Page 183 - Beyond Decommissioning

164 Beyond Decommissioning

Fig. 6.11 Greifswald NPP Material Release Building, formerly a mechanical workshop.
Photo by M. Laraia.

The model was brought about by a similar scenario-based simulator built at US Rocky
Flats Environment Technology Site. The simulator allows managers and workers to
acquire knowledge of the environments they will encounter during various
decommissioning operations. It creates conditions that include noise, heat, and work-
ing with live tools. Simulations can involve working at heights, in trenches and within
soft-sided spaces (Magnox, 2008). Likewise, the new Hinkley Point Water Treatment
Plant, which was procured during the plant decommissioning period, fitted well into a
previously redundant building and was installed there (Water Technology, n.d.).

6.2.1.14 Reuse of nuclear canyons
Although not part of nuclear power plants, nuclear canyons—such as those used at
fuel reprocessing plants—have certain features that make them suitable for reuse after
decommissioning of their original plants. One remarkable example is provided by
Wills et al. (1993).
The T Plant Complex was built in 1944, and was the first chemical processing plant
at the Hanford Site. Initially, T Plant was used to extract plutonium from spent reactor
fuel. T Plant processed the first fuel from the Hanford B Reactor, producing material
that was used to fuel the Trinity device—the first nuclear weapon in history—and the
bomb known as “Little Boy.” Improvements in fuel extraction made T Plant redundant
after a decade, and it was decommissioned in 1956. In 1957, T Plant restarted oper-
ation as a decontamination and repair workshop for Hanford site components. The
equipment would be shipped by rail to T Plant, where it was disassembled,
decontaminated, and repaired. This new use continued for a period of some 35 years,