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Offline Rennhack

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D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« on: Dec 28, 2003, 05:55 »
Lessons Learned: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)

The purpose of this forum is to document on-the-job work experiences. Submit your best solutions for various jobs and processes. This is not to be plant specific, rumor, slander or urban legend. Postings will be reviewed, verified, edited for content, and archived for future reference. Post a summary for review if you wish to post a thesis or position paper. We are getting fewer and fewer, but before the knowledge is lost forever and plant / sites reinvent the wheel; we need to document what we have learned.
« Last Edit: Jan 15, 2004, 08:52 by Rennhack »

SamA

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Help! with Lessons Learned from D&D experience
« Reply #1 on: Feb 09, 2004, 12:39 »
Good day everyone,
  I have been tasked to do some research on lessons learned from D&D activities.  I am currently working for the DOE in Idaho.  I need to determine the big issues to be addressed in making a D&D decision.  Any publications, contacts, or personal experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time,
Sam

moke

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #2 on: Feb 09, 2004, 01:22 »
Hi SamA,

Fire off some of your questions here.

Have a Great Week!

Moke

SamA

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #3 on: Feb 09, 2004, 05:02 »
Hey Moke,

  Actually, my boss wants me to come up with a list of around 20 questions that represent that major issues that need to be addressed.  He would then like me to contact or obtain literature from D&D'ed sites to see how these sites dealt with the issues.
So, I guess my question to you is what questions would you be asking if you had a reactor that was to be D&D'ed?

Sam

moke

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #4 on: Feb 10, 2004, 11:23 »
Hi SamA,

The Record of Decision (ROD) in many cases provides a wealth of information concerning the target area and/or facility in question regarding D&D. In  many cases the ROD does not include all Target Isotopes and other chemical constiuents.

The first question is: have all of the Isotopes and Chemical Constituents been identified to include any surprises. Have the Facility Oldtimers been contacted and questioned?

Major problem is that when the characterization team fails to utilize a systemmatic approach one will be unable to:

Determine the EXTENT and Type of contamination.

Determine proper instrumentation that will enable detection.

When additonal contamination or isotopes are identified in the 11th hour of the game, this is where the problem comes in.

It's like the old scouts of the past doing reconisance (-12 Sp.); tell us who,where,when and why. Positive characterization up front to include forecasting possibilities remain important. Tell the complete story.

Another question being the personnnel involved with the ROD or decision making process.

Are workers qualified? If so, what kind of experience do you have regarding decontamination. Many have little or no experience that may lead to safety and cost overun concerns.

If you are decontaminating a Lab, what controls are in place to deal with unknown constituents? This can be a serious personal safety issue regarding shock senitive and/or pyrophoric material.

Do you have a Chemical Specialist (expert) on your team? If not, you better have one.

Another important D&D question is Safety. If safety is not regarded as the main focus your project may suffer down the road.

I'll be posting additonal stuff later when time permits.

Use the ROD as your Bible and cross check what is procedure against the ROD.

Be back later.

Moke 

SamA

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #5 on: Feb 10, 2004, 12:38 »
Thanks Moke,  This is very helpful.  We are excited that we can assess the wealth of real knowledge from folks like you who have experience with these issues.

Sam

moke

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #6 on: Feb 11, 2004, 09:14 »
Hi SamA,

Couple more items to chew on.

What you need to be carefull of is the detection process using handheld intrumentation.

You have to nail down the Scan MDC numbers and have an expert assist you. One item that many still do not understand is the fact that there are some major flaws with the MDA concept and this expert should account for that when determining Scan MDC rates. There is a paper publiched by Dr. Marty Jamieson that provides great information.

I now understand that many so called contact measurements using check sources are not at contact but further away than anticipated and must be accounted for. You will have a much better efficiency the traditional way vice the other. This is the same concept that was found at San Onofre dealing with Fuel Fragments and/or Hot Particles. They instituted a correction factor of 250! NCRP 106! Great job by that team!

Anyway, the next item is instrumentation. If you are dealing with TRU (Pu-239/Neptunium etc..) one may consider a Fiddler. If looking for Cesium and Cobalt a 2" x 2" NaI(Tl) may suffice. Right tool for the right isotope.

