Safety Assessment for Decommissioning
Decommissioning and dismantling concludes the life cycle of a nuclear facility and requires specific safety assessment, review and inspection activities which can be provided by TÜV NORD Nuclear.
TÜV NORD Nuclear provides all services required from the safety perspective in the decommissioning stage. The scope of these services is adapted to the processes and issues relevant for this stage of the life cycle.
From the regulatory perspective, the prerequisite for decommissioning a nuclear facility is a respective license – the license to decommission – being granted.
Such license requires submission and safety assessment of a Safety Case which defines the procedural and technical framework to be followed in the decommissioning stage.
The objective of the Safety Case for a license to decommission is to demonstrate that the planned decommissioning of the facility complies with the applicable safety requirements.
It comprises the necessary information on e.g.
- Planned stages in decommissioning
- Decommissioning concepts and programs
- Technical equipment to be used including the dismantling techniques
- Organizational measures
- Processes and acceptance criteria for the release of low-contaminated materials from the obligation to be treated as nuclear waste (including the respective measurement techniques)
- Instructions for decommissioning
- Measures to protect the staff, the public and the environment from hazards caused by the decommissioning activities etc.
Safety assessment of the Safety Case for a license to decommission is a pre-license activity.
Reviews and Inspections / Decommissioning Activities
In the ensuing decommissioning activities, regulatory supervision of the measures taken to decommission is routine. Again, TÜV NORD Nuclear offers all services in supervision of these activities, either as consultant to the regulator or as service provider to the licensee. The scope of these activities is adapted to the significant processes and issues.
- Supervision of decommissioning
- Review and inspection of handling and dismantling equipment
- Characterization and categorization of contaminated materials
- Supervision of processes for release of materials for non-nuclear disposal
- Radioactive waste management
Reviews and inspections during decommissioning are typically post-license activities.