Current Practices of NPP Spent Nuclear Fuel Management in Romania

1
Current Practices of NPP Spent Nuclear Fuel
Management in Romania

• Oana Velicu, CNCAN
• Madalina Budu, CNCAN

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Topics

• Introduction
• Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Policies
  in Romania
• Legislative and Regulatory Framework
• Legal Responsibilities for Radioactive Waste
  Management
• NPP Spent Fuel Management System and Practices
• Licensing Procedures
• Conclusions

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1. Introduction

• Late 70s 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

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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 NPPs shall not be
  reprocessed

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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

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3 (contd)

• 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)

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3 (contd)

• 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.

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3 (contd)

• 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 NUREGs).

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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 (ANDR)
  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.

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4 (contd)

• 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.

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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)

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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5 (contd)

• 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.

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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.
• ,

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6 (contd)

• 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.

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6 (contd)

• 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).

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6 (contd)

• 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.

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6 (contd)

• 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.

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7. Conclusions

• What will be the end of the Romanian Fuel Cycle?
• Current plans of ANDR 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, ANDR will issue site
  investigation programs on preferred sites, for 3
  geological formations, such as granite, salt
  and, probably, green schist.

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