Magnox decommissioning

APPLICATION OF THE RADIOLOGICAL HAZARD POTENTIAL (RHP) TO RADIONUCLIDES IN MAGNOX REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING... 

In the British decommissioning funding assurance scheme, the funds set aside are ascribed to a particular site, rather than being loosely maintained in the licensee s name. Therefore, if a reactor were to be sold, the decommissioning funds that had been earmarked for that reactor would be transferred as part of the sale. (Since the Magnox reactors continue to be owned by a public company. 

The manuscript has been approved for publication by Magnox Limited and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 

C J Bolton, P J E Bischler, M R Wootton, R Moskovic, J R Morri, H C Pegg, A B Haines, R F Smith and R Woodman, Fracture toughness of weld metal samples removed from a decommissioned Magnox reactor pressure vessel, Int. J. Press. Vessels Pip., 2002,79,685-692. 

WOOLLAM, P.B. and PUGH, I.G. Neutron Induced Activation, Waste Disposal and Radiation Levels for the Reactor Island Structure of a Decommissioned Magnox Power Station. IAEA-SM-234/10. 

THE DECOMMISSIONING OF COMMERCIAL MAGNOX GAS COOLED REACTOR POWER STATIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM... 

Magnox Electric, and its predecessor companies, have undertaken extensive studies over many years to develop detailed strategies, plans, processes and costings for the decommissioning of all of its stations. These plans are now being implemented at the three shutdown stations and are available for implementation in the future when the other stations reach the end of their operating lives. 

It has been recognised that decommissioning sites can be a useful source of information that is relevant to those stations that are still operational. For example, one of the key issues relevant to the safety cases for the continued operation of the steel reactor pressure vessel Magnox stations is the effects of neutron irradiation induced embrittlement. The reactor vessels at Trawsfynydd have been identified as a source of representative and highly irradiated material that can be sampled and subjected to detailed analysis to determine the actual rather than just the predicted effects of embrittlement. This has required special remotely operated equipment to be developed that is capable of reaching the base of one of the reactor vessels, which is not readily accessible and is in a high radiation area, and that can then remove and retrieve steel samples for laboratory analysis. This equipment is now being deployed successfully. 

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