Reactor
Decommissioning
History
Zion Decommissioning Unit-1 and Unit-2
revised as noted below
Currently
Active in RV / RVI Work
Recent Updates as of 8 June 2015
Reactor
related effort in progress this week are:
- Unit-2
reactor vessel is being cut, with some pieces packaged in shipping boxes.
-
Unit-1 reactor pool cavity drained down and being prepared for RV cutting.
RVI-1
Unit-1 was started after Unit-2 and was the last RVI work performed. The
segmentation of the Zion reactor vessel internals campaign was announced
complete as of December 15, 2014 when the Unit-1 Lower Core Assembly (LCA)
was placed into its shipping container. The Reactor Cavity Pool is still
full of water awaiting removal of miscellaneous items.
RVI-2
All parts of Zion Unit-2 Reactor Vessel Internals (RVI) are segmented
and in liners.
RV-1
The reactor vessel decommissioning / segmentation in Unit 1 will begin
as equipment used in Unit-2 becomes available.
RV-2
Currently torch cutting to segment the reactor vessel into smaller pieces
to fit into shipping containers.
GTCC
(Greater Than Class C)
There are 4 GTCC canisters in the Zion ISFSI. The last placed there 3/6/2015.
Fuel
All fuel is on the Zion ISFSI pad in 61 dry fuel canisters. Loading of
the first can was during Christmas 2014, and the last can moved to the
ISFSI on January 10, 2015 making this a very impressive campaign.
For more details on Zion Reactor Segmentation, contact us, click here,
or visit us on Facebook.
Overview
Zion
1 & 2 (ZNPS) are Westinghouse commercial PWR power reactors. There
are located midway between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
on the beach of Lake Michigan. Unit 1 (DPR-39) & Unit 2 (DPR-48) each
had a generating capacity of 1085 MWe and design capacity of 3250 MWt.
Commercial operations were achieved for Unit-1 on December 1973 and for
Unit-2 on September 1974. Final reactor operation for Unit-1 was February
21, 1997 and Unit-2 was September 19, 1996. Both units are currently being
decommissioned at the same time. In March 2014, ZionSolutions' John Sauger
noted that 2018 is targeted completion for the Zion Decommissioning project.
Both
Zion reactor vessel internals (RVI) are segmented. The RPV's (RV's) are
planned to be thermal cut starting in 2015 (with some abrasive or diamond
wire saw assistance). The (61) dry fuel storage casks and (4) GTCC casks
are stored vertically outdoors at the on-site ISFSI using NAC International
MAGNASTOR and MAGNATRAN models of TSC (Transportable
Storage Canister).
Reactor
Decommissioning Specifics
Reactor
Vessel Internals Removal
Underwater segmentation is completed by using cold cutting methods (reciprocating
saw, rotary saw, milling). There were four primary segmentation tools
used. There was one fixed tool (called the VRS) in the shallow end that
segmented the upper internals and final size reduced many of the lower
internals. Lower internals were initially segmented using three "portable"
machines (i.e. the cutting tool was mounted to the piece being cut instead
of the piece being mounted on the cutting tool). These machines were named
the CHORCE, BMT, and FaST.
Reactor
Vessel Removal
The RV will be segmented and packaged in pieces, then shipped to Clive.
RV cutting process is to be Oxy-fuel from the outside. RV will be lifted
and pieces cut (as was once planned for Humboldt Bay). The original cutting
process planned was Wire Saw (AWS), but the Oxy-fuel type of thermal cutting
later selected because it will be faster.
The
RV Head for Unit 2 was shipped to the EnergySolutions waste facility in
Clive as one piece while the Unit-1 was size reduced (hand held torch)
before shipping.
Segmentation
and Packaging Plan (S&P Plan)
Siempelkamp Nuclear Services (SNS) segmentation plan for the Zion Reactor
Vessel and Reactor Vessel Internals.
GTCC
Packaging
The Greater than Class C (GTCC) material from the reactor will remain
on site with the fuel in the ISFSI. There are four canisters. These are
the NAC International MAGNASTOR and MAGNATRAN models of TSC (Transportable
Storage Canister). While already in use for fuel storage, Zion is the
first application for GTCC packaging for this model TSC.
Key
People
John Sauger, Dave Brown, Dan Pryor, Ken Bentley, Ron Richards,
Steve Larson (these are reactor related people only).
Contractors (reactor
related)
ZionSolutions
- EnergySolutions
TLG Services (for D&D cost estimating in 1999).
Bigge Crane (heavy transport out of containment)
Siempelkamp Nuclear Services, Inc. (SNS - formerly MOTA Corporation)
NAC
International (Dry storage for GTCC)
WMG
PlantDecommissioning.com (Equipment design, fabrication, staff augmentation)
Comments
The Zion D&D is considered the largest and the first side-by-side
decommissioning of two power producing nuclear units.
Related
Publications and Documents
ZionSolutions 8-24-2011 Weekly
Reader Newsletter with RVI Segmentation overview.
ZionSolutions 9-29-2011 Weekly
Reader Newsletter with RVI Segmentation update.
ZionSolutions 11-28-2011 Weekly
Reader Newsletter on Cavity Fill Milestone.
July 2014 Power Magazine
References
The NRC's web page as of 8/24/06
& 2/22/10.
INSC web page as of 8/22/05.
Exelon Nuclear Operations Communications Department on 8/25/06.
Commonwealth Edison's PSDAR to the NRC dated February 14, 2000,
revision 0.
Conversations with site people Feb 2010 through above date.
For
more details on Zion Reactor Segmentation, click here
or visit us on Facebook for current pictures and news.
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