Radiation Factors Determining the Safety of Handling Reactor Compartments when Decommissioning Nuclear Submarines

Abstract

The major issues to be dealt with when decommissioning nuclear submarines (NSs) are the choice of the concept and, later, the development of a process for handling reactor compartments (RCs). RCs feature extremely compact arrangement of large-sized power equipment and systems, limited free space for dismantling work, high radiation background in some RC rooms. The afore-named conditions in RCs pose the problem of finding the optimal procedure for RC recycling, which, on the one hand, would provide the maximum possible efficiency and, on the other hand, the maximum possible safety, i.e., would lead to minimum radiation exposure to personnel and have a negligibly small effect upon the population and the environment. The principal radiation factors that determine the radiation safety when handling RCs at all stages of NS decommissioning are as follows:

• total amount of the activity accumulated in the reactor facility (RF);

• the activity distribution over RF equipment and structures;

• the forms in which the accumulated activity exists;

• the radionuclide composition and decay of the activity accumulated in RF;

• the radiation situation at the nuclear submarine and dose commitments associated with the work to be performed;

• possible radioactive waste;

• impact of the chosen handling technology upon population and environment.