R4.02/05 - Technical support for decommissioning of the heavy water reactor of ITEPh Moscow - lot 1

Decommissioning of obsolete nuclear facilities near the centre of Moscow is a priority with the goal of achieving a green field status. Therefore the overall objective was fully in-line with the policy of the Russian Federation. The AIDCO nuclear safety strategy comprised cooperation with the Regulator on enhanced capabilities for regulating, licensing and inspecting decommissioning projects including research installations. Supporting the Operator of the ITEP research reactor under decommissioning duly complemented this strategy. Moreover, the ITEP reactor was topic for a 1996 US-Russian intervention to safeguard the high enriched uranium fuel present at that time.

The Supply project had a close relation with TACIS project RF/TS/50 (a part of the larger project R3.01/05) which supported the regulatory review of the licensing documents on decommissioning the ITEP heavy water reactor. The review was to raise the scope and quality of among others the Safety Analysis Report to international accepted practices. The equipment supply provided the technological basis for matching the high targets of RF/TS/50 project.

The State Scientific Center of Russian Federation "Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics" (ITEP) possessed a Heavy Water Reactor (HWR) which was centrally located in Moscow, about eight kilometers south of the City center. This reactor, of 2.5 MW power, was shut down in 1987 after 37 years of operation by an Order of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom). The HWR decommissioning started in 1987 and the spent fuel from the reactor core and from the spent fuel storage pond was removed and transported to the reprocessing plant "Mayak". In 1997, the Russian nuclear regulatory body, RF Gosatomnadzor, approved the Decommissioning Programme developed by the ITEP experts. In 1999, a licence for the decommissioning of the HWR reactor was granted to ITEP by RF Gosatomnadzor and the practical decommissioning activities were started. By the middle of 2002 it was estimated that about 80% of the decommissioning work was finished.

This TACIS project intended to support the implementation of remaining decommissioning tasks on the Heavy Water Reactor at ITEP. The project should supply equipment to support the first of three planned remaining stages of the decommissioning. The scope of supply was based upon the report “Working program 2006-2011 on the TACIS project R4.02/05 “Technical support of decommissioning of the heavy-water research reactor HWR ITEP" prepared by ITEP, considering follow up improvements and corrections.

The project provided the following major equipment and miscellaneous items:

• 1 Electric compressor
• 8 Drill hammers, various types e.g. jack hammer
• 7 Leak tight pumps of various types
• 1 High pressure decontamination jet facility
• 1 Decontamination surface coating spray equipment
• 4 Blocks and tackles (manual & electric)
• 3 Pneumatic decontamination heads
• 2 Sets of equipment for plasma arc cutting
• 2 DC welding devices
• 2 Angle grinders
• 1 Tiger reciprocating saw
• 2 Industrial vacuum cleaners (one for dry, one for wet recovery)
• 1 Machine for cutting cast iron and one for carbon steel
• Steel supplies (bars, profile, rods, plate, sheets)
• Washable individual protective clothing (large quantities)
• Decontamination solutions and film material
• Digital camera and video camera.