EPRI Report: Guidance in the Use of Robotics and Automation for Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants - 17440

In the coming ten years, approximately 100 commercial nuclear power plants will be shut down worldwide, adding to the fifty nuclear power plants already shut down that have not yet entered into decommissioning. Just under a half of the overall cost of decommissioning a nuclear power plant is utility staffing costs (costing approximately 20 million USD per year of the decommissioning project), with waste and dismantlement costs making up the remainder. Decommissioning across the globe is being executed largely by manual labor. Some overview organizations such as OECD have concluded that the nuclear industry has not fully exploited or implemented current technological capabilities, and relies on outdated technology to perform decommissioning tasks. The use of more efficient and effective decommissioning technologies and processes could reduce the decommissioning project schedule and therefore the $20 M/year staffing costs incurred throughout the decommissioning project life. Such systems may also offer a substantial benefit with respect to worker safety and exposure reduction. However, tasks for which use of such systems is beneficial must be carefully considered. The systems themselves need to be robust and generally trouble free to operate in the demanding environment of commercial power plant decommissioning. EPRI is preparing a report, Guidance in the Use of Robotics and Automation for Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants, which documents approaches that can perform decommissioning work in a safe and ALARA manner while reducing the overall cost to decommission a nuclear power plant. (authors)