current practices of npp spent nuclear fuel management in romania

Current Practices of NPP Spent Nuclear Fuel Management in Romania

Oana Velicu, CNCAN

Madalina Budu, CNCAN

International Conference on Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors,

IAEA, Vienna, 31 May – 4 June, 2010

International Conference on Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors, IAEA, Vienna, 31 May – 4 June, 2010

TopicsTopics

1. Introduction2. Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel

Policies in Romania3. Legislative and Regulatory Framework4. Legal Responsibilities for Radioactive Waste

Management5. NPP Spent Fuel Management System and

Practices6. Licensing Procedures7. Conclusions


• Late 70’s: Romania chose CANDU type reactor for its first NPP

– high safety features of this technology– the possibility to manufacture internally the nuclear fuel and the heavy

water

• The U ore mined in country is transported to a processing plant (Feldioara Plant)

• The nuclear fuel is produced by Pitesti Nuclear Fuel Plant – 1994: AECL and Zircatec Precision Industries Inc. Canada qualified

FCN Pitesti as a CANDU-6 fuel manufacturer– FCN Pitesti supplies all the fuel necessary for the operation of

Cernavoda NPP Units 1 & 2

1. Introduction


2. Radioactive Waste and SNF Policies

• According to national legislation, SNF is considered to be another form of Radioactive Waste.

• The general objective of the Romanian radioactive waste management policy is to ensure the safe management of radioactive waste.

• Some of the main aspects of the national waste management policy are the following ones:– the radioactive waste management, including the transport, shall be

licensed and shall be performed according to the provisions of the applicable laws and regulations

– the licensees have the responsibility for management of radioactive waste arising from the operation and decommissioning of their own nuclear and radiological facilities, up to disposal

– the import of radioactive waste is prohibited– spent fuel produced by NPP’s shall not be reprocessed


3. Legislative and Regulatory Framework

• Applicable Laws:– Law no.111/1996 on the safe deployment, regulation, licensing

and control of nuclear activities, republished– Law no.105/1999 on the ratification of Joint Convention on the

safe management of nuclear fuel and on the safe management of radioactive waste

– Government Ordinance no. 195/2005 on environmental protection

– Law no. 43/1995 on ratification of Nuclear Safety Convention – Law no. 703/2001 on civil liability for nuclear damages– Governmental Ordinance no. 11/2003 regarding the management

of nuclear spent fuel and radioactive waste, including their disposal, with subsequent modifications and completions


3 (cont’d)

• Fundamental regulations on radiological safety:– Order no. 14/2000 of CNCAN President on the approval of

Radiological Safety Fundamental Regulations (the transposition of the European Council Directive 96/29/EURATOM of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation);

– Fundamental Regulations on the Safe Management of Radioactive Waste (Order no. 56/2004 of CNCAN President)

– Fundamental Sanitary Regulations on the Safe Deployment of Nuclear Activities (Order no. 381/2004 of Health Minister)


• Specific regulations:- Regulations on the Clearance of Materials;- Regulations on the Classification of Radioactive Waste;- Regulations on General Requirements for Near Surface

Disposal of Radioactive Waste;- Regulations on the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities;- Radiological Safety Regulations on Management of

Radioactive Waste from Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium Ores;

- Regulations on Supervising and Control of International Shipments of Radioactive Waste involving Romanian Territory;

- Regulations on the Transport of Radioactive Materials;- Regulations on Safeguards in Nuclear Field, etc.

3 (cont’d)


• Also, for spent fuel and radioactive waste management, there are still in force some old regulations, such as the Republican Nuclear Safety Regulations for Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Power Plants, issued by CNCAN in 1975.

• In order to fill the gap, till new regulations will be issued, international regulations are used (e.g. IAEA recommendations and guides, Canadian Standards and US NRC Regulatory Guides and NUREG’s).

3 (cont’d)


4. Legal Responsibilities

• The National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) is the nuclear regulatory body, empowered with the regulation, licensing and control of nuclear activities in Romania, an independent authority, reporting to the Prime Minister through the General Secretariat of the Romanian Government.

• The Nuclear Agency for Radioactive Waste (AN&DR) is the national competent authority in the field of promoting, development and monitoring of nuclear activities in exclusive peaceful purposes and of safe management of radioactive waste, including final disposal.


4 (cont’d)

• The prime responsibility for the safety of a nuclear or radiological installation rests with the licensee.

• This includes the responsibility for the management of the spent fuel and of the radioactive waste generated within the practice, and also the responsibility for the decommissioning of the facility.


5. NPP SNF Management Systems and Practices

• Romania operates in present only one NPP, located at 1 km distance of Cernavoda town, close to Danube River

• Cernavoda NPP is equipped with 5 PHWR - CANDU-6 type reactors, with 705 MW(e) gross capacity each:- Unit 1 in commercial operation since December 1996 - Unit 2 in commercial operation since November, 2007- Units 3, 4 and 5 under preservation, since 1992- It is expected that in the following couple of years, the

construction of Units 3 and 4 will be resumed• SNF Management systems of Cernavoda NPP:- 2 Spent Fuel Handling Systems (for each unit)- the Interim Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facility (DICA)


5 (cont’d)

• The Spent Fuel Handling System includes the following:

- Discharge and Transfer Equipment;

- Spent Fuel Reception and Storage Equipment;

- Spent Fuel Reception Bay;- Spent Fuel Bay (main storage bay) and Defective Fuel Bay.• Units 1 & 2 produce in one year ~ 6,000 bundles of irradiated

fuel, each one. After one year of irradiation, the SNF bundles are transferred into the Spent Fuel Bay of the respective Unit, under water, through a Transfer Channel.