Another important item is communication. If you will be shipping and/or processing waste, be sure that you invite all of your key players upfront rather than soliciting their services during the 11 th hour of the game.

A big key too is the head of any D&D project. If your head person is a know it all, your project is doomed because it is physically impossible. A great leader is the type of person that can make "Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things!"

Many projects will use homegrown personnel which is fine yet there needs to be a nice mix of personnel to see this type of project through. When you hire personnel one should ask how many licenses were terminated and were they under budget? Of great importance is their past projects Safety Record too. A big key to D&D success is for an entity to meet Budget, Schedule while being Compliant.

This is where it starts to get tricky. If you don't walk the talk you are cooked! Many talk an great game yet they don't live it. Meeting the above mentioned objectives is the toughest thing I have ever attempted in my life. It's a nightmare yet it can be done. Many must not be afraid of friendship or losing their jobs. It requires a Team Effort and Passion. It will make your job 100 times harder up front yet once the system is inplace and authorized by the highest in Management; Things will flow gracefully yet there must be constant and continual evaluation or self assessment of your system.

This leads me to another important item being the word system. Everything or thought must be in a systemmatic fashion or simply the cradle to grave concept. Also having a plan B, C & D. The word Contingency is ever so important. Do you possess two or three? It's the nuclear way! A systemmatic mentality will get you through nine out of ten times providing that the contingencies are practical. This person providing contingencies (RADCON) should be an expert.

I'll post other concerns when time permits.

Have an Awesome Day!

Moke ;D

Offline DecommMan

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #7 on: Mar 17, 2004, 05:25 »
Moke,

Thanks for sharing some great  tidbits that often only experience teachs folks in the D&D game. 

You might also try NUREG-1628 - FAQ on D&D that NRC put together some years ago - still relevant and good for the public and operators.  Try also a recent 2002 (?) NRC notice on experiences in D&D and LTP - lots of lessons learned from the regulators side there.

Are you up at BNL?  Do you know Dean Atchison?

Decomm Man 8)
Decomm Man

moodusjack

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #8 on: Mar 20, 2004, 02:05 »
Learn all you can about the Data Life Cycle including data quality objective (DQO) and data quality assessment (DQA) processes.  MARSSIM is a good start.  There are several EPA documents out there discussing DQOs and DQAs (EPA 600 R-96 055 DQO Process, EPA 600 R-96 084 Practical Methods for Data Assessment).

Communicate with your stakeholders (DOE/USNRC, State and Local Officials) soon and frequently.  See if there are differences in radiological cleanup criteria.

Are you doing just radiological release or is the intent to transfer the property?  That might add additional EPA and local clean up standards.  Is a combined risk assessment from all constituents of concern (rad and non-rad) required?

Dose modelling to establish your release criteria is a big ticket item.  Do you have just surface contamination (15 cm depth), subsurface contamination, groundwater contamination or some combination of the three?  What are your radiological constituents of concern?  How's your hard-to-detect (HTD) situation, i.e., do you have lot's of H-3, Ni-63, C-14, Sr-90, Pu-241? 

Are buildings, structures and components involved?  You need to make a commerical decision to either whack and pack (rip and ship) or survey in place.  If you survey in place, do you intend to remove or leave buildings in place?  That will impact dose modelling as to whether you use the resident farmer or building occupancy scenarios.

How well have you characterized your site?  Do you have sufficient data to determine areas impacted by site operations and magnitude of remediation?  Do you have a good understanding of the variability of the contaminents?

Lot of stuff, man, ehh?

Finally, and I'm not being facious here, expect a cold shoulder should one of your questions be, "Do you do fixed price, turn-key D&D?".  Been there.

Offline DecommMan

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #9 on: Apr 05, 2004, 03:06 »
I believe the old expression - 'Just when you thought the hard part was over'  best sums up a new persons wadeing into it for the first time.  8)

For a great summary of whats been learned to this point in the D&D arena - check out the recently issued NUREG 1757 Volumes 1-3 - just a little lite reading - each volume is about 500-600 pages.  Lessons Learned are very good - see Volume 2, Appendix O.
Decomm Man

Phideaux

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #10 on: Sep 18, 2004, 12:50 »
Hi Folks,

I'm going to ask this question here because I'm not sure where else to post it. It's about dirt and rocks.

