Decommissioning of retired nuclear plants and components demands the proper management of the process, both for economic reasons and for retaining public confidence in the continued use of nuclear power for electricity generation. The cost and ease of management of radioactively contaminated components can be greatly assisted by the application of decontamination technology. EPRI initiated a program of research and development work in collaboration with Bradtec, which has led to the ''EPRI DFD'' (Decontamination for Decommissioning) Process. The Process has been patented and licensed to six companies worldwide. The purpose of this process is to achieve efficient removal of radioactivity with minimum waste from retired nuclear components and plant systems. The process uses dilute fluoroboric acid with controlled oxidation potential. By removing all the outer scale and a thin layer of base metal from the surfaces, contamination can in many cases be reduced below the levels required to allow clearance (free-release) or recycle to form new components for the nuclear industry. This reduces the need for on-site storage or burial of large amounts of contaminated material at low level radioactive disposal facilities. An additional benefit is that residual radiation fields can be reduced by a large factor, which reduces the worker radiation exposure associated with decommissioning. Furthermore, this dose rate reduction improves the viability of early dismantlement following plant closure, as opposed to waiting for a prolonged period for radioactive decay to occur. The results obtained in early applications of the EPRI DFD process demonstrated the benefits of taking this approach (reference 1)
