurred. Therefore, the transition from operation to decommissioning could not be demonstrated any more. Fortunately, the High Flux Australian Reactor (HIFAR) located near Sydney, Australia was entering into the transition phase and, in agreement with the Australian Government, was chosen as a model to demonstrate “transition”.

Workshop material

The workshop materials, in particular the presentations given by international experts and the national (progress) reports have been burned to a CD/DVD at the end of each workshop. These materials are made available at this website for broad international recognition in order to distribute the information available to all interested parties and as many persons as possible.

Activities in 2006

Activities in 2007

Activities in 2008

Activities in 2009

Expected outcome

The project is expected to capture lessons learned from the activities that will be performed and to make this information available to as many people as possible. At the end of the project, the following should be available:

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