Radioactive Waste Management 2014 R &D and Innovation Needs for Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities NEA Radioactive Waste Management R&D and Innovation Needs for Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities © OECD 2014 NEA No. 7191 NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 34 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission takes part in the work of the OECD. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. This work is published on the responsibility of the OECD Secretary-General. NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1 February 1958. Current NEA membership consists of 31 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission also takes part in the work of the Agency. The mission of the NEA is: – to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes; – to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues, as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD policy analyses in areas such as energy and sustainable development. Specific areas of competence of the NEA include the safety and regulation of nuclear activities, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science, economic and technical analyses of the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear law and liability, and public information. The NEA Data Bank provides nuclear data and computer program services for participating countries. In these and related tasks, the NEA works in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, with which it has a Co-operation Agreement, as well as with other international organisations in the nuclear field. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. 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FOREWORD Foreword The NEA Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) brings together senior representatives of national organisations who have a broad overview of decommissioning and dismantling issues through their work as regulators, implementers, research and development experts or policy makers. The WPDD reviews the current views of NEA member countries with the goal of strengthening the overall visibility of decommissioning, an activity that is attracting growing attention. The current labour-intensive approach to decommissioning and dismantling suggests that research and development (R&D) aimed at more efficient, effective decommissioning could bring significant benefits to current and future R&D projects. However, there is little consensus on where R&D might be best directed. Part of the difficulty in evaluating and co-ordinating R&D efforts is the nature of the decommissioning process itself, which tends to be sporadic and isolated. The WPDD established the Task Group on Future R&D and Innovation Needs for Decommissioning to provide a forum to discuss these issues among interested specialists from NEA member countries and to report on the outcomes. This report provides an update on the challenges of current R&D and reports on the WPDD consensus concerning priorities for future R&D and opportunities for collaboration among organisations and NEA member countries. 3 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements The WPDD wishes to express its particular gratitude to Mr Harvey Farr (Radiation Safety & Control Services, Inc., United States) and Mr Thomas S. LaGuardia (LaGuardia & Associates, LLC, United States) for their important contributions to the drafting of this report. 4 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents Executive summary ........................................................................................................................9 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................11 Background .................................................................................................................................11 Overall scope and objectives ....................................................................................................13 Method of working .....................................................................................................................14 Structure of the report ..............................................................................................................14 Summary of common decommissioning practices ..............................................................15 Challenges for decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities ...........................17 2. Characterisation and survey prior to dismantling .............................................................23 Theme overview .........................................................................................................................23 Suggested additional research and development .................................................................31 Suggested areas of future collaboration .................................................................................58 3. Technologies for segmentation and dismantling ...............................................................61 Theme overview .........................................................................................................................61 Suggested additional research and development .................................................................71 4. Decontamination and remediation .......................................................................................85 Theme overview .........................................................................................................................85 Suggested additional research and development .................................................................88 Suggested areas of future collaboration ...............................................................................136 5. Materials and waste management ......................................................................................137 Theme overview .......................................................................................................................137 Suggested additional research and development ...............................................................141 Suggested areas of future collaboration ...............................................................................186 6. Site characterisation and environmental monitoring .....................................................187 Theme overview .......................................................................................................................187 Suggested additional research and development ...............................................................193 Suggested