Disposal of Decommissioning Waste
- Aerial view of the EWN site with ISN and harbour (2007)
The masses of material and waste at the Lubmin site which have to be disposed of, amount to 1.800.000 tons from which 1.200.000 tons are not contaminated with radioactivity. These masses are mostly building parts. Therefore, they can be conventionally reused or disposed of, according to the existing waste law.
The remaining masses have to be classified as radioactive residues and to be treated accordingly. This mainly concerns all plant parts and building structures of the controlled areas.
The entire mass of radioactive residues of about 600.000 tons contains about 140.000 tons of equipment to be dismantled, and 460.000 tons of contaminated building structures.
Disposal Aims
- Different kinds of residue packages in the free release measurement facility
A prerequisite for avoiding and reducing waste is to sort different kinds of material depending on its radioactive contamination during the preparation and execution of dismantling.
For this it is important to define the disposal goals in time and to classify the dismantled masses.
The Treatment of Material
After the dismantling the plant parts and the equipment will be cut on the spot, if necessary and afterwards they will be packed in suitable containers for further treatment or storage. At the same time every container with material is provided with a packing card on which all important facts are noted down. Additional data concerning the material are saved in the data bank system ReVK (mass flow tracking and control system). With this computer system the tracking of residual material can be followed from the beginning to the disposal.
- Treatment of residual material
The previous experience during the disposal of residual material has shown that altogether less than one percent of the decommissioning material is radioactive waste that has to be finally disposed of. A much bigger part of the material will meet the requirements for free release and will be disposed of without problems after careful treatment and analysis.
The Free Release Measurement of Radioactive Material
The procedure for the free release of residual material with defined free release limit values was confirmed by the "license for decommissioning of the entire plant and for dismantling of plant parts of the NPP in Lubmin/Greifswald" on June 30, 1995.
With the 28th changing license for G01 from July 19, 2004 the regulations for the free release of radioactive residues according to § 29 of the Radiation Protection Ordinance from January 1, 2005 were put into force.
- Free release measurement facility 1 with residue package
- EWN's place for free release measurement with two facilities
- Buffer place for free measured material
According to § 29 of the Radiation Protection Ordinance (StrlSchV) radioactive residues can be exempted from the regulation of the Atomic Law and statutory orders based on it. The prerequisite for this is to prove the adherence to the free release limit values after free release measurements and to apply for exemption at the corresponding authority. The free release follows with the objective to use, to dispose of, to own or to give the material to a third party as non-radioactive material.
At the same time the free release / free release measurement of radioactive residues from other plants after treatment in Lubmin/Rubenow was approved.
The following disposal classes are seperated from each other:
| Disposal class A | Unrestricted release (§ 29 StrlSchV Abs. 2 1.) |
| Disposal class B | Restricted release (§ 29 StrlSchV Abs. 2 2.) |
| Disposal class C | Restricted release ? special cases for EWN (§ 29 StrlSchV Abs. 4) |
| Disposal class D | Decay storage to achieve disposal classes A, B or C |
| Disposal class E | Reuse or utilization in nuclear technology |
| Disposal class F | Radioactive waste |
- Measuring procedure in the free release measurement facility
- Free release measurement facility 2 with residue package
In the former storage hall for spare parts of the power plant the place for free release measurement with two free release measurement facilities was installed. The free release measurements and the whole free release procedure are checked and supervised by the authority and the experts in charge in the frame of an inspectorial procedure.
With the free release measurement facilities the EWN GmbH possesses two facilities adequate to the state of technology to determine the radioactivity of material. By adherence to the free release limit values the company can apply for free release at the corresponding authority.
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