The rack removal system as a new design feature adopted to facilitate decommissioning of the reprocessing plant. Decontamination and remote dismantling tests in the ITREC pilot plant

The scope of this research is to evaluate the advantages of the Rack Removal System in the dismantling of reprocessing installations. The objective of this work is to verify experimentally the possibility of the remote dismantling of components installed in the mobile rack. In particular, the main objective is to develop remotely operated equipment for the dismantling of centrifugal contactors. The equipment's decontamination, which represents the most important preliminary phase of the decommissioning operation, is allowed to obtain low level radioactivity. A supporting program has been performed in order to define data project and design of the remote dismantling machine. Positive results obtained during the hot dismantling operations on the Rack 6 bis attested the effectiveness of the Rack Removal System as an original design which provides for easier decommissioning of reprocessing plants. (author)