Hosted by the NDA, the project was set up by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the wake of
the accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power
station in Japan, but is also drawing lessons from
decommissioning at other nuclear sites, including:
- Al Tuwaitha nuclear site in Iraq, damaged during
conflict
- Three Mile Island Unit 2 in the US, damaged by a
partial core melt
- Chernobyl in Ukraine
- the A1 reactor in Slovakia, damaged following
incorrect insertion of a new fuel element
The workshop also looked at a number of historical
facilities which can face similar challenges, including:
- Sellafield’s First Generation Magnox Storage Pond
(FGMSP)
- the industrial Uranium Graphite Reactors in Russia
- the redundant fuel cycle facilities at Marcoule,
France
Three working groups are studying the above cases and
their conclusions will feed in to a final report,
providing guidance that could be deployed in the event of
future accidents. Their focus is on the challenges faced
by regulators, the technical challenges of managing
physical and radiological hazards and the strategic
decision-making processes.
Named DAROD (Decommissioning And Remediation of Damaged
nuclear facilities), the project began in 2014 as a
result of the IAEA’s Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, drawn
up following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
John Rowat, from IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Safety and
Security, said:
The purpose of DAROD is to identify where existing
guidance for normal decommissioning and remediation can
be adapted to situations involving damaged nuclear
facilities, and to identify how member states might be
better prepared to manage such situations in the
future.
At the Penrith workshop, a special session was held on
Sellafield’s FGMSP, introduced by Sellafield’s Head of
Programme Delivery for Legacy Ponds, Dorothy Gradden, who
gave an update on progress at the facilities. Delegates
were also given an opportunity to tour the FGMSP,
enabling them understand the challenges and see the
progress at first hand.
John Mathieson, the NDA’s Head of International
Relations, said:
The workshop brought together a diverse range of
regulators and decommissioning practitioners from
around the world, many of whom have first-hand
experience of dealing with damaged nuclear facilities.
It was an honour for the UK and NDA to be asked to host
this workshop for this important project, and the
discussions were extremely valuable.
