Decommissioning of the TVR Research Heavy-Water Reactor at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics

Abstract

The key work on decommissioning of the TVR research heavy-water reactor at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics is described. The processes involved in the preparation for hauling away the spent nuclear fuel, mothballing the high-activity heavy water, salvaging the contaminated water in the holding pond, and removal of radioactive contaminants from the holding pond are described. Special attention is devoted to selecting a variant of decommissioning of the TVR and solving the problems associated with the implementation of decommissioning. The processes of dismantling the connecting pipes of the horizontal experimental channels inside the reactor vessel and preparing the fittings and equipment for performing this work are described.

It is reported that work has been performed on the dismantling of the heavy- and light-water and gas loops of the reactor and on the dismantling of the experimental setups operating on the neutron beams of the horizontal and vertical channels of the reactor.