Sogin, dismantling of reactor building components has begun in Caorso
04 November 2024
Sogin has begun dismantling the systems and components inside the
reactor building at the Caorso plant.
This project represents a crucial step in the decommissioning programme at the facility in Emilia, because it strikes at the very heart of the plant. Specifically, "spooling" operations have begun, which involves technicians tracing the points where cutting will take place to disassemble the systems and components into pieces (spools). This preparation is necessary to ensure that every element can easily be identified and grouped according to the system of origin at the facility and its possible contamination.
The work carried out so far has included construction of the facility’s electrical system and will continue with the installation of the devices to handle the dismantled materials and with setting up the system to perform hot cuts, specifically designed to deal with the most complex components in terms of size and thickness.
The systems and components positioned on the ground floor will be the first to be dismantled. This decision is dictated by the need to free up the space needed to move out the materials from the other floors of the reactor building. There is a confined corridor created by Sogin on the ground floor referred to as the waste route. This will be used to safely transfer the cut components to the turbine building for decontamination, cutting and further reduction in terms of volume to facilitate their subsequent management.
The dismantling project is divided into "areas", each of which has its own detailed dismantling plan. This planning ensures compliance with the safety criteria and requirements stipulated by the ISIN, the National Inspectorate for National Security and Radiation Protection. A total of 3,400 tons of material will be dismantled, of which approximately 88% will be releasable after the necessary treatment and decontamination operations. The remaining 12% will be managed as radioactive waste and stored in the site's temporary repositories pending transfer to the National Repository, once this becomes available.
This result shows how thanks to the advanced treatment and decontamination techniques used during operations, Sogin is able to recover a significant percentage of the materials dismantled, confirming that it is also possible to implement good circular economy practices in nuclear decommissioning, in line with the Company's commitment to promote the sustainable development of the country.