Abstract
The technical procedures currently available for nuclear power plant (NPP) decommissioning require a lot of time for decontamination of equipment, erection of construction elements around the reactor compartment (RC), dismantling of radioactive equipment and subsequent “safe enclosure”. It takes, all in all, from 40 to over 100 years.
The principle task of the proposed innovative decommissioning technology is to minimize the NPP decommissioning period, reduce radiation doses to operating personnel and restore the site of a used NPP to “green lawns” status within 2–5 years.
The key distinction of the proposed technology is that the RC of a used NPP (containment, reactor vessel with surrounding components and the socle) is detached from its seat as a whole together with its entire construction and engineering environment. After that, it is transported to a suitable waterway and towed to a specially selected place remotely located from inhabited areas.
The paper presents technical and design decisions of the proposed technology and the results of feasibility study on the reference Krymskaya NPP.
