Decommissioning of nuclear facilities

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Dismantling of an American reactor building

The term decommissioning of nuclear facilities (as a synonym also: decommissioning of English: Decommissioning = decommissioning ) designate the set of all activities that aim a nuclear plant to reduce the operating termination ( " decommissioning ").

In the legal sense, the term is also used for the removal of an atomic location from the German Atomic Energy Act .

Types of decommissioning

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) distinguishes between three approaches to decommissioning:

  • Immediate dismantling ( immediate dismantling ): This variant allows for a relatively timely shutdown after regular operation. Usually, final dismantling or decontamination work begins after a few months to years, depending on the facility. After the end of operation, the system can be used again, for example in conventional operation .
  • Deferred dismantling ( safe enclosure , literally " deferred dismantling "): With this procedure, systems that have been shut down are closed for a long period (usually 40 to 60 years) until the radiation has decreased and dismantling measures are started.
  • Entombment ( permanent safe enclosure ): With this variant, the radioactive material remains on the facility forever and is collected on part of the facility. This is then poured into concrete, which reduces the radiation exposure.

The IAEA points out that the handling of decommissioning is very different in the states and that there are also mixed forms of the individual variants.

Situation by state

Germany

The nuclear facilities that can be decommissioned in Germany include power reactors, but also prototype and research reactors or facilities for supplying and disposing of nuclear fuel.

If a nuclear power plant in Germany goes out of operation, even permanently, it is first shut down, just like a research reactor. In terms of licensing law, this happens within the operating license and the condition of the reactor is now called the post-operational phase or standstill.

In order to be decommissioned, nuclear facilities in Germany require a decommissioning license or dismantling license in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act, Section 7, Paragraph 3. H. Submit documents on a variety of relevant issues to the authority. To give just a few examples: A public hearing of those affected may be required to explain the effects of decommissioning and dismantling or safe enclosure. The operating manual, the test manual, the emergency manual of the nuclear power plant and so on, for example, also need to be revised, which must be adapted to the circumstances that have changed from now on. It takes many months to revise thousands of pages. The authorities then have all these new documents checked by experts before, after possible changes and additions, a permit for decommissioning with secure enclosure or for direct dismantling is issued. It can take a few years before a decommissioning license is issued, after which the nuclear power plant is considered to be decommissioned. So far, the shutdown four nuclear power plants with boiling water reactors: Brunsbüttel , Isar I , Philippsburg and Krümmel are formally in operation and on the grid, even if they are switched off and do not generate electricity, but consume it. These nuclear power plants are in the post-operational phase within the operating license.

In Germany, the shutdown of the plant is usually followed by the post-operational phase. B. fuel assemblies and nuclear fuel are removed. In the subsequent decommissioning, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection distinguishes between two strategies, "direct dismantling" and "safe enclosure"; there are also mixed forms of both strategies. Direct dismantling is usually preferred because, for example, existing specialist knowledge and experience can be used. The aim of the decommissioning is either the complete dismantling of the facility up to the "green field" or another use.

A hybrid form of both decommissioning strategies is z. B. Planned for the Greifswald nuclear power plant (Lubmin): Plant parts that require skilled personnel to dismantle should be dismantled immediately, but the buildings should be left in "safe enclosure" until the radiation has subsided. Of the 110 nuclear facilities in Germany that were commissioned between 1957 and 2004, around 29 of 37 commercial nuclear reactors (as of October 2016) for energy generation and 37 of 45 research reactors have been decommissioned. Construction of another 24 planned reactors began in six of them and some of them were canceled shortly before completion (status 2010, see list of nuclear reactors in Germany ).

Of the reactors taken off the grid as part of the nuclear phase-out in 2011, Neckarwestheim I is the first reactor to be dismantled - in June 2012.

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , the former nuclear research center in Karlsruhe, is the project sponsor for research into the decommissioning of nuclear facilities in Germany. In the Department of Water Technology and Disposal (PTKA-WTE), on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), research and development projects for the Federal Government's framework program “Research for the Environment” and the framework program of the BMBF “Research for Sustainability” ( FONA) as well as on "underground waste disposal" and on "decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities and radiation research". The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) co-finances such projects on the basis of the funding concept “Focal points of future R&D work on the disposal of radioactive waste”.

The Karlsruhe project management agency for water technology and disposal also reports to the two ministries every six months on research and development projects for the disposal of hazardous waste in deep geological formations.

France

In France, over 60 nuclear plants were commissioned between 1956 and 2002. Since 1968, 13 nuclear power plants have been decommissioned (see list of nuclear installations in France ).

Great Britain

In the UK, an estimated 45 nuclear power plants were commissioned between 1956 and 1995. Since 1977 28 nuclear power plants have been shut down (see list of nuclear reactors in Great Britain ).

Switzerland

In Switzerland , the experimental nuclear power plant Reaktor Lucens (1968) and various research reactors have been shut down. The oldest still running nuclear power plant is the Beznau nuclear power plant , consisting of Beznau l (1969) and Beznau ll (1971). The energy group BKW Energie took the Mühleberg nuclear power plant off the grid in December 2019 and will begin the 15-year dismantling in January 2020. This will require around CHF 800 million and an average of 200 employees.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www-pub.iaea.org: Policies and Strategies for the Decommissioning of Nuclear and Radiological Facilities from 2011, accessed on December 28, 2012 (PDF; 2.3 MB)
  2. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Decommissioning of nuclear facilities - introduction. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013 ; accessed on December 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Decommissioning strategies. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013 ; accessed on December 29, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Stefan Schultz: Energy company plans cheap disposal for nuclear power plant. In: SPIEGEL online. April 24, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  5. ↑ AtomkraftwerkePlag WIKI: Nuclear power plants out of operation (map). In: Research platform on atomic energy. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  6. ^ Website of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: Nuclear Waste Management. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .