Dismantling of large components from Phénix reactor

The PHENIX reactor was definitively shut down in 2009. The cleaning and dismantling preparation operations are under way. These operations include dealing with large removable components such as primary coolant pumps, intermediate heat exchanger and heat exchanger blanking device (DOTE). This presentation describes the waste transformation operations performed on a DOTE, from its extraction from the reactor core until transformation to waste for disposal. Before 2009, all the large components were dismantled and packaged in metal containers according to Low Level and Intermediate Level Short Lived 5LIL-SL) waste specifications. These operations induced several cuttings and thus consumed exposition of the operators. In order to reduce the dose and the cost due to the treatment of the component, the objective is now to send the DOTE in one single part to the CSTFA (Very Low Level waste repository). (author)