Decommissioning

International Project on Evaluation and Demonstration of Safety for Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (DeSa)

The first meeting of the follow-up project –
17-21 November 2008, IAEA, Vienna

Background

Decommissioning is being planned or has already taken place for a whole range of nuclear facilities, including nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, research laboratories and industrial facilities and it is expected that there will be an increasing number of facilities permanently ceasing operations in the next few decades. The importance of ensuring safety during decommissioning has been emphasized at various international fora, such as the Conference on Safe Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities in Berlin (14-18 October 2002) and the OECD/NEA International Seminar in Taragona (2-4 September 2003). These fora have noted the importance of adequate planning, evaluation and demonstration of safety for decommissioning activities. It has also been recognised that there are different approaches used in Member States for the evaluation of safety during decommissioning and that it would be desirable for a harmonised approach to be developed taking into account international experience and lessons learned. In view of this, a new international project is being established concerned with safety assessment of decommissioning activities.

Objectives

The project aims to draw on the international experience in order to develop a harmonized approach for evaluating the safety of decommissioning activities and reviewing safety assessments for these activities. The meetings of the project are also intended to provide the opportunity for the exchange of information and experience related to assessing the safety of decommissioning.

Scope

All types of nuclear facilities (e.g. nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, research laboratories, industrial plants) will be included. The project will consider the three main decommissioning options, i.e. immediate dismantling, deferred

Participation

The DeSa project is open to experts and organizations from Member States that are or will be involved in the planning, evaluating, undertaking or regulating the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. They will be expected and encouraged to contribute to the project by presenting approaches and experiences from national projects and by participating in technical discussions and DeSa project activities. It is envisaged that the participants will take active part in assessments and in the development of project test cases. By this means it is expected that the DeSa project will provide a valuable forum for the exchange of experience, knowledge and lessons learned between countries with on-going decommissioning programmes and countries that are in the planning stage of decommissioning.

Project Activities

The project is intended to draw on national experience of decommissioning and work towards common approaches to the following aspects:

Definition of the elements of the safety assessment – e.g. categorization of the various decommissioning activities and identification of the potential risks associated with performing each activity; identification of possible accident situations that could occur during decommissioning and determination of the probability of occurrence and the impact the situation might have on the public and the environment; analysis of possible mitigation actions that could minimize the impact of unplanned events
Performance of safety assessments for the decommissioning of various types of facilities through selected number of test cases
Development of a regulatory approach for reviewing safety assessments for decommissioning activities and as a basis for the regulatory decision making
Providing a forum for exchange of experience in evaluation and demonstration of safety during decommissioning for various types of nuclear facilities.

Expected outcomes

Three safety reports will be developed and published at the end of the DeSa project describing:

The elements of the methodology for performing safety assessment
The guidance for application of the methodology in performing safety assessment of different types of facilities
The plan and procedure for review in safety assessments for decommissioning

These reports will summarize the project outcomes and provide detailed guidance to operators, regulators and technical support organizations and experts involved in decommissioning of nuclear facilities.

Work plan

The project is planned for three years and will commence on 1 November 2004, at an opening meeting at which the detailed project activities will be discussed and agreed.

Workplan for 2008:

Coordinating Working Group meeting - 21-25 January 2008, Lyon, France. report

Workplan for 2007:

NPP Test Case meetings - 26 Feb - 2 March 2007, Germany, 24th April 2007, Sweden, 6-10 August 2007, UK
Research Reactor Test Case meeting - 26 Feb - 2 March 2007, Germany
Regulatory Review WG meetings - 10-13 April 2007, Vienna, Austria and 11-15 June, Malmo, Sweden
Graded Approach WG - 11-15 June 2007, Malmo, Sweden
Laboratory Test Case WG meeting - 16-20 July 2007, South Africa

Workplan:

Fourth Joint DeSa meeting, 29 October - 2 November, 2007, IAEA, Vienna Chairman's report; pictures
Third DeSa meeting, 13-17 November 2006, IAEA, Vienna
Second Project Meeting, 17-21 October 2005, Vienna - pictures
First Project Meeting, 1-5 November 2004, Vienna - pictures

Newsletter No.1, July 2005
Newsletter No. 2, February 2006

For further information please contact B.Batandjieva