Delamination and segmentation techniques for the decommissioning of nuclear installations

Full text: The complexity of components from nuclear installations subject to dismantling is enormous and so is the number of segmentation and delamination techniques as well as the referring handling systems. To choose the ideal technique and the corresponding strategy, complex boundary conditions have to be considered. The most important criteria are: costs; the amount and kind of radioactivity (contamination, activation, isotopes, spacial distribution within the working piece...); aspects of radiation protection (segmentation under ambient conditions/under water... ); the kind of material to be cut (steel, concrete, graphite, compound materials...); geometries (thickness, structure...); and their spacial accessibility. Based on these criteria, delamination or segmentation processes are selected. A selection of techniques is presented and new trends are pointed out. (author)