Radionuclides in United States commercial nuclear power reactors

Abstract

In the next ten to twenty years, many of the commercial nuclear power reactors in the United States will be reaching their projected lifetime of forty years. As these power plants are decommissioned, it seems prudent to consider the recycling of structural materials such as stainless steel. Some of these materials and components have become radioactive through either nuclear activation of the elements within the components or surface contamination with radioactivity form the operational activities. In order to understand the problems associated with recycling stainless steel from decommissioned nuclear power reactors, it is necessary to have information on the radionuclides expected on or in the contaminated materials. A study has been conducted of radionuclide contamination information that is available for commercial nuclear power reactors in the United States. There are two types of nuclear power reactors in commercial use in the United States, pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs). Before presenting radionuclide activities information, a brief discussion is given on the major components and operational differences for the PWRs and BWRs. Radionuclide contamination information is presented from 11 PWRs and over 8 BWRs. These data include both the radionuclides within the circulating reactor coolant water as wellmore » as radionuclide contamination on and within component parts.« less