areas of future collaboration ...............................................................................239 7. Conclusions ..............................................................................................................................241 References .....................................................................................................................................243 5 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures 1.1 Number of nuclear power plants in permanent shutdown ......................................12 1.2 Number of reactors in permanent shutdown as of May 2012 ..................................13 2.1 Repeated EURSSEM/MARSSIM applications of the data quality objectives process ...........................................................................................................24 2.2 Graphical conceptualisation of the characterisation process ..................................25 2.3 Core sectioning and labelling used for United States decommissioning facility ...............................................................................................................................36 2.4 SCS main structure and core drilling apparatus ........................................................38 2.5 SCS in retracted position and automated sampler assembly ..................................39 2.6 LRAD detection principle ...............................................................................................40 2.7 Plot of hot cell facility ratios at the Risø DTU site in Denmark ................................46 2.8 Contour maps of 241Am gamma fluence from outer surfaces of OSB NT19S ..........47 3.1 Schematic of plasma arc torch......................................................................................63 3.2 MDM cutting under a gas control hood .......................................................................65 3.3 EDM cutting......................................................................................................................65 3.4 HPAG cutter......................................................................................................................66 3.5 Circular milling cutter ....................................................................................................67 3.6 Diamond wire saw ..........................................................................................................67 3.7 Pipe milling cutter ...........................................................................................................68 3.8 Brokk attachment for pipe cutting ...............................................................................68 3.9 Rancho Seco steam generator cutting with a diamond wire saw ............................69 3.10 Brokk machine.................................................................................................................69 3.11 CEA robot Maestro with end effectors .........................................................................73 3.12 IWT pipe laser cutting and laser concrete scabbling .................................................74 3.13 West Valley, NY ARTISAN robotic arm ........................................................................75 3.14 Refurbished ROV for Hinkley Point A ...........................................................................75 3.15 Arc saw cutting head ......................................................................................................76 3.16 Arc saw in cutting configuration ..................................................................................77 3.17 Remote cutting by mobility fibre laser .........................................................................81 4.1 Heat treatment removal of 60Co in concrete constituents ........................................92 4.2 OSH 80 laser paint stripper ............................................................................................98 4.3 CleanLaser CL1000 Q-switched .....................................................................................98 4.4 Concrete floor covered with 12-year-old epoxy paint after EWI laser stripping ..................................................................................................................99 4.5 2005 reported laboratory test results on laser cutting of concrete ........................103 4.6 Recovery of elements by water containing super critical CO into 2 polyether – OP-7 and -hydroperfluoropropionic acid ...........................................107 4.7 Bochvar Research Institute size distribution of particles produced ώ during cleaning of stainless steel ...............................................................................109 4.8 Trawsfynydd RDA and end effectors for tank de-sludging and clean-out ...........113 4.9 Quince being tested at disaster city rubble pile the week before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident ...................................................117 4.10 Illustration of microbial capture from Birmingham University .............................123 4.11 Illustration of microbial calcite clogging from Birmingham University ...............124 6 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4.12 Functional nano-sized pore within a SAMMS™ .......................................................127 5.1 Wastes from the Windscale Pile 1 fire, often sharp-edged and metallic, could be stored safely by polymer encapsulation ....................................................144 5.2 FBSR sodium aluminosilicate (NAS) waste form dual processing flow sheet ......150 5.3 THOR® technology for processing spent ion exchange resins...............................151 5.4 The Arvia® Titan on site at Trawsfynydd .................................................................153 5.5 Portsmouth (Ohio) depleted uranium cylinder storage yard ..................................156 5.6 Schematic of Mactec Orion ScanSort Conveyor .......................................................161 5.7 OrionScan sort layout at Plum Brook .........................................................................162 5.8 Harwood team’s ligand for binding actinides ...........................................................163 5.9 United Kingdom forecast of decommissioning LLW ...............................................167 5.10 United Kingdom forecast of decommissioning VLLW .............................................167 5.11 NaI PDA and electronics mounted on excavator boom ...........................................169 5.12 Steel plate welded in bucket creates uniform soil thickness for sodium iodide monitoring .........................................................................................................169 5.13 Gamma detectors perform gross gamma screening of trench material ...............170 5.14 NUPEC concrete aggregate recycling ..........................................................................170 5.15 NUPEC cobalt and nickel oxidative decontamination process ...............................171 5.16 Total gamma counting chain (TGMC) ........................................................................171 5.17 Metric tonnes of graphite waste .................................................................................173 5.18 SiC/UO /graphite ...........................................................................................................175 2 5.19 Application of low-pH cement to seal rock fractures ..............................................183 5.20 Legend of Taneko Eh-pH diagrams ............................................................................185 6.1 Radiation pathways during decommissioning closing and decommissioning ...187 6.2 Critical value and null hypothesis underpinning MARSSIM and EURSSEM .........195 6.3 Results of kriging estimation displayed in VSP ........................................................196 6.4 Kriging estimation and course-over-ground traces displayed in VSP ...................197 6.5 Kriging variance and course-over-ground traces displayed in VSP .......................198 6.6 Conceptual model of hydrogeologic/engineered features affecting groundwater ..................................................................................................................199 6.7 Spatial analysis and decision assistance for subsurface modelling: 2-D ..............200 6.8 Data can also be visualised in true 3-D ......................................................................201 6.9 Graphic depiction of ASCEM prediction of contaminant fate and transport .......202 6.10 PFLOTRAN simulator depicting an unstructured hexahedral mesh .....................204 6.11 Isosurfaces of the uranium plume at the SRS F area seepage basin .....................204 6.12 137Cs concentrations in the watershed of the Chernobyl cooling pond .................206 6.13 90Sr concentrations in the watershed of the Chernobyl cooling pond ..................207 6.14 The Pioneer robot developed for Chernobyl .............................................................208 6.15 Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 first floor reactor building results of robotic surveys ......210 6.16 Gamma camera images of Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building first floor ............211 6.17 TAO2000 controller software architecture ................................................................213 6.18 PAC robotic long-reach manipulator, 3-D control and monitoring .......................214 6.19 Long-reach snake arm PAC robot assembly view ....................................................215 6.20 Introduction in the cell and pipe avoidance during inspection .............................215 7 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6.21 Deposited carbon on bottom limiter of Tore Supra; laser ablation and vacuum design ..............................................................................................................216 6.22 AIA robot inspection in Tore Supra Tokamak during air operation and window view during operation under vacuum and at temperature .....................216 6.23 Bridge-transported bilateral servo manipulator system installed in RHEM. .......217 6.24 RecoRob robotic system as hardware and mapped virtual reality ........................218 6.25 Sensor system components installed on an Aeroscout B1-100 helicopter. ..........222 6.26 Hanford’s prototype 90Sr monitor and 99Tc pump and treat process monitor ......224 6.27 Adcon Telemetry real-time soil moisture monitoring system ...............................227 6.28 FDTAS-tritium analysis system in surface and groundwater in near real time .........................................................................................................................227 6.29 Sol-gel indicators for process and environmental measurements ........................228 6.30 EMRAS II working groups .............................................................................................232 List of tables 2.1 Guidance documents for pre-dismantling characterisations ...................................27 2.2 241Am photons with 1% or greater yield .......................................................................47 2.3 Other activation products potentially important to waste classification ...............54 2.4 NUREG/CR-4968 comparison of nickel and cobalt ranges in reactor internals alloys ................................................................................................................56 3.1 Guidance documents for segmentation and dismantling ........................................61 3.2 Comparison of cutting technologies ............................................................................63 4.1 Guidance documents for decontamination and remediation ..................................86 4.2 Initial feasibility assessments for gaseous centrifuge 14C separation from off-gas .....................................................................................................................93 4.3 NEA review comparison performance of wall shaving systems ............................101 4.4 Specifications of the DetriLaser set-up ......................................................................110 5.1 Waste management issues ..........................................................................................137 5.2 Guidance documents on materials and waste management .................................139 6.1 Guidance documents for license termination surveys and modelling .................190 6.2 NAS prioritised groundwater and soil remediation research and development gaps .........................................................................................................201 6.3 IAEA NORM study models used for hypothetical scenarios ...................................232 6.4 DCGL multiplication factors for Fukushima-related nuclides hot spots of varying sizes ..................................................................................................................235 6.5 Numerical benchmarks proposed for protection of populations expressed in terms of dose rate .....................................................................................................237 8 R&D AND INNOVATION NEEDS FOR DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, NEA No. 7191, © OECD 2014