Decommissioning research reactors: a case of a reference accident scenario

摘要

The paper reports on an assessment conducted on a hypothetical radiologicalaccident during the ongoing project to decommission the VVR-S nuclear research reactor at ‘HoriaHulubei’ National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, IFIN-HH, Bucharest. The referenceaccident scenario assumed a fire-driven radioactive release to the atmosphere, of the materialresulting from disassembling reactor’s graphite column. Two versions were pursued: (i) anentrainment in the fire resulting from a plane crash demolishing the entire reactor hall, of theradioactive graphite debris; and (ii) a direct graphite fire due to electric cables under voltage loadfalling accidentally over the stock of waste graphite. The specificity in addressing issues relating tothe safety and health- and environmental impact of zero-power reactors decommissioning isemphasized.