Page 250 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 231

Fig. 6.28 The site of the former RMAD facility after demolition.
Credit to US DOE.

N Reactor coextrusion process billet assemblies were cast and machined in a section
of the 305 Building. Thereafter, this function was moved to the 313 Building. During
1974 and 1975, the 27 t of uranium fuel were removed from the 305 Test reactor; the
reactor itself was dismantled and buried in 1976–77.
In the late 1970s, a large addition was placed on the south/southeast side of 305
Building, and the majority of the facility was converted to the Hot Cell Verification
(Fig. 6.29) a cold prototype for the Fuels and Materials Examination Facility. In 1985,
the 305 Building was converted again to support mechanical development, mock-up,
and testing for the Plutonium/Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Process Facility Modi-
fications Program. In 1993, the structure operated to test radioactive material ship-
ment cylinders, casks, and capsules.

6.5.7 RB-3 Reactor, Montecuccolino (Bologna) Italy (UNIBO, 2012)
The zero-power RB-3 reactor operated from September 1970 to December 1989. After
being idle for many years the reactor is now completing decommissioning.
The reactor hall layout includes:

Main structure: a cube 17m side, with bunker and overheard crane,
l
Annexes: control room, etc. 220m ,
l 2
Basement for ancillary systems 300m ,
l 2
0.8-MW electric cabin (suitable for 1 PW laser).
l
A few years ago, the reactor facilities have been proposed for a conversion to laser
research (PROMETHEUS project, an acronym for: PROtons, electrons, and coherent
X-ray facility, based on high-power laser for MEdical research, oncological THErapy,
bioimaging and radiobiology USes). As of today nothing materialized of that proposal.