DECOMMISSIONING OF UKRAINE'S NPP. PREDICTIVE DETERMINATION OF THE TYPES AND QUANTITY OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF DECOMMISSIONING

Abstract

Today, an important issue is the preservation of the environment and the improvement of the living conditions of humankind. Taking this into account, nuclear generation is considered one of the cleanest branches of electricity production and at the same time stands out with a high level of safety and reliability. Along with the process of electricity production, a sufficient amount of operational radioactive waste (RAW) and spent nuclear fuel is generated, which accumulate every year at the NPP site and require processing and disposal in the near future. The infrastructure for handling NPP RAW is not sufficiently developed and organized, which prevents the transfer of NPP RAW to long-term disposal. The problem will become significant at the time of decommissioning of the first reactor units in Ukraine. Based on the IAEA's 10th fundamental safety principle "Protective measures to reduce existing or unregulated radiation risks" and a number of regulatory documents and IAEA guidelines, the above study of the publication is aimed at early predictive determination of the channels of RAW formation of individual systems and elements of the reactor installation. Early planning will make it possible to determine the area and number of specialized storage facilities in a timely manner, as well as to put into use the latest technologies for handling RAW. The analysis of the issue of RAW management highlighted the need to plan the last stage of the life cycle management of a nuclear installation, since this process is the most dangerous due to the possibility of excessive exposure of personnel and the release of radioactive products of nuclear fuel decay outside the NPP. The work contains recommendations on the predictive determination of the types and quantity of radioactive waste on the example of a separate safety system - the low-pressure emergency core cooling system of the Rivne NPP WWER-440. As a result of the study, the stages of decommissioning of the most radioactive equipment and elements of the second channel of the specified safety system were identified. The obtained amount and types of RAW of the system at the end of decommissioning create the basis for the RAW management, which is a positive side of early planning of NPP decommissioning.