Dismantling of Civilian Nuclear Powered Fleet Technical Support Vessels: Engineering Solutions

Abstract

At the present time six nuclear technical support vessels are operated and maintained by Atomflot. Two of them (Volodarsky FTB (floating technical base) and Lepse FTB) were taken out of service for decommissioning and are stored afloat. One more vessel Lotta FTB should be decommissioned during next two years. The nuclear technological support ships carrying spent nuclear fuel (SNF), liquid and solid radioactive wastes (LRW and SRW) appear to be a possible radiation contamination of Murmansk region and Kola Bay because the Ship long-term storage afloat has the negative effect on hull’s structures technical condition. As a result of this in the context of the Federal Program “Nuclear and Radiation Safety” (2008–2015) NIPTB Onega OAO was engaged by state corporation Rosatom to develop the dismantling procedure for Volodarsky FTB and Lotta FTB. Before developing of nuclear technological support ships decommissioning projects the technical and economic assessment of decommissioning/dismantling was carried out. The following options were examined: - formation of module as one-piece Ship’s hull for long-term storage at Saida Bay; - formation of separated modules for long-term storage at Saida Bay; - complete dismantling of hull’s structures, systems and equipment with packing all generated SRW into certified long-term storage containers. This paper contains description of options, research procedure, comparative analysis of options of decommissioning and dismantling (D&D) of nuclear technological support ships and its difference with dismantling of nuclear submarine.