Session: 02-01 Dismantling & Waste Segregation

Paper Number: 109961

109961 - Decommissioning of the Mau Facility at La Hague: How a Good Association of Milling Tools Can Facilitate the Decommissioning of Nuclear Areas? 

Decontamination is a key activity in decommissioning.

It is often the case, in nuclear power plants, reprocessing facilities and waste repositories, that surface decontamination requires mechanical milling techniques on concrete, cement or brick surfaces (coated or uncoated). Integrated and compliant techniques for the efficient milling of these surfaces are in demand in a growing decommissioning sector, due to a large number of these scenarios which present challenging geometries.

This is the case for the dismantling of the MAU (Medium Activity Uranium) building which is part of Orano La Hague's UP2400 fuel recycling plant. This building was used for the separation of uranium and plutonium and for the purification of uranium. The end state is to decommission monitored or controlled areas into conventional areas and to decommission nuclear waste areas into conventional waste areas.

Mechanical processes proved to work since facilities are being decommissioned; however, the capability of such applications to fulfill the requirement in term of economics, techniques and environment/social need to be confirmed. Particularly, the speed rate, the strenuous working conditions, the dust’s capture’s efficiency, the possibility to obtain a final surface state that allows final surface radiological measurements have often been criticized in the various feedbacks from the work sites. For all these reasons, it seemed necessary to search for new tools and operating modes, which bring sustainability to the D&D operations.

In order to do this, ORANO DS collaborated with the company named Astillo. Specialized in the design and manufacture of machine and tool for the surface removal of pollutants, Astillo benefits from experience in the surface treatment’s sector. Primarily involving the stripping or decontamination of pollutants (asbestos, lead, PCBs, PAHs, radioelements…), Astillo’s sound knowledge of the work processes, has allowed them to develop technologies based on function and operational performance.

This paper describes the results of the implementation of adaptable tools to manual or semi-automatic machine for floor, wall and ceiling for different thicknesses of milling. Particularly, the possibility to work with no detectable increase in airborne exposures (efficient vacuum attachments), the guarantee that all workers’ exposition to dose is kept as low as possible (semi-remote operation), the potential to accommodate a wide range of surfaces geometry and types by adaptable tools to manual or semi-automatic machines will be described.

Presenting Author: Frédérique Damerval TECH Y TECH

Presenting Author Biography: I’m graduated from Ecole Supérieure de Chime Organique et Minérale (ESCOM) (1989), University of Compiègne (DEA chemical engineering) and Paris Institute of Business Administration (IAE – 1990).
From 1990 to 2000, as business engineer, I worked on decontamination and waste treatment processes (PVC recycling, gel decontamination,…).
From 2000 to 2013, in charge of R&D portfolio of the BU Cleaning of AREVA (Newly ORANO DS), I’ve developed other expertise domains in the dismantling field such as concrete scabbling process (i.e NiThrow® or also called Nitrojet), new surface decontamination tools and processes (i.e. LASER ablation)
In parallel, I am a formal member of the AREVA Expert College since 2003 in different domains:
• Nuclear cleaning, decontamination, dismantling.
• Liquid chemistry and associated chemical engineering
From 2013 to May 2016, I have been in the renewable Business Group Bioenergy, as the Innovation Director, in charge of the torrefaction R&D program.

In summary, I have worked for 25 years in R&D and innovation programs. My experience has taken me from R&D in laboratory, through industrialization, management and open innovation.
The wide range of experience that I have gained, has allowed me to forge a transversal vision of the innovation process, and to identify the areas in need of development.

Today, since 2017 as an independent expert consultant and founder of TECH Y TECH, in the meantime of expertise consultancy, I identify innovative SMEs to help them develop their technology / product to the nuclear industry mainly in the field of decontamination and waste treatment. I am also professor at the INSTN, Valence and Saint Etienne Mines Masters and at the Master of Nuclear Energy (decontamination processes course).