We're here at Hanford digging up some hot dirt and rocks from the "cribs" and "trenches" that were essentially canals and ponds used to hold RX effluent water. Some of the stuff is pretty hot..up to a couple of R/hr....so far. The problem is this:

When these large rocks bang together, they make dust. Since the rocks are hot, the dust can make some nice airborne areas. The contractor has tried wetting down the rocks with a glue-like product. This product helps a little, but when large rocks bang around, glue or nor glue, the dust flies, not only while the track hoe bucket it manipulating them but also when they get dumped into the haul truck. Water and/or this glue stuff is always manually applied for dust suppression while the rocks are being manipulated. This also helps a little but there are 2 problems with this. First, if too much water is used, it sometimes leaks past the seals of the haul truck containers, which craps up the container staging area, and sometime other things. Second, this glue stuff gets on the bucket and the arm of the track hoe, making contaminated dirt stick to it like, well, glue.

I have already talked to the contractor project lead about installing a fogging apparatus on the arm of the hoe that could be operated by the track hoe operator whenever the thought he needed some dust suppression. This would minimize the amount of water used and do a far better job than a laborer trying to shoot water over the edge of an excavation. For some strange reason, the contractor has not acted on this, which I thought was a fairly simple and effective solution to the problem. I have talked to an operator who used a similar device on another project with good results. Perhaps, since I am only a tech with a mere 2 decades of experience, the project lead thinks I'm too dumb to consider my idea. Or perhaps it is not "high-tech" enough. So, I had a flash of inspiration (or the coffee was too strong this morning???).

There is a product called AFFF (aqueous film forming foam). I know the Navy uses it to fight fires and I'm sure it's used in a lot of places for the same thing. It is essentially soybean protein that is metered into a water stream to make a foam. I thought that this would solve the problem of the dust as well as minimize the amount of water used. If the rocks were covered in foam and they baged together, any (or most) of the dust they made would be engulfed in the foam.

Does any one have any experience with anything like this?

Thanks!

vikingfan

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #11 on: Sep 18, 2004, 12:16 »
since you mentioned something about a fogging system have you considered a passive aerosol generator? its a fogger that has been used to minimize airborne areas in hot cells and building for more info go to www.fogging.com
or maybe a airless sprayer? well let me k now

JJ

Phideaux

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #12 on: Sep 18, 2004, 05:27 »
Thanks for the lead, JJ. I checked out their site and contacted one of their reps, who I actually happened to know. I'll let you know if anything workable develops. The solution seems simple enough, but getting anything done at some places is a bit of a challenge.

Take care and thanks again!

vikingfan

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #13 on: Sep 20, 2004, 10:37 »
If I remember right they are in the richland area, so getting them ther eshould not pose a problem. well good luck

JJ

Wlrun3

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #14 on: Jul 31, 2013, 01:30 »
On what timescale will retiring commercial nuclear power plants decommission (Kewaunee, Crystal River, San Onofre, etc.)

Offline GLW

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #15 on: Jul 31, 2013, 01:52 »
On what timescale will retiring commercial nuclear power plants decommission (Kewaunee, Crystal River, San Onofre, etc.)

TBD - Decomm Fund dependent,...

been there, dun that,... the doormat to hell does not read "welcome", the doormat to hell reads "it's just business"

Offline Wojo

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #16 on: Jul 31, 2013, 04:50 »
On what timescale will retiring commercial nuclear power plants decommission (Kewaunee, Crystal River, San Onofre, etc.)

