Recycling

Biography

Biography: Daniela Gurau

Abstract

A main aim of the decommissioning project from Magurele, Romania is to follow the standards and regulations to minimize the radiation doses and to limit the release of radioactive materials into the environment. Concerning the release of materials from the regulatory control, all the waste materials that comes from decommissioning practice are assumed to be radioactive even if the material has not come into contact with any radioactivity. Because of that, in order to protect the health against ionizing radiation, release of materials from regulatory control can be made only if these materials are “free of radioactivity”. Besides the disposal of radioactive waste, a parallel aspect is addressed by the national competent authorities that allow the materials that arise from radioactive practices to be released and reused or recycled if the radioactive content is in accordance with the release conditions. While clearance levels may very well be defined generically, the decision whether to apply clearance levels is an individual decision of the competent authorities on the basis of a case-by-case evaluation of the practice which gives rise to the contaminated or activated material. Direct and indirect measurements of surface contamination and measurement of activity using various gamma-ray spectrometry systems are used by the Radiological Characterization Laboratory to decide what will happen with the materials resulted from decommissioning. In Romania, all the solid materials that comes from nuclear facilities and meet the release criteria are sold for a profit. An innovative method for the recycle of the low level of radioactive concrete (contaminated or activated) has been developed by the Reactor Decommissioning Department from IFIN-HH, allowing to minimize the volume of the radioactive concrete that should be disposed.