• The Spent Fuel Bay is designed to ensure the safe storage of fuel bundles, the biological protection against ionizing radiations and the evacuation of residual heat.


5 (cont’d)

• After min. 6 years storage in the spent fuel bay, the SNF is transferred to Intermediate Dry Storage Spent Fuel Facility (DICA).

• DICA is located on NPP site, it can accommodate the SNF generated by two reactors operating 30 years, in 27 spent fuel modules; its designed storage capacity will be expanded gradually from 12,000 to 324,000 spent fuel bundles.

• The first module of DICA was put in operation in 2003, the second and the third modules are in operation since 2006 and the construction of the fourth one was licensed in 2009.


• The dry storage technology is based on the AECL MACSTOR System. It consists of storage modules located outdoors in the storage site, and equipment operated at the spent fuel storage bay for preparing the SNF for dry storage. The SNF is transferred from the preparation area to the storage site in a transfer flask. The transportation is on-site.

• The designed lifetime of DICA is 50 years. The Romanian strategy for the management of the back end of the fuel cycle is the disposal in geological repository of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plant.

5 (cont’d)


5 (cont’d)

• The basic principle of dry storage system could be expressed as following: „The storage of spent fuel for a period of at least 50 years, in nuclear safety conditions for operating personnel, as well as for the population and for the environment”, by: – Ensuring the necessary barriers to confine the fuel from

the surrounding environment (besides the fuel sheath);– Removing the residual heat from the stored fuel, through

natural convection of air;– Ensuring the storage area against external events

(natural and induced by man);– Ensuring the adequate biological protection.


5 (cont’d)

• The MACSTOR solution, specific to dry storage of CANDU spent fuel, implies the following:

- the use of Spent Fuel Bay for loading the SNF in storage baskets;

- the construction of a new building, adjacent to the Spent Fuel Bay, for the loading of the transfer flask on the transport vehicle;

- the construction of a modular type storage facility, to ensure the necessary storage capacity, sequencially increased, for the SNF periodically evacuated from the Spent Fuel Bay.


5 (cont’d)

• The principal activities, specific of this solution, are the following:- the preparation of the SNF for dry storage (done in the

Spent Fuel Bay and its extension)- the transfer of SNF (from NPP to DICA)- the storage of SNF (in DICA)

• The condition of the SNF stored in the DICA modules is periodically checked, by sampling the air inside the storage precincts, in order to verify the integrity of the confining barriers.

• Also, periodically the radiation levels in the vicinity of the module walls are monitored.


6. Licensing Procedures

• According to the provisions of the Law No.111/1996 republished, the licensing phases of a nuclear installation are the following:– design;

– sitting;

– production;

– construction;

– commissioning;

– trial operation;

– operation;

– repair and/or maintenance;

– modification;

– conservation;

– decommissioning.

,


6 (cont’d)

• As stipulated by the Republican Nuclear Safety Regulations on Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Power Plants, in order to obtain the necessary licenses from CNCAN, an applicant must present a nuclear safety documentation, consisting in:

- the Initial Safety Assessment Report, for the Sitting License;

- the Preliminary Safety Assessment Report, for the Construction License;

- the Final Safety Assessment Report, for the Operation License.

6 (cont’d)

• The Sitting License for DICA was issued by CNCAN in August 2001 and it contains the conditions related to the constructive solution, the confirmation of seismic entry data, and the completeness of list of Design Basis Accidents.

• It was also required for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report, requested in support of the application for Construction License, to demonstrate the observance of dose constraints for the members of the public during normal operation (0.1 mSv/year) and to demonstrate the observance of Romanian regulations related to dose limits in case of Design Basis Accidents (the exclusion zone and the reduced population zone shall remain inside the area established for Cernavoda NPP site).


6 (cont’d)

• The Construction License of the first module of DICA was issued in May 2002 and it contains conditions related to the constructive solution, and to the reconsideration of the air crash severe accident.

• It was requested the Final Safety Analysis Report to improve the scenario, to justify the emission height, and to present the support documentation for radionuclide concentrations and dose calculations, for all meteorological conditions and all distances and heights relevant for emergency planning).

• Also, it was requested to be analyzed the situation of a critical group inside the exclusion zone, and to demonstrate that in normal operation, the dose constraint for members of the public is not exceeded.


6 (cont’d)

• All these requirements have been addressed in the Final Safety Analysis Report that was submitted to CNCAN in order to obtain the Operating License for module 1 of DICA.

• In 2005 and 2008, the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report of DICA was revised in order to obtain the Construction License of modules 2, 3 and 4.

• The Operation License for the first module of the Spent Fuel Dry Storage was issued in 2003, based on Final Safety Analysis Report.

• The Operation License was renewed in 2006 and 2007, in order to include in operation the modules 2 and 3.


7. Conclusions

What will be the end of the Romanian Fuel Cycle?• Current plans of AN&DR foresee the development of a deep

geological repository for the final disposal of SNF, to start operation in 2055.

• The studies of a geological repository are in a relatively early stage: theoretical studies of mapping Romania identified potential host-rocks (salt, volcanic tuff, granite, clay, basalt and green schist).

• Starting with 2010, AN&DR will issue site investigation programs on preferred sites, for 3 geological formations, such as: granite, salt and, probably, green schist.


THANK YOU!


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