Decommissioning and Decontamination and Radioactive Waste Management Within the Framework of Remediation of Environmental Liabilities in the Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc

Abstract

After more than 45 years of activities in the nuclear field, there are many environmental liabilities that shall be remedied in the Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc, Czech Republic. The Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc (NRI) is a leading institution in all areas of nuclear R&D in the Czech Republic. NRI operates two research nuclear reactors and many facilities such as a hot cell facility, research laboratories, technology for radioactive waste (RAW) management, radionuclide irradiators, electron accelerators, etc. Except of facilities that will be decommissioned in the future, there are many retired facilities that will be decommissioned soon. There are three main areas of remediation: [1] decommissioning of old obsolete facilities (e.g. decay tanks, liquid RAW storage tanks, old RAW treatment technology, special sewage system), [2] processing of RAW resulting from operation and dismantling of nuclear facilities (e.g. RAW from reconstruction of the VVR-S research reactor), and [3] elimination of spent fuel from research reactors. The goal is to remedy the environmental liabilities and eliminate the potential negative impact on the environment. Based on this postulate, optimal remedial actions have been selected and recommended for the environmental remediation. Remediation of the environmental liabilities with the large potential impact on the environment has already been started. The most significant items of environmental liabilities are discussed. The main goal is to describe the current state, the progress and the future activities in remediation of environmental liabilities.