The Dismantling of Primary and Auxiliary Loops of the BR3-PWR Reactor: From On Site Decontamination up to Final Evacuation of the Dismantled Materials

SCK•CEN is dismantling its small BR3 PWR reactor. For the management of the contaminated loops, we decided first to decrease the dose rate by a chemical decontamination of the circuits. A complete dismantling of the loops and of the equipment’s follows this. After a careful sorting of the pieces, we select the optimised management route, which will lead to a minimum of radioactive waste disposed. This paper gives the results of the management of the pieces arising from the dismantling of the most contaminated loops of the plant. We show that it is possible to recycle most of the metallic materials either in the nuclear world or in the industrial world by reaching the respective recycling or clearance criteria.