Latina, the dismantling of boiler shields of the reactor building kicks off
04 August 2020
Sogin has begun this morning the
demolition of the shields of the steam generators (boilers) of the Latina nuclear power plant reactor building.
This intervention, which actually starts the dismantling activities of the reactor building, represents an important step for the
decommissioning of the plant.
The shields are the
reinforced concrete structures that insulated from the outside the upper pipes, which connected the six boilers to the reactor building. Each shield is made up of two parts: an
upper horizontal element, connected to the reactor building,
weighing about 145 tons and a
lower vertical element, coming out of the boiler,
weighing about 50 tons.
The technique adopted by Sogin for their removal is the
controlled demolition with cutting,
at about 50 meters above the ground, by means of a diamond disc, and the subsequent
movement on the ground of the sectioned blocks, of about 2 tons each, with a specially installed tower crane. Afterwards, the individual blocks will be transferred to an equipped area, in order to separate the iron from the concrete.
This engineering solution guarantees maximum safety in carrying out the works and a minimal impact for the structures.
The activity is expected to be completed in
January 2021 and will produce a total of
approximately 1,200 tons of material which, after appropriate radiometric checks, will be removed from the site and sent for recovery.