Page 255 - Beyond Decommissioning

236 Beyond Decommissioning

The reactor hall will become the exhibition room; this requires some refitting
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A hard and transparent window is installed on top of the pool.
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In Brief: Reuse of Research Reactors
DR 2, Risø, Denmark. The reactor has been fully decommissioned and the final report was
approved in 2008. The reactor hall is to serve as a handling facility for radioactive items originating
from decommissioning onsite (DD, 2010)
The JEEP I reactor, Kjeller, Norway, operated 1951–60. The reactor building is used for housing
a 60Co irradiator (NKS, 2006). The same reuse option was adopted for Venezuela’s research reac-
tor (Nordion, 2006).
TVR at Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP), Moscow, Russia. The 2.5-MW
HWR was shut down in 1986. The spent fuel was removed for reprocessing in 1989–90. The heavy
water (HW) moderator is contaminated by tritium. A decision was taken to build a subcritical mul-
tiplier of neutrons in the TVR pool and to couple it with a linear accelerator of protons. This does
not require the dismantling of the biological shield. The detritiation of the HW is less urgent
because it can be reused in the new facility (Arkhangelsky, 2006).
INEEL reactors, USA. At the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL),
several reactor safety program facilities were decommissioned and reused for new functions. The
Special Power Excursion Reactor Tests (SPERT) program initially included four reactors used to test
reactor behavior during abnormal operations:
SPERT-I was decommissioned in 1964, all equipment removed by 1969 and the building reused
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to house the Power Burst Facility (PBF) plant protective system equipment. PBF supported
national studies of reactor fuel during normal and abnormal conditions. In 1998 PBF was
placed in long-term shutdown status.
SPERT-II began operation in 1960; currently it houses the Waste Reduction Operations Com-
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plex (WROC) Lead Storage Facility.
SPERT-III started operation in 1958: it was decommissioned in 1980 and all reactor components
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removed. Its reactor building now houses the Waste Experimental Reduction Facility (WERF).
l SPERT IV started operation in 1961 and is currently a storage building for mixed waste
(ORAU, 2004).
ZEEP (Zero Energy Experiment Pile), Deep River, ON, Canada). First nuclear reactor outside the US,
operating 1945–73, dismantled in 1997. Currently on display at Canada Science and Technology
Museum, Ottawa.

6.5.13 BR3 Reactor, Mol, Belgium (Noynaert and
Verstraeten, 2007)
BR3 was the first PWR built outside the USA. The reactor had a small electrical output
(10 MW) but included all the systems and structures of a commercial PWR. The reac-
tor went critical in 1962 and was finally shut down in 1987. It has been under
decommissioning since 1989.Most decontamination and dismantling activities have
been completed including the reactor pressure vessel and internals. The final
decommissioning plan mentioned that the end state of BR3 will be “greenfield” unless
opportunities for reuse of its site were manifest. Factors favoring partial reuse include:

l Services to the nuclear industry in the field of decontamination, for example, by maintaining
the MEDOC decontamination facility in service