Page 248 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 229

lot allows one to see the foundations of large warehouses, former offices, and one hot
cell that was used for testing irradiated aircraft components.

6.5.4 University of California reactor (Chang, 2017)
The building atop the decommissioned nuclear reactor at the University of California
at Los Angeles serves as a testing ground for developing wireless sensing technology
to connect major segments of the real world to the Internet. Such networks could mon-
itor environmental pollution, fathom at-risk structures, or remotely follow medical
patients in real time. Wireless nodes, or motes, are made up of microprocessors, sen-
sors, and radio transceivers to communicate to the external world. The sensors can
measure temperature, light, stress, or other parameters.
The UCLA building serve as a central hub for scientists in various fields of wireless
sensor networking to closely cooperate.

Reuse of Decommissioned Research Reactors in the Netherlands
(Kers, 2018)
In the Netherlands decommissioning must achieve green field conditions. This policy was officially
adopted a few years ago.
Decommissioned are a few “piles” on the Petten site. They were all experimental and were
located in special purpose buildings. The buildings were decontaminated as needed and reused.
The Biological Agriculture Reactor of the Netherlands (BARN) or the reactor of the Institute for
Nuclear Use in Agriculture (Dutch: Instituut voor Toepassing van Atoomenenrgie in de Landbouw,
ITAL), was decommissioned to green field. All other buildings on the site were also
decommissioned. The site was situated in the woods. Currently the whole area is a wood.
The Kema Suspension Test Reactor (KSTR) was decommissioned to green field. Also the adja-
cent reactor laboratory was decommissioned. The location is reused and a new office building is
established onsite.
Recently the Low Flux Reactor at the Petten site was decommissioned. Also the hall where it
was situated was decontaminated and partly decommissioned. The hall will be reused for other
work, possibly nonnuclear.
Currently two cyclotrons are under decommissioning at the Amsterdam University. The site will
be decontaminated to green field and is supposed to be turned into a soccer field.
At the Eindhoven University a cyclotron was dismantled. The building was demolished and a
new building is being erected for nonnuclear purposes.
Finally, the Athens reactor (a very small one) at the Eindhoven University will be
decommissioned in near future, and its building will be demolished. A new building for nonnuclear
purposes will be erected at that location.

6.5.5 Reactor Maintenance, Assembly, and Disassembly (R-MAD)
Facility, Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), USA
(Primrose et al., 2011)
The R-MAD Facility was built to support the nuclear rocket program and was oper-
ational from 1959 through 1970. It was used to assemble reactor engines and to dis-
assemble and study reactor parts and fuel elements after reactor tests. The
nonradiologically contaminated portions of the facility were demolished in late 2005.