Author(s)

E. Uspuras & S. Rimkevicius

Abstract

Ignalina NPP comprises two Units with RBMK-1500 reactors. After the shutdown of Ignalina NPP Unit 1 in 2004, approximately 1000 of fuel assemblies from Unit 1 were applicable for further reuse in the reactor of Unit 2. The fuel transportation container, transport vehicle, protection shaft and other necessary equipment were designed in order to implement the process for on-site transportation of Unit 1 fuel for reuse in the Unit 2 reactor of Ignalina NPP. The safety assessment of equipment, intended for on-site transportation of RBMK fuel, is an issue of highest importance. Therefore, safety justification report is developed in order to demonstrate that the proposed set of equipment performs all functions and assures required level of safety. The safety justification demonstrated that proposed technology and equipment is in compliance with functional, design and regulations requirements and assures the required level of safety for both normal operation and accident conditions. The implementation of proposed technology at the Ignalina NPP allows to reuse the irradiated fuel from Unit 1 for energy production, instead of the treatment of this fuel as high level radioactive waste. Keywords: nuclear fuel transportation container, safety justification, radioactive waste, fuel reuse. 1 Introduction RBMK is a water-cooled graphite-moderated channel-type power reactor. One of the specific features of RBMK type reactor is that after the reactor shutdown for decommissioning in the reactor there is a substantial amount of fuel assemblies with low burn-up depth (considerable lower than design burn-up depth). Such fuel assemblies have high energetic potential and can be reused for the energy

Keywords

nuclear fuel transportation container, safety justification, radioactive waste, fuel reuse.