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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Nuclear new build procurement considerations
It may seem counterintuitive, but the best time to enhance the ability to support operations and maintenance for a new plant is before construction starts. This is one of many lessons learned by the currently operating nuclear fleet. As construction and startup of many nuclear facilities was completed, it quickly became evident that the ability to efficiently support operations and maintenance was limited. Most of the information necessary to establish and manage procurement of spare and replacement items, maintenance, and configuration of the facilities was unavailable and had to be gathered on a case-by-case, “on-demand” basis. Absence of necessary information and the associated challenges resulted in the need for staff augmentation and multiyear-long projects to develop equipment bills of material and maintenance programs and to perform technical evaluations for the huge quantities of spare and replacement items being requested.
Hideyuki Hosokawa, Makoto Nagase, Motomasa Fuse, Yutaka Watanabe
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 175 | Number 2 | October 2013 | Pages 135-148
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-80
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The formation process of a ferrite oxide film (which can effectively suppress radioactive nuclide deposition on piping surfaces) was evaluated from the viewpoints of forming optimum film structures and reducing waste disposal. Both pH and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of ferrite film formation solution were found to be important, and the film formation process could be understood on the basis of a Pourbaix diagram of the iron-water system. To make a thin and closely packed oxide film, the pH and ORP values should be maintained within the magnetite stability domain by controlling the hydrazine concentration, which promotes the film formation reactions. Use of chemical solutions such as formic acid and hydrazine was confirmed to get catalyst decomposition into easily handled substances. This film formation process could be evaluated taking into consideration the charge balance and chemical equilibrium equations of each reaction involved in the film formation. It was clarified that preoxidation of the ferrite film under certain oxidizing water chemistry conditions (such as normal water chemistry) in boiling water reactors could further improve the film cobalt deposition suppression performance due to the formation of hematite. Our selected film forming process and waste solution decomposition conditions were confirmed using the simulated flow system apparatus of one-tenth actual plant scale. The method was applied to the actual plant just after the chemical decontamination. After one cycle elapsed, dose rate of the reactor recirculation system piping coated with ferrite film was half that before the ferrite film was formed.