10 CFR 50.82 a.(3) -  Decommissioning will be completed within 60 years of permanent cessation of operations. Completion of decommissioning beyond 60 years will be approved by the Commission only when necessary to protect public health and safety. Factors that will be considered by the Commission in evaluating an alternative that provides for completion of decommissioning beyond 60 years of permanent cessation of operations include unavailability of waste disposal capacity and other site-specific factors affecting the licensee's capability to carry out decommissioning, including presence of other nuclear facilities at the site.
Lost my boots in transit, pile of smokin leather, nailed the retreads to my feet and prayed for better weather - J Garcia

Offline GLW

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #17 on: Jul 31, 2013, 09:30 »
10 CFR 50.82 a.(3) -  Decommissioning will be completed within 60 years of permanent cessation of operations. Completion of decommissioning beyond 60 years will be approved by the Commission only when necessary to protect public health and safety. Factors that will be considered by the Commission in evaluating an alternative that provides for completion of decommissioning beyond 60 years of permanent cessation of operations include unavailability of waste disposal capacity and other site-specific factors affecting the licensee's capability to carry out decommissioning, including presence of other nuclear facilities at the site.

Okay hotshot, which formerly on the grid plant is the longest in SAFSTOR?

(hint: it is not a multi-reactor site, has been off-grid for 50 years, is self-guaranteed with no FERC involvement which is why [IMNSHO] we have not been invited to help make it go away yet)
« Last Edit: Jul 31, 2013, 09:36 by GLW »

been there, dun that,... the doormat to hell does not read "welcome", the doormat to hell reads "it's just business"

Offline Rennhack

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #18 on: Jul 31, 2013, 09:53 »
Not Calder Hall, its longest operating.
Not Santa Susana Sodium Reactor Experimental (SRE). Its D&D'd ... Maybe its neighbor...

The VBWR was shutdown in 1963 and NRC issued a possession only license in 1965. The license was renewed in 1973 and the license has remained effective under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.51(b). The facility has been maintained in SAFSTOR condition. The licensee plans to maintain the facility in SAFSTOR until ongoing nuclear activities are terminated and the entire site can be decommissioned. GE has a self-guarantee instrument. The spent fuel has been removed from the site. (1)

Plants in SAFSTOR:(2)

Reactor   -   Location   -   Shutdown   -   Estimated Closure
GE VBWR   -   Alameda Co., CA   -   12/9/1963   -   01/20/2019 (1)
N.S. Savannah   -   Norfolk, VA   -   11/1/1970    -   12/01/2031 (3)
Fermi 1   -   Monroe Co., MI   -   9/22/1972   -   10/01/2032  (Flip-flops from SAFESTOR to DECON back to SAFESTOR) (4)
Indian Point 1   -   Buchanan, NY   -   10/31/1974   -   10/01/2026 (5)
Peach Bottom 1   -   York Co., PA   -   10/31/1974   -    12/31/2034 (6)
Dresden 1   -   Morris, IL   -   10/31/1978   -    12/31/2036 (7)
Three Mile Island 2   -   Middletown, PA   -   3/28/1979   -    12/31/2036 (8)
Millstone 1   -   Waterford, CT   -   7/21/1988   -    12/31/2056 (9)
San Onofre 1   -   San Clemente, CA      -   11/30/1992   -    12/30/2030 (10)
Crystal River 3   -   Crystal River, FL   -   2/20/2013   -    TBD
« Last Edit: Jul 31, 2013, 10:43 by Rennhack »

Offline GLW

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #19 on: Jul 31, 2013, 10:34 »

Dunno why it says 1967, most sources say 1963.


off grid, 1963 - POL, 1965

I'm not a fan of http://nuclear-power-plants.findthedata.org/,...

too many errors/typos/lack of peer checking and OBE's,...lots of OBE's...

then again these guys:

http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/

suffer the same issues in this part of their public interface, albeit it is probably a very low priority section of their public interface,....

whereas the former suffers more from, "Well!! That was fun and self gratifying to put it all together but it really sucks and drags to keep it current just for the sake of being correct", IMNSHO,...

(sic)

been there, dun that,... the doormat to hell does not read "welcome", the doormat to hell reads "it's just business"

Offline Rennhack

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Re: D&D (Decontamination & Decommissioning)
« Reply #20 on: Jul 31, 2013, 11:24 »
off grid, 1963 - POL, 1965
I'm not a fan of http://nuclear-power-plants.findthedata.org/,...
too many errors/typos/lack of peer checking and OBE's,...lots of OBE's...
then again these guys:
http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/

I updated my post.

 


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