EXPERIENCES IN SAFEGUARDING NUCLEAR REACTORS UNDER DECOMMISSIONING IN GERMANY

Abstract

Regarding the complexity of safeguarding nuclear facilities under decommissioning, it is important to distinguish between item and bulk handling facilities. Item facilities such as power reactors do normally not have a hidden hold up of nuclear material that is recovered during the decommissioning of the facility. Consequently, the decommissioning steps for reactor facilities are straight forward. Once all spent fuel elements are removed, i.e., a permanently ‘shut down’ facility reaches the status of ‘closed down’, it remains without nuclear material that must be safeguarded. During the follow-up decommissioning process, the safeguards activities focus on the removal or rendering inoperable of essential equipment. The main objective at this stage is to reach the status of ‘decommissioned for safeguards purposes’. The paper describes and discusses experiences and technical challenges in safeguarding German nuclear reactors in their end-of-life stages from ‘shut down’ and ‘closed down’ to finally ‘decommissioned for safeguards purposes’