[en] The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Environmental Restoration has developed a joint policy with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for decommissioning under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The policy establishes CERCLA removal action (specifically, non-time-critical removal action) as the appropriate means of responding to releases or threats of releases from contaminated surplus facilities under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of the DOE

No abstract available

[en] The first inspection is carried out at the level of research and the manufacturre of prototypes. The mechanical performance of the main components, especially those in class one, are checked by methods based on combined knowledge of mechanical, numerical and data processing problems. Such methods are practiced by highly specialised teams. At the manufacturing levels, industrial inspection remains very conventional. Almost all the components are subjected to non-destructive testing (such as X-ray, ultrasounds, magnetic testing, sweating, eddy currents...); destructive testing is applied to samples from the test-bar (tensile, impact, fatigue, corrosion tests...) special attention is given to welding operations

[en] Building 3515 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), also known as the Fission Product Pilot Plant, is a surplus facility in the main plant area to the east of the South Tank Farm slated for decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D). The building consists of two concrete cells (north and south) on a concrete pad and was used to extract radioisotopes of ruthenium, strontium, cesium, cerium, rhenium and other elements from aqueous fission product waste. Site characterization activities of the building were initiated. The objective of the site characterization was to provide information necessary for engineering evaluation and planning of D ampersand D approaches, planning for personal protection of D ampersand D workers, and estimating waste volumes from D ampersand D activities. This site characterization report documents the investigation with a site description, a summary of characterization methods, chemical and radiological sample analysis results, field measurement results, and waste volume estimates

[en] The Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) has recently completed construction of the Fuel Cycle Plant (FCP) at Richland, Washington. At start-up the facility will fabricate driver fuel for the Fast Flux Test Facility in the Secure Automated Fabrication line. After construction completion, but before facility certification, the Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operation Office requested that a vulnerability analysis be performed which assumed multiple insiders as a threat to the security system. A unique method of analyzing facility vulnerabilities was developed at the Security Applications Center (SAC), which is managed by WHC for DOE. The method that was developed verifies a previous vulnerability assessment, as well as introducing a modeling technique which analyzes security alarms in relation to delaying factors and possible insider activities. With this information it is possible to assess the relative strength or weakness of various possible routes to and from a target within a facility

[en] The decommissioning of nuclear power plants and their supporting nuclear fuel cycle facilities after they have completed their useful functions can be accomplished with present-day technology, given the requirements and sufficient resources to do so. However, the magnitude of a decommissioning project is influenced by specific plant design features. Although nuclear facilities are designed and built to insure safe and economic operation, the selection of certain features could dictate the ease or difficulty encountered during decommissioning. The proceedings of this Specialist Meeting reflect the views of experts from various disciplines (civil and mechanical design, decontamination, radiological protection, waste management and operations) towards those considerations that can be taken at the design phase of a nuclear facility and which could have an important influence during decommissioning. The proceedings therefore represent a synthesis of the present thinking towards designing for decommissioning

[en] This paper points out the aims to reach in order to facilitate the decommissioning of nuclear plants. Some technical steps within this goal are described. Connections between decommissioning requirements at the design stage and investments, safety and operation. The behavior of the different partners: operator, owner, safety authorities, designer and industrial architect is examined

[en] In an effort to reduce overall operating costs within the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND), a number of bases, stations, and ships were declared surplus. These facilities were scheduled for closure and disposal. Part of the environmental qualification of closure includes radiological decommissioning. The handling, storage and transport of radioactive material within DND is under the jurisdiction of the Director General Nuclear Safety (DGNS). An independent review of radiological considerations with respect to facility closure is desirable because it removes the DND regulatory body (DGNS) from direct contact with the radiological decommissioning, and thereby removes any potential conflict of interest. This allows the DND regulatory body to make supportive claims to the Federal regulatory body, namely the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The ultimate goal is to ensure that, to the greatest possible extent, no radioactive material is transferred from DND to any subsequent, often civilian, owner. Building on its strengths in nuclear engineering and science, SAIC Canada was awarded in 1994 a major contract (valued at approximately $1.8M) by the Department of National Defence (DND) to provide radiological decommissioning and decontamination services. Radiological surveys are one component of the process of preparing these facilities for disposal. This contract was extended through to 2000. Approximately 100 individual tasks were carried out under this task. Each task generated a detailed decommissioning report, outlining the results of the decommissioning, the radiological status of the facility, and recommendations for further action. Of these 100 tasks, approximately 22 involved the characterization, removal, packaging and/or shipping of radioactive material (either discrete sources or contamination). The balance of the tasks were related to preliminary site investigations, surveying to identify sources or contamination, or tasks in support of the conduct of these operations. This paper outlines some pertinent results obtained from reviewing the past ten years of radiological decommissioning performed by SAIC Canada for DND. (author)

[en] Nuclear criticality safety programs throughout the United States are quite successful, as compared with other safety disciplines, at protecting life and property, especially when regarded as a developing safety function with no historical perspective for the cause and effect of process nuclear criticality accidents before 1943. The programs evolved through self-imposed and regulatory-imposed incentives. They are the products of conscientious individuals, supportive corporations, obliged regulators, and intervenors (political, public, and private). The maturing of nuclear criticality safety programs throughout the United States has been spasmodic, with stability provided by the volunteer standards efforts within the American Nuclear Society. This presentation provides the status, relative to current needs, for nuclear criticality safety program elements that address organization of and assignments for nuclear criticality safety program responsibilities; personnel qualifications; and analytical capabilities for the technical definition of critical, subcritical, safety and operating limits, and program quality assurance

[en] The average person receives an average dose of about 1 mSr/yr(100 mrem/yr) from natural sources. The lungs receive a higher dose because of expousure to radon and its daughters. Radiation doses received from medical and dental practices are briefly discussed, as well as those doses due to products and applications in outer space. The environmental implications of the nuclear fuel cycle are discussed for the case of normal operation conditions. Reactor accidents are also examined. A brief discussion of the military sources of radiation is presented. The average annual dose equivalent to the US and world populations are presented. Over 90% of the total dose of 3.6 mSv/yr received by the US population originates from natural sources and medical practices